Hi All,

I have a bit of a problem with Yes Insurance cancelling my policy, with essentually one days notice!

It's quite a drawn out saga so I will try to keep it short. I took out a policy last septemeber with yes car insurance. In May/June this year I had a payment returned,(was having a few money issues at the time) set my dd debit back up and requested that the July payment(last one) came out on the 1st July as all my other direct debits come out the same day and I can then see what I'm left with for the month, they said that would be fine. I was away on holiday from the 3rd July, and stupidally assumed that everything had come out of my account (I know I should have checked) and I proceeded to take out my holiday money leaving about £5 in my account.

Anyway they didn't take the payment until the 5th, which meant it was returned due to lack of funds. On my return off holiday on the 15th July I checked my account and my bank had charged me for it. On the 17th I got home to letter saying they would attempt to take the money again on the 17th!! The very same day, obviously I was a bit annoyed at this as I knew there was no money in my account, and on checking it I found the payment had been returned and the bank had charged me again, a total of £60 in all for both returned payments.

Yesterday I received a letter from the company saying they where giving me 7 days notice of cancelling my policy (letter was dated the 21st Juuly) and that it was being cancelled at midnight tonight. Obviously being a bit annoyed at this, as I knew I wouldn't be able to pay the money until friday (pay day) On ringing Yes I asked the guy if he would give me a bit of leeway as technically they have given me a days notice on cancelling my policy. His snotty reply was there is nothing we can do and it isn't there fault theres a postal strike! So i asked why hadn't they called me regarding something as important as this as they have both my home and work number, to his reply was it a system automated thing, I just kept going round in circles with it so I told the guy I'd take my money else where and hung up.

Can I take any action against them for this, essentually giving me a days notice, can I claim my bank charges back off them? Also I noticed they said 7 days notice on the 21st July, and that would be 26th July at 24:00, surely if it was 7 days it would be up on the 27th at 24:00?

Sorry its so long winded !Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Were you sent a direct debit confirmation for the 1st July's payment? Under the direct debit guarantee they must give you at least 10 working days notice of any futher debits from your account.

No they didn't and like I said the first I knew of them trying to take the payment again on the 17th , was a letter that arrived on the 17th ( dated 10th July)!!

It takes a few days for a BACS payment to go through and show on your account. If your preffered payment date was the 1st, then it might not show on your statements until the 4th or 5th. in this case the 1st july was a wed and you took your money out on the 3rd (a fri) so it may not have shown as "cleared" on you account hence why the bank let you have the money.

As you're probably aware the onus is on you as the customer to make sure there is adequate funds in your account on the day your payment is due. Most company's will send a letter telling you your payment has bounced and will usually re-apply for the payment within 7 days from the date of the letter. Now in this case, you were away on holiday when they sent you the letter telling you Julys payment had rejected and confirming when they would represent the payment. As the consultant correctly said, they have sent the letter, its not down to them if you're not there to read it.

This being the case, i would have to say that they would decline to pay any bank charges as they have followed the correct process so it isn't their error.

In regards to the postal strikes, these are obviously causing a lot of headaches for businesses. I personally feel that they could have been a bit more flexible with you, although strictly speaking he is right that its a postal error and again they've followed the correct process, i would have thought that giving you an extra few days to sort it out would be fair.