car ins auto rolled into new year, even though i cancelled!! they've taken the money - help!

[103daz]

Hi all.

 

I am in desperate need of some help & advice, so after spending some time trying to find info off the net have ended up at the CAG forum.

 

my car insurance was due for renewal on the 23rd of this month

& I received an email from the insurance company saying that they would automatically renew my insurance

& that I didn't need to do anything & it would all be done for me.

 

Well the renewal quote was completely ridiculous (even though I was apparently getting some sort of huge loyal customer discount)

so I shopped around & got a quote that was £200.00 cheaper & paid in full with the insurance to continue on the 23rd of this month when my old one ran out.

 

I tried to contact the insurance company on a few occasions when I got in from work but the office was always closed by the time I got in,

as I didn't want them continuing my insurance on the renewal date I requested "call back" from them,

this call back never materialised,

so I tried again,

 

this time using their "contact us" page I was able to leave a message explaining everything to them

& also had to include my Name, policy number, phone number & email address.

 

At the end I received a generic message saying thankyou & someone would be in touch IIRC within 24 hours.

 

I didn't hear anything back, so after a couple of more days I once again requested a "call back" from them

& this time At last they called me back,

 

I explained everything to the guy on the phone about trying to contact them

& giving them the info etc & he passed me on to another department,

 

I explained it all again & the guy said its too late now because the money was taken from my account on the 17th of this month

 

I told him that it wasn't to late as I had not requested this & in fact had requested the opposite,

& that I was already insured with someone else from the 23rd of October,

 

he said would I like to cancel it then & I said Yeah Of Course!

 

he then said he had cancelled it & he would refund the £549.19p back to my bank account.

 

I asked if it would be straight back into my account & he said it could take up to 3 working days to show in my account but I would get it back

(I had to explain the situation to a friend & borrow some money as I didn't have enough left in my account to cover my mortgage & other direct debits)

 

Well that was all said on Monday 21st October, today is Friday 25th October & still no money refunded to my account.

I contacted the bank & was Shocked at the (none existent) help I received from a sarcastic girl on the phone,

 

I was told that because it was a card payment & Not a direct debit they couldn't do anything about it

& nearly all insurance companies do it now & I would have been made aware of it when I renewed my policy last year

(I certainly was not as I would have refused to allow them to automatically renew it without my permission)

& was told that I should have cancelled it before any payment was taken

 

& she also said if I did cancel any future payments from insurance companies,

to realise that I would never be able to get insured with them ever again because the cancelation is permanent & cant be reversed.

 

she said that she would contact the insurance company,

& if they say that I did cancel it

& they were supposed to pay me it back

they would take it back on my behalf,

 

HOWEVER... if the insurance company says it hasn't been cancelled

& they weren't supposed to be refunding me,

then there is nothing she can do about it

& I would have to just sort it out myself with them????????

 

She couldn't give me any sort of timescale of when I would have the money back in my account or anything.

 

And after the experience I have had & reading the horror stories on here about insurance companies ripping other people off,

 

I now have serious doubts about them handing my money back to me anytime soon

& it appears that if they ever do hand it back it isn't anytime soon

& certainly without putting up a battle first.

 

I seriously think that insurance companies should be set stricter rules on how they operate because it seems

that a Lot of them are only a stones throw away from crooks/thieves.

 

I'm ranting on when what I really need is some good help & advice on where I go from here in getting my money back,

I just simply cant afford to lose £549.00

& the only reason I pay my insurance in one go is because I save it up over the year

to save on the extra costs making monthly payments.

 

any help or advice you can give is greatly appreaciated.

 

Darren

Edited October 25, 2013 by 103daz
spelling

[dx100uk]

firstly your bank is WRONG.

 

Cancelling a regular

card payment:

 

When you give your credit or debit card details to a company and authorise them to take regular payments from your account,

such as for a gym membership or magazine subscription,

it is known as a ‘recurring transaction’ or ‘continuous payment authority’.

These are often confused with direct debits, but do not offer the same guarantee if the amount or date of the payment changes.

In most cases, regular payments can be cancelled by telling the company taking the payments.

.

However,

you have the right to cancel them directly with your bank or card issuer by telling it that you have stopped permission for the payments.

Your bank or card issuer must then stop them – it has no right to insist that you agree this first with the company taking the payments.

Be aware, though, that you will still be responsible for paying any money that you owe.

.

see: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?336569-How-to-remove-a-lender-s-continuous-payment-authority(2-Viewing)-nbsp

.

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/consumerinformation/product_news/banking/know_your_rights/solving/index.shtml

and

Attach the following to your claim and in the interim period write to your bank and attach the following (Keep a copy)

Regulation 55 of The Payment Services Regulations 2009:

55.—(1) A payment transaction is to be regarded as having been authorised by the payer for the purposes of this Part only if the payer has given its consent to—

(a)the execution of the payment transaction; or .

(b)the execution of a series of payment transactions of which that payment transaction forms part. .

(2) Such consent—

(a)may be given before or, if agreed between the payer and its payment service provider, after the execution of the payment transaction; and .

(b)must be given in the form, and in accordance with the procedure, agreed between the payer and its payment service provider. .

(3) The payer may withdraw its consent to a payment transaction at any time before the point at which the payment order can no longer be revoked under regulation 67.

(4) Subject to regulation 67(3) to (5), the payer may withdraw its consent to the execution of a series of payment transactions at any time with the effect that any future payment transactions are not regarded as authorised for the purposes of this Part.

This means that you can simply ask your bank to refuse the payments, it is also good practice to let the lender know too.

So, if you would like your creditor to stop trying to take a payment all you need to do, in theory, is to inform them that you remove their authority. It's probably better to do this in writing and via recorded delivery - if possible.

You can learn more about your rights via the following fsa guide :

Ending recurring payments from credit cards

57 Recurring payments, is the term used to describe transactions for which a client has granted written permission for her/his credit or debit card to be debited for recurring goods or services, for example, club membership subscriptions, insurance cover or payday loansicon. The card may be debited annually, monthly or at other regular intervals.

.

58 In most cases, recurring payments can be cancelled by telling the trader taking the payments. However, a client has the right to withdraw consent by simply telling whoever issued the card (the bank, building society or credit card company) that s/he does not want a payment to be made. S/he can tell the card issuer by phone, email or letter.

.

59 The card issuer has no right to insist that the client ask the trader to stop taking the payment first. The card issuer has to stop the payments if the client has asked them to. The client could point out to the card issuer that they should follow the FSA guidance available in the FSA know your rightsicon booklet which is available on the FSA website at www.fsa.gov.uk.

.

59a If money is still taken from the client's account, it will be deemed to be an unauthorised transaction, and the card issuer must give her/him an immediate refund. The card issuer will have to cancel any interest and charges added to the her/his account because the payment was taken. It is not up to the client to prove that s/he told the card issuer to stop taking payments. Instead, the card issuer would have to prove that s/he did not tell them to stop making payments.

.

60 The client should make a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service when all the internal complaints systems within the company issuing the card have been exhausted.

I hope this information is of assistance

 

New june 2013

 

Regulator orders Banks and mutuals to review complaints about not cancelling recurring payments from November 2009.

Consumers who have set up a regular payment from their account will now be able to successfully cancel that arrangement

by contacting their card provider, the Financial Conduct Authority said.

The FCA has been examining how easy it is for customers to cancel Continuous Payment Authorities (CPAs)

due either to payday lendersicon or for other regular payments such as subscriptions or gymicon memberships.

 

CPAs, which are also commonly called recurring transactions or recurring payments,

are relatively easy to set up but can be hard to cancel, causing problems for consumers trying to manage their finances,the FCA said.

 

Now, following the FCA review of how the largest high street banks and mutuals process requests to cancel CPAs, they have agreed that they will ensure that when a customer asks for a recurring payment to end, that will be sufficient to cancel the arrangement. They have also confirmed that should a payment go through by mistake following cancellation by a customer the customer will be refunded immediately.

 

In addition to securing this commitment, the largest banks and mutuals have agreed to review every individual complaint they have received about the non-cancellation of a CPA and to pay redress where payments have continued to be made despite the customer cancelling the arrangement. This applies to all complaints since November 2009 when the Financial Services Authority, the FCA’s predecessor, began regulating banking conduct.

 

Clive Adamson, the FCA’s director of supervision, said: “It’s important that consumers are confident that banks are meeting their everyday banking needs. Today customers can be confident that when they ask for a Continuous Payment Authority to be cancelled – it will be cancelled - and that it can be done easily.

 

“We recognise that historically this is an area where some customers have struggled but the banks and mutuals have responded positively to our work on this issue. From now on we expect them to be getting this right. In addition, they have committed to review past complaints.”

 

http://www.ftadviser.com/2013/06/28/regulation/regulators/fca-banks-have-to-cancel-recurring-payments-if-requested-UxbeHUuYQIy0SEYbGRE4tJ/article.html

 

..................

 

secondly sadly since I think last year or the year before insurance companies can auto roll olicies.

 

 

however that not really applicable

 

read above then the PDF

 

and get on to your bank and CANCEL the CPA

 

and DEMAND THE money back.

 

quote the FCA sheet if you need too.

 

you can do it now if your bank has 24/7 phone banking.

 

it should be almost instant.

 

dx

[manofmystery]

If the renewal was on the 23rd and you advised them you wanted to cancel on the 25th(?) then surely you were within your 14 day cooling off period?

 

By law, you have a minimum 14-day cooling-off period during which you can cancel the policy for any reason. If you’ve bought life insurance, the cooling-off period is 30 days.

 

The cooling-off period starts from when the policy begins or when you receive your policy documents, whichever is later. You should get a refund of any premiums you have already paid. However, your insurer may take off a small amount to cover days when the policy was in force. They may also charge you a small administration fee.

 

Correct me if im wrong?

 

Call them up, tell them that you had stated your intention to cancel on xxxx.

[unclebulgaria67]

If the renewal was on the 23rd and you advised them you wanted to cancel on the 25th(?) then surely you were within your 14 day cooling off period?

 

 

 

Correct me if im wrong?

 

Call them up, tell them that you had stated your intention to cancel on xxxx.

 

If you want to cancel an auto renewal, you have to contact the company concerned before the renewal date. The 14 day cooling off period is just the normal standard consumer right, but you will still be charged a cancellation fee, plus relevant time on risk.

 

If people don't want auto renewals, they have to tell Insurance companies. You can tell an Insurers at any point during the policy year that you don't want auto renewal. Don't wait until the renewal has gone past and then complain about it.

[manofmystery]

If you want to cancel an auto renewal, you have to contact the company concerned before the renewal date. The 14 day cooling off period is just the normal standard consumer right, but you will still be charged a cancellation fee, plus relevant time on risk.

 

 

Not to discredit you or your answer but;

 

For the first 14 days a refund must be made in full. After that you will receive a TOR charge + any cancellation fee written into your contract.

 

The 14 day cooling off period is just the normal standard consumer right

As the renewal is entering you into a new 12 month contract they must still pay a refund if the insured changes their mind (providing that they have made no claims / none are pending) within the first 14 days.

 

Source; I work in personal lines insurance

[unclebulgaria67]

Some Insurers appear to charge the cancellation fee within the 14 day cooling off period, going by reports online. It is always difficult answering these questions as it does vary. ICOBS and FOS rulings, I don't think prohibit the cancellation charge within the 14 day cooling off period. You will always have to pay the relevant time on risk, if you have cover beyond the renewal date. If you read ICOBS cancellation, it just says that the consumer has a right to cancel without penalty within the 14 days. Many Insurers view that their cancellation charges are purely to cover their costs and do not represent a penalty. The FOS I believe from memory confirmed that the cancellation fees are acceptable provided they do not amount to a penalty.

 

Have been in personal lines for over 20 years, but not currently at the coal face.

[manofmystery]

True, ive never heard of one that has charged withing 14 days but I shouldn't assume none of them do as I haven't had quite that much experience in personal lines. Probably worth him reading his policy wordings, as any such charges would have to be written into there.

[raydetinu]

any up date from the OP?