I started a new car insurance policy with a different provider at the beginning of the month.  It was all nice and straightforward: go online; find quote; add extras; pay; cancel other policy, etc, etc.  Anyhow, I got this e-mail on the 7th of Feb:

So, this was a bit of a pain – I’d never been asked to provide any such information when starting a new insurance policy before – but I’d get round to when I wasn’t at work and I had a bit more time.

But today, I got an e-mail from the insurers telling me my policy had been cancelled and I’d been refunded my fee (minus the £45 cancellation fee).  Hang on a minute!  What?  How about giving us some bloody notice?  So, I phoned them up:

Assistant one

“Oh yes, it’s been cancelled.  Not to worry, we can just get you a new quote and get you a new policy to start straight away”

Assistant two

“Ok, we’ll just transfer all the details of your policy over to the new quote… that’s £453 but we’ll refund your cancellation fee.”

“But that’s £100 more than before.”

“Yes, you went through Money Supermarket before, we can’t offer that discount”

“So I have to go and get another quote and a new policy elsewhere and I’ll still have to pay the cancellation fee for a policy that you cancelled without any warning?”

“I’m afraid so.  You can make a complaint if you like.”

“Well, it looks like I’ll have to and I don’t want to take any more of your time because you’ve done all you can to help.”

Assistant three (who’ll go far as a GP’s receptionist one day)

“The policy clearly states there’s a £45 cancellation fee.”

“I’m not referring to that, I’m asking where in the e-mail I was sent on the 7th does it explicitly state that my policy will be cancelled if I don’t provide the required information by the 14th, and why wasn’t I given any notice?  I’ll read it out to you:

What happens next?

Once we have this information, we’ll check it against your policy and contact you if we need anything else. If the details don’t match the ones you gave us when you took out your policy, we may have to change or cancel your cover. This is because, under the Consumer Insurance Act 2012, it’s your duty to answer relevant questions about your circumstances correctly, and provide evidence when needed.

We appreciate your time with this matter and look forward to hearing from you by 14^th February 2017

“That wording does not give you grounds to cancel my policy.”

“The policy states that there’s a fee for cancellation.”

This went on for about 20 minutes until I did that thing, yes, I asked to speak to a manager.

“They’ll only tell you what I’ve been saying but I’ll try to find somebody.”

Pause…

“Hello, I’m back, they’re all going off into a meeting so none can come to the phone, but we’ve had a chat and agreed that all we can do is waive the cancellation fee.”

“Thanks, err, but that’s what I was asking you to do.”

Anyway, with that done, and my £45 refunded, I had to go off and get my car insured with none other than Hastings.  They’d be advised to have somebody review the documentation they send out to people.  Can you imagine if they’re dealing with a claim against another party?

“Our client claims that your client may have hit their vehicle, causing damage that we’d appreciate you pay for.”

Lordy!