There are times when my wife gets quite frustrated with me because she believes I have a somewhat cavalier approach to managing our finances. On the one hand, she knows that I am always looking for ways to save the odd penny here and there; turning off lights or electrical appliances when I've finished using them, for example. However, she is ess comfortable with me spending a small fortune to buy my trike - despite the fact that it was being sold for almost £1,000.00 below the list price because it had been "on the road" - albeit for only 30 miles.
Anyway, the point of this blog is to draw attention to a rather disturbing practice which seems to be designed to take advantage of people like me.
This morning I received notification for the renewal of my car insurance; and, printed very prominently on it was the message, "Don't forget - you don't need to do anything - just sit back, relax and we'll automatically renew your policy for you".
Now, in normal circumstances, I would have taken that comforting assurance in the manner for which I suspect it was intended and I would have tucked the letter into the folder I use for car issues and forgotten all about it. However, something caught my eye; and that was the claim, "We've searched to find you a great price."
Now, what they were quoting seemed somewhat higher than I thought I had paid for the current year and I dug into the aforementioned folder to discover that last year's price was a little over £100.00 less than the "great price" being asked for now.
So, somewhat aggrieved, I telephoned the insurers and spoke to a nice man called Stephen - who, studiously neglecting to offer an apology - "had a look into my records" and discovered that I was apparently entitled to some "discounts" and came up with a revised figure less than £2.00 higher than the current figure.
Incredible!
The question now is, "how many people are being duped (because, make no mistake, they are being deceived) into paying the original asking price?"
Anyway, the point of this blog is to draw attention to a rather disturbing practice which seems to be designed to take advantage of people like me.
This morning I received notification for the renewal of my car insurance; and, printed very prominently on it was the message, "Don't forget - you don't need to do anything - just sit back, relax and we'll automatically renew your policy for you".
Now, in normal circumstances, I would have taken that comforting assurance in the manner for which I suspect it was intended and I would have tucked the letter into the folder I use for car issues and forgotten all about it. However, something caught my eye; and that was the claim, "We've searched to find you a great price."
Now, what they were quoting seemed somewhat higher than I thought I had paid for the current year and I dug into the aforementioned folder to discover that last year's price was a little over £100.00 less than the "great price" being asked for now.
So, somewhat aggrieved, I telephoned the insurers and spoke to a nice man called Stephen - who, studiously neglecting to offer an apology - "had a look into my records" and discovered that I was apparently entitled to some "discounts" and came up with a revised figure less than £2.00 higher than the current figure.
Incredible!
The question now is, "how many people are being duped (because, make no mistake, they are being deceived) into paying the original asking price?"
