HASTINGS DIRECT a genuine insurance grievance..

[Sir Black Pig]

Hastings Direct

Having finally decided to settle and put this whole sorry episode behind me, I feel I am now fully justified in telling everyone who is interested, just how contemptuously Hastings Direct have recently treated me, I am not suggesting Hastings Direct treat all of their customers like this, however, I find it a bit hard to imagine they just thought this up for my case alone..
Allow me to explain.
I was involved in a RTA in March 2011, where I lost control of my bike, at low speed, while approaching temporary lights, resulting in me being thrown into the oncoming traffic and impacting a Luton van and sustaining a list of horrific impact injuries. At this point in time the suspected cause of the accident was road surface contamination.
Unfortunately, I had insured through Hastings Direct.
First, I arrive home after 8 weeks in hospital (5 of which in a coma) to letters from Hastings Direct threatening legal action for my not responding, despite the fact that they had been informed I was in a critical, comatose condition and could be for some time!

But of course, Hastings Direct will only deal with the policy holder, so what information they had been given, was apparently discarded or ignored.

Once the police had closed their investigation and released the bike, Hastings Direct, then authorised a third party to remove my bike from the police storage facility - without my consent - obviously authorising this third party to treat my bike with total disregard, by 'slamming' it down side first, causing yet more damage and transporting it across Scotland, laid on it's side consolidating the destruction.

Please bear in mind at this point, I have still not lodged a claim with Hastings Direct and as such the bike is still mine!

Why didn't I raise a claim? You may ask, well, the answer is simple, after speaking to the attendant police officers and having them describe 'cosmetic damage' and realising that I had my luggage system on board, I decided I wanted to view the bike for myself and have the opportunity to remove my luggage system and it's contents (fortunately for Hastings Direct , the contents amount to a set of waterproofs, a luggage net and a small tool kit - hardly worth mentioning, however, they were still my property).

I then receive a letter from Hastings Direct, stating they have assessed the bike as a write-off, containing an insulting offer of settlement and requesting that I send them my V5, MoT etc.

Important note here – I still haven’t raised a claim!

So, I duly wrote them a letter expressing my concerns and the fact that, I had a luggage system that was not insured and I would like to view the bike myself BEFORE raising a claim.
This was totally ignored by Hastings Direct, who responded by saying that if I did not respond within 21 days they would consider the matter closed.

Then, Hastings Direct took it upon themselves to make my decisions for me. By selling my bike!

So I wrote a letter of complaint to Hastings Direct about my treatment thus far and I also informed them that all correspondence would be via the Royal Mail, that way I would have to pay their grossly inflated 0845 call charges (and I had a note of all correspondence from them).

I then received a letter from Hastings Direct stating that .. “In some cases apologies no matter how sincere are not enough and the only meaningful gift they have to offer me is financial”

Then they follow that up with yet another derisory offer.

At this point sheer desperation leads me to write a lengthy email to them and at the same time bring a solicitor in to aid me. She also expressed her outrage at they way Hastings Direct have treated me and my case so far.

Hastings Direct in coming to form a meaningful financial offer, send me photographs of the bike, after it had been stood out in a yard for at least two months, and then the third party had attempted to reduce it to iron filings and ask me to justify the damage and condition?!

Oh, and of course Hastings Direct made no mention of the luggage system that they had taken and sold without consent.

I then discover from my solicitor, that the 'meaningful gift' is actually the market value of the bike (which I believed was the risk I had paid them to take in the first place, via the policy) minus a host of arbitrary deductions, which turned out to be little more than the original derisory offer made to me, after the bike was illegally sold.
Also Hastings Direct asked me to justify the stolen luggage.
Bearing in mind, I have still not lodged a claim, can you now see where my abject disgust comes from, having to deal with insurers who act with seemingly “criminal” abandon, as well as having to recover from near fatal injuries.
So after a bit of to and fro, between Hastings Direct and my solicitor, Hastings Direct finally up the Meaningful Financial Gift and offer me the market value of the bike and a little bit more for the luggage, which they quite rightly stated wasn’t insured, which was why I never raised a claim in the first place, however, they deducted their excess and a few arbitrary deductions and we get back to the basic market value of the bike – Now what I can’t understand here is, how can they deduct excess when I still even to this very day, have not raised a claim! – we were seeking return of the vehicle or suitable compensation, obviously Hastings Direct retain ‘excess’ from compensation payouts as well.

Ultimately I was advised to settle for this insult as to take it to court, would end up costing more than I would stand to gain by winning the case.

So even when Hastings Direct acted in my opinion illegally and would lose in court, they could still win, how bizarre!

Well, this is all behind me now, so why did I write this? Well in my email to Hastings Direct, I promised that I would write a narrative of the shameful and contemptuous way Hastings Direct have treated me and publish it as widely as possible, so here I am keeping to my word.

Oh and just as a final footnote, to add to injury and insult, Hastings Direct blatantly lied to me! I received a closing letter from one of their complaints operatives, stating that Hastings Direct and the third party both offered to have the luggage system and rack removed and returned to me.They never did and still haven’t.

As I was in a severe state of disability, I was trying to work out a way to get across Scotland and remove this kit for myself, so I would have jumped at this opportunity, had it been offered.

Clearly from this you can see I will never even consider Hastings Direct again but I leave you, the reader, to come to your own conclusions. The saddest aspect of this is that in a few weeks this narrative will be all but forgotten but Hastings Direct will, most likely, still be putting profits over customer service and treating cases like this with utter contempt.



Please feel free to cut and paste this into any motoring based forums or chat rooms, to give people a little bit of information, so they can make a more informed choice before renewing any insurance.
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Eurotrip 2009
Sportugal 2010

[P.]

If you had told them you do not wish to claim then they wouldn't be allowed to say you are claiming.

Unless the other side got a broken part on his van and went through your insurance... still they wouldn;t be able to take your bike.

I would have went to court...

[neil.]

Sounds like it's worth contacting the Financial Ombudsman Service...

[chris-red]

They sound like complete useless cunts, I'm sure the geek brigade will be along soon to help this up the google rankings.

Hastings Direct Scum
Hastings Direct Scum
Hastings Direct Scum
Hastings Direct Scum
Hastings Direct Scum
Hastings Direct Scum
Hastings Direct Scum

Hastings Direct Scum


















Hastings Direct Scum
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Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[fatpies]

[fatpies]

TBH they already seem to have a bit of a bad rep first item on google search

https://www.bikechatforums.com/download.php?id=81714
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"It's easy to attack and destroy an act of creation. It's a lot more difficult to perform one"

[DrDonnyBrago]

[tatters]

Selling the bike without your permission,

l,ve just had this with my BMW R100GSPD. Even though l made it clear a number of times that l wanted to buy the bike back as salvage Chruchill insurance who were the other partys insurance company sold the bike to a salavge company and l,ve got to travel 80 odd miles to a auction house next week to try and buy whats left of the bike back, and this is before l have been paid out for the loss.
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[Hetzer]

[G]

Does this not amount to theft?

Seems there are two issues - the police compound letting hastings take it and hastings themselves taking it, then selling bits, etc.
Neither should have happened and both is an abuse of process where someone is "to blame"

Who have you been talking to at Hastings?

I would definitely be talking to appropriate directors by now.

Wonder if it should be a case of deciding on appropriate amount to include the actual hassle to you of acquiring a new bike (time and money travelling, etc) and take them to the small claims court over it.

[chris-red]

[Hetzer]

"Hastings Direct is one of the most exciting companies in the UK Insurance Sector. We pride ourselves on putting our customers' first and delivering excellent ..."

I would be so saddened were I to read the CEO had been taken from his bed at 4am, dragged slowly behind a car to a dark and lonely place and set on fire with gasoline.

You reading this, you degenerate sub-human money-whoring parasite FILTH?
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[Kickstart]

Hi

Yep, sounds like Hasting Direct indulging in theft to me. They sold on a vehicle that didn't belong to them.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Rogerborg]

Hello, Local Constabulary, my vehicle has been taken without my consent. Yes, I'm the keeper. Yes, I'm the owner. Yes, they just took it. No, I didn't sign or otherwise agree to anything giving them permission to take possession or dispose of it.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
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[leonski]

I for one won't be using them after reading this. I am shocked at the level of incomptance shown by Hastings.
I did have my car insured by them and when some stupid woman crashed into my car and she admitted liyabity.
I was treated by my own insurance company like I was the cause and had to wait 7 months for the claim to be sorted.
sorry to hear that you had such a hard time with the accident and the insurance scum.
How are you in recovery from you injury's?
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there is nothing like the smell of 2stroke in the morning
current beasts..lol de-restricted ludix classic 50 fastest ped ive ever ridden
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[UnspeedySam]

[DrDonnyBrago]

[johnsmith222]

[Sir Black Pig]

[Dr. DaveJPS]

[P.]

Hastings direct are terrible
Really?
I though Hastings direct are scum

[duhawkz]

I'm sorry to hear about your dealings with Hastings Direct it sounds like they are SCUM

And I will be sure to steer clear of hastings direct motorbike stealing scum
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"The guy is a worthless cunt and I honestly believe I would be a slightly happier person if he died." - Chris-Red

[daemonoid]

I sent the following mail to the MD:

[leonski]

[neil.]

This thread will go GOLD!