Money Taken By Admiral Car Insurance

DDH_2

Dear All,
please see email below which I sent on Saturday 20th of August. It is now the 22nd and I am yet to hear from Admiral either by phone or email re my complaint. Please let me know if something similar has happened to you. I intend to take my complaint as far as possible which will include contacting the FSA, BBC Watchdog and Don't get Done, get Dom.


Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to complain about the appalling treatment I have received from Admiral Insurance.

At the end of July this year a third party crashed into my parked car. They accepted liability and their insurance company footed the bill for repairs.
I felt it was correct to inform my insurer, Admiral, of what had happened. On the 25th of July I spoke with Tom who said he would take information regarding the crash but it would not be taken any further. Ref no. 104409110. At no point did he say the information I had given would be used in anyway.

Imagine my horror upon checking my American Express bill that Admiral has taken £78.42 without my knowledge.

Today I spoke with Lynette in customer services and Nicholas Gamble in claims department. They informed me that I had not declared a modification to my car and therefore the money was taken from me. Nicholas explained the underwriters had taken the money but were not available at the weekend. He said he would look into the matter and get back to me on Monday. He said that I would then know if I "deserved" my money back. I bought my car straight from the shop floor, I did not have any modifications made. I would like to know where in the original insurance application this information was asked. Besides, the issue of modification, is an aside as I consider Admiral has stolen money from me and is now saying I have to prove I deserve it back!!!

My main issues here are:

1. Money was taken from my credit card without my knowledge or consent.
2. Information I gave after a crash was used in an underhand and sly manner to extort money from me.
3. I have had to waste my saturday afternoon (precious time I could have spent with my family) chasing daylight robbers to get my hard earned money back.

So, to summarise, I informed my insurer of a non fault accident and you turned around and took my money!!

I want to know what you are going to do about this matter asap.

I want my money back.

I am willing to take my complaint to senior board members (inlcuding Sue Longthorne), the CEO, the FSA as well as anyone and everyone that will listen to me as I consider your conduct as wholly unacceptable.

Yours Sincerely,

InsideInsurance

You sent the email on Saturday and its now Monday morning. Most complaints teams only work Monday - Friday 9-5 and so you're being a little unreasonable to expect to have received a response already!

1) You almost certainly gave them continuous payment authority when you bought the insurance, most insurers have it built into their T&Cs so there is no way to buy it without giving them the authority to also take future payments

2) If you have failed to declare a modification to your vehicle then you have potentially invalidated your insurance. A simple Additional Premium to cover it is reasonable

3) Whilst it is undoubtedly irritating you have had 2 phone calls and they've said they will call you back. Not sure how that took up a whole afternoon

Admiral have the strictest definition of modification which would be anything other than the basic model of your car. So if you had metallic paint, air conditioning or the likes added either at the time of purchase or added after purchasing the vehicle these are all considered modifications and must be declared. I know with my car I had to add a dozen or so things but almost all were free of charge as they aren't performance or styling enhancing.

TSx

Not to mention the FSA are not going to listen to you - it's the FOS who deal with consumer complaints and you have to allow the firm reasonable time to investigate and deal with the complaint - which is 8 weeks from when it was recieved. Whilst I understand why you are upset they have taken the money, this kind of attitude does very little to help getting your complaint resolved.

I think the suggestion above is fairly appropriate, give them a couple of days and then call up to find out what's happening - did they say how they had found out about the modification to the car, or what it was?

vusys1

what was the mod? and how did they discover the mod?

In regards to the payment, if they have taken it without your consent regardless of a continous card authority you can action a chargeback with your card provider. They must disclose to you how much they are going to debit either by phone or letter etc.

Dynamic_Panda

The first thing is that the FSA rules state that your complaint has to be acknowledged by the insurer by the close of trade on the next working day and that it must be investigated within 48 hours of that day............if they cannot resolve the issue then they issue a 4 week holding letter in which time they are obliged to complete their investigation............expecting a reply over the weekend was really asking too much..............

Also why was the insurer not notified when the modification was made to the vehicle or when you took the policy out why didn't you tell them...............I have seen claims repudiated for failure to declare mods...........and a lot of insurers will not entertain vehicles with certain mods on them anyway.............

DP

dunstonh

I am willing to take my complaint to senior board members (inlcuding Sue Longthorne), the CEO, the FSA as well as anyone and everyone that will listen to me as I consider your conduct as wholly unacceptable.

That will have them trembling....not. The FSA wont look at your complaint. Its not their remit. The CEO will instruct the complaints team to look at it (as the FSA would if you contact them).

please see email below which I sent on Saturday 20th of August. It is now the 22nd and I am yet to hear from Admiral either by phone or email re my complaint

No kidding batman. Who would have thought an office that works Monday to Friday would not respond on a Saturday or Sunday.

I'm not being funny but your complaint is just going to give the complaints team a laugh. They will deal with it and have 8 weeks to consider it before you can take it further (if you dont like their response).


However, you need to be aware that your complaint at the moment doesnt seem to have a lot of strength. What is the modification in question? Did you declare it?

scheming_gypsy

and my post was deleted because?????

SmartSmudge

InsideInsurance wrote: »

You sent the email on Saturday and its now Monday morning. Most complaints teams only work Monday - Friday 9-5 and so you're being a little unreasonable to expect to have received a response already!

1) You almost certainly gave them continuous payment authority when you bought the insurance, most insurers have it built into their T&Cs so there is no way to buy it without giving them the authority to also take future payments

2) If you have failed to declare a modification to your vehicle then you have potentially invalidated your insurance. A simple Additional Premium to cover it is reasonable

3) Whilst it is undoubtedly irritating you have had 2 phone calls and they've said they will call you back. Not sure how that took up a whole afternoon

Admiral have the strictest definition of modification which would be anything other than the basic model of your car. So if you had metallic paint, air conditioning or the likes added either at the time of purchase or added after purchasing the vehicle these are all considered modifications and must be declared. I know with my car I had to add a dozen or so things but almost all were free of charge as they aren't performance or styling enhancing.

V. Helpful information you have supplied here. You sound like you are completely up to date with Admirals policies. Are you sure you are not a concerned Admiral empolyee, just putting the record straight? :A

SmartSmudge

dunstonh wrote: »

That will have them trembling....not. The FSA wont look at your complaint. Its not their remit. The CEO will instruct the complaints team to look at it (as the FSA would if you contact them).



No kidding batman. Who would have thought an office that works Monday to Friday would not respond on a Saturday or Sunday.

I'm not being funny but your complaint is just going to give the complaints team a laugh. They will deal with it and have 8 weeks to consider it before you can take it further (if you dont like their response).


However, you need to be aware that your complaint at the moment doesnt seem to have a lot of strength. What is the modification in question? Did you declare it?

Hi batman. Feeding fuel to the fire no? As a financial advisor, do you get a lot of business? I only ask because I have 2 cents that no one needs. Any suggestions?

SmartSmudge

DDH wrote: »

Dear All,
please see email below which I sent on Saturday 20th of August. It is now the 22nd and I am yet to hear from Admiral either by phone or email re my complaint. Please let me know if something similar has happened to you. I intend to take my complaint as far as possible which will include contacting the FSA, BBC Watchdog and Don't get Done, get Dom.


Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to complain about the appalling treatment I have received from Admiral Insurance.

At the end of July this year a third party crashed into my parked car. They accepted liability and their insurance company footed the bill for repairs.
I felt it was correct to inform my insurer, Admiral, of what had happened. On the 25th of July I spoke with Tom who said he would take information regarding the crash but it would not be taken any further. Ref no. 104409110. At no point did he say the information I had given would be used in anyway.

Imagine my horror upon checking my American Express bill that Admiral has taken £78.42 without my knowledge.

Today I spoke with Lynette in customer services and Nicholas Gamble in claims department. They informed me that I had not declared a modification to my car and therefore the money was taken from me. Nicholas explained the underwriters had taken the money but were not available at the weekend. He said he would look into the matter and get back to me on Monday. He said that I would then know if I "deserved" my money back. I bought my car straight from the shop floor, I did not have any modifications made. I would like to know where in the original insurance application this information was asked. Besides, the issue of modification, is an aside as I consider Admiral has stolen money from me and is now saying I have to prove I deserve it back!!!

My main issues here are:

1. Money was taken from my credit card without my knowledge or consent.
2. Information I gave after a crash was used in an underhand and sly manner to extort money from me.
3. I have had to waste my saturday afternoon (precious time I could have spent with my family) chasing daylight robbers to get my hard earned money back.

So, to summarise, I informed my insurer of a non fault accident and you turned around and took my money!!

I want to know what you are going to do about this matter asap.

I want my money back.

I am willing to take my complaint to senior board members (inlcuding Sue Longthorne), the CEO, the FSA as well as anyone and everyone that will listen to me as I consider your conduct as wholly unacceptable.

Yours Sincerely,

Hi there.

I hope that you have had your misfortunate experience with these 'cowboys' sorted by now. Its not on the same level of inconvinience but I had an experience with this company regarding abuse of credit/debit card.

I made a payment to complete any outstanding payments left on my policy as this company have no real policy on strict dates any money leaves a card. I was 'fobbed' off many times I paid a premium this way with them stating it takes anywhere between 1-10 days. Several times I was left with bank charges that could not be helped due to life getting in the way and didn't have sufficient funds on the 'lottery' day they decided to take the payment.

When settling this policy, by human error, they took too much off my debit card. This was taken over night as I strongly insisted to a customer service rep on the telephone, from advice from my bank, that it is not 'right' that if someone pays by a card, any legitimate company should not decide what day to take it.

The following day when I saw they had taken too much I called and pointed this out. I was informed the over payment would be credited back to my debit card and it would take, maximum, 3 days. 4 days later I called as it had not been credited to my account. Only to be told by a 'delightful' CS rep that it takes 3 days for them to 'realise' they have made a mistake and then a further 3 days after this for monies to be credited.

I did not accept this. I then suffered a series of 'sales spin' and insisted I would not accept this. Bar any forms of threat I told this rep NO and did threaten bad press, would never recomend to another insurance seeker and would definetly take further action. The customer service rep then told me, you will laugh in amazement, it will be paid overnight. Just like that. And it was.

I know it doesn't count the same as a violation to your credit card account and I believe you when you say it feels like 'theft' to you but you have another supporter in your quest to bring some of your rights back from this 'reputable' nationwide reputation company. I digress.

Keep fighting your cause and do not listen to those who, it seems, love to turn the screw.

Stay cool. :cool:

Parking_Trouble

Admiral's fancy adverts and attractive pricing is a front for aggressive business practices, incompetence and poor customer service. I have experienced it first hand and would never go near them again.

Check here for defaqto ratings. http://www.defaqto.com/star-ratings/Home-life-travel/car-insurance/

Our friends at Admiral have 4* rating. *Surprised!*

I have chosen a 5* company who are cheaper and provide better policies and customer service.

Not sure how up-to-date this is but Which have rated many car insurers.
Admiral low on the list - my insurer Recommended!

http://www.which.co.uk/money/insurance/reviews-ns/car-insurance/whichrecommended-providers/