Overcharged insurance for 13 months!

[the green bowl]

Dont know if this belongs in this thread or the insurance company thread but here goes:

I signed a contract with O2 in November 2003 for a mobile phone with £7.99 per month insurance.

I noticed that the insurance payments were withdrawn seperately from the line fees, they showed as 'policy admin serv' on my statements.

I ended the O2 phone contract in November 2004 and thought no more about it. As a diligent student I was too busy studying - amount other things - to check my statements properly so it was not until December 2005 that I noticed that the £7.99 per month was STILL being deducted from my account. I cancelled the direct debit immediately.

As the contract was set up years ago and I'm not particularly good with keeping reams of paper in order, I do not have any of the documentation left. I can't recall if I received seperate documents for the insurance at the time.

I checked with the bank and they provided me with a contact number for the company (but strangely not the companies name) I find nothing more frustrating that speaking to large companies over the phone so I intend to contact them by post.

Has anyone had any experience of this sort of thing before? Is it my own silly fault for not cancelling the insurance myself or is it O2's responsibility to inform them? If I DO attempt to contact the company i will need to obtain from them copies of the terms to confirm the exact amounts, are they likely to give this up without a struggle?

I reckon this is about £103.87 altogether where I've paid insurance for 13 months for a phone I no longer had. It's not a great deal but it's hardly loose change. Should I pursue this?

[buzby]

Yup - happens allthe time. Other CAG members have been quite lucky in getting a fair chunk of their payments refunded, as few realise the insurance is provided by an external specialist, rather than the network. Whilst you do have to put your hands up and admit to not giving them notice of cancellation. However, you;ve nothing to lose, and you might get some dosh back to take some of the sting out of the problem.

[the green bowl]

Thanks for getting back -

can you point me i the direction of another poster or thread where this issue is dealt with? I've tried searching the forums but come up short.

I have the phone number and address of the insurance company but I don't know how to approach them. What are my legal rights here? Am I only likely to get money at the company's discression as 'goodwill payment'?

[buzby]

Writing to them is always best, especially if you take a reasonable tone and are (effectively) pursuing an ex-gracia payment.

Do a search in the forum for mobile phone insurance and that will pull up the relevant threads.

[the green bowl]

I've just sent the following:

Dear Sir/Madam,

With reference to policy no. *******

I took out a contract for an O2 pay monthly mobile phone in November of 2003 via Phones 4U. I also agreed to pay £7.99 per month phone insurance to you at the same time; these payments were first deducted from my account via direct debit (quoting the above reference) in January 2004.

My contract with O2 ended in December 2004 and I was under the impression that either O2 or more likely Phones 4U would have informed you that I no longer required phone insurance, as I no longer had the phone and my contract had ended. This impression was further reinforced by the fact that Phones 4U and Policy Admin Services are clearly in partnership at some level, it would therefore reasonably be assumed that some form of communication between your organisations takes place.

Unfortunately for me, it was not until December of 2005 that I noted that the monthly payments were still being deducted from my account. By my calculations (£7.99 per month, 13 payments made between December 2004 and December 2005) I have paid your organisation £103.87 for an insurance policy I no longer required.

I am therefore writing to request a refund of this amount.

Some enquires with groups that represent consumers such as I have led to my understanding that this is not an isolated case. Clearly both Phones 4U and Policy Admin Services could improve their customer service procedures significantly if they communicated more efficiently on these issues. Perhaps a more transparent approach with regards to matters of insurance would help reduce the growing number of these complaints against your organisation.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,


Let's see how this turns out.

[buzby]

Hmmm. They could just as easily write back and say as you get bank statelemts monthly, they thought it would be 'reasonable to assume' that you would at least look at them, see the overpayment, advise and cancel.

You aim is to get a voluntary repayment, not get their backs up and paint yourself into a corner. I think a friendlier approach is called for - evewn though you might not feel that way. Point out the connection you made between the two, and explain you perhaps should have been more vigilant, but would appreciate their assistance in recovering the overpayment.

When the chips are down, you don't have a case. Just because the contract ends doesn't mean you are finished with the insurance. You could have passed it to a partner with a different SIM and fully expected the protection to continue... If you put their back up, they can ignore you and your stuffed, so a rewrite may just tip the balance in your favour.

[the green bowl]

Had a call from Policy Admin Services.

£23.97 refund (the last three months charges).
Slightly better than a kick in the teeth I suppose.

[buzby]

True - but I bet you won;t get caught out like this in trhe future!