Admiral car insurance tying to charge for missed black box fitting appointment

sky_rat

My daughter bought car insurance with Admiral in November which needed a black box fitted (I am a named driver on the policy and paid using my credit card).

They originally arranged to fit the black box on 8th December, but then rang my daughter on 1st December (afternoon) to say they need to change the appointment to 2nd December (morning). 

My daughter said that she was not available on the 2nd December as she was at work.  So I rang the insurance company in the morning on 2nd December to explain she is not available and they changed it back to the 8th December.

The black box was fitted on the 8th, but a week ago Admiral sent a message saying that there would be a £35 charge because the black box had not been fitted.

I rang Admiral to explain that the black box had been fitted and they put the charge on pause whilst they investigated.

But then Admiral called me yesterday to say they are charging me £35 for the missed appointment to have the black box fitted on 2nd December because we had not given 24 hours notice (yet they did not give 24 hours notice when the changed the appointment either).

I explained the situation and they put me on hold whilst speaking to the booking company which fits the black boxes.  Admiral told me that the booking company said that the original booking was for 2nd December, but this is wrong because it was for 8th December.

I asked to speak to the booking company so Admiral put me through to them.  The booking company confirmed that the original booking was for the 8th December and they changed it to 2nd December.

I asked them to tell Admiral, but they said they cannot do that and that Admiral can already see the information.

This morning I had a soft search on my credit report from 'LexisNexis' which is some kind of insurance legal company, so this has made me suspicious that it was something to do with Admiral.

I don't want to pay the fee purely on principal, can anyone provide some advice on how to proceed please ?

Ayr_Rage

LexisNexis appears like clockwork whenever I search for insurance, it's nothing to worry about.

As for the fee, make a complaint in writing with all supporting details in emails not just quoting phone calls.

MyRealNameToo

sky_rat said:

My daughter bought car insurance with Admiral in November which needed a black box fitted (I am a named driver on the policy and paid using my credit card).

They originally arranged to fit the black box on 8th December, but then rang my daughter on 1st December (afternoon) to say they need to change the appointment to 2nd December (morning). 

My daughter said that she was not available on the 2nd December as she was at work.  So I rang the insurance company in the morning on 2nd December to explain she is not available and they changed it back to the 8th December.

The black box was fitted on the 8th, but a week ago Admiral sent a message saying that there would be a £35 charge because the black box had not been fitted.

I rang Admiral to explain that the black box had been fitted and they put the charge on pause whilst they investigated.

But then Admiral called me yesterday to say they are charging me £35 for the missed appointment to have the black box fitted on 2nd December because we had not given 24 hours notice (yet they did not give 24 hours notice when the changed the appointment either).

I explained the situation and they put me on hold whilst speaking to the booking company which fits the black boxes.  Admiral told me that the booking company said that the original booking was for 2nd December, but this is wrong because it was for 8th December.

I asked to speak to the booking company so Admiral put me through to them.  The booking company confirmed that the original booking was for the 8th December and they changed it to 2nd December.

I asked them to tell Admiral, but they said they cannot do that and that Admiral can already see the information.

This morning I had a soft search on my credit report from 'LexisNexis' which is some kind of insurance legal company, so this has made me suspicious that it was something to do with Admiral.

I don't want to pay the fee purely on principal, can anyone provide some advice on how to proceed please ?

Submit a complaint to them, if you arent happy with their response to the complaint then you can escalate to the financial ombudsman. The ombudsman charges them a fee win or lose for correctly referred complaints and whilst most dont make economic decisions it at least indicates that if they stick to their guns and say you owe it that they really believe it as the fee will dwarf the amount of money they are claiming so economically its lose lose for them. 

LexisNexis is used more broadly than just insurance firms, law firms, banks, pensions and host of others do too. Most likely it's just their basic ID checking service which can be checking your who you say you are, that you still live where you say you do and/or that you are still alive. It could be admiral but more likely it's someone else. 

born_again

MyRealNameToo said:

sky_rat said:

My daughter bought car insurance with Admiral in November which needed a black box fitted (I am a named driver on the policy and paid using my credit card).

They originally arranged to fit the black box on 8th December, but then rang my daughter on 1st December (afternoon) to say they need to change the appointment to 2nd December (morning). 

My daughter said that she was not available on the 2nd December as she was at work.  So I rang the insurance company in the morning on 2nd December to explain she is not available and they changed it back to the 8th December.

The black box was fitted on the 8th, but a week ago Admiral sent a message saying that there would be a £35 charge because the black box had not been fitted.

I rang Admiral to explain that the black box had been fitted and they put the charge on pause whilst they investigated.

But then Admiral called me yesterday to say they are charging me £35 for the missed appointment to have the black box fitted on 2nd December because we had not given 24 hours notice (yet they did not give 24 hours notice when the changed the appointment either).

I explained the situation and they put me on hold whilst speaking to the booking company which fits the black boxes.  Admiral told me that the booking company said that the original booking was for 2nd December, but this is wrong because it was for 8th December.

I asked to speak to the booking company so Admiral put me through to them.  The booking company confirmed that the original booking was for the 8th December and they changed it to 2nd December.

I asked them to tell Admiral, but they said they cannot do that and that Admiral can already see the information.

This morning I had a soft search on my credit report from 'LexisNexis' which is some kind of insurance legal company, so this has made me suspicious that it was something to do with Admiral.

I don't want to pay the fee purely on principal, can anyone provide some advice on how to proceed please ?

Submit a complaint to them, if you arent happy with their response to the complaint then you can escalate to the financial ombudsman. The ombudsman charges them a fee win or lose for correctly referred complaints and whilst most dont make economic decisions it at least indicates that if they stick to their guns and say you owe it that they really believe it as the fee will dwarf the amount of money they are claiming so economically its lose lose for them. 

LexisNexis is used more broadly than just insurance firms, law firms, banks, pensions and host of others do too. Most likely it's just their basic ID checking service which can be checking your who you say you are, that you still live where you say you do and/or that you are still alive. It could be admiral but more likely it's someone else. 

A small point re above.
Your daughter will need to submit complaint, as it is her policy.
A bit of advice going forward. Send her the money to pay the insurance. Or you may find that you get debited again next year. Even if she decides to move companies & forgets to tell them.  

powerful_Rogue

Did your daughter agree to the appointment for the 2nd December when they phoned her up? If not, why did you have to phone back to cancel it?