Beware of AQuote insurance online

DMAC85

I have been caught out by this company, I've still got on going issues with a claim at the moment and i'm trying to get the details i need ie porof of no claims and the cost of the accident as if you go to other insurance companies to renew they need this information.

I've received my claim money from the accident and aquote are telling me its still pending on there system. They tell me to contact other depts to get the details.............. um this is your job as an insurance company. When my renewal came through in sept 2010 and it was alot more than i thought and i phoned up to question it and as a joke i said is this due to the accident i had in june? The responds was what accident......... considering i'd followed the process of ringing and reporting the accident. Anyway even thought the accident wasn't my fault they where going to add an extra £500 on to the renewal. I told them i'm not paying the renewal and was advised to call back and cancel near the time the poilcy was due to run out.

I'm no longer with the company thank god but i've still got the ongoing hassel of getting the details i need to insure with another company.

There useless on the phone, its always let me take your number and we'll call you back.............. doesn't always happen.

I've been phoning since october 2010 and still don't have the correct information. I've declared my car of the road as i'm now classed as an uninsured driver and i'm getting lifts to work which is inconvience.

AQuote insurance are very quick and eager to take your money, but when you want anything from them you get nothing back. I'm staying well clear of insurance brokers.

If anyone has any advise to give i'd appriciated it :j

kdelw

Hi,
Just found your thread in here and I'm sad I didn't find it before.

Mid December I was due to get a new insurance, the cheapest one I found was aquote and I went for it. Few minutes online and insurance booked and first initial payment gone (£98). Customer (me) happy to have another year no stress. Christmas gone and I still had no documents so I rang them up (three weeks after I had my insurance on) to find out where my policy is and all the info. Customer service pepole couldn't my details at all - nothing from my name, post code etc. and I've been passed to other person (mid manager) who delt with me quite well (looking on my bank statements etc) and after few hours I've found out that I was insured and my papers has been sent in December. I've asked for a copy which arrived to me 17th of January. Also with my insurance policy I've been asked to send a copy of my Driving Licence and my no claim bonus letter from my previous insurer. I've emailed to them those documents on the same day I've received the letter thinking everything will be fine.

Today as 28/01/2011 I had a 1st class signed for letter to say to me that my insurance will be cancelled as from 2nd of February (and they have already took £150 of me) because they didn't receive my documents. I've rang them, emailed them and still don't know anything (one more hour and I will want to speak to someone from management). They didn't even try to contact me to ask if I've sent documents or not. Don't think that's the way to treat customers who pay them.

What should be my next step? who should I contact about complaint and who can help me sort it out with them. I don't want to leave my £150 with them as it's not something I would let go.

Regards
Karol

blade106

Hi, i have just started having problems with aquote, about a week and half ago, i had a letter form aquote stating that the running account with premium credit limited are not able to take out the monthly payments. I then rang aquote to explain that i had not received a new quote off them, they then gave me a new quote, which i informed them i had better quotes and wouldn't be renewing my policy on the 31/1/2011. On the 2/2/2011 i took out new policy with a different company and they asked for proof of no claims, so 3/2/2011 i phoned aquote to ask for proof of no claims, to which they responded that i had an active policy and i would have to cancel the policy. I informed them i had already cancelled my policy, they said i hadn't. They have charged me £100.00 to cancel my policy, which i am refusing to pay. They then threatened me with a dept collectors and said that with a payment due on my policy they can't send out proof of no claims. They also said that my policy documents had been sent out, which i haven't received and the car tax ran out on 31/1/2011 so i haven't been able to use it anyway. I also asked to speak to there complaints department, they said they hadn't go one. I then asked to speak to manager, the chap on the line took my number and said he will get a manager to call me back. So watch this space i'll keep you informed.
Thanks blade106

polajoo

I seem to be wedged somewhere deep in their systems and nobody (despite me phoning and telling them) can work out what to do with my policy.

They automatically renewed my policy (PLUS personal accident PLUS legal expenses, even though I didn't have those last year) and did it much, much too high. They passed my details through to a Direct Debit collection firm, even though I paid in full on card last year. So I've cancelled the Direct Debit as I couldn't get through to them (30+ minutes on hold, to their 0800 number) and several left messages with their CS team, I've now given up chasing.

My last phonecall with them, summarised from 40 minutes, went as follows:

• Polajoo: I need proof of cancellation.
• AQuote: But your policy is live.
• P: Who paid for it?
• A: You did. Let me check .. oh, no, it was cancelled. We can re set it up if you want.
• P: No, I want to cancel.
• A: There's a cancellation charge.
• P: So I'm insured?
• A: Yes.
• P: Even though the letter I've got says cancellation of DD means cancellation of policy, and that the policy is not in force as of xx/yy/zz.
• A: Yes. Your policy is still live.
• P: And nobody's paid for it.
• A: Yes.
• P: Cool. Thanks for your time.

Bunch of useless idiots. Steer well clear. Part of the Crapita group of companies ... what a surprise.

SiHouse

The customer service, ethics and value for money at A Quote are shocking...

I thought I should share the service I received from A-Quote (trading name of Hero Insurance Services, part of the Capita Group), based in Andover with as many people as I possibly can. You may agree with me when you have read this.

I bought fully comprehensive bike insurance from them (the same as I had previously) and paid in full immediately the £160.98 they asked for. Three weeks later I had the opportunity to exchange my bike (1995 Suzuki RF900) for a newer bike (1999 Honda VFR800) that worked out to pretty much the same cost for the same cover.
At this point A-Quote wanted a further £250 to swap over the existing insurance ! You can imagine my surprise and delight!
So I bought the new policy for £160 from another provider, cancelled my existing policy with A-Quote and requested a refund.....

....I received my refund of.... £11.18

A-Quote have effectively charged me £150 FOR 37 DAYS COVER - Genius! If they charged that as a daily rate my £160 annual policy would cost £1480.

As you can imagine I phoned them to query the amount and the young lady on the other end of the phone - who neglected to say please or thank you or generally act in any kind of sympathetic or empathetic way (thank you "Danielle-I'm-not authorised-to-disclose-my-surname") and then told me that she didnt like my tone - which I felt by this time I had probably paid for the right to be a little bit upset - informed me that it is their policy to charge:

• the 37 days on cover on behalf of the Insurer (I have no issue with that)
• 11% for loss of their commission (I have no issue with that either)
• 15% +£25 in addition to that for no specific reason (I have an issue with that bit)

Now, by my calculation that refund should still have been about £80 working off the full premium amount, or £60 if you don't include the extra legal cover and policy fee. But, not £11.18

Danielle (bless her) it would seem could only keep repeating that "it does say so in our terms and conditions which you would have received after you took out the policy" (...hmmm...tell me AFTER you have the cash? Genius!). and then guess what? The only two manager's that work there were conveniently in a meeting and then never did call back like I asked even though they had at least an hour and a half to do so before their working day finished.

Their website makes for interesting reading since it only ever mentions the 11% fee (aquote.co.uk/pages/terms-of-business)

As you can tell, I felt the need to share this stunning level of customer service (or do I mean fraud... no... customer service) with the world and the evidence can be found in the copies of the documents that I am happy to email as evidence.

Share them with friends! Give them to colleagues...but whatever you do...don't share your hard earned money with anything to do with A-Quote Insurance if you want any kind of customer service, value for money - or even a reasonable explanation of how/why they take a bonus 15% + £25 from YOUR premium refund after they have already taken their loss of commission - maybe it is just because they can?

maybe this could also go into the how to get rich quick schemes, legal scams, any other suggestions? If you are looking for bike insurance, car insurance, home insurance - go somewhere else!

John_Bains

I decided to leave AQuote after poor customer service. When I asked for proof of my no claims I was shoked. I had ten years protected clearly shown on my renewal notice. I was told by the agent I had none. He quoted me as having had an accident in august 2009. I know for sure that I could not have had any accident at this time because I was working in south africa from May 2009 to October 2009 on a six month contract. I asked for details of the accident he said he could not give them to protect the privacy of the other party. All he would say is that £6500 was paid out!! I asked if he would send copies of my completed claim form he said they did not keep them. I am going to have to go round the houses to clear my record. First a demand for info under data protection act, then complain to FSA and if that fails them small claims court because I can not afford to lose 10 years no claims for an alleged accident that never happened. Surprisingly if i stayed with them they offered to honor my no claims any way but gave a very high quote. If I leave they say that I have no noclaims because of accident in 2009. Not sure about the period 2009 - presant. Surly that is at least 2 years no claims!!

dacouch

John, try ringing your Insurer (A quote are not the Insurer) direct, they will normally tell you outline details of the claim

Vee66

My son took out a policy with them for a Corsa - direct debits came from my account. When he received the renewal letter from them, the car was off road and he was going to India for 4 months so rang them from work and cancelled the policy. Unfortunately numbers are witheld from his workplace and he hadn't noted the date he phoned them but knew it was within a few days of receiving their renewal letter.

I checked my statement 3 months later and was horrified to see direct debits were still being taken. I rang them and was told they had no record of cancellation: this was after being on the phone for over 1 hour and being passed all around the office. I asked to speak to a Manager and was told he was in a meeting!!!!!! How convenient. Also the Managing Director does not take phone calls! I asked them to check their "recorded messages" I was phoned a week later and told unless I had the exact date and time and the phone number they couldnt check. I was then told that if a number was witheld this was no proof and she implied I was lying.

I had asked for a refund of the £171.84 I was owed and instead received a statement for £75.39 balance outstanding listing the cancellation date as the date of my call. Cancellation fee £65 and the balance of payments for the year. This came with a threat that if it was not paid it would double. So we had no option but to pay.

The staff were extremely rude, unhelpful and arrogant. I would never use them again and would be grateful if anyone knows of any legislation or way I can get my money back.

maddogdunny

atreyu1629 wrote: »

If buying insurance on line, keep away from AQuote as their terms and conditions are not shown on site and are very unfavourable. I am having to take them to the Small Claims Court for money they owe me.

I would be interested to hear from anyone who has used AQuote and has good or bad reports on them.

I recieved a letter from them demanding £65 cancellation fee!!! ...as I would not be renewing (sold bike), the insurance only cost £74 in the first place...that's a whopping 87% cancellation charge.

Aquote will rip you off - DO NOT USE THEM even if the initial quote seems cheap!

Tomby1

I believe I purchased a policy from them back in 2010. Cancelled the policy after 6 months and was astonished at how much they charged for cancellation (I effectively wrote off several hundred pounds)

I should have fully read the small print - but I made the foolish mistake of expected them to have similar cancellation charges to other car insurance companies I had been with. I've been with Admiral ever since, who have been excellent.