Direct Line complaints

Llyllyll

Morning,

Grateful if anyone could post details of a contact at Direct Line HO relating to complaints. I'm having a terrible time with them atm and am getting nowhere with the internal complaints procedure.

Thanks very much,
L

chemlock

Yes here you go.

Jason Lupton - Customer Relations Advisor
0845 2462530

Although so far he hasn't been of any help. He promised me a call back on the 22nd of January (Still waiting) and sent me a letter stating there response to our complaint but when challenged about it admitted that he hadn't looked into the facts with the department in question.

Good luck. Let me know if you get anywhere.

Astaroth

Hmm... that person will be a claims complaint person given that he has advisor in his job title

The head office for Direct Line is 3 Edridge Road, Croydon, CR9 1AG if you are wanting to write.

If you want to phone then call the normal number for customer services or claims (depending on which of the two it is in connection with) and ask to be put through to their complaints team.

Llyllyll

Thanks for the replies.

Yes, I've tried the 0845 2462530 number and it's just standard CS. I also found the same HO address and managed to get Direct Line's Press Office number (not what I want I know bit at least it's somewhere in HO).

Spoke to a very pleasant lady who promised to pass my complaint to the correct person (really) and I've already received a call back from her telling me what she was going to do. I've also been assured of a call back today from the correct contact when they've chased things along (because as yet I've not received an acknowledgement of the letter I sent on 15/01/07).

Once I have the name and number of the correct contact I'll post it here.

Astaroth

It wont really be relevant to post the number.... claims and customer service are separate for one. Most insurers segment their customer base and each customer will fall under the "control" of one office/ manager or another and therefore for your case it may be a manager in Glasgow that is responsible for your complaint where as for someone else it may be a manager in Bristol. If you phone customer services then they will know definitively who it is that it needs to go to rather than you randomly picking someone.

stepbate

If you are going to write to anyone at Direct Line, I suggest you write to the C.E.O, Christopher Sullivan, as he is the man who is accountable for the insurer's performance - he is stationed at the Croydon Office: 3 Edridge Road, Croydon CR9 1 AG - I recommend you send your letter registered mail to be sure he receives it.

In the insurance industry service is all and I have been very disappointed with the Direct Line service both from a Customer Services and from Customer Relations point of view. They communicate very poorely and do not seem to care about retaining customers - theirs is a one fits all strategy and, if you are not the most standard mainstream customer their unsophisticated systems are set up to deal with, you should shop elsewhere to avoid anger and frustration

My complaint with Direct Line is threefold:

1. They rarely have anyone available to talk to. They don't get back to you and then lie by pretending they tried - cutting costs if more important than supporting customers

2. They send out standard letters to tackle complex policy issues. The result is you pay for all the communication costs including waiting an interminable length of time on the phone listening to cheap piped music by the likes of Franck Sinatra singing "I did it my way" and with no indication at all of the time you will wait in the queue to talk to someone. Again cutting costs back to the bone and compromising on service

3. In correspondence alone, I have wasted money, energy and time that is more valuable than the meager discount they were offering on their policy. Direct Line is only suitable for the most standard of person so if you are not then don't expect any personalisation; at Direct Line, my experience and that of many others is that you'll be treated like a digit and never like a person. What a shame.

I am writing to Christopher Sullivan myself regarding my complaint and will keep you posted on his response or lack of it.

I hope this message has been helpful

Insurance_Man

What is your complaint about stepbate if you dont mind me asking ?

mathsmum

thanks for number - will be interesting to see if i get callback - dad died 10 days ago - took 3 calls before direct line would deal with me (next of kin and executor, but what the heck). then they demanded original of death certificate (i only have 4) - won't send it back - have been told n times their policy is to ask for photocopy - no you didn't, mate - when i pointed out retaining original was against law, was asked name of person who told me that!!!!!!

dear god i hate directline - this reminds me why we switched all our policies away from them