Elephant

[The Loaf]

Hi all,

I hope someone may be able to help.

I had a policy with Elephant which had about 4 months to run, financial difficulties meant my DD got returned and a consequent dispute with my bank meant I have been paying my bills with cash. I called Elephant who flatly refused to allow me to make a cash payment, I spoke to a call centre bloke and a supervisor.

As a consequence my policy was cancelled, obviously this caused me no end of trouble and means I had to start my NCB again.

Are they able to deny me the chance to pay in cash? All my other bills, phone and credit card, have been paid in cash with no problems whatsoever.

To top it all off I have had an email today asking me for £60 that I apparently owe them.

Any information will be gratefully recieved.

Cheers

[Darkangelsdelite]

Most insurance companies dont have the facility to accept cash payments (none of ours do as far as i know). Some will accept cheques at a push, but thats about as close as you'll get. The chances are your policy was probably canceled for non-payment so they'll be chasing you for any balance on the policy up until the day they invoked cancellation, which as you had cover for that per (time on risk) you will unfortunatly be liable for.
As far as your question in regards to "are they allowed" to deny customers to pay cash, i'll leave that one to one of the legal experts on here, i would assume it would have to be legal otherwise we wouldn't be able to do it, but thats just an opinion.

[The Loaf]

Is that really the case? I can fully understand why they wouldn't want it to be a regular occurrence but surely they have a bank account that all the DD payments go in to.

[Darkangelsdelite]

Where would you pay the cash to? most insurance companies use call centres so you cant send it there. Elephants main back office is in Cardiff i believe but even then i doubt they would know what to do if you turned up with a wad of cash.
We used to do a temporary suspension of direct debit payments where we would allow a customer to send in 3 post-dated cheques for up to 3 monthly payments, but this was the exception rather than the rule and i have never known a major insurance company to accept cash payments, only brokers.

[xrchris]

Unfortunately direct insurers do not like to accept cash.

There may be an issue with the legality of this as you were not 'refusing payment' but Elephant were refusing to accept your payment and cancelled your policy.
This is rocky ground and it may be worth formally complaining via the FSA as i personally would consider this a breach of the Treating Customer Fairly approach being issued by the FSA.

I suppose it all depends what your end goal is as Elephant are highly unlikely to re-instate the policy.

[The Loaf]

I'm really not sure what the end goal could realistically be, I understand and accept that the policy won't be reinstated, I've had to take out another policy with another insurer, but I do think it's incredibly unfair that I had about 3 months to go on the policy to give me another years NCB. I now have to start again from 3 yrs NCB instead of being on nearly 4, my premium is higher as a consequence.

Having lost 4 years NCB due not holding my own policy for 2 yrs and 1 day, yup just one day over, I really don't want to lose out to insurers anymore.

Any idea where to look with regards to the cancellation fee they want to charge me? Surely it's akin to bank charges where the admin costs are inflated?

[xrchris]

Originally Posted by The Loaf

Having lost 4 years NCB due not holding my own policy for 2 yrs and 1 day, yup just one day over, I really don't want to lose out to insurers anymore.

This is a bit late but now there are several companies that accept NCB up to 3 years of age as i use them on a daily basis at my office.

[craigwalton]

With regards to the cancellation fees, you need to ask them for a break down of the figure - If it is for time on cover, then it is perfectly legal. However, if a hefty part of it is "Administration", then it is illegal.

With regards to not paying cash, the best thing I can advise you to do, if you have the facility to pay the cancellation charge, is pay by cheque. If they cash it, then they do have the facility to accept other means apart from DD, and start your complaint on this basis

[The Loaf]

With regards to not paying cash, the best thing I can advise you to do, if you have the facility to pay the cancellation charge, is pay by cheque. If they cash it, then they do have the facility to accept other means apart from DD, and start your complaint on this basis

I like the way you think. I shall give that a try and see what happens.

Just checked the original email from elephant requesting the £60.28 and found this;

Or you can send me a cheque made payable to 'elephant.co.uk', with your
policy number on the back.

Does this give me something to go on?

[Darkangelsdelite]

Unfortunately, just because an insurance company accepts cheques, it doesn't mean they accept cash payments. None of the brands that i deal with will accept cash as payment regardless of the circumstances, however they will accept a cheque or even postal orders as an absolute last resort but cash is a definite no. As suggested above, if you cant pay the balance on a card or by DDlump sum, then their debt recovery dept will almost certainly accept a cheque as they'd rather get their money somehow than chase you for it.

As far as NCD goes, its valid for 2 years as standard throughout the industry, if you go back to the same insurer then its valid for 3 years. I think thats a bit harsh that whoever you went to wouldn't give you 2 years NCD cos you were a day over, I'd have shopped around and found someone that wasn't so strict.

In regards to canceling your policy with elephant, http://www.elephant.co.uk/Policy/ELE.pdf
It says that the charges are on the back of your certificate of motor insurance.

[xrchris]

Originally Posted by Darkangelsdelite

As far as NCD goes, its valid for 2 years as standard throughout the industry, if you go back to the same insurer then its valid for 3 years.

The majority of insurers stipulate 2 years but there are several insurers who will accept it up to 3 years whether you were previously insured with them or not.