Quote me happy!!has any one used them before?

motherwoman

NGM
I asked for a posted copy of my NCP because their system for my account had problems that they didn't/wouldn't rectify and I didn't trust the NCD proof to be correct. They agreed to a 9am SD without any hesitation.... It costs £14.95. They could have disagreed with it and suggested a different way. They didn't..... and yes I wanted them to pay, as it was their problem that caused all this mess, and their ignorance and arrogance that compounded it.

I have called them and informed them about this being refunded twice - unlike QMH I am an honest person.
I was supposed to be receiving a call back yesterday or today from a Lisa Pate, to discuss method of repaying it, after speaking to a lady called Heather, who said she had no idea how it could be paid back. I queried sending them a cheque, and she said she didn't know if that would work!
No surprise, no call back from (Text removed by MSE Forum Team) regarding the money, and as of yet no update on my complaint. They've got till next tuesday (as they don't work saturdays), as they stated, to inform me of their opinion, but I have no delusions that I will have to take it further with the ombudsman.
An apology, the immediate cancellation of the renewal, and none of their staff pratting around would have made this process much easier, instead they tried to ignore their problematic system and treat me like I am stupid. They went back on their 'word' which just proves to me that they don't give a damn about their customers, and I personally think they should cease to exist as a company if they cannot even bother to get their system working right. Whether its just a system they can't be bothered fixing, or a devious underhand way of trying to con people out of money (which is more my belief), they need to seriously think about what they are trying to provide, and at the very least provide the 24/7 help they claim, whilst explaining to their potential customers that they don't provide any help at all....!
I will *never* be using these again, and will make sure I look carefully at who underwrites any policies we take out in the future so that I never use this company or the parent company again.
We are currently in the process of moving our life insurances away from aviva, and the house insurances.
Not impressed at all.

NonGeographicalMan

Given your strength of feeling on the matter I would suggest that you email John Macfarlane CEO of Aviva using the email address listed at www dot ceoemail dot com I can't quote the direct website link here as for some odd reason this web discussion forum doesn't seem to approve of its members knowing about this useful website.

Mr Macfarlane cannot take the line the matter is nothing to do with him when all of QMH's documentations shows it is a mere insurance brand of the Aviva insurance group. I am sure the Financial Services Ombudsman would not be impressed to hear that QMH persistently refuses to field phone numbers to contact it when it has got things wrong.

vickssinex

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

I still don't know whether I'm going to get my £40 Cashback from Quidco as although it showed as tracked the day or so after I took out the policy its status hasn't moved on any further since then.

It tells you on Quidco how long the cashback will take - 6 months I think for QMH, which is by no means unusual. I took out my policy at the end of February and was paid the cashback in July.

NonGeographicalMan

vickssinex wrote: »

It tells you on Quidco how long the cashback will take - 6 months I think for QMH, which is by no means unusual. I took out my policy at the end of February and was paid the cashback in July.

I don't generally use Quidco these days, mainly because I object to them charging £5 a year for a demonstrably technically inferior service and furthermore for being so exceptionally and quite deliberately and repeatedly sneaky (in spite of my previous feedback) about hiding the deduction of the £5 annual subscription from your earnings.

I only used them here because the cashback was £40 instead of £30 with TopCashBack and because my Quidco subscription was up to date (due to a purchase with IcarHireInsurance in October last year)

My main concern is that the purchase still only shows as Tracked on their site just as it did one day after I made the purchase from QuoteMeHappy even thought my Proof of Bonus was not then sorted out until a couple of week after that. Oddly they do show the transaction of 13th August as being "Updated" on 15th September but don't explain in what further respect it was "Updated" beyond the way in which it originally showed as Tracjed back on August 13th. I can see that 75p of cashback for a Monarch flight I have not been paid out on so far is shown as Confirmed in my account. However it seems that Quido have far less status updates along the way than TopCashBack does.

Given the notoriety of QMH for refusing to answer the telephone and their slowness to answer correspondence I won't be counting on receiving this £40 until it is actually shown as Confirmed and I have managed to transfer the money to my bank account.

TrollyDolly

Fine if you don't need any changes to your policy. I've been covered with them for about four months and it was all set up fine - I actually quite liked their online NCD system where you scan and upload your proof.

However, if you need to cancel your policy at all YOU WILL GET CHARGED £53. Due to unforeseen change of job, we've had to buy a second car and I've transferred ownership and main driver insurance to my boyfriend. He wouldn't touch Quote Me Happy with a barge-pole because he prefers to deal with a real person over the phone.

Be warned, they are like the Ryanair of the insurance company. Fine if you just want basic but if you need to change anything at all, like cancel due to changed circumstances, then you'll pay heavily.

I am NOT really sure their "on-line contact only" business model works for Car Insurance. You are never really sure at any point if you are covered. For example, you pay for your policy - you can see your policy is up on My Account, but they email you to say your NCD documents are unacceptable. Are you covered? It takes you a few days to get it sorted so will they honour a claim if you're unfortunate enough to have an accident then?

Don't be tempted. For me (female, 47, full NCD), the saving from Quote Me Happy was marginal. Try getting a quote linked to your bank account, or even TESCO if you've got a Clubcard - I got a great quote from them, wished I had NEVER signed up to Quote Me (EXTREMELY UN) Happy.

Lum

Why on earth did you transfer ownership? That's just one extra keeper on your logbook, devaluing your car, for no good reason.

It's possible for your BF to be the main driver while you retain ownership of the car, and could have just added him as such on your existing policy. That way (assuming he doesn't crash it) you get your extra year's NCB 4 months sooner.

Pretty much all insurers charge extortionate cancellation fees. In the past I have delayed scrapping a spare car as it was more cost effective to leave it rotting on my driveway for another month than to pay the cancellation fee and lose the extra year's NCB I was about to earn.

livalicious

Ive just signed up for car insurance with QMH to start on 17th Oct however at the end after I put through payment details their web page said payment hadnt been made yet so I clicked the link again to make a payment and with a sinking feeling realised there is a problem with their web page as again it stated payment is still due. I checked my online banking which showed the payment due to be collected had gone through twice.

I contacted my bank to ask if they could cancel one of the payments however she said as i paid by debit card there is nothing they could do to stop it I need to speak to the company direct to cancel it. And of course you cant call the company which would have resolved this issue quite quickly. Their webpage said emails are taking up to 3 days to be replied to and I cant afford to have two payments of £465 to be taken from my account in the meantime!!! Im on matenity pay at the moment therefore every penny counts! So Ive had to cancel the policy in the hope thay they wont take any of this money from my account. Would it make any difference if I moved the money out of my current account into my savings?

NonGeographicalMan

livalicious wrote: »

I contacted my bank to ask if they could cancel one of the payments however she said as i paid by debit card there is nothing they could do to stop it I need to speak to the company direct to cancel it.

Was this card a Visa Debit or a Maestro card? If so what you were told by your bank is wrong.

Visa have for a long time offered very similar rights to dispute a payment for defective goods and services via Visa Debit as on their credit card. Mastercard (who own Maestro) are more grudging but the rights still exist and have I believe recently been improved to try and offering something closer to Visa Debit.

Since you paid but QMH did not supply you with the Goods and Services promised you clearly have a valid chargeback dispute.

See http://www.money.co.uk/article/1004510-is-debit-card-protection-the-same-as-for-credit-cards.htm

Their webpage said emails are taking up to 3 days to be replied to and I cant afford to have two payments of £465 to be taken from my account in the meantime!!! Im on matenity pay at the moment therefore every penny counts! So Ive had to cancel the policy in the hope thay they wont take any of this money from my account. Would it make any difference if I moved the money out of my current account into my savings?

The increase in email turnaround to 3 days is a total disgrace given that they originally promised 24 hours. Also taking a double payment from you and not showing the insurance as valid and not having an immediate way to resolve this either on the phone or through online chat (which they clearly could offer to try and disguise the fact that most of the ordinary QMH workers are obviously in India) is a complete disgrace.

I would take the following two further actions (apart from the Chargeback dispute above):-

1. Email John Macfarlane CEO of Aviva (the owners of QMH as proved my all documentation for my policy which shows it is really cut price insurance with Aviva) using the details shown at www dot ceoemail dot com (or in case you can't find this the email address is officeoftheceo@aviva.com) telling him what has happened and demanding an immediate refund of the payment(s) and/or any policy cancellation fee. If you have already now taken out insurance with another company you will have to demand both payments are refunded. If you are still not insured elsewhere then tell him you want one payment refunded but are prepared to still be insured with QMH as long as they now sort everything out immediately and get someone to speak to you on the phone about it (this is more likely to get a resolution as they won't want to lose a customer and their money).

2. You need to urgently get a response from Aviva either to admit they are wrong and saying they will correct everything (including interest or overdraft charges on your bank account) or alternatively to swiftly reach deadlock so you can take the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service. In my view if QMH are not taking phone calls for even emergency type matters like this, not responding to online messages about a super urgent matter (double large payment from your bank account) then you should have every right to get the Financial Services Ombudsman to start investigating immediately including QMH's totally unacceptable failure to provide a phone number for customer services in any circumstances. They should provide a phone number as backup even if they charge you £5 to call them which they then agreed to refund if they are proved to be at fault.

By the way there is a phone number of 01603 604914 shown for QMH at https://www.saynoto0870.com This is supposed to be only for reporting accidents but I found the staff on it quite helpful and was able to confirm that QMH allows two claims in five years on their protected bonus and that if you have a write off or your car is stolen they will still let you replace that car with another car on the policy within 30 days and not automatically cancel the policy (as Sheila's Wheels and Esure do).

In summary I don't think you are shouting loud enough yet. For something of this seriousness I would also consider going to see my MP at their next constituency surgery and also be writing to John Fingleton, CEO of the Office of Fair Trading using the email address shown at http://www dot ceoemail dot com/uk-government.php (I can't put the URL in directly due to some petty dispute between MSE and the ceoemail dot com website.

EDIT:- P.S. If you ring Aviva's main switchboard in Norwich with unhappiness about their QMH brand they will direct you to file a complaint using the http://www.quotemehappy.com/not-happy on the QMH website. This will probably get you action same day or withing 24 hours rather than within three working days.

Also QMH have a how to complain page at http://www.quotemehappy.com/portals/0/docs/Quotemehappy.com_Complaint_Enquiry_Leaflet.pdf and this shows that if you are still not you can either write to their CEO by post at:-

"The Chief Executive – UK Insurance
Aviva
Surrey Street
Norwich
NR1 3NS
You can also e-mail us at: team@quotemehappy.com"

This clearly shows that their CEO is the CEO of Aviva. However the team@quotemehappy.com email address may also get higher level of attention without all the hassle and delay involved in writing them a letter.

Good Luck and let us know how you get on.

livalicious

Argghh I dont believe this, after all the emails Ive sent to QMH, last night and today, including the complaints dept and the rep from Aviva on here, they have still taken double the payments out of my bank account today. I cancelled the policy straight away lastnight and emailed them explaining what happened and not to take both payments out. I can understand one payment being taken and then being refunded once the cancellation has taken place (which Im assuming would be only once the renewal date has passed, as on the website you have to put that date, you dont have any other choice). But why take both out surely they would be able to see that the amounts are the same and from the same account????

Im so angry right now, this wasnt my error, it was down to QMH's website giving incorrect info. And now im £920 down from my bank account, and not sure when or if that will be refunded to me before I have to pay another insurer for car insurance by the 17th and be charged bank charges for their error. I dont want to play the sympathy card, but I have a young baby, I really dont need this stress and I need that money !!!!!!!!

Ive still not had any response whatsoever from QMH, I tried ringing their claims line but was kept on hold for a ridiculously long time. Id hate to think what would happen if i did have a claim.

If I was able to just get this sorted in the first place I would have still used QMH for my insurance but after all this I think i had a (un) lucky escape. I just hope I am not going to have to battle for weeks and weeks to get MY money back. Word of advice dont use this company, worst customer service (or lack of) I have ever come across.

motherwoman

I'm still waiting for a response from my complaint. After they tried to put me off for a further ten days they are now again ignoring any emails whatsoever.
for anyone else, here is an 0800 number I was given.
0800 056 3479
Might not get you to the right person immediately, but will certainly get you somewhere (you would think!)


I'm in the process of putting a complaint in about the person supposedly dealing with my complaint, considering its now 3 days (working days) after I should have recieved something in writing, and there is nothing but readio silence. If I have time between appointments tomorrow I will try and get hold of someone on the above number, but considering I was on hold for around half an hour last time I don't hold out much hope.



Good luck to the rest of you - and word of mouth can do a lot more than you think, let people know not to touch these ignorant thieves with a barge pole.