House Insurance Scam

elsien

Closely followed by “gaslighting” and “vulnerable.”

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6665222/house-insurance-scam

Firstly, you weren't scammed, you failed to read what you were agreeing to. Almost universally when you buy insurance online you agree to two facts:

1. That the policy will auto renew at the end unless you explicitly tell them not to
2. You agree to them holding your payment details and to use them on future costs

It's normally written in fairly big text in a list of things you are agreeing to and attesting to. Lets be honest, most dont read it and instead just hit the "I Agree" button blindly but when that comes to bite that doesnt mean you were scammed.

You are really focusing on the wrong thing, you must down declare for all future quotes that you have had insurance cancelled (for non-payment). The £50 cancellation fee is going to be chump change compared to the impact on premiums for next year let alone the aggregate charge over the decades.

To answer the actual question, yes it will happen again. Depending on who you buy from will dictate how easy it is to opt out of auto-renewal but there is a reason that the regulators like auto-renewal and why the sensible approach is to leave it on and deal with it at the time of renewal.

There is a totally illogical dislike of auto-renewal on this forum, I fully agree that most the time you won't auto-renew in the end but it's an important safety net. As someone who has worked in insurance for decades I have seen hundreds of claims declined because the customer wasnt on auto-renewal and missed their renewal date. One particularly stood out of a chap in his 40s that had a stroke and was in hospital for some time. During that time his renewal came and went and some local lowlife thought it would be fun to set a fire in his home. He was in a coma at the time so didnt buy a policy and so based on his sums insured he lost about £400,000

I know people here always claim they will never forget and that they'll never be in a coma etc but reality is often different from bluster.

Having seemingly made fraudulent claims to your bank you are now doubling down with libel. Realistically an insurer won't take you to court for £50 but as mentioned, its small fry compared the rest of the impacts.

Presumably you had already bought insurance elsewhere, have you told them yet that you've had insurance cancelled?

DiamondLil

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81972818#Comment_81972818

The most misused word on just about all media these days. Whatever happened to "fraud", "theft", "criminal"…

lfc321

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81973032#Comment_81973032

True. Although ‘fraud’ is also quite liberally misused on this forum!

FrugaiMacDugal

All those derogatory words used against an organisation are usually used by a poster who has messed things up themselves, and rarely come back to admit it.

Don't expect Just_landed to reply.

Just_landed

It was a scam I stand by what I said the sellers are conning people out of their hard earned money. I choose who I want to trade with when I want not when sellers tell me who I deal with. In that particular purchase there was no warning they would rip me off the second year, typical insurance con. Anyway I take it no one has an answer to my question.

taking off again.

user1977

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81973555#Comment_81973555

Which of your questions are you referring to? The responses above seem to provide comprehensive advice.

FrugaiMacDugal

Ok, if you're so adamant then name the company, others may have had a similar experience.

jimbog

if they scammed you why not ‘name and shame’?

Why protect them?

elsien

Another answer to your question as to how you can stop it from happening again, in addition to the answers you have already been given:

check your emails. Because anything I’ve had on auto renew has sent me an email in advance which has given me the chance to cancel if no longer needed.