In April I received no less than 5 notices from my wifes car insurance company- all offering the exact same price, and that I wouild have to do nothing if I wanted to accept it.
So I did nothing,other than check a few Price comparisons web sites to check it wasn't OTT.
I received a letter dated 1st of May, to say "Thank you for renewing your insurance" and thought no more of it.
Today, I received a letter to notificatin of cancellation and a £97.45 bill for not notifying them of cancellation with a threat of further costs and procedures to recover costs.
I rang them to ask why payment hadn't been taken as they had done previously - but they couldn't tell me, as it was my wife's account ! Eventually it transpired they'd sent 2 letters, not received and 1 phone calll but no message left - to say they hadn't been able to take payment, so why send the letter saying "thank you for renewing your insurance".
Ok partly my fault as the card I may have used previously was cloned end of last year and had to be replaced, but as I only receive bank and credit card statements around the 5th of each month and therefore had no way of checking that monies had been taken - NO I DON'T DO ONLINE ACCOUNTING !! OLD SCHOOL.
Do you think in this day and age, of Emails and telephones - Just 1 Telephone attempt and 2 letters is enough to maintain contact - surfice to say I had to rapidly find a new insurance company - as they wouldn't just resurrect the old amount and wanted to charge an extra £61 on top of the cancellatin costs.
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>> Ok partly my fault as the card I may have used previously was cloned end of last year and had to be replaced,
Would you have been happy if someone using the old card details could still charge against your bank account? Thought not and neither would I. So how was the insurance meant to know the new card number details - the card probably had a different number (last 4 digits) and definitely different issue/renewal dates and security code.
But surely they should have contacted you (e.g. writing) to say payment was refused.
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>> Do you think in this day and age, of Emails and telephones - Just 1
>> Telephone attempt and 2 letters is enough to maintain contact
I think its enough, yes. How many attempts do you think they should have made?
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>>NO I DON'T DO ONLINE ACCOUNTING !! OLD SCHOOL<<
I wouldnt boast about it, online banking allows you to monitor on a daily basis your accounts and thus what goes out of them...
Seems you failed to pay by cancelling the payment method, so from their point of view, they send you a couple of letters and ring you on the number they have and still no reply - its the same as cancelling a cheque on someone, I dont blame them for sending out a huffy letter, because they made reasonable steps and by sheer coincidence, people tend to respond to such letters with more enthusiasm.
Sounds entirely the fault of OP, its unfortunate to have happened, but cancelling a card which has payments going out on it is a pretty basic error.
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I think 3 atempts is fair. Cant blame them for the mail not getting to you.
Each communication costs them money - you and I are paying for that
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So 2 letters that I never received and 1 phone call that they didn't leave a message for is all my fault !!
As for the credit card -yes I accept that when it had to be cancelled I could/should have gone through All my costings on that account - but I didn't -
as the only letter I did receive was to thank me for renewing my insurance - why send that out until you've received the monies
you must all have more time and be less faultless than me - congratulations
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Not saying this fault but with all identify theft and card fraud going on you need to check your bank account daily. I instantly know if something has not come out etc, and also very paranoid about car insurance. If it doesn't come out on the day I expect it to I am on the the phone to them.
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Your obviously annoyed at yourself for the oversight and you want to shift as much of that onto the company as possible, its human nature, but sometimes you have to take it on the chin.
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>> So 2 letters that I never received and 1 phone call that they didn't leave
>> a message for is all my fault !!
To loose one letter is unfortunate; to loose both.......
Do you open everything on receipt and never assume something's junk?
>> as the only letter I did receive was to thank me for renewing my insurance
>> - why send that out until you've received the monies
>>
Probably auto generated in some way?
From the insurance company's perspective there prohibition on backdating insurance. That may make it difficult to revive a cancelled policy.
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I always check to see if they think automatic renewal's in force and tell them to cancel it.
I'm a bit worried, as my present home insurer refuses to email or write to me confirming this fact.
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I'm not sure of the legalities of it but it sound ridiculous to me. How can the insurance company charge you for doing nothing ??
Why should you have to cancel the insurance if it's not a Direct Debit?
If it's not paid for then it is not purchased, end of.
I'd refuse to pay and let them take it to court.
And if they are threatening then sue them for harrassment.
Last edited by: Kithmo on Fri 27 May 11 at 13:37
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When you buy a policy with automatic renewal you are actually buying a continuous contract with a premium to be set annually and a cancellation clause giving you the right to cancel at anniversary date.
The argument that insurers use in thier favour is that it stops people forgetting to renew their motor policy and being without cover.
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Problem with car insurance - rtj70
