Bennetts Insurance

[Kathy Baguley]

Hi

Not sure how to proceed but story so far :

 

April - New bike for hubby meant ammending existing policy but pay insurance by direct debit so nothing for us to do cos increase in premium will be reflected in an increased DD payment.

 

May 15th - £96.04 taken from bank account by debit card. Rang Bennetts who said that the payment did not refer to his policy & asked us to fax proof of this debit to my account. Fax sent same day.

 

May 18th - no response from Bennetts so rang again. Had to resend fax & got promises of investigation into what is going on.

 

On & on & on this has been going.

 

Turns out that I paid someones insurance by card a year ago cos they didn't have debit card of their own. His policy is now due for renewal so Bennetts wrote to him & advised that they would be claiming payment from account that paid it last year & that he should notify them if this wasn't correct.

 

Yes, you've guessed it- he didn't tell them so I have paid his insurance through no desire of my own. I am no longer in contact with this guy so cannot reclaim the money from him!

 

What can I do? I've phoned & just got useless promises, I've written a complaint & sent it by recorded delivery but I just want my money back & I want to know whether it is lawful for a company to keep my bank details on file, even though the policy doesn't relate to me, my family or my address!

 

Please help if you can.

 

Kathy

[cazzaswfc]

You should be able to claim money back via your bank. If the payment was based on an annuel direct debit then your covered by the guarentee. otherwise you could do a charge back if this was via debit or Credit card ( not sure if this would cost you anything)

 

Bennetts should then take the matter up with the policy holder and chase them for the premium

[Kathy Baguley]

Thanks for reply but I am loath to ask my bank to do this since it wasn't their mistake in the 1st place & I feel that it lets Bennetts off the hook a bit too easily. If all else fails, I will have to ask them to do that though.

[cazzaswfc]

agreed, however from my experience it would be quicker!

 

Bennetts may not have being aware that they couldn't again use your bank details ( as you state they wrote out to policy holder and advised what would happen) I know this is unfair on you, however many companys do and can hold your details, the original agreement with the pholder may have advised this at inception and certainly on the renewal documents.

 

The policyholder is the person at fault as insurers have to act on upmost goodfaith.

 

I would contact your bank, I understand why you don't want too however in my opinion ( and 8 years call centre insurance knowledge) this would be the quickest way for you to get what you want. Bennetts would then contact the policy holder regarding the debt and deal with that issue seperatley.

[Rob S]

The main issue here to me is that Bennetts took a payment from your account for an insurance policy in someone elses name. They shouldn't have taken it without contacting you for your authority. You will need to inform the bank as a first step as I suspect trying to get it resolved by Bennetts will be a long process.

[Jimm22]

I'm sorry to hear of your complaint. This company should be avoided at all costs, I made the mistake of taking out a policy last year and sorely regret it. They renewed my policy without asking and then charged me £20 to cancel it. If that wasn't bad enough they then took a further £30 and can't explain why or what they will do about it. Calls to them cost a premium (0844), they're creaming it all round. Beware Bennetts!

[JPreston]

I'm sorry to hear of your complaint. This company should be avoided at all costs, I made the mistake of taking out a policy last year and sorely regret it. They renewed my policy without asking and then charged me £20 to cancel it. If that wasn't bad enough they then took a further £30 and can't explain why or what they will do about it. Calls to them cost a premium (0844), they're creaming it all round. Beware Bennetts!

 

They have done exactly the same to me, I can shed some light on the charges.

 

The £30 is a 'renewal fee' that they essentially fine their renewing customers with by hiding it within their quote. If you check the breakdown of your total charge you will see that the items detailed do not add up to the total. This is similar to a restaurant deliberately adding up a customer's bill incorrectly in order to overcharge them. If you had called Bennett's up to say that their total charge is not competitive and you won't be renewing, they would have removed this hidden charge. Does that sound fair? No

 

They charge a cancellation fee of £20 within the 'cooling off' period, £30 afterwards. Is that fair when the policy has been renewed without your knowledge and you have been charged without giving consent? No :-x:-x

 

Finally Bennett's will claim that you consented to automatically renewing your policy in perpetuity because when you bought the policy you answered 'yes' to their question along the lines of 'When your policy is approaching expiry may we obtain updated quotes and write to you offering continuing cover?'. Is that the same question as 'Do you want to automatically renew your policy with us'? No :-x:-x:-x:-x!! I am minded to refer them to the ombudsman over this issue in particular and will have a good read of the material on this site to assist in my doing so.

 

In the meantime I whole-heartedly agree with your recommendation for all consumers to BEWARE BENNETT's