Money for Nothing - Part 2

Well would you believe it M&S money called me back on Friday, while I was out, and left a message on my machine. They tell me that a team has listened to my last call and they confirm that I was told that I was due them £2.43 not they were due me. Unbloody believable. How can this be the case? I've 4 months left on my insurance, I cancel, granted, and they charge me £25 for clicking a button that says cancelled etc. then claim money for loss of 4 months business, of which they were paid upfront, then have the mordacity to charge me a further amount. Why did I bother? With an increase of motorist uninsured in this country it really irks me that as a customer they could and would do this.

I’ve reread my policy and terms, which I’d read a year ago when I’d taken it out, and they nicely state the following 'We may also charge a percentage of the total cost of cover, depending on when you cancel.' I give emphasis to the words may and depending. Surely either a fee or percentage should be applicable and enough but not both and certainly not a further charge; so does 4 months not apply?

I am disgusted by this situation and with M&S money, it's one thing to charge a fee but I really don't see why they should get to keep my money for months I won't be insured by them or to pay them more for the privilege. It really does go to show that car insurance and insurance in generally can be money for nothing.

Money for Nothing

Insurance is a necessary evil and it would appear that if you risk not having it for something you need it and if you have it your paying for nothing. Last year I changed my car insurance company to M&S money, who have BISL as their administrators, as I was saving a reasonable amount, however this year my husband bought a second car, which is fine, it's nothing exiting just a run about to get to and from work. So I contact my insurance company ahead of time to ask about the procedure of insuring another car while he had not acquired any no-claims and was a named driver on my existing policy. I was told that is wasn't a problem and that my no-claims would be mirrored and he'd get a good saving. Great I think; wrong. Couple of months later husband buys car I call insurance company, go through loads of questions and they say, 'insurance will be £350' just as well I was already sitting on the floor. That was almost the same price as the car and double the insurance for my car. We talked about moving my no-claims to my husband but that just cost him £220 and me £400. CRAZY. There I am sitting on the floor going what the hell. Anyway, I tell them in no uncertain terms that we're not paying that. Hence I manage to get both our cars insured elsewhere for a total of £300; that's with my husband having no no-claims bonus of his own, amazing how one company can do this and another can't.

Although you can have two insurance policies on one car you can't claim on both so who would have two? I therefore called M&S Money back and told them I was cancelling the policy and why. The policy had until September to run so I knew that I would be losing something. After they told me that I’d have to pay £25 cancellation fee, then there was the loss of business expense of 90% of the remaining policy which would leave me with £2.43, WOW, enough to buy a fair-trade coffee. I say that it’s all ridiculous and told them to refund the amount, well it’s mine.

Few days later I’m checking my statement and there it is a debit for £2.43, they charged me. On the phone I get and then I’m told that they don’t refund anything under £10, first I knew, I pointed out that that didn’t give them the right to charge me and that they now needed to refund me £4.86; if I keep going I’ll get to that £10. Well I’m still waiting for the refund and the call back. They’ve got until Friday and if they haven’t they’ll be hearing from me.