Ranting about insurance!

[blito]

I feel like I need to vent some anger tonight after a difficult day talking to my insurers.
For the sake of not getting my arse sued I will not name the big-brand insurance broker involved but instead will refer to them as BrandX.
It all starts in July 2011 when I purchased my Moped. Like most people these days I went straight onto the comparison websites and selected the cheapest quote and proceded to purchase. Instead of completing online I rang BrandX and found myself with a much higher quote! Some haggling later got the quote down to the internet level and I was happy and opted to pay by installments - £7 per month.
The Documents arrived on time and I quickly scanned the details, grunted my satisfaction and put them away, not really taking in the whole 125 page document in its entirety.
Now lets fast forward to may 2012, the 'ped has been sold, a CBT completed and a new 125 ordered.
My first phone call to BrandX was a waste of time - the service team passed me to the renewals team who passed me straight back again, each time with a 5-10 minute wait in the queue. Eventually, an exasperated assistant who clearly didnt know what to do promised me that a more experienced collegue would call me the next day. Apparantly, the change of details coming so close to the renewal date was confusing them!)
That phone call didn't come.
My second outgoing call was more produtive. The assistant apologised after checking my details that the phone number they had for me was incorrect. He also apologised about the fiasco the night before. His final apology was that he couldnt help me as the service team needed to do the ammendments and they all go home early.
My 3rd phone call was made the following day. The agent was pleasant and helpful and took all the details ready to ammend. Then the apologies started. Firstly that the actual insurer whos policy I had does not do cover for 125s so an alternative was sought.... and the quote came back at 250 pounds - over £100 more than BrandX quote on the comparrison sites! The assistant apolised but claimed not to be able to the same discounts as online. I then double checked my bank statement and noticed that BrandX had been taking £9 per month out of my account insteasd of the quoted £7. When pressed about this, the assistant apologised but explained that I had failed to return a signed copy of the credit agreement and that I had been charged £20 for my failure.

Now then, what I had in mind when calling them was to upgrade my policy to the new bike for the last 6 weeks of its term then renew with a tasty 1 years NCB. Thanks to the utter uselessness of BrandX I am unable to do this. So I paid £20 too much for the last years cover, only made 11 months use of it, failed to rack up an NCB bonus and as a result have had to pay £30 too much THIS year as well!
Obviously I ignored the BrandX quote on the comparison site this time round have gone with a motorcycle specialist instead! - Its still £90 cheaper than BrandX were quoting!


/ rant over

Anyhow - insurance now bought and the bike should arrive tomorrow so I should get a happy weekends riding
____________________
2012 Zontes Monster

[Derivative]

[iooi]

[Rogerborg]

Is there a tl;dr version? It's past Wine O'clock, I can't follow all the doubtless enthralling twists and turns.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[ninja_butler]

[jonna]

https://i3.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/000/346/969638-cool_story__bro_super.jpg

[Efes123]

[Derivative]

[janner_10]

Par for the course for insurance companies.
____________________
Yamaha FZS600 (Now gone to heaven) > CBR600F4i (SOLD) > '99 YZF-R1

[Kwaks]

ok it was only £2 per month, however it was £2 per month removed unauthorised from his account. It was also a change in the direct debit amount without giving any prior knowledge.

Common sense says that you do not increase a debt simply because you dont have a signature for that debt.

Speak to brandx, explain that they did not contact you to inform of a change in the DD amount, this is a breach of the rules covered by the direct debit guarrantee. Explain to them that unless you can both come to an amicable arrangement you will be visiting your bank to invoke the DD guarantee. There case is week as they dont have anything signed, you can point this out, and as they will no doubt tell you they have the recording of the call you will require a copy or a transcript for it.

Explain you will be entirely reasonable to reach an agreement, as you would prefer to earn the ncb that go through all this, if they have any sense they will see reason.

If you have already cancelled, prob not worth the effort, if the £30 you mentioned was a cancellation fee then you were a fool for paying that.
____________________
Fallen Angel "Nae sniffing my seat now!!!!! "
www.cliqueycuntsmcc.co.uk
I AM NOT A FAST RIDER!!!!!!!!!

[Alpha-9]

____________________
Fzr-600 1999

[Kwaks]

[Quornholio]

[LordShaftesbu...]

[Quornholio]

Sounds like Bennetts to me.

[blito]

It was actually swinton.. i put the *so I wont get sued* bit just to make the post more readable.
Yes, the surchage is written in the documents and I'm a fool for not reading it. No I didn't pay the £30 cancellation charge as the policy is paid in full and only has 6 weeks left to run. Actually, that means I now have insurance for a bike I no longer own - is that legal?
I'm not intending to upgrade from the 125 for a few years to come so hopefully I wont need to vent my fustration in public again .....

Curiously, my OH is also with Swinton on her 'ped and has not had any difficulty - she even checked with them about upgrading to a 125 and it seems she wont have the same problems I have!
____________________
2012 Zontes Monster

[Quornholio]