Refund not being refunded!

[ShazKat61]

I am a long time lurker, but this is my first post and I need advice urgently.

I took out insurance with SmartCover for my washing machine. I did this online, filling out all the qualifying questions completely and honestly, and they took payment (£70). I then had a phone call later that day saying they couldn't actually apply an insurance policy on my washing machine, it was too old to be insured. They said they would refund my money within 3-5 days. After 5 working days, I had not received my money. I chased them, they said there was a back log for refunds. I had to wait another 3-5 days. I waited, still no refund. I keep chasing, it takes 20 minutes to get through every time I call, unless I select the option to "buy a policy", then I go through straight away to an advisor. Each time, I'm being told I have to wait a little longer.

This has been going on for a few weeks now and I can't help feeling like I am being fobbed off. How can I ensure I get my money back? I know it's not an insane amount of money to many, but it is to me and it's also the principle of it all.

Any advice would be very gratefully received, thank you.

Go on their website and log an official complaint. If they don't respond within a week you can report them to the ombudsmen.

I set up a Twitter account purely for getting dawdling companies to respond.
After being fobbed off on phone by Virgin Media saying it would take 6 weeks to sort my Internet, after public Tweeting I got a response within an hour and Internet fixed 2 days later

I second getting on Twitter. I had a similar experience with John Lewis and when they eventually got around to refunding, they sent me a £40 voucher as well.

Call your bank. Do a chargeback.
They'll likely ask why so just advise what you said in your OP. They didn't provide a service and you've been waiting more than long enough.

Leave a review on trust pilot and go on their social media pages, it's the quickest way to get a reponse/refund. Never failed me yet when I've been ignored by companies

Deffo twitter. Went round and round with amazon fixed in about two hours after tweeting.

Go on twitter. I had a problem with my new car and the Audi dealership said it was my fault. Tweeted Audi and and a couple of weeks later the fault was fixed by the same dealership that had refused initially.

Definitely get on Twitter. It's disgraceful that they are holding on to your money for so long. If you owed them money, I bet they wouldn't wait a few weeks for you to pay as you have a backlog of bills!