I have had to cancel a policy taken out via Bennetts. I did this before the policy started and received a full refund. I made a formal complaint which was handled well.
Circumstances: current policy with Ageas via Devitt expires on 2nd June. The renewal price of £126 was favourable but I noted they still had me as employed. I rang to get a new quote as now retired. This raised the price by over £40 and made it too dear.
Off I toddled to the comparison sites and Bennetts offered a good price via an Aviva policy through MCN Compare. I bought the policy. Fortunately I checked the documents when they were emailed through. I noticed there was a difference in the Statement of Fact section compared to the information typed into the MCN Compare website. This relates to a medical condition I have to declare to DVLA. The usual format of the question is "Do you have a medical condition that you have reported to DVLA" YES. This generates a drop down from which I select "DVLA Aware, no restrictions" as I use a CPAP machine. Annoyingly, the questions on Bennetts form are worded differently.
I then had a long phone call with Bennetts. The chappie on the phone was hopeless and he didn't get any better after consulting his supervisor. I was not at all confident I trusted my contract for insurance. I then looked at the online customer portal and noted there was an option to cancel the policy but reading the small print, they stated they would charge me a £10 fee plus would not return the £20 brokerage fee already paid. That's a large chunk from a £143 premium bearing in mind the policy was not yet live.
I then emailed a formal complaint stating the above and telling them they could fuck off in relation to the cancellation fees.
To their credit, I had an email after cancelling the policy online stating the full £143 would be repaid and a phone call today asking if I was happy to close the complaint. She was very apologetic and has fed back to the overlords about the problems I encountered. This evening, the refund has hit my credit card account.
The main message here is do not assume the information you enter onto a comparison site carries forward correctly to the broker's website. Check the data before you go through to the payment section and the documents once you get them.
There was a happy ending as well. The chappie working for Devitt was much keener. He rang back a day or two later and stated he had persuaded the renewals team to review the price offered and I was offered a revised premium of £123. I'll put that £40 towards dinner in Reims on Friday evening.
Circumstances: current policy with Ageas via Devitt expires on 2nd June. The renewal price of £126 was favourable but I noted they still had me as employed. I rang to get a new quote as now retired. This raised the price by over £40 and made it too dear.
Off I toddled to the comparison sites and Bennetts offered a good price via an Aviva policy through MCN Compare. I bought the policy. Fortunately I checked the documents when they were emailed through. I noticed there was a difference in the Statement of Fact section compared to the information typed into the MCN Compare website. This relates to a medical condition I have to declare to DVLA. The usual format of the question is "Do you have a medical condition that you have reported to DVLA" YES. This generates a drop down from which I select "DVLA Aware, no restrictions" as I use a CPAP machine. Annoyingly, the questions on Bennetts form are worded differently.
I then had a long phone call with Bennetts. The chappie on the phone was hopeless and he didn't get any better after consulting his supervisor. I was not at all confident I trusted my contract for insurance. I then looked at the online customer portal and noted there was an option to cancel the policy but reading the small print, they stated they would charge me a £10 fee plus would not return the £20 brokerage fee already paid. That's a large chunk from a £143 premium bearing in mind the policy was not yet live.
I then emailed a formal complaint stating the above and telling them they could fuck off in relation to the cancellation fees.
To their credit, I had an email after cancelling the policy online stating the full £143 would be repaid and a phone call today asking if I was happy to close the complaint. She was very apologetic and has fed back to the overlords about the problems I encountered. This evening, the refund has hit my credit card account.
The main message here is do not assume the information you enter onto a comparison site carries forward correctly to the broker's website. Check the data before you go through to the payment section and the documents once you get them.
There was a happy ending as well. The chappie working for Devitt was much keener. He rang back a day or two later and stated he had persuaded the renewals team to review the price offered and I was offered a revised premium of £123. I'll put that £40 towards dinner in Reims on Friday evening.
