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  • Insurance Company Scam

    Hi there,

    Requesting your assistance urgently...

    I recently landed myself in trouble... I bought a car last year around and insured it with the R.A.C, I registered my details to an address where I was living at the time. I then had a car accident in November and the car was off the road for a bit.

    At the same time, I was in the transition of moving back to my parents as the tenancy agreement on the house I was renting had finished and therefore had failed to think to contact my insurance company with the change of address.

    A few months later I received a letter from C.A.R.S a debt recovery agency, claiming £1769.60 so I contacted my insurance company (as they had referenced my account in the DRA letter).

    The R.A.C claimed that because I had failed to make payments I had to pay the remainder of my premium. I would have complied with this request had it not been for the fact that the policy would be nulled after the payment was made and I would have to begin paying for a new policy! I therefore requested an explanation as to the reason why I had not been contacted by mobile or by email to which they claimed it was not their job to do so and contacting me by post should have sufficed.

    I'm angered by a number of reasons:

    1. The insurance company could have avoided this by contacting me through alternate methods other than mail.
    2. The insurance company thinks that just because the policy contract says that if I fail to make payments I am liable to pay the remainder of the premium they can forget about "especial exceptions" or "extenuating circumstances" which only add to great customer satisfaction.
    3. By pursuing this money they have lost me as a customer, I had no trouble making the payments, I simply overlooked thinking about insurance payments as I was not using the car, besides I always pay my CCs in full at the end of every month and never look through what I'm paying for as it is always the same amount (more or less) hence I had no reason to doubt the CC bill.
    4. The Direct Debit I had set-up with them using my CC had mysteriously cancelled by itself (who's fault is that?! I'm still baffled by this).
    5. The unfairness of the whole situation... I have never got myself in debt for something I could not afford and I find that a technicality in a contract could get me in this much trouble despicable.

    I went into panic mode when I received this letter and have not yet made contact with the recovery agency, the last letter I received from them was addressed to my parent's house where I was living (I have now moved again to another rented property) dates back to the 30th of March.

    If you could please provide me with some help I would be greatly indebted to your gratitude and would make the biggest donation I can afford to your cause.

    Kindest regards

  • #2
    Re: INSURANCE COMPANY SCAM

    Hi

    A few questions:

    When you had your accident in November did you make a claim on this insurance policy or not?

    When did the policy start?

    When was the last payment made towards the policy?

    You said the policy was set up to use your credit card? This couldn't then have been a DD but more likely a recurring payment authority.

    In which case the payments could have stopped for a couple of reasons:

    1) There was not enough money on the CC to cover the payments
    2) The CC was cancelled
    3) The CC had expired and they did not have the new CC details

    SnV
    "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."

    The consumer is that sleeping giant.!!



    I'm an official AAD Moderator and also a volunteer, here to help make the forum run smoothly. Any views or opinions are mine and not the official line of AAD. Similarly, any advice I have offered you is done so on an informal basis, without prejudice or liability. If in doubt seek advice from a qualified insured professional - Find a Solicitor or go to the National Probono Centre.

    If you spot an abusive or libellous post then please report it by Clicking Here. If you need to contact me, for instance if I've issued you a warning, moved, edited or deleted your post, please send me a message by clicking my username.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Insurance Company Scam

      Hi there mate,

      Sorry about the delay in response, I'm crazy busy with work right now. Which is very good news!

      In response to your questions:

      The policy began on the 22 September and expired 21 September 2011/2012 accordingly.

      So I paid the deposit in September
      which covered me for the remainder of September and October I believe, then I paid again in October which would have covered me for November and then the payments ceased.

      and I had the crash in October time I believe, I remember distinctly that I was still covered and thinking of being thankful for being covered by my insurance.

      1 - There is a large credit limit on my credit card, it could not have been exceeded.
      2- The CC has not been cancelled since I received it, I do however believe it was frozen temporarily due to some foreign transactions to which I accounted for but it could not have been related as this happened in February and the payments ceased as of December, thus the timelines would not match.
      3 - The CC expires in 2013

      Any help would be greatly appreciated.

      Thanks ever so much!

      P.S my username will change due to the fact that an Administrator has a similar name so I have to change it.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Insurance Company Scam

        I think calling it a scam is a bit harsh as it is your duty to notify them of a change in address. They were not to know you had moved, so did everything correctly as they will be looking at things.

        I'd be inclined to write to the CEO explainging what has happened, politely and calmly, and see if some reason cannot e brought back to this situation. I can't post the e mail address up now as I'm on the wrong computer, but I'm sure someone will soon, or I will later on, once I get onto my proper computer.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Insurance Company Scam

          Ok

          Informing your insurance company of a change of address IS a big deal. It is one of the factors they take into account when considering risk, and the cost of your policy will change based on this risk.

          So did you make a claim on the policy for your accident? Yes/no?

          Did you have the accident in October or November? In your first post you said November, your second post you said October.

          Why did the payments stop? It doesn't make sense that payments would suddenly stop if your credit card account was in order. Have you contacted your CC company to find out?

          Sorry for the questions, but for me things still don't quite add up, and I think to advise you responsibly and with best chance of a good outcome for you, we need a little more information.

          Best
          SnV
          "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."

          The consumer is that sleeping giant.!!



          I'm an official AAD Moderator and also a volunteer, here to help make the forum run smoothly. Any views or opinions are mine and not the official line of AAD. Similarly, any advice I have offered you is done so on an informal basis, without prejudice or liability. If in doubt seek advice from a qualified insured professional - Find a Solicitor or go to the National Probono Centre.

          If you spot an abusive or libellous post then please report it by Clicking Here. If you need to contact me, for instance if I've issued you a warning, moved, edited or deleted your post, please send me a message by clicking my username.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Insurance Company Scam

            Ok I understand what you said about changing address but is simply something that just had not crossed my mind.

            Like I mentioned before, they have a lot more than just my address to contact me so why could they not do that? I find that outrageous!

            I had the accident in October and yes, I notified the insurance company and made the claim accordingly. I did not claim on the insurance for the damage sustained to my car as it was only minor.

            I have tried speaking to my bank (Lloyds TSB) but every time I enquire about this they can't give me a straight answer, they keep telling me that I can't make DD payments with a CC and then they get confused when I show them my statement with two recurrent payments , they say they're going to call me back but they never do. Do you think it may have been a problem caused by Lloyds? Should I write to them requesting a straight answer?

            and no, I don't mind the questions! these things are way over my head so I'm happy to help out in any way I can if I can get a solution to this problem.

            Cheers

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Insurance Company Scam

              @Bboo

              It feels like I'm being scammed.

              How can they get away with charging me for the rest of a policy that no longer exists?! Yeah I understand it was my fault for not letting them know of my change of address but like I mentioned earlier they could have avoided escalating the matter by simply contacting me over the phone or email (they have both of these details too and they have not changed).

              The bottom line is, I don't understand how they can justify treating a customer like this. I feel like the big man is trampling over the little guys and I can't do anything about it because "it was all in the contract".

              I would surely try to contact the CEO if you think that is a good idea.

              Cheers

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Insurance Company Scam

                Hi Pegasus

                I think it may have been the ins co that actually stopped the recurring payments because of the claim.

                I had a car, that was stolen, insured on a policy that I was paying by instalments. When you pay by instalments you are not paying insurance on a month by month basis, if there is a claim the ins co normally wants the whole premium (in my case including all the interest) paid before they will look at the claim.

                It may be that they wrote to you asking for the rest of the years premium because of the claim and when they got no reply they then cancelled the policy and are now pursuing you for the 'debt'.

                I guess the only people who will be able to tell you that are RAC insurance themselves.

                MK
                One day at a time, with £34K of UE debt

                LloydsTSB - For the (UE) journey NatWest/RBS Mint - (Un)Helpful banking
                Marbles - they lost 'em - and my CCA, what a shame

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Insurance Company Scam

                  Hi mk_chatham

                  Thanks for the input, that does seem like a very reasonable explanation, when I rang up RAC however, they claimed to be pursuing the remainder of the premium due to not having paid the instalments duly and thus I was liable o pay the remainder of the premium in one go. They never mentioned anything regarding the claim on the account. The only reason why I wouldn't pay the remainder of the premium is because the issue had been forwarded to "collections" and the policy had been cancelled and I wasn't going to make a payment towards a premium that I was not to benefit from in any way. It would be basically giving them 1700 pounds for doing nothing!

                  Cheers

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Insurance Company Scam

                    It may be possible to help but there are a couple of questions first.
                    1. You say a claim was made, but not for damage to the car as this was minor. What, then, was the claim for? Has it been actively pursued? Was it for a significant amount, and what is the current state of play?
                    2. What became of the car? Did you insure it elsewhere? Has it been disposed of, and if so, roughly when?

                    Comment

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