F***ing insurance companies...
I have a tale of frustration so need to vent. So to spare everyone's sanity
Car...
It seems that Aviva's customer service is somewhat to be desired. When I got back from Xmas, there was a nice present from them saying that the no-claims certificate I sent through wasn't good for them so could I get another one, or they'd hike my premiums (doubling from 500 quid to over 1000). And if that did'nt come through, the policy would be cancelled.
This was dated the 21st, although I'd sent the cert off towards the start of the month to make sure it arrived within the 30 day deadline of their original request (dated the 1st).
It didn't turn up until after Xmas, which meant I didn't pick it up until I got back from the folks, on the 29th.
Phone up...conversation goes something like this:
Me: What's wrong with the certificate?7
Them: Well it's not good for us
Me: Why?
Them: Can I put you on hold, I need to speak to that department
Me: Can't I speak to them direct
Them: They don't work like that
Me: Why not?
Them: They don't work like that
Me: *grumble* Right fine. I'll hold.
{{{waits}}}
Them: Apparently you sent through a renewal notice
Me: No I didn't, it was a no-claims certificate
Them: Well they think it's a renewel notice can you send something else
Me: {{{getting cheesed off by now}}} It's not a renewal notice.
{{{some more back-and-forth}}}
Me: Fine, I'll see what I can do. When do you need it for?
Them: Let me check
{{{hold music}}}
Them: As soon as possible.
Me: I need a date. Can you give me a date?
Them: Hold on
{{{more waiting}}}
Them: All we can say is can you send it through as soon as possible
Me: So what's the state of my policy? Is it valid? When is this notification likely to expire? Your original notification dodn't come through until after Xmas, so I've lost a week there alone.
Them: The policy is still okay, but we can't give you a date, just advise you to send it through ASAP.
{{{getting annoyed}}}
Me: Fine. I'll see what I can do. Why wasn't I rang about this? This is a fairly major issue with the insurance -- I'd expect a phone-call about this, especially if you were liable to cancel it.
Them:...
{{{more stuff annoyance etc}}}
Eventually give in, give old insurers a ring who were a *delight* to ring in comparison. Happily cheerful, which improved my mood. They even emailed it through, which saved some time. Which meant I could email it straight over to Aviva... so I do that and ring them up...
To cut a long story short, by this time, the department dealing with these things closed. The clown at the other end couldn't get them to give me a ring if that was invalid, even though I expressly asked them, several times, I started querying whether this was good policy.
Anyhow... I'm going to give them a ring tomorrow to see if it's finally been accepted, or they've picked up on something else. Ended up annoyed and wound up and now working out exactly how to word a letter of complaint due to their shite communications.
I didn't bother shouting for the supervior at any time ... maybe I should have done ... but on the three occasions I rang, I got through to indian voices, so can only assume their call-centre's been outsourced. Which probably means they've got a fairly strict script and I don't know how much a supervisor could help, so I couldn't even be bothered. The droids (all three of them) on the other end of the line wasn't trying to help me that much, just repeating the same things, so it wasn't a particularly helpful call-centre.
Sooner I can leave them (roll on renewal time), the happier I'll be. Only reason I left my original insurer (Adrian Flux) was because the premiums had been jacked up a huge amount due to the writeoff (they've been good to deal with, even with the accident; things that you expect to happen, happen). I'll be more than happy to go back to them once everything's calmed back down.
House
House insurance generally been good -- going through HSBC. Unfortuantly, they're underwritten by Aviva. So although HSBC advertise "Claims Helpline (24 Hour)", when I phone to talk about an existing claim I've got, the office is closed, and HSBC pass calls for existing queries through to the underwriters *sigh*. Not sure whether this is Aviva's fault (not maintaining a level of service that they should) or HSBCs (misleading documentation). I'll be querying this one, but it's a minor inconvienience compared to the hassle the car insurance is giving me.
So far though, had no problems here actually getting things sorted.
It's not doing my karma any good. Really isn't.
Car...
It seems that Aviva's customer service is somewhat to be desired. When I got back from Xmas, there was a nice present from them saying that the no-claims certificate I sent through wasn't good for them so could I get another one, or they'd hike my premiums (doubling from 500 quid to over 1000). And if that did'nt come through, the policy would be cancelled.
This was dated the 21st, although I'd sent the cert off towards the start of the month to make sure it arrived within the 30 day deadline of their original request (dated the 1st).
It didn't turn up until after Xmas, which meant I didn't pick it up until I got back from the folks, on the 29th.
Phone up...conversation goes something like this:
Me: What's wrong with the certificate?7
Them: Well it's not good for us
Me: Why?
Them: Can I put you on hold, I need to speak to that department
Me: Can't I speak to them direct
Them: They don't work like that
Me: Why not?
Them: They don't work like that
Me: *grumble* Right fine. I'll hold.
{{{waits}}}
Them: Apparently you sent through a renewal notice
Me: No I didn't, it was a no-claims certificate
Them: Well they think it's a renewel notice can you send something else
Me: {{{getting cheesed off by now}}} It's not a renewal notice.
{{{some more back-and-forth}}}
Me: Fine, I'll see what I can do. When do you need it for?
Them: Let me check
{{{hold music}}}
Them: As soon as possible.
Me: I need a date. Can you give me a date?
Them: Hold on
{{{more waiting}}}
Them: All we can say is can you send it through as soon as possible
Me: So what's the state of my policy? Is it valid? When is this notification likely to expire? Your original notification dodn't come through until after Xmas, so I've lost a week there alone.
Them: The policy is still okay, but we can't give you a date, just advise you to send it through ASAP.
{{{getting annoyed}}}
Me: Fine. I'll see what I can do. Why wasn't I rang about this? This is a fairly major issue with the insurance -- I'd expect a phone-call about this, especially if you were liable to cancel it.
Them:...
{{{more stuff annoyance etc}}}
Eventually give in, give old insurers a ring who were a *delight* to ring in comparison. Happily cheerful, which improved my mood. They even emailed it through, which saved some time. Which meant I could email it straight over to Aviva... so I do that and ring them up...
To cut a long story short, by this time, the department dealing with these things closed. The clown at the other end couldn't get them to give me a ring if that was invalid, even though I expressly asked them, several times, I started querying whether this was good policy.
Anyhow... I'm going to give them a ring tomorrow to see if it's finally been accepted, or they've picked up on something else. Ended up annoyed and wound up and now working out exactly how to word a letter of complaint due to their shite communications.
I didn't bother shouting for the supervior at any time ... maybe I should have done ... but on the three occasions I rang, I got through to indian voices, so can only assume their call-centre's been outsourced. Which probably means they've got a fairly strict script and I don't know how much a supervisor could help, so I couldn't even be bothered. The droids (all three of them) on the other end of the line wasn't trying to help me that much, just repeating the same things, so it wasn't a particularly helpful call-centre.
Sooner I can leave them (roll on renewal time), the happier I'll be. Only reason I left my original insurer (Adrian Flux) was because the premiums had been jacked up a huge amount due to the writeoff (they've been good to deal with, even with the accident; things that you expect to happen, happen). I'll be more than happy to go back to them once everything's calmed back down.
House
House insurance generally been good -- going through HSBC. Unfortuantly, they're underwritten by Aviva. So although HSBC advertise "Claims Helpline (24 Hour)", when I phone to talk about an existing claim I've got, the office is closed, and HSBC pass calls for existing queries through to the underwriters *sigh*. Not sure whether this is Aviva's fault (not maintaining a level of service that they should) or HSBCs (misleading documentation). I'll be querying this one, but it's a minor inconvienience compared to the hassle the car insurance is giving me.
So far though, had no problems here actually getting things sorted.
It's not doing my karma any good. Really isn't.