Esure intentionally make it difficult to cancel a policy renewal and force you to contact them so I gave them a call. After they pried for info on who I went with and how much etc. they said there was a "glitch" that charged a premium of £25 for me to cancel the renewal.
This was supposedly a system error and the most it could be "discounted" to was £5.40 which would be taken today and refunded "later". I wasn't happy about this and suggested I just cancel the Direct Debit as my current policy was fully paid. I was told this won't stop the renewal and I might receive debt recovery letters.
After asking if someone else could take a look and being put on hold, I was told it could be cancelled with a "diary lapse request" where someone would end the renewal manually at some point. I was also not happy at this so after they spoke to their manager (on hold for 5 min) it seemed to be actioned immediately and the renewal was cancelled when I looked at my account. I had been on the phone for 30min at this point so I didn't ask, but why was this not done initially?
This might be a genuine glitch but I wonder how many people this affects and what percentage don't bother with chasing up a refund. It might be a profitable "glitch".
TLDR: esure tried to charge me for cancelling a renewal, is this a new scam?
