Work this one out for me : I cancelled my insurance but they still want money?.

[Draeger]

Apologies if this is a bit long winded!. Got my renewal in last month from my insurer, tail end of March for the RSV. They wanted £336. They apologised for the "slight increase" in the premium but said it was due to rising costs which were unavoidable. Quite amazing considering when I took out a policy with them last year it cost £136.

Anyway, there wasn't a chance in hell I was paying that so I did a search using Tesco Compare which threw up an absolutely identical premium with Hastings for £101. Happy days. So I called my insurer on the 28th of March to inform them that I would not be renewing and wished to cancel the policy there and then as I wanted to have Hastings begin my policy that day. The guy was fine and said he would put a note on their system showing I had requested this and also that he would remove the request for payment via my direct debit. I informed him I intended to cancel the direct debit as soon as I had finished the conversation on the phone with him which he replied to saying "Yeah, that's what to do".

Fast forward to a few days ago. A letter drops through the door from my insurers finance company ( who run the collection of monthly payments for them ) demanding 1 months premium ( for April, due on the 2nd ) and informing me that they will be charging me a £20 administration fee.

So I call back my insurer today to quiz them. Woman tells me they have nothing on their system to say I had cancelled the policy. I say I was told that this would be done but she just kept saying over and over "Well, it hasn't, we have no note on the system". I'm advised to call their finance company. I do so and the guy tells me that I need to speak to the insurance broker regarding the matter as they will only stop a request for payment if they are told do so from them. Here we go, I think.....I'm going to be bounced from pillar to post. Called back my insurer and the woman explains that although I had called to tell them I would not be renewing that I neglected to inform them I wanted to cancel the policy. This is completely untrue, the guy I spoke to when I first called to do this said he would put a note on their system and cancel the policy. Why else would I cancel a direct debit???!!!.

So the upshot is that my insurer want their £16 monthly payment for the last month of the policy and their finance company / cash collectors want their £20 admin fee. I'm not happy about paying either. Why should I pay for a months insurance that I didn't even use?. Dial Direct have said they have contacted their finance company to request they waive the £20 admin fee but can't guarantee that they will do so.

I'm wondering what the consequences of not paying up are?. Will I get a black mark on my credit rating?. I'm not a happy bunny, why can't people do their jobs properly?. I'm sure that if I made a pigs ear of something when giving them info and "forgot" to tell them something that they would soon jump down my throat.

To top it all off, my new insurer sent me a letter telling me that they had contacted my old insurer to verify my no claims and that they had been unable to do so. Which is complete bloody nonsense as well!!!. Luckily I had the renewal letter which had my NCB on it but it's nice to know my old insurer felt the need to play silly buggers and not bother to give Hastings info on my NCB. Gits.

 

[Lt_Red]

As Bill Hicks said;

"If you are in marketing or insurance, kill yourselves. There's no rationalisation for what you do, and you are satan's little helpers".

 

[agnes]

Bike devil insurance. Fantastic company.

 

[hillbilly2]

Insurance companies usually record the calls.Ring them up and lodge a complaint and ask them to trace the call.
My wife has just been through this problem (coming out of a company car),said XYZ and gave her a price on the phone, and then tried to reneg on the quote and ask for an extra £550 a few months later! The call was traced and they were found in the wrong
Insurance companies are the devils spawn Trace the call

 

[Dogbreath]

Insurance companies usually record the calls.Ring them up and lodge a complaint and ask them to trace the call.

Do this. I had to press my insurance company to do this after they completely ballsed up the policy on my MR2 Turbo, describing it as a UK car on the policy and then insisting it was my fault as they didn't insure imports and that I obviously didn't tell them! They got back to me after a couple of days and admitted it was their fault.

 

[Draeger]

Good point about the recorded calls.

I am sorely tempted to make my own invoice up and send it to them demanding £20 for an administration fee of my own to cover the time and hassle I'm having to take to sort this mess out.

 

[smyth]

After it's all sorted, if you feel that they didn't help, I would just name and shame them on as many bike related forums until I was bored.

 

[FunkyCowie]

Good point about the recorded calls.

I am sorely tempted to make my own invoice up and send it to them demanding £20 for an administration fee of my own to cover the time and hassle I'm having to take to sort this mess out.

But your admin fee is £36 right?

 

[Draeger]

But your admin fee is £36 right?

Another good point!!.

After it's all sorted, if you feel that they didn't help, I would just name and shame them on as many bike related forums until I was bored.

Yep, in fact I feel a little website getting knocked together and hosted in China from an anonymous account which may or may not detail certain goings on and include names. That might be jumping the gun a little and some may consider it to be over the top but I'll keep it on the back burner for now. It wouldn't be the first time that this has been required in *ahem* certain situations.

 

[Tattysnuc]

If you don't get the answers that you are seeking from the company, then can I suggest that you contact the financial ombudsman:

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm

If you asked them to cancel the policy, or instructed them that you were not going to continue with the policy, OR they failed to notify you that your policy would be renewed automatically, then you shouldn't be entitled to the charges that they are trying to levvy on you. I'm going back a bit to when I did some GCSE contract law, but I'm sure that under contract law, your contract finished with them when the insurance policy lapsed, and that they would have to show that they showed reasonable grounds to believe that you would be continuing with their policy. You've bought 12 months worth of cover, and that's all. Any more is them trying to renew a contract, and therefore a new contract...

 

[Danm54]

Hastings had problems verifying my NCD a few weeks ago, they contacted my old insurer who denied I had ever had a policy with them!

After a chat with Hastings I was told insurance companies do this quite regular as they're not happy about losing a customer.

Like the OP though my premium for the DR 350 shot up, I paid £127 last year, my renewal quote was £185 even after I called them to see if they could do better, got a policy with Hastings for £74 and that included use of other motorbikes! Are they really that surprised people dont renew?

 

[Tattysnuc]

Hastings had problems verifying my NCD a few weeks ago, they contacted my old insurer who denied I had ever had a policy with them!

After a chat with Hastings I was told insurance companies do this quite regular as they're not happy about losing a customer.

Like the OP though my premium for the DR 350 shot up, I paid £127 last year, my renewal quote was £185 even after I called them to see if they could do better, got a policy with Hastings for £74 and that included use of other motorbikes! Are they really that surprised people dont renew?

Wow - that sucks! I got my insurance free with the bike, so I've got all this to look forward to. Never had problems like this with my car insurance though.