Have to be careful what I say here. But if you make an initial payment for Insurance on any kind of card and then subsequently pay by direct debit, if you then go into dispute with the company, they can go back and take any fee they wish from your account using the card details you first paid with - and you can't stop them. Hastings Direct sent e an email asking me to click 'yes' to confirm I wanted to cancel and then took £50 out of my account. I assume the £50 charge was buried in the email or terms somewhere. £50 for doing nothing, good business. Thanks Hastings Direct for talking it over first.They wil never see my business again.
Similar thing happened to me with BeWise they call it an admin charge although for me it was only £25 I complained in writing to the MD (though I doubt if it reached him/her) and got it refunded. Worth a try. Apparently all insurers do it now, or at least try to. Good luck Colin
One insurance company were going to charge me £25 just to transfer my money from my bank to theirs, plus £1, when I asked what the charge was for I was told £25 admin fee for paying in instalments, I asked what was the £1 for, they hadn't a clue.
I told 'em to shove it, I'll pay it in one. As a goodwill gesture I got £26 knocked off my next years premium, which would have been great if they hadn't upped the annual fee by more than that.
BTW I G, if you address a letter to someone specific it's supposed to be delivered to that person and not opened by anyone else. I know this cos I used to deal with the mail for my colleagues and boss when I worked at Allianz Cornhill Insurance. Altho it doesn't necessarily follow that the person it's addressed to will deal with it personally, especially if they have a P A. Although it doesn't matter who deals with it as long as you get your money back.
Colin, although the company have taken the £50 you can ask for a refund, it's worth a try. Let's face it, in the current economic climate, it doesn't pay to pee off the customers and get badmouthed by them, not good for business.
An amazing bank!!! To cut a long story short Hastings direct took their £50 and I could not get it back. I wrote to my bank First Direct, because I had asked them not to pay HD because I was in dispute with them. My bank, First Direct said because of VISA card rules they had to pay..... but then.... as a good will gesture to a long term customer First Direct gave me the £50!!! NO kidding, they credited me £50!
Same thing happenened to me when I changed bikes. previous insurer would not insure my new bike because it was not old enough. so carole nash cancelled the policy and started a new one with another company I paid a full 12 month premium for the origanal policy which was cancelled after 3 months and recieved no refund
I believe that according to the Data Protection (1998) Act it is illegal for any company to retain your credit/debit card details and use them for anything other than the original transaction unless you have given them specific permission so to do. If the company claims that it is in their T&C but they did not draw your attention to that clause then they are wrong. Go to your bank/CC company and tell them that it was an unauthorised transaction.
Regarding cancellation fees..... I accept these exist but my point is are they reasonable, especially if you've already paid a large amount of the policy. Burying such things in small print does not make unacceptable charges acceptable. Hastings Direct are *ankers and can kiss my arse regarding any future business.
similar tale concerning hs insurance last week....it automatically renewed and first I knew was a letter saying it had....I looked on line and found several better deals (within three days). I looked ot e mail them to say I wanted to cancel..no addy! Looked for a number to call..guess wat..a premium line number for all such enquiries!
Having little choice I rang it...call was promptly dealt with in under 5mins, so 5p a minute on top of BT rate not too painfull, BUT they still took my premium the following day! I had to call again and |ASK for it to be refunded, another 4 mins..and of course it takes 5 working days ! Meantime, they have my house ins money, but I have NO insurance.....funny ant it, they dnt insure you until u pay by card over phone, they get ya dosh immediately, when boot on other foot they cancel ya ins and keep ya £ for a week!! Oh and they also tried the £30 cancelation fee..I protested telling them Id write to my local paper....they dropped the charge!
DIAL DIRECT be aware folks
If an Insurance company tries it on....cancellation fees for auto renewed policies etc. All you have to do is inform them (politely) that you will seek redress via the Financial Ombudsman Service. This alone is generally sufficient to get them to play by the rules. I had a cancellation fee refunded plus £50 for causing me distress a couple of years back.
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