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

d-seven

I contacted the customer services dept, but because it was something I initially signed upto in april 2003, they could only offer me a goodwill gesture of the last 9 months payments which was about 71 pounds something.
But I'm damned sure I cancelled this years ago. Still, I agreed to the goodwill gesture.

karbry

Well what can I Say? I have been far too complacent with my bank statements. After eventually tracking down what the entry "Policy Admin Services" was (Thanks to this Forum) I finally became enlightened !!! - So first things first I check with my Bank to find when this DD was set up and get a little shock. The DD was set up in April of 2002. Thats over 7 years of £7.99 per month. I never take out seperate phone insurance as my Employers or Bank Account have always given me adequate cover. Was this an over excited mouse click by a commision paid salesman? The plot thickens .........

I cancel the DD straight away with my bank.

I Phone 0844 871 0600 to cancel the Insurance Policy with P.A.S. - The gentleman I spoke to when cancelling the policy dealt with the request quickly and professionally. He then gave me the offer to speak to their Customer Relations Team, I declined the offer as you can contact them through their 0800 (0800 197 3015) number instead of being transferred through the 0844 number.

On getting through to the C.R.T. I began to outline my grievance with them.
I asked why:-
A Direct Debit had been set up in 2002 for mobile phone insurance?
Why had I not recieved notification of this policy - in the form of a policy document, welcome pack etc?
What authorization do they require from the point of sale to start the DD procedure?
Did they have a copy of the original DD mandate signed by me?

It seems that at the time I bought the phone from Phones 4 U they gave customers 3 months free insurance on the hand set, which it was the customers responsibility to cancel. This is fair enough, but if you are not told about this by the salesman or by the company the insurance is sold by how are you supposed to cancel.

P.A.S. insisted that they sent out a policy pack, but that it wasn't a recorded delivery letter so they could not confirm that one arrived at my address. Now bear this in mind that in 7 years I have never recieved any form of document from this company, yet how many times have you recieved notifications of terms and conditions amendments from your other insurance companies etc.

I was informed that P.A.S. take an electronic notification in good faith from the point of sale to begin the DD for you policy. So in essence they take instruction from a box clicked on a computer screen by a salesman who earns commision for selling their product. My question to you is - Do you always check what a salesmen clicks on their computer screen?

We go round and round with a few other questions and obvious scripted replies, they do seem to have an answer to whatever question you throw at them - not always the right answer but an answer non the less.

Then he hit me with it - "I can speak to my manager to see if we will be able to offer some form of goodwill payment." - Up to this point I hadn't mentioned any form of compensation as this was an information gathering call, but I was offered 12 months payments if I wished to draw this matter to a close.

After reading the other posts in this forum I knew this was an opening offer to make me go away quietly - not going to happen I'm afraid... I again asked for a copy of my signed DD mandate to be made available. The gentleman then informed me that if I wished to see the paper work he would have to request it from Phones 4 U as they keep all hard copy records. He also said that if the mandate showed my signature there would be no compensation or monies returned.

Now its poker time - do I accept 12 months money and quietly dissappear or make them produce a signed mandate. It has to be the mandate because I know I have never signed one.

I am informed it will take 3 working days to request the mandate from P4U and that a written confirmation of this call would be sent out to me.

Well guess what 2 days later I recieve a letter from Customer Services stating that they are unable to find the DD mandate and that they will pay back the full amount taken in monthly payments

£687.14

which would end this matter.

The money has just cleared in my bank account. From 1st phone call to payment 7 days.

I would like to thank all the posters in this forum for the information they gave !!!!!

And yes I was lucky this time but I will NEVER be so complacent about my bank statements again.:beer:

darksupernova

had to sign up to this site just to say thankyou for all the information posted! I googled the name and deleted the payment straight away, i will be phoneing the number in the morning to get a refund as im sure i declined the offer for 3 months insurance as i put it on my house insurance, so thank you again!

Maxwell

Dizzy_Ditzy

this happened to me with my virgin phone!!!

I rang my bank and after doing some digging they said it ws P4U so I told them to cancel it and havent heard anything and certainly they havent taken any more money.

idon_tinxo

Interestingly, I have had this on my statement now for about 15 months since I got a new phone from P4U.
I've checked through my records and have determined the following:

yes - I've been paying £7.99 pm
Yes - Rightly or wrongly I agreed to take out the cover
yes - I have actually been covered all this time
yes - they sent me policy & info paperwork the moment I took it out - I have it here in front of me
yes - they cancelled the policy the moment I asked them (I did this as I was coming to the end of my phone contract and have the use of 2 other phones)

So - have I just been lucky?
Am I being thick?

I've yet to see whether they will try to take a further payment, but the DD has been deleted anyway and the bank informed

idon_tinxo

Interestingly, I have had this on my statement now for about 15 months since I got a new phone from P4U.
I've checked through my records and have determined the following:

yes - I've been paying £7.99 pm
Yes - Rightly or wrongly I agreed to take out the cover
yes - I have actually been covered all this time
yes - they sent me policy & info paperwork the moment I took it out - I have it here in front of me
yes - they cancelled the policy the moment I asked them (I did this as I was coming to the end of my phone contract and have the use of 2 other phones)

So - have I just been lucky?
Am I being thick?

I've yet to see whether they will try to take a further payment, but the DD has been deleted anyway and the bank informed

fatsailor

i checked google to find out what i was supposed to be getting from my bank for this "policy admin service" since i was getting charged twice a month for it....

charged once a month since around March 2003
twice a month since January 2004

i bloody hope that i get some cash back since i don't remember saying yes and it is for phones i haven't had for years, and i have had no contact from them ever

Princess_Tiger

I can't believe I didn't look into this sooner. Just realised that I've been paying these people £9.99 a month since at least April 2008! I'm so annoyed with myself that I didn't investigate what the mystery 'Policy Admin Serv' was sooner.
I did take out a contract with Phones for You and had the three months free insurance offer but I DEFINITELY cancelled it after the three months. I remember making a phone call and being told to send a letter (which I did). I stupidly thought that was the end of it but it seems not. Do you think I have any chance of reclaiming money back?
If anyone is still reading this post some advice would be appreciated please :-)

I'm sorry that my first post here is not a nice one offering advice(!) I'm a long time lurker and everyone is always so helpful and generous with advice.

Kayteehee

I rang to cancel last year and the guy was soooo pressurising, he made me feel stupid, he was trying to get me to keep 'sim card insurance' at 3 pounds a month, he was saying what if someone steals your phone and calls zimbabwe mobile or something, he said do i want to ruin my financial situation or do i want to pay 60p a week to ensure something like that will never happen.

sad to say i ended up keeping the 3 pound insurance as I said no three times and in the end I gave up and said go on then.

SouthernBellE*

How Odd!, just found this thread & have just dealt with this very same thing. Had paid this for years without knowing what it was for. Eventually established from bank a payment reference number, found address and sent letter to them on 5th feb2010. Requested details of when started,what for etc as no record of any mobile phone insurance. Asked for details on where bought and asked for copy of signed direct debit mandate. Also cancelled policy & sent by recorded delivery. Reply recieved dated 9.2.10 (quick response!!) Informed me that policy was started 29.12.03. Although they had requested copy of mandate but due to the age, it could not be provided. As a gesture of goodwill & without prejudice, they will refund full amount of £567.29 once my last DD payment clears in their bank (due 15th feb). Unexpected & seemed bizarre, after reading this thread, makes a bit more sense. Can PM address if needed but suggest anyone else paying this to fire off a letter asap! Good Luck