Car Insurance Payment Demand

[sortingitout]

I took out 10 months insurance with Admiral last year and paid in full over the internet, this cover finished about 1 month ago, i phoned them and said i dont want to renew.

 

A few days later i receive a letter saying you do not need to to any thing as we have your bank details and it will be direct debited ( I have never set up a direct debit with them! ) from my account, i thought this must of been in error and may have over lapped with my phone call so just left it. A further letter was sent saying that the policy has been cancelled and i now owe £63 (i didnt take a policy out with them, i used another company)

 

Today i recieve a letter from C.A.R.S (creditlink account recovery solutions) saying i now owe £83 and if i do not pay it, Admiral will default me for that amount.

 

Could anyone advise me what i should do as this is just totally rediculus, i pay in full for things these days so i dont get defaults and such like and these are now trying to default me for a policy i didnt want nor need.

 

Thanks

[LemonTwist]

If you called in advance of the renewal date to cancel the policy, they shouldn't be charging you £63. What you should do is ask them to do a tape-pull of the phone call you made. Then they will be able to prove that you said you didn't want the policy to renew, and they won't be able to charge you for it because it was their mistake.

[sortingitout]

Ok i will get onto them tomorrow about that then but are they even allowed to try take money out of my account (the account was closed) and renew my policy without my say so?

[LemonTwist]

Yes, it is quite common nowadays for policies to auto-renew each year, unless you tell the insurer in advance that you don't want to renew. They will attempt to take the money out of the same account that you originally signed up with.

[sortingitout]

I accept that it is common but i have all the letters booklets that were sent to me at the time and no where does it say they will do this, i paid a lump sum for ten months insurance, thats it.

 

Anyway i did phone them to say i did ring to say i didnt want to renew the policy and they are now claiming there is no phone call recorded.

 

So what do i do now? send a section 10 notice and invite legal action?

 

thanks

[blahblah1]

I have a very similer problem with an insurance company. Was told over the phone it was cancelled was all fine and now they are insisting I never called them and have passed me onto their debt recovery group!

 

Don't know what to write backto them!

[jhnsmth]

Might be a little late with this reply, but someone else can read it and be helped by it. I used to work for them, and I can tel you this happens all the time. Customers call in because Admiral have taken their money for renewal, swearing they called before the renewal date to cancel.

 

Lo and behold, when the calls is searched for, it doesn't exist. It is then your word against theirs.

 

The first thing you should do at this point is escalate to a manager. Tell the agent that you need to discuss this with their manager because Admiral is required by law to keep record of all phone calls for 7 years, and you are not happy with the call being lost. The agent will most likely tell you no managers are currently available, at this point you should request a call back. Ask for the manager's name who will be calling you, and the location of the office. Inform the agent the manager needs to contact you on your mobile number only - mobile phones have a built in Record function, so you can record the conversation.

 

When the manager returns your call, first advise them you are recording the call, then advise them that if the charges are not written off and removed from the credit agency within 30 days, you will have no choice but to file a formal complaint with the Ombudsman, as well as report them to the FSA for failing to keep records of the phone call. If the manager refuses to write it off and clear your account, then advise the manager you want to speak to someone in the Quality department, as you are not satisfied with the outcome of your conversation with the manager.

 

The Quality department will, in almost all cases, write off the charges and clear your account. They do not want anything to go further than this, as it would cost them considerably more in litigation fees than it would to write off a few Pounds.

 

So to summarize. Speak to the Agent, if not satisfied, speak to a Manager, if still not satisfied, speak to Quality department.