Help! and a warning about Dial Direct insurance

Blackjack_Davy

Hello. I have a problem. I took out insurance with these a***holes last year. A couple of weeks ago the insurance expired. What I didn't realise is that in the small print they say they will automatically renew your insurance, at a massively increased fee of course. You have to phone them and tell them to cancel or they will charge your credit card!

Well today I got a letter saying my card had been declined (unsurprising, since I cancelled it last year) and demanding I pay up or face a cancellation fee! :mad:

Well I phoned them and they're trying to charge £12.50 for the insurance for the last week plus a £20 cancellation fee! I told them to go to hell!

What are my options? Do I have a leg to stand on? I've no intention of paying. Will they send around the bailiffs?

daveonline

You dont say what insurance this is but in most cases you should have still recieved a renewal notice a few weeks before the renewal date, ask for a copy of this.

If you have taken out new insurance send them a letter with a photo copy of the cover explaining that new insurance has been purchased.

If it was car insurance and you've sold the car send them proof that you no longer own it.

Blackjack_Davy

Its car insurance.

They won't take any notice. Fee applies no matter what.

Note to everyone out there: READ THE EFFING SMALL PRINT IN YOUR CONTRACTS! Don't let yourself be screwed over by these ****ers! :mad:

I'll be blowed if you're getting any more money out of me so sue me mother****ers!

shelly

Blackjack_Davy wrote: »

Hello. I have a problem. I took out insurance with these a***holes last year. A couple of weeks ago the insurance expired. What I didn't realise is that in the small print they say they will automatically renew your insurance, at a massively increased fee of course. You have to phone them and tell them to cancel or they will charge your credit card!

Well today I got a letter saying my card had been declined (unsurprising, since I cancelled it last year) and demanding I pay up or face a cancellation fee! :mad:

Well I phoned them and they're trying to charge £12.50 for the insurance for the last week plus a £20 cancellation fee! I told them to go to hell!

What are my options? Do I have a leg to stand on? I've no intention of paying. Will they send around the bailiffs?

Did you have a renewal notice at all, just before the policy ended? Its usual these days for policies to say that if you don't cancel they will auto renew.

IMO its not their fault that you didn't read the small print and ended up in this situation. We have to take responsibility for ourselves, they aren't going to put it in big red letters.
Is it worth it for £32.50 messing up your credit rating if they do chase you for the money?

raskazz

shelly wrote: »

IMO its not their fault that you didn't read the small print and ended up in this situation. We have to take responsibility for ourselves, they aren't going to put it in big red letters.
Is it worth it for £32.50 messing up your credit rating if they do chase you for the money?

Quite right. In all probability the insurer will also withhold NCD proof whilst the amount is unpaid.

BAILIFFCHASER

shelly wrote: »

Did you have a renewal notice at all, just before the policy ended? Its usual these days for policies to say that if you don't cancel they will auto renew.

IMO its not their fault that you didn't read the small print and ended up in this situation. We have to take responsibility for ourselves, they aren't going to put it in big red letters.
Is it worth it for £32.50 messing up your credit rating if they do chase you for the money?

I do not think they will go that far. Boy will you get mail from all over the country for a measley £32.50 !!!!!!!!!

hectorcjp

I too am having problems with Auto Renewal (Dial Direct Insurance). I tried to ring, kept on hold for ages, so gave up and wrote instead. Kept getting letters but luckily (or so I thought) they couldn't get the payment as the card details were for a card that wasn't in use, so ignored them. So, naively I thought they would just realise and forget any charges. Now they have just handed over to debt collectors. Advice, always ask if they operate Auto Renewal, if they do try and go elsewhere, as I believe they should ask for the consumer to agree to this in the first place, not have to request to withdraw from it. Any advice of what to do know debt collectors are in the picture?

daveguy2004

I had the same thing happen to me - these are scam artists basically, you can say read all the small print etc - but this company are a night mare ... I had the same thing with Santander who were fantastic about it no problem ... this lot 9 months later 35 emails 10 faxes 30 letters from them and debit recovery agencys .... 35 pounds lighter :mad:

System

If the OP received a renewal notice, then they have nothing to complain about. Cancellation fees and auto renewal will be shown in the policy documents, if you do not read your contract then .... do I need to say more

However, if the OP did not receive a renewal notice then there are grounds for complaint.

This process of auto renewal is common practice, most car insurance policies will be automatically renewed unless you contact the insurance company and tell them you want the policy to lapse.

mikedevill

I have the opposite issue. My insurance has been automatically renewing for 7 years. Today I was pulled over by the police for no insurance (£200 & 6 points later, thankfully managed to avoid seizure charges).
What happened is that they allegedly sent me a letter to contact them, which for some reason I did not see (don't think I received it). With no further correspondence that just stopped my insurance policy. Legally I am told that it is my responsibility to ensure that I am insured, however there has to be some recourse for leeway, when clearly I could reasonably have expected to be insured.

By the way, to avoid getting my vehicle confiscated, I got my insurance re-stated and my premium has gone up by £300 a year.

Any advice on how to get some leniency from the authorities will be appreciated. I am fairly sure I can get money back etc from insurer, however what can I do about the points.

olly300

BAA1 wrote: »

This process of auto renewal is common practice, most car insurance policies will be automatically renewed unless you contact the insurance company and tell them you want the policy to lapse.

If the fact the insurance auto-renewal isn't in the key facts statement of the policy then drop the FSA a line as it breaches the treating customers fairly policy.

Then again the OP probably didn't read anything in the first place.