Renewal Rip Off

“Renewal Rip Off”

Written on: 20/09/2011

I had a letter in June reminding me that my renewal was due at the end of August and they would automatically take the premium from my card. As I had only used their service once in the last 19 years and the renewal premium was nearly £100 I decided to cancel the policy. I noted that they had the wrong card number but decided to ring anyway and cancel. I rang the number and chose option 3 (Renew or cancel membership). Needless to say they were experiencing a high volume of calls etc..and there was a 15 minute wait. The recorded message suggested going 'on-line' which I therefore did. But you can't cancel on-line! I therefore tried ringing again- same thing. As they had the wrong card details I stupidly assumed they wouldn't be able to debit my account.

I have now received my monthly bank statement and see that they debited the full amount in August, so I rang them up. Same thing again..'busy call period, try calling back later' etc. I decided to hang on and after a much shorter period that the advised fifteen minute wait I got through to a customer service advisor. She told me that as I was outside the fourteen day cancellation period if I cancelled the policy today I would not get a refund at all.

I eventually managed to get a partial refund - something being better than nothing - but have lost in excess of forty pounds. It appears that there is nothing at all I can do about this. I was on the phone for half an hour and got nowhere and she would not put me through to a Manager to discuss the issue.

I'm not saying they don't give good service if you loose your cards but having been a member for nearly twenty years, I expected better customer service.

So - if CPP send you a renewal notice and you want to cancel it make sure you hang onto the phone even when they say there's a long wait and don't give up because once they've got your money, if you're outside the 14 day period, you're pretty much stuffed

Visit cpp.co.uk