Insurance fiasco

[Speedy1959]

I thought I would share with you my recent experiences with the "Hastings Direct" insurance company !
I took out a fully comprehensive policy with them on June 27th this year for my Bike..

I stated all current penalty points as I always do..
Then on 27th of August I received an e-mail from them asking me to provide a "Share my license" code via the DVLA..
I obtained the code (which expires after 2 weeks) and e mailed it off to them..
I also phoned them to ask why they were doing this checking up after 2 months of the start of this policy.
No real answer from them.. They asked me for the date I originally phoned them and the number I would have used, so they could replay the recordings to see if I had mentioned the penalty points..
I told them my phone number is always my land line due to the long wait you sometimes have when dealing with insurance..

Then we come to yesterday the 27th of September and I received the following e-mail...

"Thank you for your email with your licence and share my licence code, unfortunately the code you sent us wouldn't allow us to access your online counterpart. Please provide us with a new share my licence access code by the below date.

Unfortunately we were unable to locate a call from your mobile number following the inception of your policy. Please provide us with an alternative number you may have called us on and a date you called us and we will be able to look into this further for you.

Based on real time pricing to add the two sp30s you have confirmed to us that you have there would be an additional premium of £107.04 including our £25 admin fee."

I am normally pretty placid but not this time..
1. They say they could not access my license code online..
That's because the dumb shites had left it over the 2 week expiry time of the code!
2. They say they could not locate a call from my mobile number to verify my phone call to them..
That's because I NEVER phone them from my mobile number!!
The extra £107 means my insurance would have cost me £391 !!

Yesterday I phoned them and REALLY expressed my disbelief at their incompetence..
I asked them what phone number they had stored for me on their system..
He quoted my HOME PHONE number and NOT my Mobile.
He then had the cheek to ask how I would like to pay..

I said "Just cancel the policy right now.. I will go elsewhere"
They said I would receive the partial refund within 5 working days.
The policy was cancelled after me being on the phone to them for 46 minutes!!
If any of you are with them, then God help you if you ever need to make an actual claim!

I am now with Bennetts where I got the fully comp insurance for £191

Due to the part refund I wont really be much better off financially, but that's not the point..
I voted with my feet and after my high blood pressure phone call to Hastings direct yesterday, I feel a hell of a lot better.

Rant over

[KiwiCol]

That's appalling service & yet they're still in business?  You did the right thing Speedy, tell 'em to shove it!

[gsxbarmy]

That is outrageous. I've heard similar of Hastings before with car policies.

I had similar to you Simon years ago with MCE, where after taking over an hour going through all the mods to my 14 I asked them to mail what they had included on the policy to me. Not having received same I called them, only to be asked  - what mods?
The other thing to watch for with insurance companies - especially if you have modifications to your machine, is what, in the event of an accident, they will do. Many will only rebuild to standard spec (even if you have added and declared mods to your bike).

If ever you are asked for info, always get them to confirm their receipt of it, or call a few days later to check what details they hold. It can be a bit of an eye opener at times.

[MarkN]

I'm with Bennetts and have been happy with their service but when it came to renewal time for one of my bikes last year I went on to the Go Compare site  and got a quote on there, from Bennetts, for just over £5 less than the renewal figure. Not much I know but better in my pocket, so I rang to see if they would match it for my existing policy - they wouldn't

I cancelled the existing policy and went with the cheaper on line quote - with the same company! Don't really understand how this can be, especially when I have three bikes insured with them. Loyalty counts for f. all nowadays

[Mick_J]

I'm with Bennetts and have been happy with their service but when it came to renewal time for one of my bikes last year I went on to the Go Compare site  and got a quote on there, from Bennetts, for just over £5 less than the renewal figure. Not much I know but better in my pocket, so I rang to see if they would match it for my existing policy - they wouldn't

I cancelled the existing policy and went with the cheaper on line quote - with the same company! Don't really understand how this can be, especially when I have three bikes insured with them. Loyalty counts for f. all nowadays

This happens quite a lot as the staff are incentivised to gain new clients, not retain old ones.  When you get a quote online you are classed as a "new" client.  BeMoto work the other way around and offer better deals to existing customers.

[Daytona]

When I bought my little Suzuki address this summer I rang Bennetts to add it to my existing policy with them,the amount they wanted was ridiculous,so we went down the route of setting up a separate policy in which case I couldn't have any no claims discount,the amount they wanted was £160::so I declined this and went online and got the same cover ,like for like, at £83; with ,can you believe Bennett's,

[seth]

It's a sad but all to common a story thesedays @Speedy1959
Happens all the time
Just there way of squeezing more cash out of customers as it's the law to have insurance so ones you think your sorted they hit you again and if you don't like it they hit you for an admin /cancellation fee .
I've told this story before but the short version is a few years ago I was at the Scottish bike show on the Sunday the weather had been bad on the Saturday so the insurance companies at the show couldn't get connected to the internet so spent the day handing out tee-shirts.
So when I went looking for a deal on the Sunday I was asked to make them an offer.so with a renewal quote of £250 I said £200 the girl said you can do better than that adding all they had done was hand out the tee-shirts so I said £50 she said no try again so I said £100 she said that's fine did the paperwork .
It was probably a loss but they kept the price in the same region for the next 4 years that was with mce.
Just shows that it's a market not a set thing anymore.

[MarkN]

I'm with Bennetts and have been happy with their service but when it came to renewal time for one of my bikes last year I went on to the Go Compare site  and got a quote on there, from Bennetts, for just over £5 less than the renewal figure. Not much I know but better in my pocket, so I rang to see if they would match it for my existing policy - they wouldn't

I cancelled the existing policy and went with the cheaper on line quote - with the same company! Don't really understand how this can be, especially when I have three bikes insured with them. Loyalty counts for f. all nowadays

This happens quite a lot as the staff are incentivised to gain new clients, not retain old ones.  When you get a quote online you are classed as a "new" client.  BeMoto work the other way around and offer better deals to existing customers.

I looked on their website the other day after you mentioned then in another post, might give them a go next year as they seem to do a variation on the old lay up policies and I sorn two of ours over winter