Albany Assistance and court proceedings - please help

dacouch

Hahaha111 wrote: »

Sorry you've lost me with this secret e-mail, I work in the Ops dept with over 8 years experience explaining where people go wrong by expecting to sit back & not mitigate their losses, the third party insurers almost 99% of the time agree to pay the charges but refuse to pay when the client has purposely dragged their feet.

They hid that from their staff well then, it was all over the industry press. The email from an ex employee allegedly told of alleged dubious practices by Helphire and was sent to hundreds and hundreds of people in the industry. I was one of the lucky recipients.

Helphire went ballastic and issued injunctions, you won't find the email published anywhere on the internet or the contents detailed.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/2795007/Helphire-hunts-for-emailer.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1047428/Car-hire-firm-shares-plummet-12m-ex-worker-spreads-malicious-email-Bond-villain-name.html

Ask to have a read of the email, it's well worth a read. It put me off Helphire

With regards to reading paper work and understanding things glass house residents etc http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/Bath-firm-Helphire-confirms-27-million-blunder/story-12849595-detail/story.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/marketforceslive/2011/may/06/helphire-plunges-on-profit-warning

dacouch

Hahaha111 wrote: »

Sorry you've lost me with this secret e-mail, I work in the Ops dept with over 8 years experience explaining where people go wrong by expecting to sit back & not mitigate their losses, the third party insurers almost 99% of the time agree to pay the charges but refuse to pay when the client has purposely dragged their feet.

Often people don't realise they have to mitigate their losses as it's not explained to them. CH companies staff are falling over themselves to rent cars out, they often don't tell customers about mitigating their losses and their other duties.

I know the above for a fact and Helphire are one of the guilty parties.

Pull some random calls out and listen to the recordings to see if your staff tell your customers about mitigation, check impecuniosity or whether they tell the customer it's a courtesy car rather than a hire car

VicMel_2

I too have had a dreadful experience with Albany.

After a no-fault collision on 01 May 2012 (while I was stationary at red traffic lights, a van drove into the back of my car), Albany Assist were initially appointed to handle repairs and everything else.

They were awful (as I told them via online feedback and follow up).

Their dealings with me were characterised by misinformation and incompetence. I had to go to another company.

They might have improved but, tread warily with them.

puglet14

Had accident 2 weeks ago no fault of mine Hastings Direct put it to Albany and was very dubious when they contacted me by letter? not phone? so that you pay the call 0845 but after 30 mins on the phone went along with it don't need a hire car so that problem solved car is still drivable, car has been written off and through Albany & loss adjusters was able to buy vehicle back as cat 'C' and repair myself just need to have vic check when done. Couldn't have brought it back if I had gone through Hastings? So all good so far just waiting for cheque for balance now so that I can get the work done hope its not too long, will let you know how it goes.

Parking_Trouble

dacouch wrote: »

Often people don't realise they have to mitigate their losses as it's not explained to them. CH companies staff are falling over themselves to rent cars out, they often don't tell customers about mitigating their losses and their other duties.

I know the above for a fact and Helphire are one of the guilty parties.

Pull some random calls out and listen to the recordings to see if your staff tell your customers about mitigation, check impecuniosity or whether they tell the customer it's a courtesy car rather than a hire car

Poor old Joe Public is expected to be an expert in contract law when taking out insurance and also when making a claim.

The fact remains that your insurer does pretty much naff all when y they can pin the fault on the other party.

When getting an accident victim to sign a lucrative credit hire agreement I wonder how much effort goes into telling people the risk they are taking on? It seems to be a conflict of interest.

Many people will think their insurer is looking after their best interests. Unfortunately the trust is often misplaced.

FirstTimer4Me

I'm confused by this thread, can someone please explain in basic terms what is going on, the reason I ask

puglet14 wrote: »

Hastings Direct put it to Albany

I'm with Hasting Direct.

OnanTheBarbarian

Most people are under the illusion that the credit hire car is a "courtesy car". If credit hire companies explained in words of one syllable to a punter that the car that had been dropped off was actually a hire car, of which the punter has ultimate responsibility for the rental charges incurred, not many people would go through with it.

Furthermore, once all the rates arguments start further down the line and the punter has to prove they are "impecunious" this requires them to provide copies of bank & credit card statements etc.

Bottom line is people need to read the T&C's before taking the keys to the "courtesy car"and also ask more questions when on the phone about the replacement vehicle.

The insurance industry are the biggest game players out there. More than happy to indulge themselves in the referral commissions that come from steering their customers into credit hire vehicles and PI claims, yet squeal like pigs when they are on the receiving end of such claims and want to take everyone to task. It is a truly dysfunctional system and the customer is the confused individual in the middle of it all.

puglet14

what do you need to know? have you been involved in accident

puglet14

FirstTimer4Me wrote: »

I'm confused by this thread, can someone please explain in basic terms what is going on, the reason I ask



I'm with Hasting Direct.

What do you want to know? Basically had accident and as third party at fault Hastings put it to Albany to deal with instead of dealing with in house. So far no problems just waiting for settlement cheque from third party insurers.