People --- BE AWARE OF RSA E CHOICE...

JohnTS_2

I tried to renew using the website but failed.
This may have been because I tried to open a help link in a new tab
which upset the renewal process.
I had to phone to renew which was OK.
The odd thing with the website is the price quoted it started at £203 but on the next page it was £213.
When I renewed by phone it cost £203.
I've renewed twice with them now and my price each year is very similar. The price is not hiked up every year like other insurance companies.

Spanner_man

Spanner_man wrote: »

This company are a joke and would advise anyone to steer well clear, website crashes on a regular basis, can't update your details and worst of all when you get a claim they won't honour it !!! Worst website and insurer ever,

Just to update people as to what I mean by won't hour claim ! recently had my car broken into and the Audi satnav/media centre stollen, went to claim which all seemed to be going well then a call from their off shore !!!! call centre, Because the satnav wasn't the original that was supplied with the car from new they told me they would not honour the claim. the system was what came with the car so how did I know the previous owner had upgraded the stereo, it was all Audi equipment !!!! RSA refused tohonour my claim!!! Total muppets and an amatuer outfit despite being backed by a large company !! I will be ending my insurance with them ASAP and going elsewhere...Steer clear folks !! read all the other reviews not just mine !!

eveshamsteve

Unfortunately there is a hidden cost with an insurance policy through echoice.

1. Useless website. Does not allow me to log in most times. When I do get in it says "details not available - try again later". Therefore forced to phone 0844 number to sort out problems.

2. Even though it's a web based insurance company, they insist certain things need to be done by phone only. Expensive 0844 number again. Changing my car details with them Friday took 39 minutes. I dread to think what this would have cost had I been foolish enough to dial 0844 direct. I didn't I used a standard landline to one of their subsidiaries and insisted they put me through to the correct number.

3. Attempted to email them regarding log in problems. I explained everything in my email including sending them a screen shot of the error code appearing each time I attempted to log in. After waiting 24 hours for a reply, the reply consisted of the following: "Please phone us on 0844 blah blah blah" to discuss this further! - Blatantly attempting to get me to call them on this expensive number in order to complain about something I had already complained about in my email.

COMPLETE AND UTTER CROOKS!

pookiewoo_2

Hi, just to add my twopence worth... My partner took out his insurance with echoice in April 2012. No problems logging into site - all appeared absolutely fine (stupidly had not even thought of looking for reviews beforehand...duh!). First we knew of a problem was when my partner was stopped by police at the airport and read his rights (5th November 2012). What was the problem? He had no MOT and no insurance. As the car had only been MOT'd on the Friday and this was the Monday, it wasn't showing on the system. No problem - quick call to garage and all sorted. Unable to contact echoice to find out what was going on, I was able to cover my partner immediately with InsureDirect for 24hours, whilst we could sort this out without our car being impounded. The post arrived during this saga he was having with the police and relaying over the mobile to me at home. There was a letter from Echoice which was informing me that due to a problem with the DD, I needed to pay the outstanding £39 before the 13th November. I rang up to pay immediately, but was told that the insurance had already been cancelled by RSA echoice due to non-payment of a direct debit and therefore no payment could be taken. Despite a lot of to-ing and fro-ing about it, and the fact that I felt there was obviously some sort of admin error, nothing could be done to reinstate the policy. Whilst I am happy to accept that there was a problem with the DD at our end, I am frustrated with the customer service by RSA. Did we receive a letter? No. A phone call? No. An email (being an online company after all)? No. It appears that the DD was missed in October, and "letters were posted" informing us (which I doubt, as they never arrived, and we don't have a problem with our post here). I would have thought that if an insurance company were going to cancel a policy, they would have at least sent a letter signed delivery, but no. And why send a letter asking for payment if the policy has already been cancelled? The upshot of it all is a £200 fine and six points for driving without insurance (thus losing the clean licence he has held for 30 years). My advice would be to check your bank statements religiously if paying in instalments with this company. We did not and are paying the price.

eveshamsteve

Just an update to my post above (94). It's now a week since I received an email from Echoice. Not only can I still not get to my documents via their website, but the documents they promised to send through the post still are not here either!

A complete joke!

ecartman

hi i'm with echoice had 2 cars covered with them at the same time and now have got problems with them. i had a dd bounce which was my fault. echoice apparently sent me a letter to tell me that my dd had not been paid i received no letter of this and i had'nt checked my bank ac every day. i did however receive a letter of cancellation of insurance which was cancelled 5 days earlier. i tried to phone echoice and got no response just kept in a queue 10mins at a time just got fed up with holding on. phoned next day got to speak to someone so i could pay them but was told cant as the policy was cancelled. they told me that they had sent a letter saying dd had not been paid. i told them i had not received the letter and probably got lost in the post echocie said they sent the letter and that was good enough. i asked them why they hadnt sent me an email or phoned they said "its not company policy to email or phone" even thou they are an internet based company. i told them why would not pay as i have another car insured with them which runs out in 2013 told me could not reopen the policy and pay the as it was cancelled. talking to these people is like pulling teeth very painful. i have since got in touch with the financial ombudsman about this matter since my insurance has now gone up £200 which i dont want to pay so waiting to see if i have any luck with the FO. i urge people i you have problems with any insurance goto the FO and they will try to help. please stay away from echocie they are not helpful and the benefit of cheaper insurance is not worth it

watchdog2013

I found echoice via gocompare.com. I was looking for a competitive car insurance quote for my wife. At the time she had an Astra.
A few weeks ago she traded it in for a VW Beetle Cabrio so we needed to contact echoice to change the insurance.
This is where it all started to go wrong.
Our password was not accepted on the online site despite us using it several times before for the same website. We had no choice but to phone echoice on their highly expensive premium rate number. After eventually getting through to a so called human being we told the person that our password was not being accepted. The guy at the other end of the phone said he would send a new one but we had informed him that we were no longer with the original internet provider and our old email was no longer valid and so could we enter a new email address and password?
'NO' was the answer. 'We can't overide the system but we will send you the new insurance certificate for the Beetle free of charge just this once. Normally we would charge you £25'.
That's fine we could cope with that I thought. Several weeks later we still did not receive the Insurance Certificate. I phone them again to be told I would have to pay £30 for a copy if they sent it or I could download it from their website for free. I tried explaining to them again that my email was no longer valid so I couldn't log onto their website.After going around in circles I asked for one of their managers to talk to me. Of course no one was available but they put me on a 24hour call back. Next day a manager called me back. I again explained the problem with their website and the sales person saying they would send me a copy of the new insurance certificate free of charge through the post of which it never arrived and then having to call them again to be told I would have to now pay £30! £30 for a piece of paper and a 50p stamp!!
The so called manager eventually said he would personally put a copy of the new insurance certificate in the post that evening free of charge.
Guess what?! Nothing has arrived.

So, I won't be renewing with them ever again. I've looked at other review sites and seen that their approval rating is 2.2 out of 100! What does that tell you?
I feel such an idiot for trying to save a few pounds on car insurance via that comparison website. It's cost me far more in the long run and I've still got no certificate.
BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!

lindseyp22

I have read some of the comments on here but unfortunately a little too late! I too took out insurance with them in September after going on Compare the Market. I paid my deposit of £50.00 and started the policy on October 1st at 00.01 as normal. On the 16th October, a payment was taken from my account of 58.27 from RSA (my DD date was the 1st of the month) and then another payment on 1st Nov of £27.57 (my actual monthly payment). I emailed RSA to ask what the extra double payment was for and after a good while getting nowhere decided to email the CEO and surprise surprise got a reply the same day from his PA. She tried to tell me that I had agreed to pay all this money upfront when I took out the policy! When they took the extra payment, it actually cost me £75 in overdraft fees as I don't have an overdraft facility on my account. I told the PA this and also sent her a copy of the credit agreement they had sent me that claimed I would make 10 monthly installments of 27.57 when infact I had now paid £2 short of half my total cover cost!! They eventually agreed to refund my £75 in overdraft fees after I threatened them with the ombudsman. I have just received my cheque about 10 days ago. DO NOT touch this company with a barge pole. They are unprofessional and I dread to think what would happen if I had to make a claim. If anyone else has trouble with them email the CEO direct. The email address can easily be found on the internet.

eveshamsteve

Well after waiting weeks and weeks for them to sort out my insurance documents nothing has changed - except my renewal has arrived.

Despite making no changes to my policy. I have the same vehicle. No other changes whatsoever - they not only tried to increase my premium by a massive 50%, but they also tried to change my cover and they were obviously hoping I would not notice.

They were no longer covering Windscreen damage despite it being a comprehensive policy. They were also not allowing me to use any other persons' vehicle even with their permission.

I decided to call Swinton direct and got a quote of £229 (over £100 less than Echoice). Not only is the price better but the cover is also better.

I have been driving for 30 years and have had many policies with different companies in this time. I can honestly say that despite the fact I was only with echoice for 12 months they gave me more trouble and hassle than any other company put together over the previous 29 years.

They even emailed me to say they would not be prepared to match any other quote and if I did not want to renew my policy I would have to cancel by calling them directly on their expensive 0844 number.

These people should be closed down. It's a complete scam.

PS. Have you read the terms and conditions of their policies? If you purchase another vehicle (besides the one insured with them), even if the new vehicle is insured with someone else and perfectly legal, if you do not inform them you own it they could invalidate your exisiting cover. What a load of bloody crooks. Doing their utmost to find a way of shirking their responsibilities. Utter utter highwaymen.

Bonniecg

Hi

I wanted to let people know that I also think they should avoid RSA Echoice. I have been asking for my certificate of motor insurance to be put online so I can print it out since OCTOBER 2012. I constantly email and call and I only ever receive an email back asking me to call which I do and then get told that it will be changed within 24 hours. I am very worried about what kind of service I would get if I did have to make a claim.

Dissapointed RSA E Choice Customer