Insurance misrepresentation

balloo_2

I am Fuming about my car insurance quote!

This week i had a quote for my car from Be Wiser Insurance And the agent quoted me £356.38 protected no claims with AXA but when the conformation letter arrived the policy excess was for £400.00 not £100.00 like the agent quoted. So i phoned to see if there was a misprint and was told no. so to reduce the excess it was now £365.26. and to make sure once more we asked does that cover everything was again told yes so we paid the extra.

Today the new policy came and the policy didnt include Protected no claims when I phoned them again they wanted £70 more to place me on protected but not with Axa insurance but with Aviva but not only that they wanted £52.00 to cancel with Axa and put me with Aviva. I am absolutely fuming about this as we asked every time and always do protected because we have so many years claim free. I always take the names of everyone i speak to but that in their eyes doesn't count. any suggestions, i am thinking of the Ombudsman or the FSA which they claim to be Authorised and regulated by, but not sure how to go about it or what to say to them.:mad:

dunstonh

i am thinking of the Ombudsman or the FSA which they claim to be Authorised and regulated by, but not sure how to go about it or what to say to them.

The FSA do not handle consumer affairs. They look at complaints at a corporate level. You cannot access the FOS until you have made a formal complaint to the company and been deadlocked (i.e. they give their complaints response and if you disagree you can then go to the FOS. If the complaint is upheld then you dont need the FOS).

So, at this stage, you make a complaint to the company.

balloo_2

Hi dunstonh thanks for your advice.

I did make a complaint to the customer care person even asked to speak to a manager but he would not let me speak to one said she was unavailable. do you mean make a complaint in writing??

dunstonh

I did make a complaint to the customer care person even asked to speak to a manager but he would not let me speak to one said she was unavailable. do you mean make a complaint in writing??

If you uttered the words "make a complaint" then it should follow the FSA defined complaints process. That should either see your complaint logged and informed it will be handled by their complaints team or you should be put through to a complaints handler. A complaints handler actually has more scope than most managers. Also, whilst a complaint is in process, staff are often restricted in how they can deal with you.

Do you think your complaint was handled officially or were you perhaps fobbed off?

balloo_2

Fobbed off definately I was passing the phone to my wife as i was getting so frustrated calming down i wasn't being rude just strict then having another go. the advisor one time put me on hold while he talked to the floor manager but when i asked to speak to her she was unavailable lol I am convinced that they gave the lowest price saying these thing were covered but knowing they were not while thinking we wouldn't notice like a lot of people would just put the policy away. But they have never come across someone like my wife she would put Sherlock Holmes to shame, thorough she wants to know the ins and outs of a cats bum. :rotfl:(can i say that?)

We payed the excess for the insurance now under duress, but it really bugs me when firms rip you off. And next year they won't have a snowballs chance in hell of me going back to them.

dogbot

Sadly you have spoken to a volume driven call centre operation. The staff probably don't have a huge amount of training.

At least you are covered at the moment, that is the main thing. Now, make a formal complaint in writing to make sure it gets dealt with. Be polite and to the point in the letter - the person reading it didn't make the mistake so it can only help to get them on your side from the get-go.

- Run though what happend with times and dates of calls and names of people you spoke to if possible.
- State your problem concisely - i.e. you wanted xs at £x level and protected no claims, as per first request, phoned again and got the excess sorted only for the NCD protection to go.
- Then state what you want to happen - suggest that this is for them to resolve the problem and give you the cover you wanted in the first place without you having to pay any administration charges since it is clearly their error, and ask if they will match the 2nd Axa premium given of £365.26. If they are not willing to do this advise that you expect them to cancel the policy with no charge to yourself so you can arrange cover elsewhere. Make sure you ask them to notify you in advance if they do have to cancel so you can arrange cover elsewhere.