Probably the least helpful insurance company in the world...

purplefrog_3

I have been a loyal customer of Norwich Union Direct for many years, they hold my car insurance, home insurance and breakdown cover. But I have had SOOOOO many problems with them I have finally decided to ditch them completely.
I first started to feel irked a while back when they moved their call centres to somewhere thousands of miles away. The phone lines are now almost inaudible, and the operators local accents are just as bad. I have foreign friends in this country and have spoken with foreign operatives based in this country - being native to my country they have an excellent grasp of the english language and I can understand tem all perfectly. But not my dear friends at NU!
Last year I changed my car and could not get the operative to understand me when I explained a small modification to the vehicle. His linguistic skills were just not up to it.
These people seem to be furnished with a script and some basic ideas about their products and systems, but veer off that narrow path and who only knows if you will be able to communicate with these people. :mad:
Finally today was the ball buster. They have taken my home insurance direct debit TWICE this month, and this is the second time this has happened in the last 6 months. They freely admitted that it was their fault, and offered either to not take payment next month, or to refund me which will take 21 days. All very well, but I do not work, I am on incapacity benefit of £300 per month (so a very tight budget) and their additional premium has knocked me £30 off track - 10% of my income! :mad:
Have these people not heard of CHAPS or BACS payments???? The money could back in my account by tuesday at the latest.

If you are considering using NU - soon to be AVIVA! - DON'T !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for listening - I feel better for letting off steam! :rotfl:

dacouch

I know what you mean with Norwich Union, I speak to them daily and they normally give their name as something amusing like Terrence. I amuse my self by saying its very rainy today in Newcastle (When its sunny) and they will agree as they are told to pretend to be based in England.

There is a simple way to get your money back today!!! All companies that collect Direct Debits have to GURANTEE THEY WILL REFUND YOUR MONEY IMMEDIATELY if a payment is taken incorrectly. The refund is given by your bank who then claim it back from Norwich Union. The banks are not keen on doing this but they have to if its a mistake.

Click on this link which explains it (This website is run by BACS which is the banks organisation to adminster direct debits)

http://www.bacs.co.uk/BACS/Consumers/Direct+Debit/Your+rights/

I would recommend you deal with a local broker then you can speak to the same person each time and they will know what they are talking about (THE NU DIRECT REP YOU SPOKE TO SHOULD HAVE ADVISED YOU THAT YOU COULD GET THE MONEY STRAIGHT BACK FROM THE BANK)

Hope this helps

tuggy12

Purplefrog
I don't know your circumstances but £30 / month home insurance seems rather high and it would be worth getting alternative quotes anyway.

I have buildings (up to £500k) and contents (up to £50k) insurance with Churchill for £127 pa.
It's now part of direct line and CS is UK based.

sarahg1969

dacouch wrote: »

I know what you mean with Norwich Union, I speak to them daily and they normally give their name as something amusing like Terrence. I amuse my self by saying its very rainy today in Newcastle (When its sunny) and they will agree as they are told to pretend to be based in England.

Me too. "Good afternoon Madam. My name is Graham. How may I help you?" And they ALWAYS comment on the weather. Drives me potty.

Quote

This...

tuggy12 wrote: »

I don't know your circumstances

negates this...

tuggy12 wrote: »

but £30 / month home insurance seems rather high

koexelek

I knew this thread would be about Norwich Union, before I opened it :cool:

tuggy12

Quote wrote: »

This.......I don't know your circumstances
negates this........but £30 / month home insurance seems rather high

Not necessarily. I was loyal to The Prudential for many years and ended up paying £350 pa for the same insurance that I now get for £127 pa. from Churchill.

And I did say:

it would be worth getting alternative quotes anyway.

Ian_W

dacouch wrote: »

There is a simple way to get your money back today!!! All companies that collect Direct Debits have to GURANTEE THEY WILL REFUND YOUR MONEY IMMEDIATELY if a payment is taken incorrectly. The refund is given by your bank who then claim it back from Norwich Union. The banks are not keen on doing this but they have to if its a mistake.

This is absolutely spot on advice. The DD guarantee is unequivocal that the bank must return your money in the event of a DD payment being disputed, as in:

If an error is made by the organisation or your bank or building society, you are guaranteed a full and immediate refund from your branch of the amount paid

When you contact the bank they will try to point you to the insurers - don't let them.
Ask them why they haven't heard of the DD guarantee or why their Bank won't honour it?
Rest assured, when they know that you know - they will!

Moopig1

We had problems with Norwich Union and only had two claims recently but for our sins they upped our policy by 33% almost crippling our finance plans.......so i contacted a broker via the internet called STERLING who hav halfed our premium which is too good to be true!! I've posted a thread to see if anyone has come across them as we hadn't and are concerned they might be iffy - there had to be a catch with the premium!! I agree that NU are getting worse - I used to work for them and they used to be proud to service their customers - seems the acquisition of so many companies they have forgotten their original mission statement to SERVICE the customers not fleece them! I agree that it's good to vent your spleen but I have to say it and if any Norwich Union employees are reading this, you really should be ashamed!

I've decided after being a policyholder for 20years that they can go and foxtrot!!!

dacouch

Moopig1 wrote: »

We had problems with Norwich Union and only had two claims recently but for our sins they upped our policy by 33% almost crippling our finance plans.......so i contacted a broker via the internet called STERLING who hav halfed our premium which is too good to be true!! I've posted a thread to see if anyone has come across them as we hadn't and are concerned they might be iffy - there had to be a catch with the premium!! I agree that NU are getting worse - I used to work for them and they used to be proud to service their customers - seems the acquisition of so many companies they have forgotten their original mission statement to SERVICE the customers not fleece them! I agree that it's good to vent your spleen but I have to say it and if any Norwich Union employees are reading this, you really should be ashamed!

Hi Moonpig, Sterling are a fairly large broker that have been trading for a long time, they have a good reputation amongst other brokers.

Insurance companies and brokers are heavily regulated by the Financial Services Authority (Fortunately much much more strict on us than on the banks!). If you ever need to check whether a company is regulated by the FSA (They should be to trade) you can check on line through their register. This is the link

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register/home.do

P.S If you read my answer to your other thread on home working you will probably be able to get Sterling to arrange a quote for you

(I do not work for Sterling)

I've decided after being a policyholder for 20years that they can go and foxtrot!!!

[Deleted User]

Hi all
I'm sorry to join this thread so late, but I'd like to see if I can help at all purplefrog. If you'd like me too, please send details to [EMAIL="rebecca.sibley@norwich-union.co.uk"]rebecca.sibley@norwich-union.co.uk[/EMAIL] (I work in the Customer Experience team).

I'd also like to address this quote by Moopig "their original mission statement to SERVICE the customers not fleece them!" I'm sorry that you feel we are lacking in delivering customer service, its certainly still the highest on our agenda. I would be very interested in your feedback, if you'd like to share it with me.

Becca