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

beastrobot

and then what?:j

what.the.?_4

high ive just been charged by phones4U of £9.99 for this 'POLICY ADMIN SERVS' im still in my so called 3 months free insurance....now im not impressed with the hassle i have had to put up with because of phones4U....ok yes they go out of their way to get you what you ask for but then they charge me this with no warning and within my first free month of my insurance.....i dont care about the money it just would of been nice if they had actually informed me before hand but because of their rep i will be cancelling my policy with them and be having words with the people who got me my contract.....its not right sticking random charges especially if they say it is going to be free for 3 months and then bang you get a charge....no warning nothing.....no i know my rights when it comes to things like this as i have been looking on the net asked the CAB and asked other legal aids in finding out where i stand on all this.....

if you have been charged within your 3 months free then you have all the right to get the money back for the duration of which it was free but not the payments of which is after the duration....

either way its not technically a scam its just a little loop hoe they have to get the money in....its still legal sadly

all you can do really is talk to the people you got the contract with and confrunt them and ask for it to be put back into your account....but this is only possible if you are in the 'free' months of the deal.....

i hope i was of some help =]

SouthernBellE*

beastrobot wrote: »

and then what?:j

amus wrote: »

I must admit when I worked in a bank there were countless people who came in querying this. Phones 4 U know what theyre doing by taking out the DD under such an obscure name and most of the people I spoke to wernt even aware they had agreed to take out insurance - they were responsible for a lot of charges on bank accounts!! Sharp practice Phones 4 U!!

:T Very dodgy selling practice! Policy admin were very easy to deal with re the complaint (I found)...However.....DSGI!!!!! :mad::mad::mad:...PC World AND Currys are use similar tactics in applying insurance and getting ANYWHERE with a complaint to DSGI was like banging my head against a wall!!:mad::mad::mad: Rude, Obnoxious and Very unhelpful. In the end, I was glad to just get the damn payments stopped as they'd applied it to CC!!!:mad:


Re.. Dealing with complaint to Policy Admin

Put it writing
Keep a copy of all correspondance
Clearly state complaint, cancellation & what you expect to be refunded
Ask them to reply in writing (calls can't be proved)
Warn them that if you don't get a satisfactory response to your complaint, you'll forward copies and details to the FOS

SEND ANY AND ALL LETTERS BY RECORDED DELIVERY

Personally, phone & instruct bank to cancel DD & let them know you are in dispute BUT Follow that up with a letter to the bank, again rec delivery & keep copy!

* from my point of view, after paying around £600 ins on a phone that cost maybe £20-£30 when new..(I'm not great with money but pointless even to me! ) I'd have REJECTED an offer of £30. They did call (presumably to make an offer) but as OH was away working, I insisted they deal with the response to the complaint in writing. Offered just over £570 to resolve the matter...........as a gesture of goodwill...not because they were obliged to!!;):rotfl:)

PP gives a rough outline of the letter I sent.

HTH, feel free to PM!

SB
X

marleyboy

Holly_Croft wrote: »

to be honest i dont think it was explained all that well......they certainly wasnt worried about me payin it for 'i dont know how long' when they took my card to pay for the phone. You just think you'll get the first 3 months free and then you have no insurance.....not still be payin for it yrs later. i dont know how they can get away with? (rhetorical question).hxx

No, this is never the case, were that so there would be no reason to have your bank details in the first place. Pretty much every company that offers a cherry of a free trial, from mobile phones to internet providers, will offer it via an "opt in", after the free trial (which is generally inclusive with the cooling off period), you have the opportunity to "opt out".

A company would not assume after a trial period that you would want to opt out of the contract, its your duty to inform them you intend to.

stephazine

Holly_Croft wrote: »

Hi
I just wanted to warn any1 who has 'POLICY ADMIN SERV £7.99' on there bank statement.
It is a big con started by Phones4U that is initially 3 months free insurance at £7.99 a month.

Seems to me you did not ask them everything you should have known. I have JUST got a phone from Phones4U myself and they gave me a tenner in cash to put in the bank to pay for the first months insurance...He told me to then cancel it as I already have insurance with my bank. Which I have now cancelled.

You should have asked them why they were giving you a tenner cash. As I read before from another poster, it is completely your fault. You should be checking your bank for stuff like that at least weekly, I check mine daily. If you don't do that then it's most certainly your own fault for not checking out what it was.

Suzf_2

Thanks to everyone posting on this thread. Just had confirmation by letter that although they do not accept responsibility, as a good will gesture I'm getting £487! back for a policy I apparently took out in May 2004. Thought Policy admin serv on my statement was for my overdraft!

Thank you everyone!:T

didlesknowmydad?

stephazine wrote: »

Seems to me you did not ask them everything you should have known. I have JUST got a phone from Phones4U myself and they gave me a tenner in cash to put in the bank to pay for the first months insurance...He told me to then cancel it as I already have insurance with my bank. Which I have now cancelled.

You should have asked them why they were giving you a tenner cash. As I read before from another poster, it is completely your fault. You should be checking your bank for stuff like that at least weekly, I check mine daily. If you don't do that then it's most certainly your own fault for not checking out what it was.

Firstly, if a company is taking funds from an individual's account even though he/she did not agree to the transaction and did not ever complete a DD mandate to authorise the regular payment, how can the fault lie with the individual. Yes, it is prudent to carefully check bank statements but the fault lies with the people who perpetrate this scam, the original phone salesman who, presumably, sent instructions to Policy Administration Services to commence taking payments and with the company itself who act on the word of a salesman and who fail to notify "victims" that the "insurance cover" is set up and that they will be taking payments from the "client's" bank account.

I have to admit I fell foul of this, only realised what was happening when my partner asked me what the payments were for, I thought I knew then discovered I didn't and after searching the internet came upon this thread.

When I contact their customer services I was given all the spiel described in earlier posts but demanded the return of the payments they had taken. They said they would have to check with Phones4u to get a copy of the DD mandate and would let me know the outcome. In the meantime, I sent them a letter by recorded delivery, demanding the full return of all monies paid or I would go to litigation.

I received a letter from their guy in customer services, confirming that Phones4u stated that I requested the insurance (not true, my phone is covered on my household contents insurance so why would I?) but Phones4u could not find the direct debit mandate. Therefore, he went on to write, Policy Administration Services had agreed to refund all payments taken by them, £679.15 , and would transfer this into my account within ten working day.

On the tenth working day, I had received nothing from them, I telephoned asking to speak to the guy who had so professionally helped me before and who had gone through all the script that this company seems to do with everyone who calls them regarding this. I was told he was on holiday so I was put through to a colleague of his. When I gave my details and reference no. the original guy had told me to quote, she said she would come straight to the point and say that she could see quite evidently that the guy I had spoken to and who had written to me had done everything required, BUT HAD FORGOTTEN TO PUT THE PAYMENT REQUEST THROUGH SO NOTHING HAD HAPPENED.

She promised to put it through that day but could not give me a time when I would receive it although she promised to ask the payment people to deal with it as a matter of urgency, she then quoted the "within ten working days" phrase they like to use. She was full of apologies but I can't help feeling that this is a continuation of the "scam"...I believe they work on the basis that if they prolong refunds then some complainants will give up waiting or forget to check their bank accounts and they will get away with a few more "scams" for a little bit longer until the "victim" picks it up again.

I will wait for ten working days and then I will write out the court summons papers.

didlesknowmydad?

viv1969 wrote: »

So, here's a slightly different take on the Policy Admin people.
I don't have a policy with them. I don't have a direct debit taking any money from my account every month. What I DO have is Policy Admin sending me text messages and calling me EVERY DAY! They apparently have a policy on my telephone number, however my name doesn't match thier records..the bank details don't match (I didn't give them mine but rather asked them to give me the last 4 digits of the account they had on file and I then confirmed it's not mine. I gave them the first line of my address, which again is different to thier records. So how the hell do I stop them bombarding me with telephone calls and texts??? They tell me every time that they will take the number off thier records, but low and behold the very next day it starts again! I know it may seem petty, but it's driving me nuts!

Interesting, even though PAS have my phone no. and have been taking payments from me for 7 years for "insurance" on the phone, insurance I never signed up to, I have NEVER received a text from them (nor written correspondence for that matter).

Jason0312

Until recently I was paying £7.99 per month via a direct debit to Policy Admin Services.

I went to my bank: Lloyds TSB to setup a savings account and they have cancelled this direct debit as it's got nothing to do with my bank. Since then I have had 3 texts asking me to contact Policy Admin Services about the direct debit.

I now know this was linked to Phones 4 U which is where I got my mobile from about 3 or so years ago. I think a letter addressed to me would have been more professional than a text message, so now I just delete the texts.

So if anyone is thinking of buying a phone from Phones 4 U make sure you decline any offers of phone insurance for 3 months for free as they just keep taking out money.

Jason0312

Suzf I thought the same kind of thing. I am paying of a loan that has payment protection.

So I thought the payments were for that. Now I know it's got nothing to do with my loan the direct debit was cancelled by the bank for me.