Long story....been with M&S for 3rd year now, unpo renewal of policy i was told it would be £56.00 per month, they sent new policy documents for £91.00 per month. i cancelled DD and called them up. They told me they could not offer the original price as it should never have been offered in the first place. However if i took out a new policy with them they could offer it at £56.83 per month but i would have to pay £98.44 as a deposit. i told them i could not do this but was assured by the advisor i would get a refund for £74.00 in my bank therefore i paid the £98.00.

i have called them today as i have not received the refund only to be told there is no refund due because the £91.00 was never paid by me.

This conversation was recorded apparently and i stated to the advisor 'you are sure i will get the refund as i have not budgeted for this' she replied 'yes'.....

Do i have a leg to stand on even though i never paid the £91.00 to get the refund from???

I'm a bit confused by your post

In your first paragraph you say that you therefore paid the £98.00

In the second paragraph you say that the £91.00 was never paid by you

And in your final paragraph you ask if you have a leg to stand on to get a refund even though you never paid the £91.00

If you didn't actually pay the sum please explain why you think you are entitled to a refund.

Mossy

Sorry, the £91.00 was for the renewal of the policy, i cancelled this direct debit as i was not going to renew the policy at this price.

The £98.00 was a deposit for a new policy they told me i could take out for £56 per month instead of the one at £91.00 per month. That is when i told them i could not afford the £98 as i had not budgeted for it and the advisor clearly stated that i would get a refund for £74 from the original £91 even though i told her i had not paid £91 in the first place because i cancelled the DD.

Very confusing!

Sorry, the £91.00 was for the renewal of the policy, i cancelled this direct debit as i was not going to renew the policy at this price.

 

The £98.00 was a deposit for a new policy they told me i could take out for £56 per month instead of the one at £91.00 per month. That is when i told them i could not afford the £98 as i had not budgeted for it and the advisor clearly stated that i would get a refund for £74 from the original £91 even though i told her i had not paid £91 in the first place because i cancelled the DD.

If I've worked this out correctly then you didn't renew your old policy because payments were going to be increased to £91 a month, so they offered you a policy at £56 per month providing you pay a deposit of £98.00.

You wanted the policy at £56 per month and therefore paid the £98.00 deposit to get this policy and now you want a refund of £74 out of the £98.00, but you still want the policy to continue at £56 per month.

I'd say that you were NOT entitled to a refund from the insurers, however, if the advisor told you anything different then take it up with them, and if you have a copy of the recording then use that as proof that you were told you would get it back.

Mossy

Thanks Mossy,

I have asked them for a tape recording which they said they will provide. i know i am not entitlted to a refund but only found this out today as a 'team leader' took the time to explain everything. But i think i should have some kind of compensation as it was not explained clearly in the first place and i would have done without driving the car until i was in a better position to pay for it.

Also, when you say you cancelled the direct debit, do you mean you did it directly through your bank or through the insurer?

I believe that cancelling a direct debit without going through the person/company you have the DD with, it could affect your credit rating.

I can't say much with regards to the refund issue as I don't understand what you've put lol

You haven't got a hope in hell!

You are asking to be refunded £74 even though you never paid the money in the first place!

As for compensation - forget it. When you pay by DD, payment requests are lodged with your bank in advance of the date that they leave your account (usually 3 working days). When you then call a company, their systems will show that they have gone in for your payment and at that stage it would not have cleared. This means that the operator would have been giving you correct information at the time, but subsequently your payment 'bounced' as you had cancelled the DD.

I think that you know this really and you sound like a bit of a chancer.