50000 Bonus Points for new eligible Car or Home Insurance

[Mr H]

This is pretty dodgy tbh - there should always be an option for the customer to turn off auto-renew.

However, as the consumer you do also have the responsibility to check if everything is up to date and being overseas unfortunately isn't really an excuse. I know if I was overseas I'd still try to keep as up to date as possible with anything that comes up, whether it be car insurance, home insurance or just simple bills / paying off my CC on time to avoid any interest etc.

As long as one has functional internet access (and a VPN if required), one should be able to do all this.

It is not auto-renew. It is a decision by Qantas Insurance to automatically renew a policy in the hope that the customer will not proactively opt out. There is nothing in the terms and conditions to give them permission to do so.

I was not notified of this by email - just by a letter sent by Australia Post. I had no reason to think that there was anything to keep across. I had already set up a new insurance policy with another company to kick in while I was overseas.

I was in Iran and did not have functional internet even with VPNs.

 

[Franky]

Those dates are borderline tbh.

Why did they auto-renew? It must have been a setting you may have forgot to turn off or similar?

Same principle goes for CC's with sign-up bonuses of x amount of points after meeting a minimum spend - even if I knew that I had already served / passed my blackout period of 12-18 months for the same CC to be eligible for a sign-up bonus again, I'd still give a small buffer time before applying.

My car insurance is up in May and currently it is around $850/yr. I've done a few quotes and a new policy would be $1.2k-1.3k+ for the same thing.

Taking this into account, I think I'm willing to wait until closer to May to switch to Qantas car insurance as I'd be pretty much paying more just for the purposes of bonus points if I cancel and sign-up with QCI now.

My vehicle insurance is with QF, and it has auto-renewed since it began for the past 4 years…

 

[MelbFlyer]

It is not auto-renew. It is a decision by Qantas Insurance to automatically renew a policy in the hope that the customer will not proactively opt out. There is nothing in the terms and conditions to give them permission to do so.

I was not notified of this by email - just by a letter sent by Australia Post. I had no reason to think that there was anything to keep across. I had already set up a new insurance policy with another company to kick in while I was overseas.

My vehicle insurance is with QF, and it has auto-renewed since it began for the past 4 years…

In other words that is auto-renew is it not?

I guess I'll just have to be pretty careful if signing up to QCI - but I think at this point I'd just cancel after 60 days / after getting the sign-up bonus and going back to another insurer.

That way I wouldn't fall into QCIs "decision" to auto renew.

 

[Mr H]

In other words that is auto-renew is it not?

My understanding of auto-renewal was that you needed the customer to sign up for it. A service provider cannot unilaterally decide to do it.

 

[Franky]

In other words that is auto-renew is it not?

I guess I'll just have to be pretty careful if signing up to QCI - but I think at this point I'd just cancel after 60 days / after getting the sign-up bonus and going back to another insurer.

That way I wouldn't fall into QCIs "decision" to auto renew.

Perhaps I should have stated that I allowed the auto renew as the premium was more than acceptable to me.

 

[MelbFlyer]

My understanding of auto-renewal was that you needed the customer to sign up for it. A service provider cannot unilaterally decide to do it.

Maybe it depends on the company and product.

I know when I signed up for my phone plan, in the user portal, auto-renew was by default set to on (I signed up for a 1 year pre-paid plan).

I then manually turned it off as I wanted 100% control.

It's now set to off so it shouldn't auto renew.

Perhaps I should have stated that I allowed the auto renew as the premium was more than acceptable to me.

If you're okay with auto-renew being on and the price is acceptable, not an issue then.

 

[NoName]

You wouldn't call pretty much exactly 6 months to the date borderline?

No, I wouldn’t because there is no such thing. There is no grey area here. It is black or white. Eligible or ineligible. Why would you add a buffer period for a CC application when they send you a letter with a closure date on it? If the letter says closed 1 June then you know exactly what date you are eligible again. Adding an extra week or two is pointless.

 

[Happy Dude]

I believe auto-renew is industry standard. I have various policies with Youi and I get an email notification a month prior to renewal. I always ask for email correspondence only. I then have a month to tell them if I don't want the policy. I don't see this as a breach or dodgy practice, but it does mean that I have to have to actively opt out which does 'favour' the insurance company. I do see it as a reminder to avoid the "lazy tax" though.

 

[Mr H]

I believe auto-renew is industry standard. I have various policies with Youi and I get an email notification a month prior to renewal. I always ask for email correspondence only. I then have a month to tell them if I don't want the policy. I don't see this as a breach or dodgy practice, but it does mean that I have to have to actively opt out which does 'favour' the insurance company. I do see it as a reminder to avoid the "lazy tax" though.

In my case I was given two weeks notice, and I did not have any standing financial direction - I paid my entire annual premium up front the year before. There was no arrangement to roll over and no mechanism (as far as I am aware) to have opted out. But when I called them on my return to Australia they acknowledged that I should not have been renewed, had not paid anything towards renewed cover and said they would note that I did not have Qantas insurance cover after the expiry of my old policy.

 

[Happy Dude]

In my case I was given two weeks notice, and I did not have any standing financial direction - I paid my entire annual premium up front the year before. There was no arrangement to roll over and no mechanism (as far as I am aware) to have opted out. But when I called them on my return to Australia they acknowledged that I should not have been renewed, had not paid anything towards renewed cover and said they would note that I did not have Qantas insurance cover after the expiry of my old policy.

Ok. Then get them to put that in writing and send that to the points department.

Car insurance without auto-renewal would be unusual though.

 

[Mr H]

Ok. Then get them to put that in writing and send that to the points department.

Car insurance without auto-renewal would be unusual though.

Well I have cancelled my motor insurance and my home/contents insurance today. They still had ten months to run. That's a loss to them of $3000. Hope they think it's worth it.

 

[Happy Dude]

Well I have cancelled my motor insurance and my home/contents insurance today. They still had ten months to run. That's a loss to them of $3000. Hope they think it's worth it.

You'll get your points though I reckon. The harder fought, the better won, as they say. You might be able to get some EDR points on your new policies

Youi increased the building insurance on my IP by $400 this year. I didn't get around to price checking before the premium hit but I called up with a quote from Budget Direct and they refunded the difference immediately, plus lowered the upcoming premiums on my two vehicles which had also increased. They just increase the premium for whatever reason (wars, covid, earthquake, Taipei election, Tiktok challenge, GFC, inflation, magic 8-ball said so), and, aided by auto-renew, many people don't even realise or are too lazy to compare/change.

 

[lovestotravel]

Bit annoyed I missed these offers for an easy 100K points

I usually sign up every 6-9 months but just forgot about this one

The current 30K offer is nice for about $400 each

Hope 50k comes back

 

[MelbFlyer]

Well I have cancelled my motor insurance and my home/contents insurance today. They still had ten months to run. That's a loss to them of $3000. Hope they think it's worth it.

It is their loss, but unfortunately to a big company like Qantas, you and I among others, are just specks in the ocean to them.

I'll look to changeover to QCI when my current policy is up in May (I can then put it on a new churn CC as eligible spend too!), then cancel the policy and card once the bonus points from both the card and QCI come through.

That way I won't be defaulted to their auto-renew policy.

 

[anyonebutqantas]

There are some dodgy ones out there like Wall St Journal that let you subscribe online but force you to call during business hours to cancel.

 

[VPS]

There are some dodgy ones out there like Wall St Journal that let you subscribe online but force you to call during business hours to cancel.

That's why you get something like a Wise card that has Virtual cards. Sign up with that and then either freeze or delete the card and they can't do anything

 

[kamchatsky]

The 2 * 50K bonus points came through today, on top of the Premium points. Easy 100K QF points

 

[JohnK]

It is apparently their standard business practice. There is no setting for the customer to turn on or off. Three weeks before the end of the policy they send you a snail mail letter to tell you they are auto-renewing unless you reply to tell them not to. This is an illegal contract and they know it. I did not respond because I was overseas when the letter arrived.

The default setting is auto-renew. There is a flag in the database to disable auto-renew. This has to be applied before expiry date but can also be applied while the risk is in renewal for 36 days.

Unfortunately in your situation a new risk is created with a new expiry date that is 12 months after previous expiry date. If you cancel within 21 days of new commencement date then you are cancelling in cooling off period and your expiry date would be the previous expiry date.

 

[Mr H]

Qantas is denying me points for motor insurance because they say I had been covered within the past six months.

Here are the dates:

20 May 2023 - previous Qantas policy expired
21 May 2023 - new policy commenced with Virgin Money
21 Nov 2023 - new Qantas policy started

However, Qantas had renewed my policy in May 2023 without my consent. I did not find out until June 2023 when I returned from travelling overseas. I called them and told them this had been renewed without my consent and I had taken a new policy with another company. They said they would cancel the policy. I asked whether the effective date of the cancellation would be 20 May and they assured me it would. I did not pay any money to Qantas in respect of the period after 20 May 2023.

But, they are adamant that I had an active policy in June so I am not eligible for the sign up bonus.

Thoughts...

By way of an update. My initial request for a review was unsuccessful and I was told the original decision stood. Since then, they have pulled previous telephone conversations and had a rethink - they have concluded that since no money was paid in respect of insurance after the renewal date, I was never actually covered by an auto-renewed insurance policy and therefore they will give me the missing 50,000 points. The question of 6 months and 1 day being close to the wire was never raised as an issue.

 

[lovestotravel]

Current deal back to 20,000 until April
Was hoping for more, I should have taken the 30,000 offer