Do you have -'POLICY ADMIN SERV 1@ £7.99' on your bank statement?

LatrodectusMactans

I registered just to say THANK YOU.
Sorry for my english, not my first language.

I was paying £9.99 for just over 6 years thinking that is some kind of inner bank insurance, OD charge, mortgage protection or something.

Long story short: First, I have called my Bank, and asked them about this DD. They told me who is taking that money, and if I have any trouble getting it back they will help me. Later, I've called Policy Admin Services, and explained that I was unaware of any phone insurance, because I have one with my bank account as standard, also I stated the fact that I was convinced its some kind of banking charge, and I was not aware of any documentation (I have changed my address soon after taking that phone) related to that insurance. They were happy with that, so I gave them my new address, they have cancelled that insurance straight away, and......

In 5 working days I'm getting FULL refound, plus interest
74 x 9.99 + 147.85
A Woooping total of £887.11

They were very friendly and helpful :beer: and now I'm VERY HAPPY

So once again Thank You :T

Maziomir

Buzby wrote: »

Anyone reading this thread will have an acute sense of d!jà vu. In each case the hapless consumer left his wits behind and let DD after DD leech out of his account with the firm belief they'd done nothing wrong.

It is easy to say 'I had no idea', but it begs the question why they gave out their bank or CC information in the first place. Have they no control over heir actions - pr are they happy to see money coming out of their bank account in the mistaken belief the money is for something else?

This is no excuse. Being cavalier with your money is one thing, shouting SCAM and how you'd somehow been 'cheated' misses the source of the problem. People have to be responsible for their actions, never assume - if there is a special offer or deal on anything, find out why you've been so lucky - better yet, find out when the deal ends and you start paying for it.

Better yet, just say no - and keep all DD's to an absolute minimum.

Hi, this is my first post here and I have register deliberately to answer the post.

I've checked today my Direct Debits and found the Policy Admin Servs for 9.99 each month. I've quoted this in google and found this thread. I am wide-eyed with astonishment with each post I am reading. So I am paying 9.99 since August 2006 for a phone what I don't have?

Yes I could check it earlier, but like most of other people here I thought it is a kind of a bank payment and never did it. I took a phone soon after ariving to Scotland and if I can be honest I didn't even know, that I have been offered with an Insurance. I am not Brittish, at the time my english was really basic, what didn't disturb the P4U company give me pay monthly phone and to add this insurance deal as well.

You may say: it is your own fault, you should know what you agree for and if you don't understand everything you should not sign.But what I was looking for only was to have a pay monthly phone and I wasn't even aware, that there is something like a phone insurance! Even if they had tried to explain the rules and the fact that there is a promotion after which I will start to pay for this why they didn't try to contact me - I have the same telephone number since then!

Now, having 8 years of experience in life in Brittain I know how similar offers work. I'm able to avoid many of hidden cost, but how I could pick this one out from my past when the name of this payment looks like a bank payment?

So that's why I think it is a cheat - the direct debit name is very confusing, you may easily take it for many other things, especially because it is not a big money and what is most important - this type of deal should have a yearly written renewal if they want to stay fair, in my opinion.

So I have to ask someone to help me with writting a formal letter to claim my money back - I am not a wealthy person and this type of money leaking from my pocket is a big waste. Think what you want but I feel cheated.

I am sorry for any language mistakes - it takes time to learn but I hope it is easy to understand.

MumOfTwoLittleMonkeys

I, like many others, am so glad i logged onto this forum. I recently realised we were paying £7.99 twice a month to PAS, and when our bank couldn't tell us who they were or what it was for, I turned to Google. It took me to this forum where I found out who they were, realised what I was paying for, and most importantly, found the phone number to call. I found out that we have been paying for this since Mar 06!! I then remembered noticing this DD years ago, not knowing what it was and cancelling it. Soon after, I received a phone call telling me that it was for my mobile and I reinstated it. Big mistake obviously.So, after reading all the posts on this thread, I gave them a call and lodged a complaint. They called me back yesterday, asked me a couple of questions, told me they had a copy of my signature on the DD mandate and told me they were 'rejecting' my complaint. I said that I had never knowingly ever taken out mobile phone insurance on any phone I have had, and that if I had signed a DD mandate I had been duped. I remember buying the phone from Phones4U and I did not agree to take out this insurance. She said her decision was based on a number of things, one of which was the 'credibility of the customer'. Well, the red mist came down at that point. She suggested that as a goodwill gesture she would offer me my premiums back from the end of the contract on the phone, which was either 12 or 18 months from the date of the policy. By this point, after her negative assessment of my credibility (i.e. I am a liar!!), there was no way I was agreeing to this. The upshot of it is that I spoke to her manager this morning and I am getting all of my premiums back, as well as 8% on top of that. Total of around £750!! Bunch of shysters. I have never received any correspondence from this bunch of crooks over the course of the last 7 years, yet only yesterday I received my annual letter from Nationwide asking if I want to renew my home insurance. These guys just take your money and you never hear from them, obviously banking on the fact that lots of us will never notice.
The 2nd complaint on the 2nd amount of £7.99 a month has to be sorted out by my husband as it's in his name so there should soon be £1400 coming our way if you are unlucky enough to have been robbed blind by this lot, you will get your money back if you play hardball!! Good luck

bjwood

Glad I saw this too. I've been charged since 2003 and didn't realise it was phone insurance.

I followed the same steps that a lot of people took: I rang them and questioned the payments. They were friendly and seemed to be very helpful. As other's have said, they didn't have the original mandate so they couldn't confirm that I'd explicitly agreed to it. After I rang them, they told me I should get a letter within the next 5 working days and a phone call within two weeks once they've investigated the complaint.

The biggest snag I've hit is that they've got a record that I made a claim in 2005! I do remember making a claim on insurance but I assumed that was just part of the package when I bought my phone through Phones4U, not specifically through PAS (I was young, innocent and stupid back then!).

Anyway, whoever the hell I thought my insurance went through back then I assumed that when I left my Phones4U contract my insurance would die with it.

It's all a bit of a mess and I think part of my problem was my (ongoing) naivety but I still think it was made intentionally vague and it was basically mis-sold to me.

Does anyone think I even a case now I've claimed?

danj906

A friend told me about this scam, he got a few hundred £ back a couple of months ago so i thought id check my account!

I have the same " £7.99 policy admin " on my account, although i can only check my bank details back as far a 2006 online, i think i've had it for well over 10 years.. do you need to provide dates to them ?

Does anyone know the number people have been calling that have got there money back please? is it just Phone 4U customer service?

what details you used to get the refund. i did not take out any insurance on my phone contract, in fact the very bank account that the money is debited from has free phone insurance as one of the perks so why would i have taken out phone insurance!

Woottop

Yes, here is the number 0800 331 7764.

I too thought this was a direct debit set up by my bank for holding my deeds, in fact I had queried once but didn't get too far. I had been paying £5.99 for nearly 13 years and have just been refunded £1,231.

The criteria for my claim was:

I ended my contract with Phones 4 U 10 years ago. I think that the DD wasn't clear that it was for mobile phones insurance. I didn't think I received a welcome pack (or don't remember as I may have thought it was junk mail). I also have mobile insurance with my bank account so didn't need extra insurance.

I also never received any letter of notice from the company in the 13 years since it was set up. Now a normal insurance company would contact you or would have put up the cost at some point in time to cover inflation. These guys obviously knew they were onto a good thing and didn't do that. Although, I do feel slightly stupid for not querying it further I did feel misled.

If you have been paying £7.99 for 7 years you could be due £750 taking into account the 8% interest they add on.

They were actually very polite on the phone, apologised and the refund takes 5 - 14 days. It was all sorted in one call. What alerted my was a letter I had from Phones 4 U, which I nearly threw out. I think the listing for the DD was very misleading, which is why I expect so many people fell into the trap.

I wish you luck with your claim.

bjwood

Here's how the process has worked for me so far:

• Rang them to complain
• They said they'd look into it and send me a letter within 5 days and that some one would ring me within 14 days.
• Received a letter telling me that they were still looking into it (as I'd already claimed I assumed this would result in a 'sorry-you-ve-haven't-got-a-chance' type of phone call)
• Got a call to discuss the claim further. Although I'd claimed after two years of first having the insurance, my issue was that when I changed phone, I was still being charged. They'd also not contacted me in any way from 2005 to now and I had no idea I was still being charged for this insurance. They accepted this and have promised me a refund that should be over £700 (I'll believe it when the money's in my account).

If you've been stung by this, I'd definitely make a complaint.

TigerTail

Hi everyone.
I'm not usually the type of person to post on a forum, but, in this instance i'll make an exception.
I rightly or wrongly assumed this was the ppi for a credit card of mine (that i still have) and called my bank to cancel it.
They informed me that this wasn't them taking the payment it was PAS.
Since I've never taken out a policy with PAS I thought this was rather strange.
I followed all the advice on this thread, (Mandate, e.t.c.) and laid that on them.
I had also spoken with an adviser at my bank, who had implied that they were aware of the company and if they didn't agree to a full refund, that i should re contact the bank and they would raise an "indemnity claim" for me and would return the money to me that way.
I told the customer service representative at PAS this and without hesitation, she offered me a full refund within 20 days.

I will say that the CSR at PAS was excellent and couldn't have been more helpful.

I will hopefully be getting my money through soon and am considering legal action against phones 4 u
I will update this post if I have any problems with my claim.

So, a BIG thank you to all who posted before me. Your input was invaluable.
Now. Spread the word.

mark1972

I was annoyed to see this DD going out every month, thinking it was one I'd canceled for the phone I purchased from Phones4u 2 years ago.

Upon closer inspection it actually pertained to my first mobile, purchased from them back in 2003!

I rang up and spoke to a very helpful woman named Paula who nonetheless tried to politely fob me off. I stood my ground and am now looking forward to receiving back 131 x £7.99 + interest of £374 totalling £1,420!

I really thought this would be a lost cause, going back so long. I hate dealing with these businesses over the phone and was prepared for a long, telephonic tussle. However, in a little less than 15 minutes I was done; no bartering or quibbling, just a full refund due within 10-20 days. Glad I bit the bullet and gave them a ring - you should do the same.

TAC_74

I too came across this DD on my bank statements and thought it was the fee for my bank account.
After reading the posts on this forum I decided to write asking for a refund as we have never needed phone insurance because it comes included with our bank account.
They rang us 2 days later and after lots of questions they said we would get a refund of the 7 years that we had paid and also 8% interest totalling nearly £1000!!

I would recommend anyone else who finds this DD to try and get your money back if i hadn't found this forum I would have just cancelled the DD and forgotten about it. :T