Sheilas' Wheels, wtf am I supposed to do with this company?

[TheLoraxxZeus]

Like many people here their insurance renewal this year went through the roof (mine went from 500 to 900 with Admiral) so we all shopped around for something cheaper.

Well cheapest I could find that at least included some basic extras (windscreen and what not) was Sheilas' Wheels. I've just SORN'd my car and called around some other insurance companies and long story short, a classic insurance company were willing to offer me laid up insurance on a modified MX-5 (somehow) for £200 a year. A damn sight cheaper than my £600 per year current policy.

Anyway, I will just eat the £60 cancellation fee (which is also ridiculous) and move over right? I've only had this policy for 2 months, not even actually.

After going through the stupid AI web bot, I managed to cancel my policy and got a transcript of the chat. What happens this morning? I get a monthly charge as if I never cancelled it.

1. You can't do anything in the web portal, everything is a "Ask a specialist" button which is just a bot
2. Live chat is just a bot, and when it says it will put you through to an agent it never does (I've been in a 20 minute queue several times today for several hours at a time)
3. Phone is the same as above, I've been in 30-45 minute holds since 9 this morning with their end cutting off somewhere between these times

What exactly are you supposed to do in this situation? I'm half tempted just to do a charge back and let my bank deal with it but they also owe me £45 since they demand 2 months up front (Yes I pay monthly for this car).

Any experience with this nonsense?

[scorcher]

Should have cancelled your DD with your bank. You need to do this a few working days before it’s due otherwise it’ll get taken anyway

[TheLoraxxZeus]

scorcher said:

Should have cancelled your DD with your bank. You need to do this a few working days before it’s due otherwise it’ll get taken anyway

Yeah no danger I was doing that, their terms and conditions state that if a DD bounces they charge £27 and then I would be having to deal with that as well. DD should have been stopped on their end right away no? No other company I've dealt with has had issues with cancelling a DD the day before it's due.

EDIT: Sorry should have said a DD bouncing is also really bad because it's basically financed, these fkers are ruthless and that would go down in my credit history as a missed payment

[Dogwatch]

Direct Debits are usually scheduled by the issuer a few days in advance to hit your account on the due date. When the credit arrives from your bank the issuer's processor will find that the account has been cancelled and register it as an overpayment.

[Dashnine]

After a few days their system should realise the policy has been cancelled and return the DD by the same route - so don’t cancel the DD now.

[ncjones]

Don’t cancel the direct debit, until policy is confirmed as cancelled by you, otherwise you risk them cancelling it and you’ll have to argue the toss to get out of having to declared a cancelled policy of ever, which will cost you far more than the £400 saving in the long run.

[TheLoraxxZeus]

ncjones said:

Don’t cancel the direct debit, until policy is confirmed as cancelled by you, otherwise you risk them cancelling it and you’ll have to argue the toss to get out of having to declared a cancelled policy of ever, which will cost you far more than the £400 saving in the long run.

Yeah no point in cancelling it now, charge already came out. I can see on their web portal that the policy is expired.

Yet to speak to a human yet to find out what happens and when I will get my money back. I am due £100 now since they already own me about £45. Will be pretty pissed if they hold onto it for weeks because I would rather piss it away on beer.

[TUS373]

I feel your pain!!

Not insurance, but I wanted to cancel my agreement with Three for 4G internet. I had to invest around 4 hours in total. 2 hours to cancel it, then a further 2 hours a month later to explain...they had not cancelled it. They helld their hands up and said sorry. Then sent me a bill for £15 that I did not owe.

Did not pay the bill, but raised a complaint. Complaint upheld and bill waived.

However, my credit score is now shot to pieces because I 'missed paying a bill' for the first time in 12 years, taking it from Excellent to Fair.

A very frustrating experience from a mix of Ab bots and overseas call centres. Did my head in!!

[CraigyMc]

Sheila's wheels is eSure. I've always found them pretty helpful.

[vaud]

Email the CEO

David McMillan - [e-mail]

With a short polite factual email (inc your policy number) and it will probably get picked by his EA and passed into customer services.

• I had this policy
• I cancelled it on this date
• You have erroneously taken £xx
• I have tried to resolve via phone and webchat

etc

Emails from the "office of the CEO" normally get assigned to a senior customer services manager.

Depends on the company but I have had good success with this approach

[RSTurboPaul]

Proper letter by Recorded Delivery?


re: the Classic policy, IIRC they do not accrue NCB?

[TheLoraxxZeus]

RSTurboPaul said:

Proper letter by Recorded Delivery?


re: the Classic policy, IIRC they do not accrue NCB?

Doesn't matter, I've got another car that isn't on a multi-car policy so I get NCB through that.

[RSTurboPaul]

TheLoraxxZeus said:

RSTurboPaul said:

Proper letter by Recorded Delivery?


re: the Classic policy, IIRC they do not accrue NCB?

Doesn't matter, I've got another car that isn't on a multi-car policy so I get NCB through that.

Good stuff.

IIRC one can have more than one NCB going, as each NCB can only be applied to one vehicle?

That might just be internet BS that I've read somewhere, though lol

[Jamescrs]

RSTurboPaul said:

Good stuff.

IIRC one can have more than one NCB going, as each NCB can only be applied to one vehicle?

That might just be internet BS that I've read somewhere, though lol

You can have more than one NCB building up at once, I am in that situation. I have 9yrs on my main car and a separate policy with (I think) 4 years on it

[Bill]

You aren't paying for monthly insurance, you're paying for an annual policy in installments. So you need to work out what you are due to be "refunded" because they'll keep taking payments until you've paid enough. (Also, did you pay the cancellation charge? Or is that coming via DD too?)

AIUI.

[TheLoraxxZeus]

Bill said:

You aren't paying for monthly insurance, you're paying for an annual policy in installments. So you need to work out what you are due to be "refunded" because they'll keep taking payments until you've paid enough. (Also, did you pay the cancellation charge? Or is that coming via DD too?)

AIUI.

So it's a "10 month policy" with 2 months prepaid, I've not had the policy for 2 months yet, so they owe me money even after I pay the fee.

[Bill]

No idea. You need to check the T's&C's. If their policy says that at 6 weeks you get 2/3 back (say) then you still owe them.

[surveyor]

vaud said:

Email the CEO

David McMillan - [e-mail]

With a short polite factual email (inc your policy number) and it will probably get picked by his EA and passed into customer services.

• I had this policy
• I cancelled it on this date
• You have erroneously taken £xx
• I have tried to resolve via phone and webchat

etc

Emails from the "office of the CEO" normally get assigned to a senior customer services manager.

Depends on the company but I have had good success with this approach

This..

I take delight in starting these emails, Sorry to bother you, but yours was the only email address I could find..

[untakenname]

Despite looking like a personal email address the email rules will mean that for external senders it will likely go to another person/department first and then be triaged so the CEO won't ever see it but will likely be handled better than using the 1st line support.

[E-bmw]

TheLoraxxZeus said:

Bill said:

You aren't paying for monthly insurance, you're paying for an annual policy in installments. So you need to work out what you are due to be "refunded" because they'll keep taking payments until you've paid enough. (Also, did you pay the cancellation charge? Or is that coming via DD too?)

AIUI.

So it's a "10 month policy" with 2 months prepaid, I've not had the policy for 2 months yet, so they owe me money even after I pay the fee.

You may very well be wrong there.

Normally as was stated above the policy premium is divided into 12 equal instalments but the cost of cancellation is normally weighted in their favour and not linear as you are paying for insurance on credit not a monthly insurance premium but the Ts & Cs will have all that in there.