D&G Appliance Insurance. have taken a DD since 2011 when i sold the machine!!e

[Atticus_2021]

Hi, 

 

 

I share this to help others avoid a very expensive mistake and to ask if anyone has any advice on how I might resolve a painful issue relating to D&G's practices and if/how consumers have any recourse if suppliers take Direct Debit (DD) payments for services they are not providing? 

 

In 2008 I bought a new Washer Dryer. Shortly afterwards received a phone call from D&G asking if I wanted to take up an insurance policy (Appliance Care) should there be a problem.  To my deep regret I agreed to this and set up a direct debit, all of this done by phone. 

 

Wind forward to 2020 and I spotted a direct debit payment that had been coming out of my bank account every month, for increasing amounts of money.  I didn't recognise what this was for - it was named as different things over the years (never anything that would identify it easily).  I had assumed it was something my wife had organised. To my horror I learned that this was for D&G Appliance Care for a machine that I had sold with the flat it was in 10 years earlier. (Admitting to my wife that this has been going on and I hadn't spotted it wasn't the best of conversations we had had!)

 

I contacted D&G to explain that we had sold the machine, the house it sat and and left the UK to live overseas for years. I provided evidence of this and explained that I had not received any communication from D&G for 10+ years regarding the policy or subsequent changes that had been made to it including increased cost. 

 

D&G's response was far from satisfactory. Their position was that they had not obligation to get my approval for continuation of the policy or to any increase in the premium they charged. In other words, that as long as I didn't cancel the Direct Debit, they could keep taking the payment - and increasing it - as long as they liked. 

 

I have spoken to my bank about this (NatWest) and they say that they have no duty to inform me of any changes to the premium taken. Once the DD is set up, what happens is between the supplier (D&G) and me. 

 

I have clearly made a mistake here and not questioned what the oddly named Direct Debits were for.  I am surprised though that suppliers like D&G aren't required to have customer approval to change payments they take. I am also surprised to know that customers have no recourse in situations like this and that a company like D&G when presented with the facts, wouldn't accept that they have received payment for a service they haven't provided....for 10 years. 

 

If anyone has any advice / thoughts on this I'd be very grateful to hear from you. 

 

If anyone gets a phone call from D&G or other insurance providers, I would urge caution and really question if you want to set up a Direct Debit. 

 

Many thanks! 

 

Atticus

 

 

 

 

 

[dx100uk]

go a DD guarantee reclaim all the way back to when you sold the machine.

NW can be a pain at the best of times and need to be put in a corner.

it's your consumer right.

 

state to NW that you did not ever sign a DD mandate ever ...get NW to prove you signed a DD Mandate for each year, if they can't they must refund.

[Hammy1962]

Hang on, I'll get into trouble for this but really! 12 years paying a DD you nothing about.................... and then you blame D&G.

They would have notified you at your last known address or email at each renewal, every year, with ample opportunity to cancel each year.

 

12 Years!!

 

Bad things happen in the world of CAG but you really must bear some of the responsibility here.

 

H

 

 

[unclebulgaria67]

32 minutes ago, Hammy1962 said:

Hang on, I'll get into trouble for this but really! 12 years paying a DD you nothing about.................... and then you blame D&G.

They would have notified you at your last known address or email at each renewal, every year, with ample opportunity to cancel each year.

 

Tend to agree Hammy, but I think if you have a number of DD's going through every month and the reference/descriptions does not clearly identify what it is for, then many people would not have queried it.

 

How many people still go through their Bank statements regularly to check every item. ?  I have mobile Banking now and keep an eye on the payments going through, but when I had printed statements sent, i only checked them every few months.

 

Normally for Insurance refunds in these situation, the Insurers should consider refunds of up to 6 years, if it can be evidenced that the Insurance was of no value.  e.g. the Insurance was for a specific risk which is no longer owned.

 

The DD was set up over the phone as a variable DD amount and the Insurers should have issued communications about increases to the email or postal address provided for this purpose.  When the DD was set up originally D&G would have had to send confirmation of the DD terms and rights of cancellation etc.  You can try to ask Natwest for a refund under DD scheme, but you may struggle with this. 

 

Ask D&G to look at your refund request again as a complaint and advise that if not settled, you will ask the FOS to review.  D&G would be charged a fee by the FOS if you went that far, so they may try to offer you a refund amount, to avoid this.

[Hammy1962]

Much to the disgust of many on here, I have one of these policies. It is described as 'D&G Appliance Care'.

 

I don't think that is ambiguous.

 

H

[Atticus_2021]

Hi Hammy1962, 

 

You make a fair point.  Yes, I made a mistake. I fully accept that. 

 

As noted, this was an honest mistake - the DD was coming out of a joint account and I (mistakenly) assumed this was set up by my wife. 

 

What concerns me - and I want to flag to others - is that when I was sold this policy it was not made clear that there is no obligation for D&G to get approval to continue this each year, no need for me to approve any increase to the premium they deduct (which has tripled over the period) or for them to change the policy. I was in effect (with one phone call) writing them a blank cheque when I agreed to this. If I had been clear on that I would have not taken on the policy. 

 

From a business perspective, if one of my customers had presented me with these facts I would have handled it differently too. 

 

Cheers! 

 

 

 

 

 

[dx100uk]

but there must be a valid DD mandate signed by you that allows this to happen...there is not one.

each time the contract changed or was renewed a new DD mandate is also needed.

 

[AndyOrch]

 

[Hammy1962]

1 hour ago, dx100uk said:

but there must be a valid DD mandate signed by you that allows this to happen...there is not one.

each time the contract changed or was renewed a new DD mandate is also needed.

 

DX. I have no wish to disagree, but, on this particular point, the renewal documents are clear and the DD mandate is continuous until cancelled by either party. It is not necessary to 'sign' a new one each year.

 

H

[dx100uk]

oh yes there is.

 

a DD mandate cannot be forever!

there is no such thing or thinking that once a 'company' has a signed DD mandate from 'a' customer they can use it for anything and everything until the customer cancels it.

 

a DD mandate must stipulate, and is only valid for, the duration of the contract.

 

an automatic renewal of an insurance policy just because the company slipped in hidden deep in their T&C's that by default a client agrees to renew is not permission to extend a DD mandate, a new one must be issued and the customer must agree and not by default.

 

thats is exactly one of the reason the DD Guarantee is therefore.

 

D&G are masters at this scam and have been castigated numerous times over it.

[Hammy1962]

Continuous is not the same as forever.

 

D&G DD's can be cancelled at any time. Online, by phone or by post. It does help though if you know already that you have one.

 

You win.

 

I'm out.

 

H

Edited January 27, 2021 by Hammy1962