[steve smith]

Had a phone call today from these Tw**s saying i agreed verbally to Public liability insurance in January 06 and because i didn`t pay within 14 days i now owe them £58 for cancelling the contract.

Is this right? what can be done they have now passed it on to a credit agency.

Any advice please?

[Steve_Richardson]

I may stand corrected but I don't believe a verbal agreement is a contract (unless you are in Scotland?).

So they can go jump as far as you're concerned - don't worry about it. 

[Paul Coleman]

It sounds like you might need to go to the newsgroup called

uk.legal

and post your question there.

I believe that even a verbal contract is valid but just harder to prove.

I suppose that a key question might be:  Did you verbally agree to the contract they have contacted you about?
Another one might be:  Did they send you the paperwork about this contract?

Some contracts have 7 or 14 day cancellation rights (I don't know if this is such a contract).  If so, you may be able to argue that as they had not sent any paperwork, your right to cancel was denied to you.

Now don't hold me to this as no way am I a lawyer.  It sounds to me as if they have handed it over to their own collections department for now and that these people have no legal way of extracting the money from you without some kind of court order.
It may be that they are threatening to inform credit reference agencies about your alleged non payment which could cause a hiccup with getting credit for a while into the future.  If this is the case, you do have the right to access your credit file from credit agencies and to challenge and have altered any incorrect information.
It is not clear from your post who exactly they are handing the alleged debt over to.

I know more about cleaning windows than legal stuff which is why I'm a window cleaner and not a lawyer  

I do believe that the CAB can put you in touch with lawyers who give you a free half hour consultation.  I think you need to contact the insurance people (in writing) and get them to clarify, in writing, what exactly they think you owe them, why, and who exactly they are talking about handing the debt over to.

It may well be that they are hoping that your nerve won't hold and that you will pay up.

I've stretched myself with this post already.  I think you certainly need more assistance than I (and probably anyone else) on this forum can give you.
The best I can do is say don't panic and get the full facts as far as you can (ALWAYS in writing).

[simon knight]

Unless they sent you paperwork that you signed and sent back then you have a 14 day cooling off period anyway regardless of what you agreed on the phone.

[Paul Coleman]

Unless they sent you paperwork that you signed and sent back then you have a 14 day cooling off period anyway regardless of what you agreed on the phone.

I might be wrong (often am) but in some situations, the cooling off period is 7 days.  I think that a distinction is made depending on whether the company contacted you or you contacted the company.  I did read somewhere that this may become 14 days across the board but have no idea if this actually changed or not.

[simon knight]

You could well be right Shiner. But I reckon that rather than us lot give Steve wrong advice he should have a chat with his nearest CAB and get the facts.

[Paul Coleman]

You could well be right Shiner. But I reckon that rather than us lot give Steve wrong advice he should have a chat with his nearest CAB and get the facts.

Exactly what I suggested if you look up the thread a bit.
I know enough to give him some pointers but I also know enough to drop him in the brown stuff too 

[steve k]

if you have signed nothing, then let them prove it...ask for their evidence of your verbal agreement because you are taking legal advice...they wont have any.

[simon knight]

You could well be right Shiner. But I reckon that rather than us lot give Steve wrong advice he should have a chat with his nearest CAB and get the facts.

Exactly what I suggested if you look up the thread a bit.
I know enough to give him some pointers but I also know enough to drop him in the brown stuff too 

....and this is why contract lawyers are paid more an hour than I usually earn a week. Mind you I didn't study for 7 years to be a w/c so I suppose it's fair!

[steve smith]

Thanks for the replies

They say they have telephone conversation of them asking if i am intersted and me saying yes but i haven`t got my card details at hand, this was on the 23rd Jan 06

They said they posted a letter on the 13th Feb 06 and we moved house on the 10th Feb 06, told them that and they said i should of rang them to update there details, i said i would if i had taken a policy out with them,

Obviously they have had my mobile all this time as the credit agency have it but all this time not 1 phone call.

Had a text from a company called CRS which is a credit service asking if i can ring them and they said i had an oustanding balance of 58 quid from a Public liability i cancelled. They said it was 14 day and no payment so they cancelled the account and i have to pay the 58 pound charge for cancelling.

Couldn`t believe it only phone up for a quote as i didn`t even start window cleaning till april 06.

[Paul Coleman]

Thanks for the replies

They say they have telephone conversation of them asking if i am intersted and me saying yes but i haven`t got my card details at hand, this was on the 23rd Jan 06

They said they posted a letter on the 13th Feb 06 and we moved house on the 10th Feb 06, told them that and they said i should of rang them to update there details, i said i would if i had taken a policy out with them,

Obviously they have had my mobile all this time as the credit agency have it but all this time not 1 phone call.

Had a text from a company called CRS which is a credit service asking if i can ring them and they said i had an oustanding balance of 58 quid from a Public liability i cancelled. They said it was 14 day and no payment so they cancelled the account and i have to pay the 58 pound charge for cancelling.

Couldn`t believe it only phone up for a quote as i didn`t even start window cleaning till april 06.

If the only reason that you didn't pay for the policy is because you didn't have your card details to hand, I can see why they may have genuinely believed that you wished to take out the policy.
However, a big plus in your favour could be that they had your mobile number and made no effort to contact you that way.  A company that wants the business will chase you up to secure it.  Another issue could be that you had no way of knowing about the cancellation fee if you were not in a position to receive the letter where those conditions were listed.  Yet another issue could be about charging you an amount far in excess of what it cost them thereby making the charge a "penalty" rather than a fair reflection of their costs.
I'm not trying to give you legal advice but just pointing out some possible things that a solicitor might want to look at if you decide to fight this.
It definitely sounds like a CAB job with a possible free half hour thrown in.  It may even be that if you get the CAB to contact them, they may drastically reduce or even cancel their demands.
If it doesn't cost you work time to see the CAB, it's definitely worth considering.
Some of these companies rely on people buckling under the strain and coughing up.

I think this company are stupid treating you this way.
I don't know how many forum members will see this thread but I can't imagine any of them contacting Assure UK for a quote.
Actually, maybe we all should - without verbally agreeing to anything of course.  Run rings around them.