What the fucking fuck is wrong with insurance companies

[notbike]

Fucking useless twats just charged me this month's insurance when I cancelled last month?! Literally over the phone the stupid bimbo told me my shit is cancelled and there was no outstanding fee to pay or something.

So this guy riding my old bike, if he crashes, that's gonna be a risk on my insurance this whole time? Wtf? Why the fuck are they charging me still?

I best be getting my money back tomorrow man I'm going to go nuts down the phone to these fuckwits. I did not factor this into my budget and that's set me back £50. Cunts better refund me sharpish.

I can't sleep now, pissed off, just had to let off some steam on the internet.

[Ste]

If the payment was taken by direct debit then your best bet is to contact your bank if the direct debit was taken incorrectly. Have in mind that if you wrongly take the direct debit payment back then you'll have a load of other charges coming your way.

Are you paying monthly or is it pay as you go insurance (like eBike)? If it's paying monthly then you've already bought the twelve month policy and are paying back a loan that paid for the policy.

[notbike]

I was paying monthly for it, but how does that work? How can I still be paying for a years worth of insurance that I don't have?

Also I don't understand the fact that when I asked the lady on the phone "if I cancel the insurance policy immediately will I need to pay anything else like a cancellation fee or the remainder of my insurance policy" and she responded with literally "no cancellation fee, and no more ongoing payments" and also reassured me that (in similar words) "because I didn't pay for the insurance policy outright for a year in one lump sum they wouldn't be paying me anything back." - How can they still be taking direct debits when that's what they told me? How the fuck does that work.

I would probably still have the R125 if I knew I would be paying insurance on it like holy fuck why did nobody explain this to me when I took the policy out with them?

Now I'm confused because I think I've done something incorrect and am going to be paying out my arse for it.

[Ste]

If you're paying monthly then you've taken out a loan. Cancel the policy and the company who gave you that loan will still want paying.

Did you get anything in writing to say that the policy was cancelled?

Unfortunately, it will have been explained in the wad of paperwork you got after taking the policy out. Which means you need to have a look through the paperwork (for the finance) to see what it says about cancelling the policy.

How long is left on the policy?

[notbike]

I didn't even realize it would be a loan type thing. I thought this shit was the same as taking out a phone contract, you buy a year of service and then cancel halfway through, pay a fee, and it's all over. Holy shit I'm having kittens over this.

So I have 5 months left of this shit? Now I feel really fucking stupid for not reading into it as far as I probably should have.

I need to go grab my papers and read them. I can't be having this shit man.

They said they would send me a confirmation of cancellation through the post but I didn't get one, it's been 3 weeks since cancelling over the phone (18th).

Admittedly, I actually completely forgot about them after moving onto the Ninja with a different insurance company (paid for one full year in one go, so dont have to worry about a monthly payment there).

Big mistake on forgetting. Should've been hassling them to see what was happening all this time. If this is how it's gonna be, then insurance companies are a pile of wank, I'm still infuriated.

[Llama-Farmer]

Nope, as Ste says.

It's a full years policy you have taken out with InsuranceRUs. They have been paid for a full year by LoansRUs.

You are/were paying LoansRUs "1/12 of insurance + interest" every month.


Cancelling the insurance doesn't change the fact LoansRUs want all their money for what they've already paid out.
____________________
Current Bike: 1999 Honda CB600 FX Hornet
Next Bike: I want a CBR-RR. And I want an F800 GS-A. And a VFR 800. Can I have all 3?
Dream Bikes: Honda VFR750R RC30, Honda NSR500, Ducati 996 R

[notbike]

Oh god I want to curl up now. So I should be angry at myself, not them. Now I'm angry at myself. Fuck sake.

They did a pretty fucking poor job of explaining this to me though mind.

If I can fuck it all off with one payment I'd owe them about 250 now. 250 for something I don't need, won't reap any benefit from what-so-ever. That's scummy.

[Pete.]

Oh it's worse than that - because you've cancelled your policy you won't accrue any NCD from the year's insurance you've paid for.
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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

[P.addy]

You seem so mad over something so little buddy.

Just relax, understand insurance is out to knob you without any protection, they may have HIV, you'll find out later on.

[Rogerborg]

You're not the first to be caught out by this and you won't be the last. Of course they don't make it clear up front - the whole business of selling financial services revolves around deception and flim-flam.

View it another way though. If you'd paid in full up front, then after 6 months (on a typical policy) if you'd cancelled you'd have got nothing back, plus you'd have been hit with a cancellation fee.

It sounds like you were lied to over the phone though. Fire in with a COMPLAINT, headed as that, to their complaints department. Refer to the conversation, be adamant that you were told that no more payments would be taken. Ask for a copy of the phone call.

There's no downside to having a go at that.

How are they taking payments? Credit/debit card, or direct debit? If DD, then you could (I stress could), cancel it and tell your bank to reverse that last payment under the DD guarantee, based on what you were assured on the phone (which might contradict your contract, now would be a good time to read it).

That's a bit dodgier and could get legal, but the money might (might) be better in your account with LoansRUs chasing you rather than the other way around.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[MattEMulsion]

It could just be a mistake. Calm down, ring them up and ask. Then get all ranty if you must...
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Yamaha YZF-R6

[Crazy-Duck]

Do you have telephone banking? you can phone your bank up and stop the direct debit with them so it it won't go through for next month.

Regarding this payment that has left, how long ago did you tell them to stop the policy? maybe it was too close to the cut off time to make dure the DD was cancled.
____________________
Passed Mod 2 19th June 2014. First 'Big Bike' Ducati Monster 600

[Doovy]

[monkeybiker]

I'm not sure I understand what people are taking about here. I mostly pay for my insurance in full and I have cancelled before and was refunded some of the money.

I have also paid monthly and cancelled payment and had to pay a little bit to cover the policy of to date of cancel. I didn't have to keep paying for the remaining 12 months.

[notbike]

So I just got off the phone to customer service. They didn't cancel my policy when they said they did, it was still running from the 18th.

I told him I want a refund for this month and he told me I need to prove I sold/do not own the previous vehicle as of a certain date. WTF, I told them over the phone when I was cancelling before that I no longer own the vehicle and tried to cancel before, apparently that's not enough. So now I'm going to go cancel my direct debit and try get this month's payment back through the bank.

I don't get how they can make that mistake, it's not like it was a brief phone call. And this time I asked again, will I pay the remainder of the policy? He told me no if you cancel now there's nothing to pay and your policy ends meaning you don't pay the remaining months that would've been left on your 12 month contract. So it's like cancelling a phone contract then, I was right at the start. It's just they made a stupid mistake and charged me for it pffff.

Yes Paddy I'm very pissed off over something small, I've had a shit week and it's getting worse with every little thing piling up.

[Ste]

At this point I think I'd be asking the insewerrats company for details of how to instigate a formal complaint. I'd also be asking for a copy of the recording of your phone call when you cancelled the policy, as well as suggesting that they should review the call themselves.

Pretty sure that whether you own the vehicle or not is besides the point; you instructed them to cancel the policy so that could be because you've sold it or simply because you're not using it (and storing it on private land).

Monkey... it entirely depends on the wording of the finance agreement. As Roger says, the situation described (cancel a policy but still having to pay most or all of the remaining payments) has happened many times before.

[notbike]

I'm gonna file a complaint and try get this month's payment back through them first, if not then I'll go to the bank and ask for them to revoke the payment. Thanks for your advice guys. Also since two different reps on two different phone calls already said they wont charge me for the remaining months upon the date of the cancellation they can't pull that bullshit card on me it seems.

[monkeybiker]

It shouldn't matter when you sold the vehicle. You don't have to insure a vehicle just because you own it only if it's to be used on the road.

[wr6133]

I'd cancel and try to reclaim through the bank first may not be the right way but I'd rather claw my £££ back ASAP and ensure no more get taken. Then start a formal complaint with the insurance company being sure to point out it doesn't matter if you sold the vehicle last month or wheeled it in to your front room and now use it as a sofa that's your business and has fuck all to do with them not cancelling it when you asked and they said it was.

I believe there is a requirement to complain via the insurer before you can go to the ombudsmen.

[Ste]

Fuck 'em, just go straight to your bank and you'll have your money back immediately (and that is literally immediately).

https://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/Pages/Incorrectpayments.aspx

Then make a complaint as well. Once you've gone through the insurance companies official complaints process if you're not satisfied with how they deal with your complaint then you can escalate your complaint to the financial ombudsman.

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm

Every time I've made complaints to energy companies, telecoms companies, banks, credit card companies and everywhere else that I complain about something, I haven't shut up and gone away until they've given me some free money as a gesture of good.

Say the incorrect direct debit had taken you over your over draft limit and you've incurred however many days of fees, I'd be expecting them to pay for that as well. Barclays did exactly that.

[P.addy]

[Ste]

[complaining skillz] Complaining to Barclays was a win in the region of 6k.

[notbike]

[Rogerborg]

[Ste]

That's what I don't have to pay them. What they paid me is on top of that.