Albany Assistance - Steer clear

garym71

I'm glad I had the sense to do some research on Albany Assistance before putting my signature to any of their documents.

Following my report of a non-fault accident to my insurance company (Tesco), they handed over responsibility to Albany to provide me with a replacement car while mine was in for repair. Tesco’s appointed repair garage apparently didn't have any courtesy cars available so blissfully unaware of Albany's profit making scam it seemed logical to just let them sort out a hire car for me.

After going through all the arrangements with Albany over the phone including them reading out a whole load of confusing legal jargon and trying to rush me into signing and returning the documents as quickly as possible so things could get underway (no doubt so I would just skim over the small print without reading it properly), it was only after I downloaded their Help Hire Limited "Vehicle Hire Agreement" form with astronomical hire charge costs shown on it and had thoroughly read all the small print that the penny actually dropped as to what it was I was about to sign up to. A quick Google of the Albany Assistance revealed a wealth of warnings from various sources.

There was no way I was going to sign up to any type of Hire Credit Agreement when there was a risk that I might end up being liable for some of the costs, or end up having to go to court if (when) the 3rd party insurance company refused to pay the unreasonable over-inflated hire costs, so I refused to sign the documents and told Albany where to go.

I have also cancelled the Tesco approved repair garage as well so they've lost out too for not being able to provide a courtesy car. Probably best because on Google StreetView it just looked to be some kind of back street garage and while I don't want to tar them all with the same brush, I've had dealings with the body repair work provided by those kinds of garages before and I wasn't particularly satisfied with the results.

All I’m interested in is getting a high quality repair job done on my car and a standard replacement car that suits my needs at a reasonable cost to the 3rd party insurance company without either me or the 3rd party insurance company getting ripped off. It's no wonder our insurance premiums go through the roof when you have companies like Albany trying to fleece as much money as they can out of other insurance companies with extortionately over-inflated hire car costs. First it was the whiplash claim era and now it seems to have turned into the hire car charge extortion racket era.

I'm certainly not happy with Tesco for palming me off to this questionable claim management outfit but it's a lesson learned for the future. It's times like this when you find out how good an insurance company really is and Tesco is certainly a big disappointment. I'll be finding a different insurer come renewal time.

I have now made direct contact with the 3rd party's insurance company instead and they have been very helpful and a breath of fresh air to deal with compared to Tesco and Albany. In hindsight I should have just done that in the first place. They've accepted liability and are sorting me out with a hire car at a much more reasonable cost of £23 per day (which they are paying for) and thay have confirmed that it is fine for me to use my own choice of repairer who they will then directly pay the bill to. Albany were trying to fleece £105 per day for the same spec of hire car + £80 delivery charge + £15 fuelling charge + 60p per litre on top of the average pump price for the same category of car. !!!!!! Turpin springs to mind.

Thanks to this thread (and other similar ones relating to Albany) it has potentially saved me a whole load of grief.

ConfusedofHove

I was involved in a minor accident last Sunday which was my fault and I've gone through all the hoops and my insurance company (Allianz) have already arranged for my car to be taken away for repair and I have a courtesy car. Happy days.

However, I get a phone call from Albany today stating that there is money set aside for my wife and stepson (who were in the car at the time) as a result of the accident and they'll pass my details onto the legal department and I should expect a call back later today.

No-one was injured in the accident??

This sounds uber dodgy to me I was just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience?

I'm not sure if they got my details from my insurance company or from the insurance company of the 3rd party involved in the accident?

System

I "almost" had to deal with Albany assist , On Wednesday a woman failed to stop at a give way sign and hit me .
After almost 3 hours on the phone to Hasings ins they said Albany would contact me, when they did ring they told me to drive the car to them to be assessed if it wasn't road worthy the assessor would not let me drive it !!! bearing in mind I would have driven it to them.
I rang Hastings back as I don't want to drive until I know its safe and it turns out I was given the wrong information the other driver is also with Hastings and has admitted liability so they will be dealng with it "in house".

dumpedbyalbany

I had a non-fault incident, third party made a fraudulent claim and my insurance paid despite my protests, I had paid for albany legal cover, they informed me initially they would pursue third party for my uninsured losses £700+, asked for 2 estimates which I supplied, then turned the tables and informed me they would not pursue my claim after all,

tonyteepee

I am not a troll or have any association with Albany and I don't really care if you think otherwise, I am not going to be reading your responses let alone wasting time replying to it.

I had a non-fault incident a month ago and was put in touch with Albany by my insurers Admiral. Reading the reviews here and other places the last thing I wanted to do was go forward with Albany so tried to do the right thing and got some quotes (local garage & BMW garage) and then contacted the other side's insurers. Unfortunately, the other side hadn't raised the incident with their insurer even after 10 days which left me driving an impaired albeit road legal vehicle.

Rather than wait indefinitely or take the risk of raising the incident on my own insurance I took the plunge with Albany, signing their massive pile of online legal forms with much trepidation.

This is going to be the unfashionable bit. I found them to be courteous and professional, they delivered and picked up the car when promised and the garage they selected did a good job. The replacement car was a new 320d which I loved driving, and whilst the price per day Albany charged it out at was what I would expect rental to cost per week, the total bill (rental & repair) came to less than if I had taken it to the BMW garage, plus it was turned round in less time than I had wasted waiting for the other side to raise the issue. A week after my car was returned the other side admitted liability and I don't expect to hear any more on the issue.

Maybe I was lucky and this was a one off - from the sound of the other posts it may well be. I just wanted to say my experience with Albany didn't match that of the other comments here.

If you've been involved in a non-fault collision then I wish you the best of luck which ever route you choose.

OnanTheBarbarian

The issue really is that people only jump on the forums and moan when there has been bad service, so you never really hear about the claims which have run smoothly and the person has received good service.

Albany are a large volume supplier of these services, so you are going to get cases where things don't go to plan etc.

IDProtected

I've just received a cold call from Albany Assistance regarding "an accident that I have had" (I have not had an accident). The only reason that I answered the phone to this unknown number was that the area code was my local one, and I assumed it was a friend or neighbour. The man speaking had a scouse accident and clearly did not come from this area. Having checked it, Albany Assistance do not abide by the TPS.

OnanTheBarbarian

What you may find (I am not involved in any way with Albany) but I do own a claims management company, is that some of the scumbags doing the cold calling are just using household names of established companies when they call, presumably to try and give themselves some credibility and also to shield themselves if the person who has to suffer the cold call decides to complain.

Had exactly the same situation arise with a lady who called my company to complain about the cold call. We are a members only organisation so it would only be our own members who ever got a call from us (even then we don't call them to market any products or services). It turned out she was not a member and we had no trace of her at all so the call or her details could have never originated from ourselves.

Best thing you can do is just report the call, in particular making reference to the telephone number that called you https://www.snapsurveys.com/swh/surveylogin.asp?k=138312369469

Auxillis

I can assure you that these phone calls are not being made by Albany Assistance. We have no connection with calls being made to consumers under the name Albany Assist (or similar names). We believe these calls are targeting individuals to fraudulently obtain information relating to road traffic accidents and possible injuries sustained by the driver and/or passengers.

Albany Assistance does not make unsolicited out bound calls. If we contact a customer in connection with their case, we will always take appropriate security precautions to verify our own and the customer’s identity at the outset.

We have informed the police and appropriate authorities regarding these calls, but please also report any such calls to the police yourself.

Kind Regards,

Albany Assistance Online Team

Quentin

albanyassistance wrote: »

We have informed the police and appropriate authorities regarding these calls, but please also report any such calls to the police yourself.

Kind Regards,

Albany Assistance Online Team

What does Albany think the police will do after we inform them?


They are using untraceable spoof phone numbers (to get round phones that don't accept withheld numbers), so us then contacting the police would be a waste of their time as well as ours.