anyone got 1st central car insurance?

Quentin

lalapaulie wrote: »

It seems the company does not know the law!

Which law?

They are entitled to charge you an admin fee for the costs you have put them to! £30 is less than many others would have charged you. You will have agreed to pay this when you took out the policy.

From what you have read here, it's a small price to pay to be out of their clutches!

Wumpus_2

Hopefully this will be my last post on this company.
Sorry it's gone on so long, but I thought it was important for other people to see just how poor their customer service is.

1st Central FINALLY replied to my second Email.
It took them a good couple of weeks to respond. They didn't even acknowledge anything about my first one.


Turns out they had actually issued a refund, albeit several weeks after I'd told them to cancel the policy. Problem is, instead of sending me a cheque (as the girl on the phone said) they'd refunded it to the debit card that I'd originally paid with.
Without, of course, checking with me that the account is still active.

Fortunately I did manage to get access to the account to retrieve the money, which was quicker than trying to get 1st Central to answer a phone.
So ultimately no harm done and I consider myself lucky that I don't have to go through another iteration of dealing with 1st Central.

But who would have thought that you'd need to tell your insurance company when you change bank accounts?
Understandable if you pay by DD, but I paid the whole lot up front.

This final twist could be viewed as sheer bad luck - but from my point of view, the bad luck started on the day I took out a policy through 1st Central.

shell666

shell666 wrote: »

Hi, like everybody else here i have had a really scary time with 1st Central and i am not going to bore you with all the details, same old, same old - however having read through all these messages with utter dismay i wrote to Tom (PM)and was extremely surprised and delighted to receive an email and a phone call within a couple of hours.

They promised me the letter i needed to progress my case and i got it in the next days post delivery - I am now fairly confident that settlement is underway - their actions prior to this were completely unacceptable and my claim has been active for a couple of months but hopefully i am on the home run.

I can only suggest that when all attempts fail, do as i did (following other people's advice) and write to Tom.

Well more fool me hey - my message posted in February was so hopeful, here I am 4 months later and still no pay out from 1st Central - i cannot believe this company are so incredibly bad... i have finally sat down and completed the ombudsman's form but i wonder whether i am ever going to get my money, my accident was on the 29th October 2009!!!

Please, as has been stated by lots of other people, do not be tempted by their cheap policy prices - 1st Central should be avoided, they may be okay if you don't need to claim, but if you do that is when the problems will start for you

Chris_Stafford

Called 1st Central last night to check about cover for driving in europe this summer.
I got through to someone who was only qualified to take my number and arrange a call back, although he did tell me I would need to fill in a form, but he couldn't send me the form.

I've just checked my policy and it includes minimum cover in europe. Full cover is extra, unlike the company I was with last year. It seems my initial saving was not so good after all.

Needless to say I am still waiting for the call back.

amb08

I had an accident on 28th May - still awaiting settlement from 1st Central car insurance.
Possibly the worst customer service i have ever come across.
Even though i have a designated claim advisor he is never available to take my call.
I have received one call from them and all the other times i have had to call them. Don't bother sending an email - they never reply to them.
Not interested in their customers at all.
My car was taken to a garage for review and subsequently scrapped on the 8th June - no courtesy car.
You never speak to the same person twice.
AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE !!!!!!!!!

Chris_Stafford

1st Central called me back not long after my original post.
First week is free then appears to be £15.00/wk

Very expensive and unanticipated compared to previous insurers, but I suppose you take the cheapest quote, so its unrealistic to expect the best service.

So all in all I'm not best pleased, but i don't think I have been too badly treated. I just dread the thought of having to make a claim having read this thread.

Wumpus_2

amb08 wrote: »

I had an accident on 28th May - still awaiting settlement from 1st Central car insurance.
<snip>
My car was taken to a garage for review and subsequently scrapped on the 8th June - no courtesy car.
AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE !!!!!!!!!

DaCouch had some useful links on the position of the insurance company in this sort of situation.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/archive/index.php/t-2470405.html

As I see it, until the company has agreed a settlement value with you, the car is your property and they have no right to take it away from you. It could be construed as theft.
No doubt Tom will be along to correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm sure the Financial Services Ombudsman will be interested in your case. Fill in their online form to start a complaint.

Apart from anything else, I found the mention of an ongoing FSO complaint in any correspondence with 1st Central made quite a difference to their standard of customer service - raising it from 'abysmal' to merely 'bad'

dacouch

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/caradvice/honestjohn/7872382/Invalid-car-insurance-has-landed-me-a-big-fine.html

Wumpus_2

ALL 1st Central customers might like to visit the AskMID website and check if vehicles they own are actually on the database/insured.

It's free to check your own vehicle.

http://www.askmid.com/

If your vehicle is not on the database and you think it should be, you're entitled to start asking 1st Central (and Tom) some very pointed questions.

Julia1234

Just wanted to add my own experiences of First Central car insurance, possibly the worst insurers ever!!

I had an email today (16th June) saying that they were cancelling my car insurance as of 03rd March...so I have effectively been driving without insurance for 4 months!

I have always had the funds in my account, they had always had the correct bank details (as they took the first 2 payments)...but for some unknown reason (there hadnt been any changes to my status, no accidents, literally nothing) they stopped taking money! When I asked why the mistake had happened, the girl at the end of the phone said 'we have a lot of customers.'

I am literally furious, and won't have anything else to do with the company. Argghhh!