Insurance racketeering

[Tramp]

I ran a quote on comparethemarket. One Insurer came out best so I paid them. 5 mins later they called me back to confirm details. I typed my value wrong. 34k instead of 38k. They then required a thatcham alarm and tracker. Thus they were nowhere near competitive. They would not budge and insisted I would be charged £75 to cancel. Which I did.

Do I have any chance of reversing this. ? Would compare the market assist?

Ta Tom


Moderator Note: Insurers name removed as per Forum Rules.

 

[otherclive]

I ran a quote on comparethemarket. One Insurer came out best so I paid them. 5 mins later they called me back to confirm details. I typed my value wrong. 34k instead of 38k. They then required a thatcham alarm and tracker. Thus they were nowhere near competitive. They would not budge and insisted I would be charged £75 to cancel. Which I did.

Do I have any chance of reversing this. ? Would compare the market assist?

Ta Tom

It’s against Forum rules to name a company you are in dispute with as they have no right of redress. You could edit your post to just refer to “ an insurer”. But if you are within the statutory online or remote cancellation period you should not be charged.

 

[Tramp]

Ah ok, they said it is their policy to charge a £75 cancel fee. This was just 5 minutes after I paid, and insurance was not due to start for 2 weeks. How can I redress as Insurer is not nudging. They have already refunded me the money minus £75

 

[otherclive]

Ah ok, they said it is their policy to charge a £75 cancel fee. This was just 5 minutes after I paid, and insurance was not due to start for 2 weeks. How can I redress as Insurer is not nudging. They have already refunded me the money minus £75

If the Insurer provided you a scale of charges prior to taking out the insurance it’s your fault for not reading the cancellation charges prior to accepting the T&Cs and paying.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/insurance/insurance/cancelling-an-insurance-policy/

 

[Tramp]

Thankyou

 

[Tramp]

Hmmm. It states they can charge a small administration fee. No doubt, they can get away with £75.00

 

[Buckman]

You definitely can claim it all back under CRA 2015 for a start. The policy has not started so they cannot charge you and neither can they charge any admin fee. They suffer no loss if you cancel. You can report them to the Financial Ombudsman but first you need to go through their complaints procedure.

 

[Buckman]

If the Insurer provided you a scale of charges prior to taking out the insurance it’s your fault for not reading the cancellation charges prior to accepting the T&Cs and paying.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/insurance/insurance/cancelling-an-insurance-policy/

The policy had not started so no admin fee can be charged.

 

[otherclive]

The policy had not started so no admin fee can be charged.

Clearly the policy had been set up as the OP had paid and the insurer had responded. An admin fee can be charged also a fee for any period of cover. Which in this case would be nil given the time period of discussion

https://www.moneysupermarket.com/car-insurance/cancelling-car-insurance/.

 

[Tramp]

You are right, they said it was in their t&cs. Which I Indeed signed. I asked them to cancel. They sent me a message about 4 hours later showing the cert even though I cancelled. I never agreed to take a policy out with them.

 

[Tramp]

Again, the policy was not set up as they phoned me to confirm details. This is when I noticed the type and cancelled.

 

[otherclive]

Again, the policy was not set up as they phoned me to confirm details. This is when I noticed the type and cancelled.

Wasn’t the 34k policy paid for online?
It’s a bit difficult trying to really establish the timeline of events. Perhaps the best approach would be to contact the insurer again to discuss. If you get no satisfaction tell them you will use their official complaints procedure. Then by using that you can go right up to the Ombudsman. Personally £75 admin seems steep for the Cooling off period, when you were only covered for a very short period.

 

[Tramp]

Yes, I did pay. Insurance was to start 2 weeks later
I cant believe they would have had me insured me considering they phoned me back 10 mins later to confirm some details. As you say. 75 quid is a bit of a RIP off. How do I contact ombudsman? Ta tom

 

[Buckman]

Wasn’t the 34k policy paid for online?
It’s a bit difficult trying to really establish the timeline of events. Perhaps the best approach would be to contact the insurer again to discuss. If you get no satisfaction tell them you will use their official complaints procedure. Then by using that you can go right up to the Ombudsman. Personally £75 admin seems steep for the Cooling off period, when you were only covered for a very short period.

There was no cover in place. The cooling off period is do that you cna read the T&Cs. Unfortunately I almost got caught the same way with another insurer who wanted an admin fee of £25. I got some advice from Which and the £25 was cancelled.

 

[Tramp]

Ta, how did you get advise from which?

Tom

 

[otherclive]

There was no cover in place. The cooling off period is do that you cna read the T&Cs. Unfortunately I almost got caught the same way with another insurer who wanted an admin fee of £25. I got some advice from Which and the £25 was cancelled.

Well I don’t think insurance comes under CRA 2015?but the 2015 Insurance Act.
Looking at Gocompare it’s quite clear that the majority of insurers do charge a cancellation fee. It’s a moot point where in the purchase the OP was. But he paid. So what did he pay for? It’s usually that the payment is the final action after agreeing T&C.
Look at Gocompares site. Here is the link.
https://www.gocompare.com/car-insur... start when you receive your policy documents.

 

[otherclive]

Yes, I did pay. Insurance was to start 2 weeks later
I cant believe they would have had me insured me considering they phoned me back 10 mins later to confirm some details. As you say. 75 quid is a bit of a RIP off. How do I contact ombudsman? Ta tom

You must go through the insurers formal complaints procedure. If you don’t get satisfaction then it escalates by you upwards to the Ombudsman for a decision. The procedure will be on the insurers website and probably included in the paperwork they sent you online. It’s a requirement that they do this.

 

[Tramp]

thanks all. I certainly dont think £75.00 is a fair charge. i have reached the end of complaint with Insurer. i will try writing to comparethemarket and the ombudsman. Thing is i got an email confirming refund with cancellation fee of £30 yet they refunded minus £75.00. which bthey stated on phone was their charge.

 

[Tramp]

Well it looks like they have covered themselves by sending this. Stating policy is setup, yet they phoned me after this to confirm details. Dear Mr Thanks for your payment. Your policy has been set up to start from your requested date. We're currently validating your information, using a number of databases, to help prevent insurance fraud and money laundering. We will send your welcome pack once this assessment is complete. In addition to the documents that we normally ask for, we may ask you to send something to prove your identity. It is this stringent quality control of new policies that allows us to continue offering some of the most competitive rates found anywhere in the UK insurance market.

 

[Tramp]

Dear Mr... Following the recent cancellation of the policy on vehicle registration xxxxxx, we have credited the card ending in ************ with £xxx.00, which includes our £30 administration fee. It will take 3-5 working days for this to appear in.

Clearly states a £30 admin fee yet they charged £75.

 

[otherclive]

thanks all. I certainly dont think £75.00 is a fair charge. i have reached the end of complaint with Insurer. i will try writing to comparethemarket and the ombudsman. Thing is i got an email confirming refund with cancellation fee of £30 yet they refunded minus £75.00. which bthey stated on phone was their charge.

Go compare will not be able to help. If you look at the link I posted above it takes you to a link that informs on how to use the Financial Ombudsman. But first you will have to formally deal with the Insurer. Somewhere they have to publish their scale of charges for changes, cancellation, and admin. This will allow you to check if £75 is correct or they may have made an error.

 

[Tramp]

Thankyou all.

 

[otherclive]

Thankyou all.

Good luck. Be interested in how you get on.🤞

 

[ProfJohnL]

If you used a credit card to pay for the policy, it might be worth contacting your card provider, as they are also a party to the contract and they have responsibilities under section75 of the consumer credit act.

Sadly I do have to point out the real necessity to read the full T&C's before taking out things like insurance, becasue it is assumed that if you don't agree to them you would not take out the policy and if you do pay for it, it's assumed you have accepted all the T&C's.

You may have to chalk this one up to experience.

 

[Buckman]

thanks all. I certainly dont think £75.00 is a fair charge. i have reached the end of complaint with Insurer. i will try writing to comparethemarket and the ombudsman. Thing is i got an email confirming refund with cancellation fee of £30 yet they refunded minus £75.00. which bthey stated on phone was their charge.

Actually you have not started. Do you have a deadlock letter from them? You need to send a letter or email with your complaint giving them for instance 10 days to reply. Keep the letter very brief and to the point. Mention at the end that if they do not reply the issue will be escalated to the FOS. For FOS will cost them in excess of £500 which is a lot more than the £75. Importantly request an answer in writing as you need a paper trail.
If they reply move to the next step. If they do not reply within 14 days and you have proof of delivery only at that stage should you escalate the complaint.
I got advice from Which Legal Services many years ago. CAB are generally a waste of time and space.