Watch your online payments

[jberks]

Tale of caution.
I renewed my car insurance mid Jan. Went through all the online screens and finally entered my switch details to make the £400 payment. The system sat there and thought for 30 secs "authorising" and then said all was well. All well and good, insurance in place, payment made in full, I can forget about it for another year.

2 weeks later I got my docs. I have a cursory glance and all seemed in order except the start date which was a week late but still now in the past and the end date is right so I figure I'll call them at some point to clarify but not urgent. Anyway, busy busy.

Over the weekend I get a letter from a collections agency saying I owe the broker £90. So I call.
It transpires that the "the payment was declined". Asked the bank ... "What payment? - we have no record of declining anything or even any request for payment ".
So - call the broker.
They tell me they've had no payment so they ran the policy for a week and then cancelled it. The bill is for the cancelled policy.
"But I didn't want to cancel it and you've not contacted me"
"We wrote to you by recorded delivery as the law requires"
"Odd, I didn't get it (and I don't ignore recorded delivery letters), - who signed for it?"......
"err - apparently it wasn't delivered sir".
"Ok - so we agree, you haven't actually told me - what about a phone call or email?"
"We don't do that sir - We complied with the legal requirements sir, there is no requirement to ensure delivery, merely to send it"
"ok - getting nowhere - So what was the policy doc I got?"
"That was a cancellation doc sir"
"But it looks just like a policy schedule"
"Yes sir"
"Ok ....your online system authorised the payment"
"It doesn't do that for 24 hours sir"
"Whats the 30 second "processing" wait for then?"
"Dont know sir"
"So you're saying whilst I've been driving my Mercedes around on snow, ice, in fog, rain and freezing conditions for the last 3 weeks for over 700 miles a week, I've had no insurance?"
"thats correct sir"
"Super"

A bit of messing around and policy back in place and £90 charge dropped but thank god I didn't run into the back of that 08 plate mini in the snow 2 weeks ago!

Be warned - Double check everything!

 

[Alex M Grieve]

Tale of caution.
"We don't do that sir - We complied with the legal requirements sir, there is no requirement to ensure delivery, merely to send it"
"So you're saying whilst I've been driving my Mercedes around on snow, ice, in fog, rain and freezing conditions for the last 3 weeks for over 700 miles a week, I've had no insurance?"

A salutary tale indeed. These guys clearly went to the same customer service school as the airlines.

With the airlines, their mantra is "you ticked the box on the form to say that you accept the terms and conditions". Well if you don't, then that is the end of the discussion. Once you do, things can progress, but their customer charter loads the dice absolutely in their favour. It anticipates that you must tolerate "reasonable delays", but they remain the sole judge of "reasonable".

Sadly, they do not seem to understand the irony of the title "Customer Service" Director/department/desk, as it applies to their industry.

And whilst you are at it, keep an eye on your "Direct Debits" too. Many providers, especially energy and water companies, are hiking the monthly take to put cash in their accounts rather than yours. It is blatant cash flow management at public expense. Ofgem have spotted this and told them not to, but only you can lose if they do it to you. Keep an eye on it. You might recover any overcharge in future but the odds are that they will just increase their prices to mop up any credits on the account.

 

[television]

I see that this "terms and condition" thing to do with on line purchases is under review for this very thing, after many complaints

 

[Splatt]

Interesting.. because the electronic payment did not perform properly you could have well driven past one of the Police number plate recognition vans and triggered an ABBER DABBER DOO. as an uninsured vehicle. The summons might still be winging its way to you through the system.

 

[television]

Interesting.. because the electronic payment did not perform properly you could have well driven past one of the Police number plate recognition vans and triggered an ABBER DABBER DOO. as an uninsured vehicle. The summons might still be winging its way to you through the system.

And its YABBADABBADOOOO birhtday today too

 

[jberks]

Interesting.. because the electronic payment did not perform properly you could have well driven past one of the Police number plate recognition vans and triggered an ABBER DABBER DOO. as an uninsured vehicle. The summons might still be winging its way to you through the system.

VERY easily.
Lets hope not - not sure how far the mitigation that I had spent half a day setting up insurance and believed it to be in place would go - probably not very knowing our legal friends.

 

[television]

I forgot to tell the insurance company that I changed my number plate, it was only one year later when I tried to tax the car that it came to light, was I insured or not ??

 

[jberks]

I forgot to tell the insurance company that I changed my number plate, it was only one year later when I tried to tax the car that it came to light, was I insured or not ??

Interesting one. I suspect you would be as it doesn't affect their risk but knwoing those slippery customers ......

In my case it's the 4th time I've not been insured. I've had another broker misunderstand and cancel a policy without telling me when I got my C (2 months without cover), I picked up my last E and in the excitement forgot to tell the insurers for 2 hours (only twigged as looked out at it from a cafe window in a particularly dodgy area of town) and then when I picked this one up I did exactly the same thing - remembered after a 1/2 hour drive home from the dealer - so pulled up and rang the insurer. guess it must happen a lot.

 

[GMK]

Re jberks initial problem - it's worth paying using the new Faster Payments system if you can. You will get a confirmation back within 15 secs to tell you if the payment has been accepted by the receiving bank or a message to tell you if there has been a problem with it (called 'certainty of fate' in banker-speak). Might add some peace of mind...

 

[JEZ.S320L]

Tale of caution.
..............
Be warned - Double check everything!

Have you checked your statement online, and established when the payment was authorised EXACTLY?

or

Have you spoken with your Bank and established what time and date the authorisation was made?

24 hours is total Bulls**t. It is almost instant..!!

p.s. I'm currently dealing with Authorisations for a Bank (IT level - NOT a Call Centre.!)

 

[Juddian]

Bet that caused icy feelings up your spine JB, very nasty that could have been.

I probably pay a little over the odds, but i'm staying with the NFU regardless, deal with a very friendly and efficient local office, landline number, no phone menu or choices, one of the very nicely spoken ladies will answer quickly and nothing is ever a problem...bliss.

Don't get me started on call centre's, even though i don't and have never owed anyone a penny (my Dad would turn in his grave), blasted NTL (hang on whilst i mutter a string of oaths) through their own call centre idiots had a debt collector ringing us whilst we were in the restaurant car half way to Venice on the Orient Express, demanding payment for cable service on our new house which they refused to connect to anyway....arrggh!!!
Do debt collection agencies employ unbelievably thick people universally or did i just get a particularly obnoxious one?

I have every sympathy with you.

 

[JEZ.S320L]

Re jberks initial problem - it's worth paying using the new Faster Payments system if you can. You will get a confirmation back within 15 secs to tell you if the payment has been accepted by the receiving bank or a message to tell you if there has been a problem with it (called 'certainty of fate' in banker-speak). Might add some peace of mind...

FPS is not an option when paying with either Debit or Credit card.

Only when paying from directly from your bank account.

 

[Xtractorfan]

Surely it would be prudent for these companies who use the internet to transact business such as this to have a fair warning in bold type to check ones email for conformation of payment and a valid insurance certificate..
A good lesson learned..

 

[stuartmac]

Hi,

Tale of caution.

You have the patience of a saint. I'd have managed about half that conversation before I told the obnoxious little t*t exactly where he could stick his cancellation and his policy. Then I'd have used the time saved to fire off a letter to the company MD about exactly why I wasn't ever going to use his or her company's services ever again. Finally, I'd have dropped 'em in it with the Financial Ombudsman Service, who would've explained to them exactly where and why they hadn't complied with the law. In the current financial climate, we as consumers have considerable extra clout - I long ago stopped putting up with service this dismal so they've got two hopes of getting away with it now.

Regards,

 

[Alex M Grieve]

You have the patience of a saint. I'd have managed about half that conversation before I told the obnoxious little t*t exactly where he could stick his cancellation and his policy. Then I'd have used the time saved to fire off a letter to the company MD about exactly why I wasn't ever going to use his or her company's services ever again.

Been there, recently. A different type of insurance, but a renewal that they stuffed up.

I telephoned to clarify and got a very patronising response suggesting that all the responsibilities were mine. They were hopeless on attitude and manner, product knowledge, process and the law as it relates to their product.

I phoned back to speak to "Customer services", only to learn that I had spoken earlier to their Managing Director!

Needless to say they lost the business - but what I experienced was done by "professionals" and that is their day job!

 

[jackwall5]

I've had worrying experiences in the past with online insurance purchases. In comparision with the approach here in Austria, I consider the British/Irish approach very aggressive and impersonal.

In austria, the insurance company provides ...

1) Car registration [also the plates],
3) Liability insurance [which include a road/car tax of sorts]

all in the same office and all in about 20 minutes.

Whislt you can apply via an online form, the processing must be done in person as you get your registration plates in the insurance office also.[the plates are registered to you and not to the car].

The registration cost is paid in cash then and there but the insurance/tax bill is issued in the post. There is no way to 'pay with my credit card' [at least not with Generali]
Kinda like the old days, I recieved a giro type paperwork which I took the bank to pay the bill.

So I was legally driving around for two and a half weeks with insurance I had not yet actually paid for .... and all was OK!

I'm glad too I had no incident but I was assured that had I had an incident, I would be covered! I was somewhat disconcerted by this I must say but this is normal here!

Glad to hear your are sorted and safe

Safe Driving