Sarah Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 I'm fuming!! Had a really bad day in fact, bad weekend - my insurance company cancelled my policy IN ERROR so i've not been able to use my car at weekend and Marc thought i'd not paid it so that caused a row Here's my letter to them which goes into detail - if anyone has any suggestions or anything I can word differently let me know - i'm sending this recoded delivery tomorrow Dear Mr Powell I am writing in regards to your company cancelling my insurance policy in error. On Saturday 15th January 2011 I came home from shopping to a letter from yourselves dated 11th January 2011 advising me that my cover had ceased with effect from 11th January 2011. This was the first correspondence I had received in regards to this and I immediately rang your office to establish what had happened only to find out I couldn’t speak with anyone until Monday morning at 9 am. Considering I start work at 8.30 I had a slight problem. I rang at 9 am and spoke to a very helpful lady called Margaret who advised me that my policy had been cancelled due to none payment. I informed her that the two payments I had made to yourselves since taking my policy out had cleared my bank and I didn’t understand why the cancellation had been processed. Not one of my payments have bounced. She admitted that the policy had been cancelled by mistake as she could see the payments had gone onto my account and was going to speak with a manager to get the matter resolved. I advised her both myself and my husband were waiting to go to work and requested it be dealt with immediately. When i hadn’t received a phone call half an hour later I rang again and spoke to a gentleman who said it was being dealt with and the manager was waiting to speak with someone but they weren’t yet in the office. When I asked when this person would be in, he didn’t know. I requested a call back from a manager within the hour to which I was advised this couldn’t be guaranteed and no phone call was received. By this point I had no choice but to call a local taxi firm to take me to work. When I got to work I called again and asked to speak to a manager, the operator wouldn’t put me through and proceeded to tell me that it was being dealt with. I still at this point, had no idea what was taking so long or given a time scale in which the issue could be resolved. I called another 3 times before I got a call back from the customer service manager at 12 noon, who advised me that I should have rung them when I received my letter dated December, advising me that a payment had been declined. Firstly, I have never received such a letter, and secondly – not one of my payments have declined! I find it appalling that a company can take so long to resolve their incompetent error, when, if i had called another insurance company, i could have been insured within half an hour. Instead, the whole fiasco took 7 hours to resolve and resulted in my husband not being able to get to work at all. I am not entirely confident that if I were to have an accident whilst under your insurance policy, that my claim would be dealt with efficiently judging by how my account has been dealt with so far. My grievances to be brief are as follows: Lack of communication from your staff – no one could give me any sort of time scale. Lack of availability in which to contact someone over the weekend to have the matter resolved. Sending a letter dated the same day the policy is cancelled ensures that your customer is driving without insurance until the letter is received. I am extremely worried that I have in effect been driving with no insurance from 11th to 15th January and have had children in the vehicle, if I had an accident I wouldn’t have been covered! I have had to pay friends who have cars petrol money to take me to places over the weekend and to pick my husbands children up from their mothers and to take me shopping at our local supermarket as I work full time i find it easier to go at weekends and also had to pay for a taxi to take me to work. I would like recompense as a goodwill gesture for mine and my husbands inconvenience throughout this whole matter, for the taxis and petrol money i have had to spend and also for the amount of phone calls that I had to make to push for this matter to be resolved. I would also request that you clarify to me that my credit rating will not be affected by your companies claims that I have missed payments. Furthermore I would like a full explanation as to why this has happened in the first place. On a better note, I would like to thank two members of your team, Margaret and David who were very helpful to me when I was rather frustrated and concerned on the numerous calls I had to make to your office. I would like to point out that i am sending this to Andy Powell (Managing Director of Europa Group) not least due to his own quotes found on the internet “Europa Group is working hard to improve it’s service to customers through co-ordinated communications – not least, timely, relevant customer calls to talk through quotes and to help customers make the right decision†and this is whom I expect to reply. I have not yet made my decision on whether to forward a copy of this letter to the FSA. Your sincerely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lil Miss Bump Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 wow sarah u kick ass! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saffmonster Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 I think you've just about covered it! Have they set the policy back up again for you now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BingBlaze n Skyla Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 sounds like a bloody good letter to me saz! get it sent! hopefully the compensate you ! glad u did FINALLY get it sorted xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah Posted January 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 I think you've just about covered it! Have they set the policy back up again for you now? Yeah - FINALLY got a manager to ring me at 4pm today to say I was covered again thank god! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saffmonster Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 Wow, your insurer certainly has problems telling the time. I thought you requested a call back within the hour this morning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahNukka&Shadow Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 Sounds good Saz, Id wait till they give you what your asking an then look around at other insurures anyway! If their that incompetant I wouldnt wanna be insured by them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparks Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 ohhh, they are going to love you Saz. i think what you have written is perfect, and they need to explain themselves! they always blame things on an "error" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah Posted January 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 Wow, your insurer certainly has problems telling the time. I thought you requested a call back within the hour this morning! I did at 9.30 this morning - the manager called me at 12 to say it was being dealt with - 4 hours later it was Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saffmonster Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 Oh eck!! Which is company is it... just so I know to stay away from them!! Makes you wonder what they were doing with their day. It shouldn't have taken even close to the length of time it did to sort it out. Incompetant clowns Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sid_Wolf Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 Go saz!! Thats brilliant, definately send it! glad you got it sorted in the end. Who are you with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austinville Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 Very well written! As I don't know how things work in the UK, can you add something about had an accident taken place, you would have, without hesitation, filed a suit against the company holding them liable for any and all costs associated from their incompetence after the following sentence:? I am extremely worried that I have in effect been driving with no insurance from 11th to 15th January and have had children in the vehicle, if I had an accident I wouldn’t have been covered! I would also include something to the effect of the loss of wages as Marc lost a day of work due to this. Perhaps include receipts of your expenses due to their incompetence. Edit: Oh, and tell them that without a proper response to your requests that you shall drive around the community with the following sign in your window: "XXXXXX Insurance - Where incompetency reigns." (I once bought a car from a dealer here that was nothing but a lemon. For months I drove around with a sign in my window "This lemon purchased from ZZZ Car Company" and drove through their lot once a week on Saturdays when they were their busiest. Didn't take long to get things fixed!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lebe03 Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 WTF any reputable Insurance company should have a 24/7 customer services helpline for this very reason I suspect you will need to provide receipts to prove the extra expenses you have incurred due to their mistake replace inconvenient with inconvenience in the following: 'I would like recompense as a goodwill gesture for mine and my husbands inconvenient throughout this whole matter, for the taxis and petrol money i have had to spend and also for the amount of phone calls that I had to make to push for this matter to be resolved. I would also request that you clarify to me that my credit rating will not be affected by your companies claims that I have missed payments. Furthermore I would like a full explanation as to why this has happened in the first place' Set a timescale in which you expect to have received a reply 5 working days from receipt of the letter sounds reasonable to me. If you send the letter recorded signed for you will know when they receive it Email them a copy of the letter as well as sending a copy to the complaints department whose contact details should be detailed in their complaints procedure. Keep a record of all contact you make with the company regarding this matter including who and when you spoke to If after all this you aren't satisfied with their response or lack of you can take the matter up with the insurance ombudsmen. I hope you can get it sorted to your satisfaction Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saffmonster Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 No insurance company as far as I know has a 24hr c/service helpline. Where I work is 24hrs, but that's just for claims and roadside assistance. And as the insurance company will be regulated by the FSA they will have a set limit within which they have to deal with a complaint. I can't remember the timescale, but it's only aa few days (I think). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuskyCouture Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 very well written sarah! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah Posted January 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 The company is "One Quote Direct" Lee - Becky thanks for the tips - will amend my letter slightly now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tan J P Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 Go Girl!!!! hope this gets sorted to your satisfaction life is stressfull enough without added unneccesary strain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazz Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 Holy cow! That is inexcusable. Do you have an insurance commission, or other regulatory agency that oversees insurance companies in the UK? If so, you might want to put a cc: at the bottom of the letter, listing the agency or commission. That should light 'em up a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Angel n Auroras Mum Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 Go saz, go saz, go saz! whoop whoop. u tell em. x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobC Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 Damn thats pretty disgusting. If the GISC still exist then it might be worth contacting them as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeatherOfJay Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 Firstly the fact that they messed up is (as you probably know) down to the error of some computer problem; often double accounting or a payment run which "ticked a box" on some files to mark yours as unpaid and automated a letter even though this hadn't happened. Some computer programmes mess up. However, that's not your fault or problem...well the fact that they cancelled the insurance is, but you know what I mean. As for the "any reputable company should have a 24/7 customer service department"; I only know of Lloyds TSB doing that and that's very recent; they bloody well need it to correct all the mistakes they make all the time!!! Crikey, imagine working at 3am and having to deal with complaints from the public when it's a system problem? That's my idea of Hell, it was bad enough at 3pm and them screaming for a manger! The place at which I worked didn't allow the CSA (customer service adviser) to hand a call off to a manager because the managers knew less technical information than we did - they were number crunching people managers. a call back could be arranged, but the period was in 24hours. Anyway, blah blah blah my life story they messed up and you were inconvenienced, make sure you have all receipts from any expense relating to not being able to drive you car; they should only recompense you for the expense you have incurred. I'm not sure about how to sort out the missed work - that wasn't something you could avoid necessarily due to the time that you got the letter and the time you were due to start. Finally, I would be hugely surprised if you got a reply from the director - unless it's a fairly small company, I highly doubt that this is going to happen, often they are just a name on a website who don't have anything to do with "real people" customers! I lost count of the number of people who wanted to speak to our customer service manager. what I need to mention though is that it's brilliant that you mention Margaret and David by name - a lot of people are incredibly quick and ready to complain but never to give credit. Why does anger motivate more than satisfaction? Not sure if this is an entirely helpful reply, sorry! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistyrayn Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 wow Sarah.. def kick ass letter.. i would def look at changing my insurance company if they had done that to me.. its lucky you were not in the middle of no where with kids and dogs on board then got stopped by the police... as with the powers they have now they would have seized your car for having no insurance... then that would have been a massive problem being stuck with kids and dogs far away from home.. plus the £ 200 + fees to get car back when insurance sorted and daily storage fee's they would charge.. think its disgusting that they can cancell your policy in era .. so easily but takes all sorts of problems and time to get it sorted... i would push for some sort of written apology and proof that they have re instated your policy ... just in case for your own safety.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lifesabreeze Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 You go saz,, your the girl, kick their butts,, pmsl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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