Sky Insurance

[bigshark]

im sure a lot of people on here use sky insurance and i'm just wondering if anyone here know what is the craic with their renewal / cancellation policy? Also, they used to have their own thread on this forum (what happened?)

basically i got my renewals notice on 11th feb and i have up to now been searching for a better deal, reason and to cut a long story short i simply cant afford what sky has quote me.

I got a call from them on 21/02/2012 to remind me that my insurance is due on 26/02/2012 bla bla bla, and i explained the situation to them that im looking for a better deal and i'll get back to them. the girl said the latest i could get back to them is on the 25/02/2012. Fine

so today (22/02/2012) i received a letter saying that my insurance has been automatically renewed and payment will be collected by DD, bearing in mind my insurance policy do not expire unit 26/02/2012 at 12:00PM. Plus i never gave them the 'go a-head'.

so, where do i stand now, is it too late for me to tell them that i do not wish to renew my policy with them, or is that 'confirmation' letter basically tying me into a contract, so cancellation will incur charges + extra hidden charges... and then some!

i am absolutely livid that i have received this letter, and if i got home any sooner today i would've called them straight away!

[MikeSh]

As the insurance has not actually started you should be able to cancel it without penalty, but you need to check the small print and act fast. You may need to wield the "Direct Debit Guarantee" thingy, and I hope you kept notes about that call on 21st as that is pivotal to whether you authorised them to take the DD.

Rule for future - don't put insurance on a repeating DD unless you really want to stick with Co. X forever, regardless of what they charge you. Even my 'trusted' insurer takes the ***** every couple of years, so I do a bit of confused.com stuff, find they are cheaper on there, call them, and suddenly "oh yes, we have another policy we can put you on that is cheaper" but which is indistinguishable in cover, etc, from my current one, be it car or house insurance. Funny that.

[acetip]

I had a letter from Churchill for the renewal of my home insurence which

had gone up nearly 25%. its on a automatic renewal system,that is if they dont hear from you then they just renew it. i phoned them to ask why the large increase in the premium as was told that standard across their policies,i then asked could they not do a better deal since ive never had to make a claim.the answer was no.

Did a search and found Castle insurence was better by far and took it up.

I then phoned Churchill and told them i would not be renewing with them and was told that they would take me off the automatic renewal and to ignore any further notification about the rewal, but they would not accept any notification of non renewal or record it,which seems strange.now a bit worried if this all goes wrong and they renew anyway.

[Raistlin]

Put the cancellation in writing to them and also tell you bank not to pay any monies in favour the company again in writing.

Then if they do take a payment you can get your bank to reverse it immediately.

[Cyker]

@acetip - Are you on Direct Debit? They shouldn't be able to autorenew if you paid by cheque, and if you used a credit card they aren't allowed to store the card details unless you've explicitly given them permission.

But this is why I refuse to let any company have direct access to my bank account unless it's a small fixed recurring fee (e.g. my 'net connection, but NOT my phone bill!).

I'm sure this auto-renew stuff can't be totally legal; What if you took out insurance with another company? You have no obligation to tell your previous insurer, but if they auto-renewed you anyway, you'd be liable for fraud as it's illegal to have more than one insurance policy on a car!

[bigshark]

Panic over! i got on to them 1st thing this morning explaining the situation, and they came back to me and said they would match my best quote so i have deceided to stick with them.

cheers for the adivse people.

insurance can be a big scam and you can not do wihtout it.

[MikeSh]

I'm sure this auto-renew stuff can't be totally legal

It is if you have signed up for a repeating Direct Debit. They are very useful for things like utility bills, but my experience with insurance is that the companies use it to milk you if they can, so you need to be on top of it.

And I'm afraid it would be you that has got into the position of having two policies - don't try and blame the insurance companies. BUYER BEWARE :)

[acetip]

I Was NOT my fault as the first i knew of this automatic renewal was when the renewal notice arrived. Checked on my last paperwork when i first took out the insurence and there is no mention of this.

So dont jump to conclusons please.

Ive phoned and got confirmation that ive been taken off the automatic renewal.system.