Word of warning re:Kwik Fit (home) Insurance

johnfarquhar74

Wise people say hindsight is a wonderful gift, so I'd like to share my experience with Kwik Fit Insurance Services so that (hopefully) no other MSE'ers have to go through the same pain that I had to.
Last August I renewed my home insurance through Kwik Fit after I got a VERY competitive quote. I paid the annual premium and received 3 emails confirming my purchase,a link to a general PDF file and a receipt.
One of the emails said my policy schedule would be in the post but if I never heard anything within 5 working days, get in touch. I never received anything so I called them, they apologised and said the would resend. Nothing came so I called again in October & November. I wouldn't say I was panicking at this point but I do like to be organised so was quite keen to get my schedule. My call in November gained me my policy number so all was not lost.
Anyhoo, Saturday past (12th) a pipe supplying my radiator system failed (T-piece connection popped) and I had scalding water at mains pressure pouring across my ceiling and inside my stud partion walls. The mains was turned off and heating switched off but water was still coming from the tank and radiators. After a mad panic grabbing every abdsorbent item in my house and puncturing the ceilings to release the water I decided to call Kwik Fit.

**And the fun began**

I called the number for Kwik Fit I had in one of my emails. They couldn't help as they are a broker, call the number on my schedule, I don't have a schedule I say, oh, we see that on your file-best to call the insurer direct then, who's that I say, it's in your schedule-aaarrrgghhhh!
Whoever I spoke to could not tell me who my insurer was, without knowing that I couldn't get the right number to call. The call centre dude put me on hold for a bit then transferred me, to the car insurance department. I hung up and called back, to find the offices were now shut as it was after 2pm. I called EVERY other Kwik Fit number I could find, but to no avail, none of the other staff could access my file as that data was out of bounds!!
So, I had to wait until Monday, 9am, before I could find out my insurer, by then the house was cold, wet & damage was a lot worse!
So, lessons learned, if you go through a broker, get the insurer details and contact numbers before your world collapse, and certainly don't wait until the weekend to do it!

I have since learned that Kwik Fit now email schedules after insurance has been issued, if only they done that with me in August!

dacouch

Please do not compare Kwik Fit with a normal proper broker it's like comparing Kwik Fit with a normal proper garage