Got done with "Auto renewal" on my insurance

[DrSnoosnoo]

Been moving house so I thought my insurance had expired. Went on the old comparisons and found swinton were my cheapest but I rang thebikeinsurer.com who say they'll get a cheaper like for like quote. They did, an extra £13 off! bargain I thought.

Went to pay on my card and it said it was declined, I thought it was the bank being a gay so used another. check my bank and it says money has been taken out but it takes a couple of days to tell me who from, I thought they charged me even though they said it was "denied".

so I rang about this morning, rang the insurers who say they can't tell if I've been charged twice for a couple of days either. Ring bennetts for a letter for my year no claims and they say, oh it hasn't cancelled it auto renewed for a whopping £100 more than my other insurance I've just bought. They're refunding but it's gonna take 2 weeks to refund me.

Damn you small print, damn me for not reading.

Anyway, I hate insurance companies ....
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I'm Sam; Northern, Ginger, Lover
Did have: '95 ZZR600 '83 CG125 '97 ZZR1100 '15 Hypermotard 821 SP Do Have: '10 ZX10R

[Hetzer]

Auto-renewal should be a criminal offence. It amounts to fraud, and fuck the snide small-print/T&Cs bullshit. We all know it's a con UNLESS YOU VERBALLY REQUEST IT.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[fatpies]

Phone them up and inform them they acting fraudulently.

Felthouse v Bindley means that Silence can not be an indication of acceptance.

Also inform the ombudsman.

Insurers being the filth that they are will try and use the interpretation of if it is normal business and both of you have accepted then its OK. Except unless you've used them for years and years and years, then it can't be considered to be normal business activity between the two of you.

But silence as acceptance has to be specifically agreed to and can't be buried in a contract, you actually have to spell it out to the person BEFORE the initial contract is signed.
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"It's easy to attack and destroy an act of creation. It's a lot more difficult to perform one"

[Raffles]

[fatpies]

[Alpha-9]

Heard bad things about Bennets
indeed, it shouldn't be allowed, i'm surprised they have refunded you and aren't charging you cancellation charge instead

sub-parasitic scum etc
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Fzr-600 1999

[JP7]

In fairness to Bennetts, it wasn't really "small print" on the renewal paperwork, it's written in big bold print at the very top of the letter. Mine came through last month and naturally was jacked up in price quite significantly, so I rang them and told them not to bother renewing it. They were trying to be clever on the letter by showing the monthly payment in big letters and the actual premium buried in rows of small text further down. What showed as a "mere" £3 a month extra over last year represented nearly a 40% increase.

Auto-renew is a mixed blessing really, some people like it because there's no risk of them forgetting to renew and becoming uninsured. The insurers love it because they can quietly load the premium while you're not looking. But in today's competitive insurance market it just makes no sense to renew automatically without shopping around.

[DrSnoosnoo]

I suppose I got off lightly, they said yeah we charged 330 or something like that. £310 is going into my bank within 10 working days .... and they're sending a cheque to refund the admin fees of £20.

I'm glad it's a full refund like but it could have been worse
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I'm Sam; Northern, Ginger, Lover
Did have: '95 ZZR600 '83 CG125 '97 ZZR1100 '15 Hypermotard 821 SP Do Have: '10 ZX10R

[DrSnoosnoo]

And in reply to JP7,

They may have sent out a letter to me about renewal but I definitely didn't get it!
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I'm Sam; Northern, Ginger, Lover
Did have: '95 ZZR600 '83 CG125 '97 ZZR1100 '15 Hypermotard 821 SP Do Have: '10 ZX10R

[N cee thirty]

insurers are all liars, parents were doing business insurance and the girl on the help desk said we'd lost no claims because of an ongoing claim, told her to do one and put the manager on and sorted it out, got her name and he said she'd only been there a few weeks and didn't know what she was talking about.

You never know what these people know so don't just go along with it.
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'00 Aprilia RS50 > '92 Honda CG > '99 Yamaha Fazer > '91 Yamaha RXS > '79 Suzuki X5 > 01' Honda Cg > 07' Honda Cg > 82' Kawasaki Z200 > suzuki gsxr 400 gk73a > honda vfr 400 NC30 Mod 2 Passed 09/06/2011

Jewlio Iglesias wrote: I actually did vote BNP once

[DrSnoosnoo]

Managers will say stuff like that to make the customer feel better.

When I worked on reception at a gym we had a "no card, no entry" rule. We gave people a one let off thing so this guy come, who I told the day before he wouldn't get let in without a card (that actually was written in the contract and were told it on joining), and didn't let him in, the manager came round and said he's new here he should be a bit more lenient. Strange how 5 years is a short amount of time
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I'm Sam; Northern, Ginger, Lover
Did have: '95 ZZR600 '83 CG125 '97 ZZR1100 '15 Hypermotard 821 SP Do Have: '10 ZX10R

[DrSnoosnoo]

Just checked my account because it has come up now, Bennetts actually charged me £523 quid!! rang up again, and they've said, oh it might be with you wednesday next week. I hope it is, they've ransacked my bank!!
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I'm Sam; Northern, Ginger, Lover
Did have: '95 ZZR600 '83 CG125 '97 ZZR1100 '15 Hypermotard 821 SP Do Have: '10 ZX10R

[Hetzer]

Well, that's Bennets off my list (£85 FC as of today's Meercat quotes, and the cheapest of the lot). I will not tolerate this auto-renewal criminal fraud.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[Rogerborg]

[map]

FWIW it's worse if you fall back on the auto-renew due to other commitments and then between them and the bank they balls it up so you're not insured when you actually think you are.

It's far easier to do nothing, it's that they're relying on for this scam. Plus in the past you wouldn't think a old, trusted and professional institution like an insurance company would rip you off would you? People as a whole* are a lot wiser and more cynical after being shafted by the banks, another example of old, trusted and professional institutions.





* There are obviously exceptions, some people, like Fox Mulder, trust no one
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...and the whirlwind is in the thorn trees, it's hard for thee to kick against the pricks...
Gibbs, what did Duckie look like when he was younger?

[DrSnoosnoo]

What pisses me off more is that when I've been running around looking for quotes, Bennetts actually offered me a quote of just over £300 but their auto renew gives you a kick up the nuts. Then they also have an admin fee on top of an "automated service" ggrrrr
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I'm Sam; Northern, Ginger, Lover
Did have: '95 ZZR600 '83 CG125 '97 ZZR1100 '15 Hypermotard 821 SP Do Have: '10 ZX10R

[glenbee]

My renewal had a £20 renewal admin fee on it! So they charge me, for privilege of staying with them at an inflated renewal price. I dont think so.
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Suzuki TS125/Honda CB125/Honda CB250/Yamaha RD200/Kawasaki ER5/Suzuki DL650 Vstrom

[Pete.]

I specifically demanded that they (Admiral) take the auto-renewal off my daughter's insurance and although they made a little bit of fuss they did it. They called me this year to renew and I did it right away.
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[Charlie]

[kernow24]

[Walloper]

You didn't 'actually' get done.
You would have got done if you had no insurance cover.

I've not been 'done' I normally watch this shit so they can't 'do' me.

If they say auto-renew, which the documents normally state, then you only have to call or write and insist that they do not 'auto' fuck all when you receive your docs.

In the words of the Russian Meerkat "Simples!".
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W-ireless A-rtificial L-ifeform L-imited to O-bservation P-eacekeeping and E-fficient R-epair

[Hetzer]

[Alpha-9]

If they want you to auto-renew they should promise to keep the same premium for 5 years or something in return. Fair, no?

Otherwise you shouldn't be auto-renewed at all if the premium changes, you need to be notified
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Fzr-600 1999

[thepuma]

The Post Office did me like that. ..but WORSE. I got the renewal notice through and rang to advise them NOT to renew and NOT to take the payment, they said fine all cancelled. I then get insured elsewhere only to find out the Post office DID take the money (even though I told them not to) and it took 2 weeks to get my money back that they fraudulently took.

Would never use another company that auto renews ever again...not worth the hassle..
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YBR125 (SOLD) - CBR250R(SOLD) - CBR650F(SOLD) Current - Street Triple
765 RS

[kawakid]

How does this auto renewal work. Surely this can only be for direct debit customers who pay monthly.


Or do they remember credit card details. If so that surely can't be legal and there would be a good chance the card would have changed in the previous year.
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I've a twin and a 4.