dazzle66 Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Hi could anyone give me advice on an insurance policy i've just taken out.I took out a new house insurance with swinton on the internet,paid deposit and sent natwest details for direct debit.Two weeks later received nasty letter informing me no money could be withdrawn from my account as the policy had been cancelled.I went to bank and was told by natwest that no diret debit mandate had been requested or set up.I was stung for £86 cancellation fee from swinton and had to set up another policy that was £6 per month dearer than my original policy and had to pay another £22 deposit to set it up.Natwest blaming swinton for not setting up the D/Debit and swinton not giving a s--t as long as they got their money.Really poor customer service from the staff in the office at Woodhouse.Any advice please on how to go about recovering my extra costs as i paid and passed on all my details required when setting up the policy.Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Make an official complaint (I suggest you do that in writing). If it's not resolved within eight weeks contact the Financial Ombudsman Service: http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harestone Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Absolute useless company and i couldn't wait to get away from them with my van insurance. They'd constantly request money from the bank on the wrong date, often when the funds weren't there incurring bank charges, i did get them back but jezuz it was always hard work, often necessitating a trip to their miserable office. ! Moral is, the cheapest insurance isn't always the best value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymondo1952 Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 the bad publicity on here could cost them dearly:hihi: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harestone Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 the bad publicity on here could cost them dearly:hihi: Or it may be the kick up the arris they badly need, but i'll let others find out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willman Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Surprisingly i deal with two of their offices and haven't had an issue.I've even referred others to use them. They take the money out on the day they agree in the contract and enforce charges if they don't get paid.Thats what i agreed too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazzle66 Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 yes thats what i agreed to but when they went for the payment they coulndn't get it as they had not set up the direct debit so they cancelled the policy and charged me the cancellation fee as they couldn't get in touch with me to sort this out.My question is how can they cancel something that hasn't been set up properly through their own incompetence.Having visited the branch some of their staff could do with a course in customer care.I for sure will be not taking any more of my custom to swinton.Swinton charge one of the largest cancellation fees of all insurance companies and take a payment 8 weeks prior to your renewal insurance whether you renew or not then you have to claim it back.They may be cheap online but AVOID if you can because for the sake of a few £ more go to a bigger company.Customer service at woodhouse branch s--t. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Hardie Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Hi could anyone give me advice on an insurance policy i've just taken out.I took out a new house insurance with swinton on the internet,paid deposit and sent natwest details for direct debit.Two weeks later received nasty letter informing me no money could be withdrawn from my account as the policy had been cancelled.I went to bank and was told by natwest that no diret debit mandate had been requested or set up.I was stung for £86 cancellation fee from swinton and had to set up another policy that was £6 per month dearer than my original policy and had to pay another £22 deposit to set it up.Natwest blaming swinton for not setting up the D/Debit and swinton not giving a s--t as long as they got their money.Really poor customer service from the staff in the office at Woodhouse.Any advice please on how to go about recovering my extra costs as i paid and passed on all my details required when setting up the policy.Thanks How did they take the cancellation fee? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazzle66 Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 They got the cancellation fee from the card details i set up the policy with.They threatend me with further action if the payment was stopped or cancelled at the bank.The fee/fine was for a direct debit they never set up and suggested i'd cancelled it when i cancelled my wife's car insurance, in some way they said it could be linked at the bank.The bank's reply was that even if it was linked, as both house and car insurance was from swinton's,they would both have there own refererance number.The bank have no details of a request from swinton's to set up a direct debit.Swinton's reply was that it was my fault because they could not contact me.If i had gone on holiday and my house had burnt down i would not have been covered as they still would have cancelled my policy because they could not contact me.Be warned they are a pain in the a--e.Nice people when there setting up your policy like talking to a brick wall when you have any problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kay1 Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Hi could anyone give me advice on an insurance policy i've just taken out.I took out a new house insurance with swinton on the internet,paid deposit and sent natwest details for direct debit.Two weeks later received nasty letter informing me no money could be withdrawn from my account as the policy had been cancelled.I went to bank and was told by natwest that no diret debit mandate had been requested or set up.I was stung for £86 cancellation fee from swinton and had to set up another policy that was £6 per month dearer than my original policy and had to pay another £22 deposit to set it up.Natwest blaming swinton for not setting up the D/Debit and swinton not giving a s--t as long as they got their money.Really poor customer service from the staff in the office at Woodhouse.Any advice please on how to go about recovering my extra costs as i paid and passed on all my details required when setting up the policy.Thanks I had the same from problem with Swinton (Darnall Branch) with car insurance, when I received the policy they had not included my protected no claims which I asked for when taking out the policy. When I rang to point out their mistake they wanted extra money which I declined and cancelled the policy, this was during the 14 day cooling off period and the policy wasn't even inforce, they took a £90? cancellation fee from my account. After getting no joy, and being told that that the fee stood I contacted the Finacial Obudsman who took the matter up with them and within a few days I received a letter from Swinton advising me that a guester of good will they were crediting my account with cancellation fee. I would never even take a quote again from Swinton and would advise anyone thinking of going with Swinton DONT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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