white good insurance issue

[michael_JCWS]

I have white goods insurance through covertxt, they are charging me about £35PM. I've decided its not worth the money, so cancelled the DD.

I had been with them since 2020 and made one claim for a washing machine, that they charged me £50 call out to fix, then gave me £190 to cover the cost of a new washing machine, as it wasn't fixable, which actually cost £500 to replace. Basically the insurance replaces your appliance with the cheapest available.

Since cancelling my DD they have sent me some strongly worded emails telling me that I'm tied into a 12 months contract for the insurance and need to either pay the remainder of the 12 months plus and admin fee to cancel, or stick with them until the 12 months are up?

When I took this insurance out in 2020 I was verbally told it was a rolling monthly payment, which now seems to be a yearly payment.

It seems odd that if I'm paying for an insurance product on a monthly basis, that I can be forced into a 12 month contract, particularly as I will no longer be consuming the service.

Good to get peoples thoughts and experience

[Mr Pointy]

The first thing to look at is any documentation you have - the terms should be in there. Without knowing what it says anyone is just guessing.

[michael_JCWS]

The original document was a rolling month on month cancelation, subsequently when thier insurance underwriter left them, advising customers to cancel thier DD, once the new underwriter was in place and I agreed to continue with the insurance on the same basis and cover, the small print in one of the numerous documents sent over says 12 months, this seems extremely underhand.

As with car insurance, if I stop paying for it my car is not covered, not sure how this is any different

[mike13]

Car insurance is over a year too, cancel it and you'll pay a cancellation fee, looks like you have to continue if the small print has changed and you failed to notice, as an aside never cancel a direct debit, inform them first and take it from there, annoying I know.

Edited by mike13 on Thursday 21st July 15:13

[2 GKC]

£420 a year to insure white goods? What a rip off

[kiethton]

michael_JCWS said:

The original document was a rolling month on month cancelation, subsequently when thier insurance underwriter left them, advising customers to cancel thier DD, once the new underwriter was in place and I agreed to continue with the insurance on the same basis and cover, the small print in one of the numerous documents sent over says 12 months, this seems extremely underhand.

As with car insurance, if I stop paying for it my car is not covered, not sure how this is any different

Show them the documents which show the terms that you signed up to.....unless you were expressly told I can't see them having a leg to stand on (although cancelling the DD may leave you with an awful mark on your credit file!)

[Mr Pointy]

Was a Key Features document ever provided - most types of insurance have these. If the change to rolling 12 months wasn't highlighted in the KF document you might be able claim it was an unfair term but it depends if you want to get a solicitor involved. You might be able to get somone like Katie Morely at the Telegraph interested if the story is good enough.

[anonymous-user]

2 GKC said:

£420 a year to insure white goods? What a rip off

For them to then only pay out £190 for the replacement too.