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OneCall Car Insurance - tried to cancel within 14 days - what a Shambles!!


paul79
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Hi there,

I have a quick question regarding buying insurance online.

I took a policy out a few days prior to my existing cover ending with oncecall insurance.

 

I was a bit panicky at the time and took the cover out, paid deposit of about £25 and that was that.

 

I then decided to do what I should have done and read some reviews on the company. Oh dear I couldn't have picked a worse company if I tried.

 

So I emailed them to cancel the polcy, and from there this is how things went over the last few days...

 

 

  • Took the policy out, wasnt impressed with the documents (electronic format of the actual car insurance document was illegible, terms were dodgy)
  • Phoned to cancel it a few days ago within the 14 day cooling off period.
  • Email a few days later from them confirming cancellation.
  • I queired the deposit refund then got another email 2 days later saying I had to call them to discuss the refund.
  • Phoned them just now 3 times (first was wrong department, second cut me off) telling me they didn't need to refund it as the distance selling regs are there for consumers and insurers.
  • they also said that their terms wouldn't normally alllow for the refund (even though cover hadn't even started).

So I mentioned mentioned Trading Standards and the DSR. They then put me on hold and as a gesture of good will would refund me. SHAMBLES!

 

Anyway, my question would be do they have to issue me the refund without asking me why I cancelled in the first place?

 

Cheers,

Paul.

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FSA rules allow Insurers to charge a cancellation admin fee, even if cover had not started.

 

This is the FSA info on this. FSA link

We could do with some help from you.

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Thanks for the reply.

I spoke with them on the phone about getting my refund and they said out of a gesture of good will they would process the money back into my account, this was Wednesday.

This morning I have just taken delivery of a letter from them and cannot believe the audacity of this company.

See the letter here

 

Just to refresh your memories, here is the "document timeline" since I got in touch with them;

 

May 23rd: Applied for the insurance, paid deposit, policy documents emailed to me by onecall direct - Documents stated they needed me to send proof of NCB (fine) and color copy of my drivers licence (weird)

May 24th: Deposit taken from my account totalling £25.08

May 26th: Applied for policy cancellation online (they won't do it over phone), received email confirming cancellation request, 48 hours to process - no further action required from me, no mention of deposit refund

June 1st: Phone conversation as per my first post

June 4th: Received the letter as above,

 

What on earth is going on here? They say one thing on the phone then send a letter out with;

a) stating the wrong monies owed

b)request the return of the certificate which is in electronic format anyway

c)have completely gone against what they stated they would do in the first place...

 

Any responses greatly appreciated,

Thanks

Paul.

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Cancellation letter (dated 31st May 2011) was done before they agreed to waive the fee and is probably a generic letter, so will ask for things which are not relevant e.g return of cert which would be the case if they sent it by post.

 

So ignore it. You may or may not get another letter. As this company are a bit of a shambles, you probably won't here anything again, even to confirm your phone call.

We could do with some help from you.

PLEASE HELP US TO KEEP THIS SITE RUNNING EVERY POUND DONATED WILL HELP US TO KEEP HELPING OTHERS

 

 Have we helped you ...?         Please Donate button to the Consumer Action Group

 

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Thanks unclebulgaria,

I had in the back of my mind that this might be the case but was worried due to all the mishaps since getting in touch with them in the first place.

I will hold off until wed-thu next week to see if they refund my money and take it from there,

Either way I will let you all know the outcome!

Cheers,

Paul.

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Yes, Im with these too and things are a little deceptive!

I thought I was contacting an insurance company directly but now not so sure. I did get my schedule and policy through the post, but at the top of the schedule it clearly states, BROKER NAME - One Call Insurance.

So are they brokers or an Insurance firm?

 

Anyway, had to use the policy to replace a busted windscreen of which the cost is £500+. On my policy it clearly states the excess to be £150 but after phoning them to clarify ( and, thanks to CAG, offering only the basics of any info - ie let them do the running) they have the excess at £100!

So Im saying sod-all else and Auto-Glass coming tomorrow.:-D

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One Call are brokers, who sell Insurance under a delegated authority of a panel of Insurers they use. But according to various posts seen online, they appear to be a shambles.

 

Some of the online brokers appear to have taken on too much business, for which they don't have the necessary customer service staff, to make sure that everything is done properly. By keeping staff costs down, they can discount the premiums that they offer, in order to take on loads of business, but then don't have the staff to provide effective admin. One call would not be alone in this, if this is true of them.

 

The other issue that people find with these companies, are the very high charges for making any policy changes or cancelling mid-term.

We could do with some help from you.

PLEASE HELP US TO KEEP THIS SITE RUNNING EVERY POUND DONATED WILL HELP US TO KEEP HELPING OTHERS

 

 Have we helped you ...?         Please Donate button to the Consumer Action Group

 

If you want advice on your thread please PM me a link to your thread

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  • 2 months later...

Just got cancer & 7 days car less, with no progress

Carless with careless 1Call Insurance

 

One Call Direct (1call) only provide a courtesy car after they have decided how bad the cars damage is.

 

How long they take to do that is awful.

 

It's been 7 days so far and today their computer does not show any progress and said they do not care one way or the other, that it is taking this long.

 

They will not pay for a hire car and any costs will be ours, if the car is not a right-off. It is our gamble and we are trying to save all we can for her cancer care.

 

My mother-in-law is trapped at home, just when she should be living her life to the full. And with no local relatives, she will need to take several buses to get to a Cancer treatment on Monday.

 

The call center lady 'Lucy' was officious and nice, but did not show any feelings, as did her line manager. When she phoned him.

 

There are no decision makers or senior staff at the call center, as it is the weekend. Bad when insurance is paid for 7 days a week!

 

The policy of leaving customers car less while they mess around making decisions is bad, but their response when it drags on is deplorable. Especially in such circumstances.

 

Consider those that offer to be with you in 30 mins, before one that leaves you with nothing for a week.

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  • 5 months later...

I dont know where to start with this but to cut a long story short,

'one call insurance' is nothing but hassle.

 

You have to wait ages on hold, and when you make a complaint its simply ignored.

I have been waiting for a call-back from the manager for seven days.

 

My direct debits have left my account on the wrong days and I have had two £15 charges added to my policy for non payment which are not true.

I am fed up with the hassle of calling these people who lack customer service.

 

I can't cancel my policy because of the twelve month contract so im simply forced to stay with a company im unhappy with.

They seem to be an inexperienced company who take your money and give nothing in return.

The office of fair trading will soon be recieving a letter from me!

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Well well well, sfter happily joining in the One Call slatings,

Ive just got what I consider to be a very good deal from them.

 

I called them to tell them not to renew my policy as they wanted a further £70 this year and I had found a quote £10 cheaper than the last policy.

they asked me if I wanted to take the option of a 3-year deal (which I can opt out of anytime incurring only the usual fees) and in return, my monthly payment will be fixed for the 3 years.

 

Im now paying £36.xx each month for Fully Comp insurance on a 2007 Land Rover Freelander 2

- complete with windscreen and Breakdown Cover. Courtesy Car, Legal Fees etc.

 

Must say that in these times that does seem to be a bloody good deal!!!

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  • 2 years later...

One call rip off.

In 30 years driving I have never dealt with a worst company;

 

I decided to change my car I was paying monthly ,

I rang them told one call rip off my new details they said I had £138.40 to pay for changing over insurance to my new car for the last 3 months of policy

I said I will pay full amount on debit card now which I did thinking that was it for 3 months,

How wrong was I knowing I had paid in full I cancelled the direct debit,

 

Wrong again

I checked my bank account online to find one call rip off had taken £44 from my account without my knowledge;

I then rang them up got through after 40 minutes

I asked why they had taken the £44 to be told I had not paid in full but there was another three payments of £14 to come from my account and as I had cancelled direct debit they were charging me £25 fee on top of the next 3 payments taken from my debit card.

 

They wont be able to I have cancelled my card;

When I tried to explain they just rang off they rang off another twice.

 

The £44 they have taken without my knowledge is more than my last 3 payments they now say I owe.

I have contacted my bank and they have said wait until the money has gone from my account ring them back and they should be able to get it back for me

 

They deffinately told me I was paid in full I even had an email comfirming this.

I now intend to complain to tranding standards and the ombudsman.

 

I am damn well fed up of large companies trying to ride rough shod over me.

Does anyone else know any other body it would be worth complaining to

 

thanks John

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  • 3 weeks later...

I cannot stress enough what a waste of time these money grabbing b'stards are. I had loads of hassle with them over my address not matching what they had on their database, and wanting proof of no claims when I joined, but I assumed that was the end of it once I had resolved these matters.

 

I recently moved house and sent them an email to confirm I had moved. For which they charged me £70.90 for the pleasure. I'm sorry, it takes 2 seconds to change an address - 70.90? What a joke!

 

I refused to pay it and again hoped that would be the end of it as I had a new card since I joined them and they do not have my new details. Yet somehow (despite Amazon not being able to charge it when it accidentally defaulted to my old number on a recent order), they managed to get the money out of my account!!!!

 

These guys are total mercenaries, and as far as I can see utterly dishonest too. My insurance is up and I will definitely not be renewing with these ****ehawks. No doubt they'll find some way to charge me for telling them to get lost too.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi I have just seen this blog so I had to comment! We took out a policy with ONE CALL giving them 20 years no claims bonus...

.They knew the policy was for a second car as they asked for the other car REG!

 

2 months into the policy they wrote to us saying the 20 years no claims was not valid as it is being used on a different car with a different company..

..Nothing that they didn't know at the time of taking out the policy.

 

They state that because the other company will not communicate with them effectively the policy will be cancelled and they want to charge us 35% of the policy value........

..Whats worse is when I called them the person I spoke to was rude and she thought she had put me on hold when I heard her say this idiot wants us to not charge him 35% and I heard someone in the back round say just tell him to shut up and pay.

 

They knew there was another policy and only after the time frames had lapsed they decided to get in contact about this issue..

..It was all to late by then and they knew exactly what they were doing which was nothing short of a rip off..

..also they are blatantly ripping off people in areas that are not well of as others.

 

..for example. A friend of ours with the same carmodel etc who also do not have any no claims discount bonus, was offered a policy for £567 less simply because they live in a different area!

 

How can that be anything other than targeting people in a less demographic areas and charging them more money which is targeting people with less in life than those more fortunately off to live in other areas such as surrey.

 

WARNING THIS COMPANY ARE A [problem]! AVOID AVOID AVOID

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They are a bit of an amateur company, with some interesting media, if you search.

 

Anyway, you need to send a formal complaint in writing by recorded delivery and if necessary take this to the FOS. If you don't do this, you will end up with a load more hassle from this company, with their own debt collection people chasing for payment.

 

The policy was missold by the sales agent you spoke to, as they should have just given you zero no claims discount on this second car, as the NCD was already being used elsewhere. If they quoted with NCD, that is not your problem. One Call will have to stand the loss to the Insurers underwriting the policy for the year and then offer the renewal on the correct basis, which will be one years NCD, if you don't have a claim before renewal. I fully expect that the morons at One Call won't do this. They will cancel the policy, with a debt owing and they will make you go through the whole complaints process.

We could do with some help from you.

PLEASE HELP US TO KEEP THIS SITE RUNNING EVERY POUND DONATED WILL HELP US TO KEEP HELPING OTHERS

 

 Have we helped you ...?         Please Donate button to the Consumer Action Group

 

If you want advice on your thread please PM me a link to your thread

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  • 4 years later...

thread closed to stop repeated annual bumping

 

if you have an issue with onecall

 

start a new thread

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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