To think direct debits shouldn't be able to autorenew if the amount has changed?

[KlippityKloppity]

I have pet insurance. I got the email last month saying it was auto renewing. Fair enough. I was in an insanely stressful time at work so saw the email and thought "sure, fine" expecting it to renew as it always does.
Except now on closer inspection I realise it has fucking DOUBLED (and ive made zero claims since I took it out 3 years ago).
Okay, fine: they sent me an email giving me a headsup. But AIBU to think thats not fucking good enough? I had no reason to suspect they would randomly hike up my premiums like that.
Now I cant change anything im locked into it for a year and I just think its disgusting because I cant afford that price jump 😩 I think its really dishonest

I pay my credit card bill in full by direct debit. It would be a lot less convenient if I had to set up a new DD every month – or make sure I always spent the same amount to the penny!

This is why I never tick auto renew and I always tick to send news via mail. A paper copy reminds me.
When the paper copy arrives it reminds me to shop around. For pet insurance it is best to use a cashback site. I usually get £70 or £90 back. I tend to switch between Sainsburys and Tesco for that, as you can't be an existing customer.
I usually opt to pay annually, often it is cheaper.
You have 2 weeks to cancel.

Direct debits are for variable amounts. Standing orders are for a set amount.
They sent you an email giving you details of your new contract with them and the price increase. You didn’t phone them to cancel the new contract. You may be able to phone them now and cancel it I guess there is still the 14 day cooling off period.

I know its my fault. I know it is. They did send an email beforehand with the price increase. But sometimes life just gets in the way of that one email you received at 8am in a monday when life is collapsing around you.
Im not saying it isn't my fault im just saying I wish there was more of a discussion before they unilaterally lock you into spending double what you did last year

I turn off auto renew as got caught by car insurance one year in same way

But that is the time for the discussion. The time between when you got the details and the renewal date.

At any time though, you can tell them you don't want it to automatically renew next year. So perhaps contact them to tell them that now and then that's all sorted next year for you

Well you're sort of right. Of course they should be allowed to auto renew as it makes it easier for everyone, but they MUST write to you/email you first, and give you the new amount/the new cost...

Did they not tell you @KlippityKloppity how much the new cost would be? If they're not doing that then I am sure you should have the right to cancel it. Don't know for sure though...

Edit. I see on your subsequent posts that they DID tell you the price increase! Well then, you have no case. 'Life gets in the way' is no excuse sorry. You should read your emails/messages properly. My friend just had her housing application taken down/deactivated, because she didn't read an email properly that was asking for more information about something, (some 2 months ago,.) They said if they don't receive the information within 28 days her application will be cancelled And it was. And now she has to reapply and go to the bottom of the list again...

ALWAYS read through emails/letters/messages thoroughly

.

I think you have to take this as a cautionary tale. It is very very easy to just let the emails come in and not bother reading them (I do it myself). But I've also been caught with a nasty price hike (car insurance - no change in car, no claims, just an increase) so now I make a note of the date that the insurance is due to renew and also make another note around the date I'm expecting the renewal email. It's just my own 'head's up' to myself to pay attention.

With things going up as fast as they are it's essential to read stuff that's sent to you, but when life gets frantic it's too easy to make assumptions. When I have the dates written down so I know stuff is coming, I can at least make sure that I take the time to double check (and stuff STILL gets past me!)

@PrettyLittleRose
Yes, the op says they told her everything - including the new amount. But she didn't read the email before the policy auto-renewed.

You may have 14 days after auto renewal to cancel, have you checked

I noticed that on a post she put on later. 😃

Give them a call. Ask if they can get you a better deal or they risk losing your business to another insurer.

Is it with Petplan by any chance? My premiums went up massively when my cats reached 10 years old. They also only pay out 80% of a claim at this age. Annoyingly we're stuck with them as my surviving cat has a pre existing condition.

I get it, it’s frustrating that pet insurance doubles for no apparent reason.

Mine Doubled despite no claims. I went from £23 to £45pm so I did a search as a new customer on their sites using exactly the same information, and it came up as £22pm. Cheeky fuckers.

so I phoned them up to ask why, and they couldn’t give me an answer, just said “oh that’s because you might have had minor treatment you didn’t claim on like an ear infection or something”. When I pointed out they wouldn’t know that with new customers either, she just muttered and told me I could start as a new customer, but I would lose the continuous cover, and if he was ill in the first two weeks of the policy, he wouldn’t be covered. So I took the chance

it’s all such a shit show.

Yes, that's an important point to be aware of, if a pet has a pre-existing condition it means there is limited scope to shop around. However, the insurer that I use says that it does offer cover for existing conditions, with certain caveats

Pet Insurance cover for pre-existing conditions | ManyPets

I've been with this company since the beginning and found that they've always paid out without quibble, they offer a range of policy levels and are cheaper than Petplan, who we were with previously.

But as mentioned by a PP, the price ramps significantly with age, such that it's probably worth thinking about whether insurance is worth it with older pets. We no longer insure our oldest cat, who is 18, because her policy was over £500 per year, with a £170 excess and only covered 80% of any treatment costs. She is also vet phobic, which means that being taken to the vet is extremely stressful for her, so we won't be putting her through extended treatment if she suffers serious illness or injury. Of course, not paying £500 per year for insurance means that if she needs minor treatment, we can just pay for it ourselves.

I think auto-renew DDS can be a double-edged sword. Of course it's good to have the peace of mind and one fewer admin thing to worry about - which is what the companies stress when they urge you to have them; but equally it's a huge temptation to disreputable companies to jack the price up sky high - and effectively help themselves to as much of your money as they want - in the hope that you won't notice in advance, or will be too busy to spot it until it's been collected.

Not all companies go out of their way to make it clear what the increase is, though - they will often bury across-the-board increases in their websites and expect you to think to look and see it; or they will send you a link to your new proposed policy renewal, where you have to sign in (with a forgotten password that you haven't used for a year or more) and maybe additional security/authentication steps (just to make sure that some crook isn't paying your bill for you!!)

Yes, they are doing it 'by the book'; but they are obviously banking on customer confusion, busyness or other lack of full transparency to get an amount from you by default that you very likely wouldn't actively hand over without any quibble.

Then again, if your regular payments go up by 2%, many people wouldn't welcome being bothered by being told they have to authorise it first and maybe risk their cover/service lapsing. It doesn't help that a lot of companies bombard you with regular rubbish email 'updates' and baked-potato 'advice', so their very few important emails can easily get buried, as you get used to the mindset that emails from them are just ones to ignore.

Absolutely this. A repeating payment for the same amount is a standing order. You are free to cancel.

I think this is disgusting, how many others have been caught out by this, dreadful.

It's usually easy and quick enough to cancel. I had an email from Octopus saying they were planning on increasing my DD next month, despite me being £1k in credit with them. I thought not a chance and it took me a minute to change the amount online.

I'd rather it auto renew and I just make a note to check my e-mails once a year to check the new premium amount than risk driving around with no car insurance or finding out my dog's insurance has lapsed.

What’s the alternative? Cancel the cover of people who bought and authorized auto-renewing insurance, just in case they didn’t mean it?

Indeed. When we got the renewal email from Petplan, it had increased by about 30% since last year (despite no claims for this dog, ever).

We shopped around and found a similat policy for less than half the renewal amount, so cancelled Petplen.

I'm sorry, OP, but you have to read the details when insurance renewal emails arrive - the only one ever likely to go down is car insurance on an ageing car (my partner's just did!).

"Caught out" by what? Not reading an important email properly?

DD arrangements are built for flexibility.
If you don’t want them to be able to change the amount make it a Standing Order instead.

Insurance companies won't take payment by standing order, the risk of non-payment is too high and then the policy will be void.

I deliberately set insurance to auto-renew because I don't want to be left without cover if I accidently miss a renewal email (or a postal letter doesn't arrive in time). Paying more because you miss the email and don't shop around is much better than finding you need to claim but your policy has lapsed, especially with house insurance which can be a massive claim.

You can still cancel it. With DDs you can do an indemnity claim with your bank and claim all the money back. You have 14 days to canx a new insurance policy if its within that they can't even charge you a canx fee. Ring them and discuss if over 14 days you may have a canx fee but it is likely way cheaper than double premium and shop for a new one.