QuoteMeHappy cancellation fee

[WebMaster]

Me and the missus bought a new car last week. The old car was insured through quotemehappy and they also offered the best deal for insuring the new car.

 

The old policy had around 6 weeks left, but when I went to cancel it, they want to charge me a 53 pound 'cancellation fee'. Seems rather stingy since we're keeping our custom with them. It'll actually be cheaper to just let the policy expire in 6 weeks than cancel it.

 

Is a cancellation fee common practice? Anything I can do about it?

[ssparks2003]

Why not transfer the policy to the new vehicle and pay a transfer fee?

[BankFodder]

What was the value of the remaining 6 weeks?

[unclebulgaria67]

Why not transfer the policy to the new vehicle and pay a transfer fee?

 

It is possible to do a change of vehicle on the current policy, but it may not work out the best money wise, as they would charge an admin fee for the policy amendment.

 

It may just be cheaper to pay the cancellation fee and go somewhere else for your Insurance. Quotemehappy are Aviva and it can be difficult to speak to anyone to gain a commonsense way forward. They may just accept your loss of business, as long as they get the cancellation fee from you.

[WebMaster]

It'd be about 40 pounds, BankFodder. The policy was just over 300 pounds for the year.

 

I've mailed them back, let's see what they say. My plan at the moment is just to pester them until they get sick of me

[Guest Aviva Support]

Me and the missus bought a new car last week. The old car was insured through quotemehappy and they also offered the best deal for insuring the new car.

 

The old policy had around 6 weeks left, but when I went to cancel it, they want to charge me a 53 pound 'cancellation fee'. Seems rather stingy since we're keeping our custom with them. It'll actually be cheaper to just let the policy expire in 6 weeks than cancel it.

 

Is a cancellation fee common practice? Anything I can do about it?

 

Hi WebMaster

 

Thanks for your post and I’m really sorry to hear you’re unhappy with our cancellation fee. Have you emailed us at team@quotemehappy.com? If not, please feel free to do so with your full name, date of birth, postcode and policy number and we’ll be happy to look into this further for you.

 

Kind Regards

 

JC

[BankFodder]

So they want a cancellation fee which is greater value than the remaining insurance????

 

You are dealing with the cancellation industry here. It is a huge money spinner. Cancellation fees must reflect administrative costs - and of course they very seldom do. Insurers, travel companies, gym clubs, mobile phone companies - and many others routinely ignore the rules which are contained in UTCCR and charge disproportionate sums which they label as "administrative" in order to fleece their customers of any penny they can get.

Listen to last week's MoneyBox - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03xzs1l

It has an article which I proposed to them about Experian mis-selling ID insurance - and also an article about a guy who took on his holiday company over their cancellation fee. Bob Howard of the BBC as agreed to ask the guy to contact me and I hope to have a copy of the judgment before too long which I will make available on this forum.

 

I would write to the insurer and ask them for a full breakdown of their fee. Tell them that you think that it is excessive and that it breaches UTCCR. Tell them that if they won't justify it then you will go to the FOS.

Also tell them that if the fee exceeds their administrative costs or if they won't justify it, that they are also in breach of ICOBS and that you will compain about this to the FOS as well.

 

As it happens, I have just proposed to MoneyBox that they do a programme on the Cancellation Industry as well. Maybe they will. I will point them to this thread about Aviva as an example

[WebMaster]

I must be learning. I've already mailed them back with the following (after they'd responded that they were 'unable' to refund because the fee was stated in their T&C):

 

Although the cancellation fee is stated in your Terms, you are still able to waive it if you so wish. It's a case of you being unwilling to waive it, not unable to. Given the circumstances (the policy has almost finished and we are keeping our custom with Quotemehappy.com, merely moving to a different car), I'm asking if you would waive the fee as a gesture of goodwill. If you are still unwilling to do this, I'd like a break down of how the 53 pound fee was arrived at please. As I'm sure you are aware, such fees should be a true representation of costs involved, and 53 is double what many of your competitors charge for what is essentially an automated process. The Financial Ombudsman has previously taken the position that such administration costs would have been factored in to the cost of an insurance policy. Given that our policy was almost at its end, most of your costs would have been recuperated.

 

I'll mention UTCCR ICOBS next time if that doesn't get me anywhere.

 

(Edit: didn't realise we had an Aviva support member here - thanks for responding)

[BankFodder]

Of course they are allowed to charge a cancellation fee and it is entirely legitimate to include this in their contract. However, their contract must comply with the law. If it doesn't then the contract is unfair and the relevant term is void for unfairness.

For them simply to say that it is included in their contract is a fob-off. They must provide a breakdown if the charge and it must reflect their administrative costs of cancellation. This means - actual costs - not costs plus some margin of profit.

[WebMaster]

Just received a refund of 30 pounds from Quotemehappy.com. No need for me to buy quotemeunhappy.com or quotememildlydispleased.com now