Ecar/Southern Rock/Eldon Insurance Incompetence!!!
261_p
Posts: 6 Forumite
Ok stand by for ranting!!!
My car was stolen about 6-7 weeks ago from outside my house, I did the normal course of action. i.e phone the police and insurance company.
The police did their usual absolutely no investigation and dished out a crime number etc. a day later the car was found trashed and was recovered by a company on behalf of the police.
passed all the details onto the insurance company, (I was insured with ecar insurance who are underwritten by Southern Rock and claim is handled by Eldon Insurance ltd based near newcastle), including crime number, incident number, name of officer who was dealing and the police station(Partick Police in Glasgow) phone number.
After about 4 days I phoned eldon insurance and after a 20 minute hold i got through to someone and asked for an update about the claim, was told that the car had been taken from the police recovery company to a garage used by the insurance company. They asked me to send my keys, V5, insurance docs and driving licence to them which i duly did the next day.
I left it another week before contacting them again for an update, this time i was told that they had been trying to contact Partick Police to confirm the crime number but "they couldn't get through to the station" . this seeming a pretty lame excuse i checked that they had the correct phone number (i used it several times to contact the police in the 24hrs after the car was stolen and got straight through to them every time....)
which they did. i told them that i wasnt happy that they hadnt managed to progress any further than when i last spoke to them and then left it at that saying i'd phone back in another week.
1 week later i phoine Eldon back, and again i'm given the exact same excuse as last time!! they still cant got hold of the police. rubbish!!!!
I hang up in a temper before i lose my rag over the phone, dial 118118, ask for partick police station and am given a number for Strathclyde control room, PArtcik coimes under there area, phone the cotrol centre and get straight through to a police office rwho tells me that the insurance need to write to them and ask for a copy of the police report. ok fine. i ring Eldon back and pass this on to them along with the address and phone number of who to contact at Strathclyde! The fact that i managed to acquire this info in less than 90 seconds, through 2 simple phone calls and the tiny tiny tiniest bit of initiative left me feeling pretty annoyed to say the least that these incompent a-holes at Eldon couldnt manage it in 2 weeks of trying!
a few days later i get a letter from eldon asking me to sign a form grantin g them permission to see the police report along with a letter saying that it might take 6 weeks for them to got the info from the police. i sign the forms and return them first class the next day.
Well that was between 3 and 4 weeks ago, this morning i have rung them again and was told that they only sent the request to the police 10 days ago so it might be another month for a reply and then god only knows how long before they make a decision about my case. all this for a car that was only worth £2000!
All the while i'm left with a daily 75 mile round trip to work and no car! oh btw i wasnt intitled to a courtesy car becasue that only happens if they decide to repair mine....!
I am writing a complaint letter to their MD and then i'm going to the financial ombudsman if that doesnt work!!!
Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!:mad::mad:
My car was stolen about 6-7 weeks ago from outside my house, I did the normal course of action. i.e phone the police and insurance company.
The police did their usual absolutely no investigation and dished out a crime number etc. a day later the car was found trashed and was recovered by a company on behalf of the police.
passed all the details onto the insurance company, (I was insured with ecar insurance who are underwritten by Southern Rock and claim is handled by Eldon Insurance ltd based near newcastle), including crime number, incident number, name of officer who was dealing and the police station(Partick Police in Glasgow) phone number.
After about 4 days I phoned eldon insurance and after a 20 minute hold i got through to someone and asked for an update about the claim, was told that the car had been taken from the police recovery company to a garage used by the insurance company. They asked me to send my keys, V5, insurance docs and driving licence to them which i duly did the next day.
I left it another week before contacting them again for an update, this time i was told that they had been trying to contact Partick Police to confirm the crime number but "they couldn't get through to the station" . this seeming a pretty lame excuse i checked that they had the correct phone number (i used it several times to contact the police in the 24hrs after the car was stolen and got straight through to them every time....)
which they did. i told them that i wasnt happy that they hadnt managed to progress any further than when i last spoke to them and then left it at that saying i'd phone back in another week.
1 week later i phoine Eldon back, and again i'm given the exact same excuse as last time!! they still cant got hold of the police. rubbish!!!!
I hang up in a temper before i lose my rag over the phone, dial 118118, ask for partick police station and am given a number for Strathclyde control room, PArtcik coimes under there area, phone the cotrol centre and get straight through to a police office rwho tells me that the insurance need to write to them and ask for a copy of the police report. ok fine. i ring Eldon back and pass this on to them along with the address and phone number of who to contact at Strathclyde! The fact that i managed to acquire this info in less than 90 seconds, through 2 simple phone calls and the tiny tiny tiniest bit of initiative left me feeling pretty annoyed to say the least that these incompent a-holes at Eldon couldnt manage it in 2 weeks of trying!
a few days later i get a letter from eldon asking me to sign a form grantin g them permission to see the police report along with a letter saying that it might take 6 weeks for them to got the info from the police. i sign the forms and return them first class the next day.
Well that was between 3 and 4 weeks ago, this morning i have rung them again and was told that they only sent the request to the police 10 days ago so it might be another month for a reply and then god only knows how long before they make a decision about my case. all this for a car that was only worth £2000!
All the while i'm left with a daily 75 mile round trip to work and no car! oh btw i wasnt intitled to a courtesy car becasue that only happens if they decide to repair mine....!
I am writing a complaint letter to their MD and then i'm going to the financial ombudsman if that doesnt work!!!
Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!:mad::mad:
0
Comments
-
You don't write a complaint letter to the MD.
You write a complaint letter to the complaints department of eCar stated in your policy booklet.
If you write to the MD your letter will be delayed.
In addition I advise you to:
1. Send the complaint to them by recorded delivery. They have a habit of not receiving letters but suddenly find them if you state that you can see who signed for it on the RM website. (Print it out if you can see who signed for it.)
2. Put the title "Formal Complaint" on your letter
3. Make sure unlike what you posted you keep your complaint to one side of A4 and use white space to separate your paragraphs so it's easy to read.
4. State clearly what you want them to do.
5. Don't directly accuse them of lying but imply they are by stating what they claimed with contacting police and how it was strange that you could contact the police with no problems.
6. Inform them that you will be taking further action against them at the end of the letter if the situation isn't resolved quickly.
Then if they don't do anything after a month of receiving your letter. (Use the RM website to see when they received it.) Contact them by the telephone number in the policy booklet and ask them what is going on.
If they say they haven't received your letter then inform them when they did receive it and if possible who signed it. Also state then your next step will be to make a complaint to the financial ombudsman service.
And yes I've had dealings with this company before so I know they claim to loose letters even if the complaint isn't about a claim and will cost them very little to resolve.I'm not cynical I'm realistic
(If a link I give opens pop ups I won't know I don't use windows)0 -
Thanks for the advice Olly,
I'll send the complaint to ecar via RM recorded and see how it goes!!:think:0 -
Just to let you know, the insurance company have 8 weeks from the date they receive your letter to provide you with a "final response" letter. If they don't, you can go straight to the FOS without having to wait further.
The main thing you are after here is a fair settlement. For that, you need to know what is "fair" for your car. The FOS tend to rely on Glass's Guide, but Parkers is good too. You can get an estimated value for your car here:
Parkers
http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/prices/
Glass's
http://www.glass.co.uk/
Please remember that these will only give you a guide to the value of the vehicle and if you had any extras in your car (climate control, sunroof, etc) then these can add to the value. You can, however, use these valuations to quote in your complaint letter to the insurer as the "minimum" you will be willing to accept plus compensation for the inconvenience they have put you to.In the beginning, the universe was created. This made a lot of people very angry and was widely regarded as a bad move.The late, great, Douglas Adams.0 -
Ok stand by for ranting!!!
My car was stolen about 6-7 weeks ago from outside my house, I did the normal course of action. i.e phone the police and insurance company.
The police did their usual absolutely no investigation and dished out a crime number etc. a day later the car was found trashed and was recovered by a company on behalf of the police.
passed all the details onto the insurance company, (I was insured with ecar insurance who are underwritten by Southern Rock and claim is handled by Eldon Insurance ltd based near newcastle), including crime number, incident number, name of officer who was dealing and the police station(Partick Police in Glasgow) phone number.
After about 4 days I phoned eldon insurance and after a 20 minute hold i got through to someone and asked for an update about the claim, was told that the car had been taken from the police recovery company to a garage used by the insurance company. They asked me to send my keys, V5, insurance docs and driving licence to them which i duly did the next day.
I left it another week before contacting them again for an update, this time i was told that they had been trying to contact Partick Police to confirm the crime number but "they couldn't get through to the station" . this seeming a pretty lame excuse i checked that they had the correct phone number (i used it several times to contact the police in the 24hrs after the car was stolen and got straight through to them every time....)
which they did. i told them that i wasnt happy that they hadnt managed to progress any further than when i last spoke to them and then left it at that saying i'd phone back in another week.
1 week later i phoine Eldon back, and again i'm given the exact same excuse as last time!! they still cant got hold of the police. rubbish!!!!
I hang up in a temper before i lose my rag over the phone, dial 118118, ask for partick police station and am given a number for Strathclyde control room, PArtcik coimes under there area, phone the cotrol centre and get straight through to a police office rwho tells me that the insurance need to write to them and ask for a copy of the police report. ok fine. i ring Eldon back and pass this on to them along with the address and phone number of who to contact at Strathclyde! The fact that i managed to acquire this info in less than 90 seconds, through 2 simple phone calls and the tiny tiny tiniest bit of initiative left me feeling pretty annoyed to say the least that these incompent a-holes at Eldon couldnt manage it in 2 weeks of trying!
a few days later i get a letter from eldon asking me to sign a form grantin g them permission to see the police report along with a letter saying that it might take 6 weeks for them to got the info from the police. i sign the forms and return them first class the next day.
Well that was between 3 and 4 weeks ago, this morning i have rung them again and was told that they only sent the request to the police 10 days ago so it might be another month for a reply and then god only knows how long before they make a decision about my case. all this for a car that was only worth £2000!
All the while i'm left with a daily 75 mile round trip to work and no car! oh btw i wasnt intitled to a courtesy car becasue that only happens if they decide to repair mine....!
I am writing a complaint letter to their MD and then i'm going to the financial ombudsman if that doesnt work!!!
Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!:mad::mad:
Firstly there are processes the insurers need to follow to verify the theft of the vehicle and the circumstances. They need more than just the crime number and the police are infamously slow at dealing with these sort of requests.
Re courtesy car. If you want all dancing insurance pay for it. Dont go cheap then moan when you dont get the expensive extras
Tbh at this stage dont think you have a case for a complaint to the insurer or the ombudsman. Give them some time.0 -
My daughter is now experiencing similar problems with ecar . After having her home burgled 31/12/09 (,contacts police,makes statement) in which she disturbs robbers ,who dropped knife as they fled)2wks later she has car stolen from outside her home .she reported car theft to police who linked the 2 crimes ,up until car theft she was unaware spare key had gone ,she relayed all this info to insurance ,sent off key and docs .A month later13/2/10 she was overjoyed ,police had found car undamaged ,it was taken to pound ,later ecar removed car to peoples garage where it has remained untouched! PROBLEM ecar informed her(after she rang them on friday to enquire when she could pick car up) it was a disclaimer,that she had not told them about missing key !! saying they had left info on voice mail ,(which she never received) Having only recently passed test and only had car 7wks ,insurance £1100 (6yr old KA) she is devastated , being a victim yet again.:(:(:( any advice welcome.0
-
My daughter is now experiencing similar problems with ecar . After having her home burgled 31/12/09 (,contacts police,makes statement) in which she disturbs robbers ,who dropped knife as they fled)2wks later she has car stolen from outside her home .she reported car theft to police who linked the 2 crimes ,up until car theft she was unaware spare key had gone ,she relayed all this info to insurance ,sent off key and docs .A month later13/2/10 she was overjoyed ,police had found car damaged alloys ,side door dent,,it was taken to pound ,later ecar removed car to peoples garage where it has remained untouched! PROBLEM ecar informed her(after she rang them on friday to enquire when she could pick car up) it was a disclaimer,that she had not told them about missing key and she should have changed locks when key was stolen !!:mad: !! also they had left info on voice mail informing her of disclaimer!,(which she never received) Having only recently passed test and only had car 7wks ,insurance £1100 (6yr old KA) she is devastated , being a victim yet again.:(:(:( any advice welcome.0
-
My daughter is now experiencing similar problems with ecar . After having her home burgled 31/12/09 (,contacts police,makes statement) in which she disturbs robbers ,who dropped knife as they fled)2wks later she has car stolen from outside her home .she reported car theft to police who linked the 2 crimes ,up until car theft she was unaware spare key had gone ,she relayed all this info to insurance ,sent off key and docs .A month later13/2/10 she was overjoyed ,police had found car damaged alloys ,side door dent,,it was taken to pound ,later ecar removed car to peoples garage where it has remained untouched! PROBLEM ecar informed her(after she rang them on friday to enquire when she could pick car up) it was a disclaimer,that she had not told them about missing key and she should have changed locks when key was stolen !!:mad: !! also they had left info on voice mail informing her of disclaimer!,(which she never received) Having only recently passed test and only had car 7wks ,insurance £1100 (6yr old KA) she is devastated , being a victim yet again.:(:(:( any advice welcome.
Get your daughter to get all the policy documents out and have a read of them.
Does it mention anything about this in the policy documents?I'm not cynical I'm realistic
(If a link I give opens pop ups I won't know I don't use windows)0 -
Does not appear to have anything in policy re stolen keys . am sending recorded letter and statement regarding both crimes ,also, offering to pay for repairs and lock change and retain no claims, if ecar will meet any costs which have incurred .Unfortunatley all her previous correspondence has been via e-mails she has sent (with no reply) and phone calls(premium rate) she has made giving all details and crime ref No from police , although as yet they havent contacted police for any details . if they had they would have read statement reflecting unaware key had been taken. .I believe even if keys have been obtained by theft it is still a valid claim .? ( sorry bout waffling am soo annoyed ggrr)0
-
Car insurance covers theft of the car (With some exclusions), your car has been stolen albeit with the keys. As far as I can see the policy does not have any exclusions on the theft cover that are relevant to denying your claim. After all the keys themselves were also stolen.
Send a recorded delivery letter setting the above out, advise them if you are not satisfied with the reponse you will make an "Official Complaint" and will then go on to the Ombudsman.0 -
thanks, am now looking for address and maybe a relevant contact name ,just to make sure it goes to right dept .0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 343.1K Banking & Borrowing
- 250.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 449.6K Spending & Discounts
- 235.2K Work, Benefits & Business
- 607.8K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 173K Life & Family
- 247.8K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 15.9K Discuss & Feedback
- 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards