No Claims lost in Post = BANNED FROM INSURANCE COMPANY
Discussion
Edit: Sorry, didn't know we weren't allowed to 'name and shame'
I've removed the name of the said company.
My lovely shed came up for renewal earlier this month ('94 Micra with a whole 998cc under the bonnet). My previous insurer didn't send me a renewal letter so I went on Money Supermarket etc etc to find a new quote.
"Insurance company A" was coming out at over £120 cheaper than everywhere else, and the policy had everything I needed, and I could pay monthly with Direct Debit. Great! I buy insurance with "Insurance Company A" online and they request that I send them Proof of No Claims within 14 days ... no problems there. I send the No Claims off First Class and I thought all was fine.
10 days later I notice I've not received my Proof of No Claims, so I send it off again. 14 days pass and I now notice they've cancelled my policy. Now I'm getting a little twitchy, but I can do without car insurance for the next few days anyway. I phone them up to make sure that they'll re-instate my policy as soon as they receive my No Claims.
Their response? No, we wont, and you're banned from ever having insurance with us again. So now I had to pay a £50 cancellation fee AND they've still charged me a months insurance after the policy was cancelled. Moral of the story? Send your Proof of No Claims via Recorded Mail, and if insurance is cheap, it's cheap for a reason!
Anybody know any good insurance companies who'll insure a 21 year old on a 1-litre Micra for less than £500? I've got 3-years no claims, and I've never had an accident at all, and the car is parked securely and has a CAT-2 immoliliser/alarm. The real piss take is that it only costs me £200 fully comp to get insured on a 2-litre 200bhp Ginetta G20 worth 15 times more than my Micra.

My lovely shed came up for renewal earlier this month ('94 Micra with a whole 998cc under the bonnet). My previous insurer didn't send me a renewal letter so I went on Money Supermarket etc etc to find a new quote.
"Insurance company A" was coming out at over £120 cheaper than everywhere else, and the policy had everything I needed, and I could pay monthly with Direct Debit. Great! I buy insurance with "Insurance Company A" online and they request that I send them Proof of No Claims within 14 days ... no problems there. I send the No Claims off First Class and I thought all was fine.
10 days later I notice I've not received my Proof of No Claims, so I send it off again. 14 days pass and I now notice they've cancelled my policy. Now I'm getting a little twitchy, but I can do without car insurance for the next few days anyway. I phone them up to make sure that they'll re-instate my policy as soon as they receive my No Claims.
Their response? No, we wont, and you're banned from ever having insurance with us again. So now I had to pay a £50 cancellation fee AND they've still charged me a months insurance after the policy was cancelled. Moral of the story? Send your Proof of No Claims via Recorded Mail, and if insurance is cheap, it's cheap for a reason!
Anybody know any good insurance companies who'll insure a 21 year old on a 1-litre Micra for less than £500? I've got 3-years no claims, and I've never had an accident at all, and the car is parked securely and has a CAT-2 immoliliser/alarm. The real piss take is that it only costs me £200 fully comp to get insured on a 2-litre 200bhp Ginetta G20 worth 15 times more than my Micra.
so you sent them proof of your no claims, they claim non receipt and tell you you can never be insured with them again? If that is the case I would be asking to speak to a manager to point out how rude they were to you (a paying customer) why is the onus on you? Who's to say THEY haven't lost it?
RJDM3 said:
A simple phone call to the insurer with your previous insurers details will often surfice as they can call your previous company
Thanks for the replies!Because my previous insurer didn't send me a renewal letter until the day I had to renew my insurance, I actually phoned them asking if I could do it this way. They said it had to be either a Renewal letter or a Certificate of No Claims via post. Luckily the postie arrived with the renewal letter later that day.
They're the Ryanair of insurance companies. They charge you £20 every time you want to amend something on your quote. And indeed, they charge you £50 cancellation whether you initiated the cancellation or not. If it's this much of a hassle when you're offering to give them money, imagine what it would be like if you wanted to make a claim!
JTeb said:
klimakool said:
were you not within your right to cancel fee free period?
Actually they can still charge an admin charge (theirs is £25) if you cancel during that period. But that's the great thing; they cancelled it 1 hour after that period, so it was a £50 charge.The 14 day period for free cancellation is all welll and good, but an insurance company is still within their right to charge a 'reasonable' admin fee for this.
I would not accept them cancelling it an hour after the 14day period and charging further money.
Complain and escalate if they don't agree to reimburse the extra £25
I would not accept them cancelling it an hour after the 14day period and charging further money.
Complain and escalate if they don't agree to reimburse the extra £25
Sounds like they're incompetant, if you've paid by card I'd do a chargeback and go elsewhere, send them a letter to explain that due to their incompetence in handling your insurance you're taking your business eleswhere. Oh and take legal advice on the right way to do this.
Is "banning" the OP the same as "refusing insurance?"
Is "banning" the OP the same as "refusing insurance?"
It is not that uncommon. When making a claim I sent the police report they requested by recorded delivery to the claim manager by name and even when Royal Mail have proof of recipt they refused to accept it had arrived and made me send another one.
This next one was sent by fax along with everything else while I was on the phone with them discussing it. I could hear the fax machine in the background so asked them to take a look and it is a miracle they had it!
This next one was sent by fax along with everything else while I was on the phone with them discussing it. I could hear the fax machine in the background so asked them to take a look and it is a miracle they had it!
Thanks for the help everyone ... it's good to have everyone elses advice.
I've cancelled the direct debit they charged me AFTER they cancelled the policy online, but what good that'll do is a completely different question. The fact that I got charged it in the first place leads me to believe they haven't bothered to cancel the direct debit.
dmitsi said:
How long was the cancel free period?
Quote from their site: "If you cancel your new policy (or the renewal of your policy) within the 14 day period provided, you'll need to pay a cancellation charge of £25 inclusive of Insurance Premium Tax at the current rate."simion_levi said:
I wouldn't let £50 go without a fight, unless their terms were absolutely watertight!
Chargeback if possible, otherwise complaint letter followed by LBA followed by court claim.
The problem is that I'm self-employed and at the moment I can't afford to spend time chasing up £50 in court, no matter how much I need it at the moment. Chargeback if possible, otherwise complaint letter followed by LBA followed by court claim.
I've cancelled the direct debit they charged me AFTER they cancelled the policy online, but what good that'll do is a completely different question. The fact that I got charged it in the first place leads me to believe they haven't bothered to cancel the direct debit.
hairyben said:
Is "banning" the OP the same as "refusing insurance?"
"Banned" is the term the lady used on the phone.Edited by JTeb on Thursday 27th January 17:41
PHmember said:
I'd be more concerned about the next time I want insurance & have to tell them that I've already been banned by one insurance company...
^^^ This, and do you really want to be insured with a company that treats you like this, think what will it be like if you need to claim??If you paid by direct debit ring up your bank and tell them that the payment was taken after the policy was cancelled and ask them to put in an indemnity claim. They normally will and the insurer has almost no grounds for refusing the claim.
If you can't make that work make an formal complaint to the insurance company about them cancelling the insurance without notifying you in advance as they are obliged to do by law (can't remember how much notice they have to give). Ask thenm to refund all monies paid. I'd also make a point of how much distress and inconveniance this whole episode has caused you. Advise them that if they don't settle you intend to exercise your right to refer the complaint to the Financial Services Ombudsman (FOS). They'll probably settle because if it does go to FOS, while it is free to you, they get an automatic £500 case fee whether they win or lose plus the time they need to spend in correspondence with FOS.
If they don't settle do refer ti to FOS, it costs nothing, and do make a point to them about the distress and inconvenience as they are empowered to make an award for that as well as insisting the insurer pays compensation.
Good luck
If you can't make that work make an formal complaint to the insurance company about them cancelling the insurance without notifying you in advance as they are obliged to do by law (can't remember how much notice they have to give). Ask thenm to refund all monies paid. I'd also make a point of how much distress and inconveniance this whole episode has caused you. Advise them that if they don't settle you intend to exercise your right to refer the complaint to the Financial Services Ombudsman (FOS). They'll probably settle because if it does go to FOS, while it is free to you, they get an automatic £500 case fee whether they win or lose plus the time they need to spend in correspondence with FOS.
If they don't settle do refer ti to FOS, it costs nothing, and do make a point to them about the distress and inconvenience as they are empowered to make an award for that as well as insisting the insurer pays compensation.
Good luck
Edited by KeithE on Thursday 27th January 17:52
Is it legal for them to charge me by direct debit the day after the policy was cancelled for £33.57 (one months insurance)?
Also I've just got the actual figures of cancellation from their own documentation: It says that the policy started on 11 January 2011, and that it was cancelled at Midnight 25/01/2011. Would this mean I'm within the 14 days and they're wrong to charge me the £50?
Also I've just got the actual figures of cancellation from their own documentation: It says that the policy started on 11 January 2011, and that it was cancelled at Midnight 25/01/2011. Would this mean I'm within the 14 days and they're wrong to charge me the £50?
But before you can raise to the ombudsman, you must give the ins co and chance to deal with the complaint themselves. If you haven't done this the FSO won't be interested.
It shouldn't take too long to get a complaint raised with a manager. They then have x amounts of weeks to respond. If you're unhappy with thier response you can escalate and they have another period of grace to deal with complaint.
After all this is said and done then threaten to take it to the ombudman. I would expect £25 plus the months ins reimbursed.
It shouldn't take too long to get a complaint raised with a manager. They then have x amounts of weeks to respond. If you're unhappy with thier response you can escalate and they have another period of grace to deal with complaint.
After all this is said and done then threaten to take it to the ombudman. I would expect £25 plus the months ins reimbursed.
KeithE said:
If you can't make that work make an formal complaint to the insurance company about them cancelling the insurance without notifying you in advance as they are obliged to do by law (can't remember how much notice they have to give).
When I applied for their insurance they told me that they would cancel my policy if I didn't get the proof of no claims there in time. I presume that counts as them giving me notice?Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff