Hiya, I'm hoping that someone can help me with this insurance matter

Briefly, I had a car insurance policy which I was paying by direct debit and had also paid an upfront fee. I owed around £250 on it and decided to send them a cheque to pay in full and cancel the direct debit.

I received a letter a day or two later saying that my bank had informed them that the direct debit had been cancelled and to re-instate it so that the policy isn't cancelled, but I thought that the cheque had crossed in the post.

I have today received another letter saying that the policy had been cancelled and they had added a cancellation fee and took some off my debit card too!!!!

I got straight in touch and they said that they had never received my letter and cheque and that there is no way the policy can be re-instated. Is this true ??

I am furious, I have paid almost £500 for 4.5 months of insurance.

If you didn't phone them before you decided to change the payment method, you should have done. As soon as you cancel a direct debit mandate at your bank, a day or two later it appears on an accounts report at the Insurers. They then send a letter requesting new payment instructions advising that the policy would be cancelled if new payment instructions were not provided. After a period of payment instructions not being received, notice of cancellation is then issue. Many Insurers have outsourced the handling of cheques to processing companies. So the cheque and letter may not have been seen by the Insurers accounts department. They might eventually get a report from the processing company saying that a payment was received for your policy, but too late to stop the cancellation.

I think this is a genuine misuderstanding on your part, as to the way Insurance companies work. You should therefore phone the Insurers and ask to speak to customer relations or a complaints handler, to see what you can do. Many Insurers will not reinstate a policy unless they have good reason to do so. Speak to your bank to see if the cheque has been cashed and if so by whom and on what date. Once a cheque is processed it goes back to your bank, with processing details applied to the back of the cheque. If you find out the Insurers had money via the cheque before the cancellation, there is no reason for them not to reinstate. They can do it, if they want to. All they have to do is speak to their IT people if necessary and they will reinstate the record. They often do this, when they have a problem with the policy record.

Thanks for that Uncle B. It all actually makes sense with hindsight, but unfortunately no less annoying for me!

That's the trouble these days, us ''little people'' are expected to be experts in every field and none of these big companies have any compassion for genuine mistakes.

I will check with the bank re. the cheque tomorrow, but to be honest, I'm not expecting them to re-instate the policy because their tone and manner was really bad. They actually said that they are unable to re-instate a policy by law !!

Thanks!!

Hi Super

Send a Formal Letter of Complaint Send it Recorded. Explain whats happened and what you want them to do. Tell them you will take the matter to the FOS. You can do that once you get a final answer from them.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1687251/How-write-best-letter-complaint.html

They actually said that they are unable to re-instate a policy by law !!

 

Thanks!!

It is not true that they cannot reinstate a policy by law. It says that they can't backdate Insurance, as it is a legal requirement under road traffic acts. The law is simply saying they cannot sell someone Insurance after the event. It is not meant to apply to situations where a policy is cancelled in error by Insurers.

Ask the question as to what they would do if a policy was cancelled in error, where an accident had happened while the Insurance was missing from MID ? They would recognise the error and reinstate the policy, so that you had cover at the time of the accident.

I would expect the Insurers to resolve this to your satisfaction, if they cashed the cheque before the cancellation.