Reclaiming unwanted phone insurance payments?
Discussion
I recently decided to check a direct debit that has been on my account for quite some time. I always assumed it was a bank charge, as I seemed to remember it being added to my account around the same time that I upgraded my bank account.
Needless to say I was quite surprised when I found out it was for phone insurance, and that the payments go back 7 years!! It is only a nominal fee (£3.99), but over that time span it adds up to quite a bit.
What I've been able to track down is that I believe the phone insurance was added when I took out a contract with a company called Singlepoint, whom have now been bought by Vodafone. I'm almost certain that I didn't agree to the phone insurance, though I will check later when I get home as I have kept the paperwork.
What are the chances of me being able to reclaim this money? Am I right in thinking I can only go back 6 years? Also, would it be Vodafone who I would need to contact, or are my hopes lost because the original company have been taken over?
Needless to say I was quite surprised when I found out it was for phone insurance, and that the payments go back 7 years!! It is only a nominal fee (£3.99), but over that time span it adds up to quite a bit.
What I've been able to track down is that I believe the phone insurance was added when I took out a contract with a company called Singlepoint, whom have now been bought by Vodafone. I'm almost certain that I didn't agree to the phone insurance, though I will check later when I get home as I have kept the paperwork.
What are the chances of me being able to reclaim this money? Am I right in thinking I can only go back 6 years? Also, would it be Vodafone who I would need to contact, or are my hopes lost because the original company have been taken over?
I've stated I'm yet to check the paperwork, if it transpires I agreed to the insurance then I'm fine with going no further.
However if I've been charged several hundred pounds for something that I never requested or was never told about then I think I'm perfectly entitled to ask for that money back.
However if I've been charged several hundred pounds for something that I never requested or was never told about then I think I'm perfectly entitled to ask for that money back.
I do agree and I'd be peeved as well. But I think the problem may be in that you're asking for a refund on insurance. This is a product which becomes utterly useless 'in retrospect' if you don't make a claim.
If everyone who didn't make a claim then demanded a refund at the end of the term there would be no money in the kitty to cover for the costs of the claims which were paid out.
So as an insurer I would be very skeptical of someone asking for a refund after several years with no claims. I imagine they would make it quite difficult for you to obtain a refund, and probably with good reason as I suspect it will be hard for you to 'prove' that you were unaware of the cover.
Clearly from your point of view if you had an accident you wouldn't have claimed as you didn't know of the policy, so there was never a 'risk' to the insurer. But they didn't know that, and it will be hard to prove that.
I am interested by the comments of the other poster who's friend managed to get a refund. It would proabbly be a good idea to get some more info from him, but also head over to moneysavingexpert.com (or whatever that Martin Lewis website is) as there's bound to be an FAQ or guide to this kind of thing on there.
If everyone who didn't make a claim then demanded a refund at the end of the term there would be no money in the kitty to cover for the costs of the claims which were paid out.
So as an insurer I would be very skeptical of someone asking for a refund after several years with no claims. I imagine they would make it quite difficult for you to obtain a refund, and probably with good reason as I suspect it will be hard for you to 'prove' that you were unaware of the cover.
Clearly from your point of view if you had an accident you wouldn't have claimed as you didn't know of the policy, so there was never a 'risk' to the insurer. But they didn't know that, and it will be hard to prove that.
I am interested by the comments of the other poster who's friend managed to get a refund. It would proabbly be a good idea to get some more info from him, but also head over to moneysavingexpert.com (or whatever that Martin Lewis website is) as there's bound to be an FAQ or guide to this kind of thing on there.
Yea, I can certainly understand your point of view. A couple of things though, I've had phone insurance through my bank account for at least seven years that covers me for any phone I own, hence if I had been asked whether I wanted insurance with a contract I would have declined.
I guess it comes down to whether there is a little tick in a checkbox on my contract saying I have agreed to the insurance.
I've had a quick look through the few topics on MSE about reclaiming phone insurance, oddly they all went very similar to this one; a couple of people saying it's unlikely that they would get a refund, and then one person cropping up saying they had successfully done it but giving no details.
Regardless of what the refund is for, does anyone know how things change if the company the purchase took place through then gets taken over?
I guess it comes down to whether there is a little tick in a checkbox on my contract saying I have agreed to the insurance.
I've had a quick look through the few topics on MSE about reclaiming phone insurance, oddly they all went very similar to this one; a couple of people saying it's unlikely that they would get a refund, and then one person cropping up saying they had successfully done it but giving no details.
Regardless of what the refund is for, does anyone know how things change if the company the purchase took place through then gets taken over?
This happened to me a few months ago. For the last 5 years there's been a payment going out of my account and like you I thought it was something to do with bank charges as it went out every month at the same time as my Scottish Widows. It was only about £4 and the name was "CITYMAIN ADMINSTR". Finally I Googled the name to find out exactly what it was and, yes you've guessed it, phone insurance. I bought my phone 5 years ago but never asked for phone insurance (I get that anyway as part of my Private Banking package).
Go and speak to your bank, I'm with Lloyds and I seem to remember that I was advised (I think by my PB Manager) to go into my local branch and ask them to stop the direct debit and request that all of the payments be credited back to me. I remember the clerk saying that he didn't think he could do that but that he would write to the company anyway and request a refund. I insisted that he did and a couple of weeks later I was very surprised to get a cheque in the post for £250, they repaid every penny!
Go and speak to your bank, I'm with Lloyds and I seem to remember that I was advised (I think by my PB Manager) to go into my local branch and ask them to stop the direct debit and request that all of the payments be credited back to me. I remember the clerk saying that he didn't think he could do that but that he would write to the company anyway and request a refund. I insisted that he did and a couple of weeks later I was very surprised to get a cheque in the post for £250, they repaid every penny!
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