Swinton Insurance whinge!

[chrisinflight]

I recently took bike insurance out through Swinton. Their cover letter stated I had to return a signed financial agreement within 14 days or face a fine of £24. I returned the agreement well within the limit and I noticed on my bank statement I have been charged the extra £24 added on to the monthly debits. It`s not alot of money but I`m still ****ed off as I had to find a post office during my lunch break to return the agreement. I took home insurance at the same time with another supplier and signed the agreement online.

I smell a rat here- Swinton did not confirm I had incurred the charge and I have had no response to a complaint I made to the branch and to customer services. For every agreement they "accidentally lose" they make a £24 profit. Has anybody else experienced this?

[maviczap]

That's a bit cheeky, I forgot to return a signed form to another insurance company and they sent a reminder to return the form.

No extra charges

[squirrel_hunter]

Their cover letter stated I had to return a signed financial agreement within 14 days or face a fine of £24. I returned the agreement well within the limit and I noticed on my bank statement I have been charged the extra £24 added on to the monthly debits.

Can you prove you sent it and they received it within the time limit?

Swinton did not confirm I had incurred the charge and I have had no response to a complaint I made to the branch and to customer services.

Have you made the complaint in writing? Have you followed up on the complaint? Have you heard of the Financial Ombudsman?

[Mr Speirs]

Can you prove you sent it and they received it within the time limit?

Can they prove he didn't?
Burden of proof lies with the accuser.

[squirrel_hunter]

Can they prove he didn't?

True. Really what I'm asking is was it sent recorded, signed for, proof of posting etc?

[leebex]

swinton staff in the colchester branch are useless!! had a similar issue when I had a home insurance policy, the 12 months were up and I got a better deal elsewhere, so ended the policy at the 12 months on the phone.

It over ran because they didnt cancel it like instructed, by about 2 months. when it came to sending back payment it took numerous phone calls and 2 weeks to arrange due to staff not returning calls, being otherwise busy etc.

A complaint finally sorted it, wont be using them again.

[chrisinflight]

True. Really what I'm asking is was it sent recorded, signed for, proof of posting etc?

No, it was sent 1st class in an envelope they supplied. This was most likely a pre-paid envelope but I was not sure so bought a stamp and stuck it on and handed it to the cashier.
cheers,

[andrewsmith]

They're meant to inform you of the charge.
I've just renewed with Swintons. I'd request info on what day Iron Mountain received the paperwork in the post

[Jayneflakes]

If your complaints are not dealt with in an manner that you are happy with, have a chat with the financial services Ombudsman.

Strangely, the FSO know the address for MCE as if they write it every day... Sorry, when people complain about insurance, I cannot help but have a dig about those gits! ;-)

[davepreston]

phone the bike unit in maidstone explain the issue, they are genrally a good bunch (my bro used to work there)
also remember this if they say they cant reverse the charge ask for something for free then eg euro cover/ leather and lid cover etc or your leaving

[Red ones]

I had this on my car and on my bike insurance this year.

On the car insurance it was stated clearly on the letter confirming the policy. That was the letter that on page one said in bold letters "You don't need to do anything if you wish to continue this policy" It was page 7 that had the small print that said reply or we will levy a £15 charge.

Swinton - my bike this year - not happy. I knew I shouldn't have done it, i had a run in with them a few years ago with a car policy. Some ejit hit my car so Swinton arranged repair in Tottenham (I don't know where Tottenham is, only I do know its a bloody long drive there!). I argued and got the repair done closer to home, the repair had to be quick as they knew the car was being sold and the new car was on it's way. When we sold the repaired car we found the outside looked good, but apparently actually having bulbs in the light fittings helps.

Bargepoles spring to mind.

[maviczap]

Update here, I wanted to cancel one of my Swinton policies, that'll be £80 - What!!!!!!!

Policy only cost me £56!

Not happy, so I won't be renewing and I've cancelled other offers of 3 months free recovery & personal accident with them.

[TamSV]

Just let it run. You wouldn't be getting anything back out of £56 anyway.

Their margin on that kind of premium will be nowt. It's a loss leader so they can flog you breakdown etc.

If you want them to do more work on that policy then they're going to want paying. It's how that market is now - get you in on the cheap and then pump you when you make a change. You'll be lucky to find anywhere that does things any differently these days.

If things were different you'd be paying alot more than £56 though.

[maviczap]

Yes, I'm letting it run, but it was only taken out at the beginning of October!

Its on direct debit, so about a fiver a month

[TamSV]

Oh nice, a monthly reminder. :rolleyes:

[maviczap]

Yep, :(

[myfirstsv]

Speak as you find...

My twin sons both had Sach's speedjets which we insured with Swinton. During the last 3 months both have moved on to CBR 125Rs. In bothe cases we got a far bigger wedge back on the policies than we were expecting.

The only weird thing was that Swinton wouldn't insure the Honda's.

[Badeye]

Swinton are crap, i missed my direct debit for them last month so they sent me letter saying 7 days after i received the letter my policy would be cancelled so i went and found myself some cheaper insurance as i obviously needed it, a few days later i then receive a letter from swinton stating that the payment i missed will now be spread over my remaining months. Hang on you just said you were cancelling my policy WTF, jokers.

[maviczap]

Bizzare update

I got 4 letters in the post today. One confirming the cancellation of my Personal Accident policy & direct debit.

Another 2 contained copies of my personal accident policy dated 2 days before I cancelled it!

The last one was a letter saying my bank had told them that the Direct Debit for my bike policy had been cancelled and that the cover would cease.

I certainly never cancelled it, although I wondered if by cancelling my personal accident policy which was linked in with the bike policy, that its cancelled that as well?

So we'll see what happens