[Benf]

Went to put deposit down to order new car today and card would not work......

Turns out Admiral have relieved me of close to £1500 of my hard earned cash without authorisation. In face I phoned them to cancel policy as renewal was ridiculously expensive compared to others.

Has anyone else had this problem, I want to know what I am talking about before I call them as they charge 15p per minute to call. I know it is not a lot but it is the principle of it all. B******s.

[F30AM]

Originally Posted by Benf

Went to put deposit down to order new car today and card would not work......

Turns out Admiral have relieved me of close to £1500 of my hard earned cash without authorisation. In face I phoned them to cancel policy as renewal was ridiculously expensive compared to others.

Has anyone else had this problem, I want to know what I am talking about before I call them as they charge 15p per minute to call. I know it is not a lot but it is the principle of it all. B******s.

They will keep taking money out of your account unless you tell them in writing that you no longer want their Insurance and you need to cancel the payments from your bank. They did this to me. Many Insurance companies indulge in this practice (it's in the small print) but Admiral are shockers. They will return your money, rest assured.

[dazzapb]

Was this for a renewal? I think insurance companies tend to do this now, something called continuous authority. Its a right pain as you have to contact them to tell them you don't want to renew.

PS I use this website to get the Geographic numbers for those with 0845 0800 etc as you normally per 35p a min on a mobile.

http://www.saynoto0870.com/

[....,,,,..,,..]

I would contact your bank as well.

We had similar with house insurance, we had cancelled in writing and phone.

They then took out the money any how.

We got the money back and an apology and offer of a huge 10% of our cancelled policy.

Our bank pursued the matter, pass what happened but our manager was happy.

I call it theft, plain and simple.

[teaston]

I just go on internet banking and cancel the DD, it's the insurance companies policy to cancel your insurance if payments are rejected so that's all you need to do in my experience.

[SkyJawa]

That's fine if you pay instalments. If you pay via CC in full they just reuse the same card. Only fails if your card expired in the year!

Its a practise they do that winds me right up.

[jaffab]

Call your bank, give them the date, the payee "Admiral" and the amount, and say that you want the transaction reversed under "Charge Back". As from april 2013, any DD, credit card payment or debit card payment can be reversed using the "charge back" rules - the bank gives you back your money, and taked it back of from the admirial account.

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-righ...use-chargeback

The above link is slightly wrong as it only mentions CC and debit card payments - but the law also works for direct debits (under the Direct Debit Guarantee extension of August 2013).

[rocketretro]

It happened to me with Admiral just before renewal and after I changed to a BMW policy, no problems getting the refund but they tried to charge a £25 fee which I refused to pay and which they waived. Consumers get caught out as there is no notification or renewal notice beforehand. Well known internet security programs do the same thing by having an automatic renewal on your debit card unless you specifically opt out when managing the account. It's a bit of a bummer when you don't have the computer any more and a devil to get a refund.

[SkyJawa]

I was done, can't remember who by, it wasn't admiral, I think it might have been Direct Line, who took the next years payment 1 WEEK before my renewal! Joke!

[nicklouse]

Originally Posted by jaffab

Call your bank, give them the date, the payee "Admiral" and the amount, and say that you want the transaction reversed under "Charge Back". As from april 2013, any DD, credit card payment or debit card payment can be reversed using the "charge back" rules - the bank gives you back your money, and taked it back of from the admirial account.

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-righ...use-chargeback

The above link is slightly wrong as it only mentions CC and debit card payments - but the law also works for direct debits (under the Direct Debit Guarantee extension of August 2013).

+1

I had issue with Amex... Takes full balance every month but after big purchase I transfered some money off before Do went out, but Amex had already calculated DD so took too much resulting in Amex massively in credit and bank account in tatters... Called Amex and they said 3 to 4 days to process refund, or I could call my bank and use charge back to get money returned instantly. Called bank and it worked a treat!

As for Admiral, the Mrs and I have multicar and aftervreceiving renewal I went online to get new quote for same details but swapping who was lead name on policy. Came out nearly £200 cheaper. Called them, pointed out how ridiculous it was and they matched the deal so we could just renew. Can't really fault them, and was much cheaper than I could find elsewhere really...