Help Swinton trying to charge me £50 cancellation on a policy I never signed for

[Hentooth]

Hi Guys,

 

Back in May a sales person from Swinton called me because I have my car insurance through them, and talked me into house insurance.

 

But by the time the documents turned up, I'd changed my mind and never signed the policy or CCA, and didn't return anything.

 

Now they are trying to charge me £50 for cancelling a policy I never wanted, never signed for and have not paid anything for BECAUSE I havn't returned the policy documents.

 

I just called them, and they say I have signed a CCA for my car insurance, but surely this is for my CAR insurance, and surely I have to sign and agree to the house contents BEFORE they set it up.

 

Gary

[unclebulgaria67]

You can arrange an Insurance contract by phone, but if they phoned you, then the distance selling rules apply. You would have needed to contact them to cancel within 7 days. See the link below.

Distance Selling Regulations - The Office of Fair Trading

 

What does sound strange is that Swinton were willing to send you the documents, before you paid anything. I am sure that this would not be a standard practice of Swinton and they would have asked for a deposit premium to be paid, plus your acccount details to pay monthly.

 

I think you should complain to Swinton, that the person who phoned you, arranged the policy on the basis, that if you wanted to continue cover, you had to return the signed documents. You did not return the documents, as you did not want the policy. Hopefully Swinton will listen back to the phone call and realise their mistake. They should cancel from inception and waive any charges. Advise them they you will enter a complaint and pass to the FOS, if you are hassled by this any further. If you go to the FOS, Swinton would be charged a £500 case fee by the FOS and it would cost you nothing.

 

The Home Contents policy would be a totally seperate contract to the existing Car Insurance, so I don't know why they mentioned that.

 

As a by the way. I really recommend that when your Car Insurance is due for renewal that you move your cover away from them. They have a very poor reputation for being extremely akward if you needed to claim and employ staff for such short period they never gain any experience.

[Hentooth]

Thanks Unclebulgaria, I've just written a letter to that effect, I'll let you know how it develops

[felix777]

I am having the same trouble with Swinton over the renewal of my house insurance policy. I told them to send me the conditions in writing as I am not able to deal over the phone (they do ramble on) and told them I didn't want it the day the documents arrived. They want £50 and the insurance wasn't due to start until the following month. I am being harassed on both my mobile and my ex-directory telephone number. I am not well and am not up to dealing with this.

[Hentooth]

The last contact I had with Swindles Debt Collector was a letter I sent them asking them to remove all phone numbers from their files as I would only communicate via post, and that I would not be paying any monies unless ordered to do so by a court, and that any harassment would be pointless and logged in a diary to present when the time came for a court case.

 

Not heard a thing since.

 

They are Bullies who try to make money by making you think you owe for a cancellation and then setting the hounds on 7 days after first writing to you.

 

I will NEVER use Swindle ever again, and have warned my family against them

[ihateyes]

i had the same trouble with Swindlers, but i just ignored them, and eventually they understood they werent getting a penny!

[smartcard]

I had a similar experience to you. You are not alone, believe me. If you have NEVER SIGNED an agreement on the household insurance policy then they will have difficult pursuing you. The policy IS not been fully executeD until it is signed by both parties. Read the CCA! They would have to argue it out in court. But I doubt it would get to court! You must write a letter to them asking for them to prove that you signed a credit agreement for the home insurance. If you never signed it chances are they can't produce it unless they fraudulent copy your car insurance signature. Which is totally illegal and criminal and you should report them to the police! They are notorious for not fully executing insurance policies, because people forget to return their credit agreements. But what people then forget is they are not fully insured! Swinton won't bother telling you, they will charge you £24 for not signing it and not tell you either - they just say your not covered - your fault for not returning you signed agreement! Please see your outgoing monthly repayments you have been making on you bank statement if you pay monthly - they are more than likely to put the charge up on the car insurance so they have probably taken it anyway. My best advise is to complain the the Consumer Direct - they'll contact you - write a brief complaint on their website and also complain to the OFT and ring the FSO and complain to them. Only they can do anything. They need evidence to take action against this rotten company before they can do anything. My advise to everyone out their. STAY AWAY FROM SWINTON.

[Hentooth]

Hi Smartcard,

 

Don't worry, I got them sorted, a few months ago I had a DCA letter and emailed them to ask what it was for (it only had amounts no client) and when they said it was for Swindles I told them that I disputed the debt and that I would not be paying any monies unless ordered to do so by a court and also for good measure added the CAG doorstep letter to it in case they felt like popping in to see me.

 

Haven't heard a thing since