Quote me happy text cancelling my car insurance!

SwitchedOn

Good evening everyone.

Has anyone got any idea's on how I can sort the issue I'm about to share with you please?

I took out a car insurance policy with Quote Me Happy last month. Its an online company, which I was fine with at the time as I prefer to communicate that way on a whole.

I took out the policy and was asked to upload my no claims proof by a certain date. This was done and I received an email from them thanking me for uploading it. I also emailed them at the same time as I was a little wrong on the years...so discussed how much extra it would be and arranging payment.

Yesterday (Monday 23rd) after work I received a text message saying 'Hello, as you haven't uploaded your no proof of claims discount we've cancelled your car insurance policy from 23.7.12, 23:59. Yours sincerely, Quotemehappy.com team'

I shout some swear words in disbelief!

I can't believe they can send a text message without a phone number for this. I go to their website where there is a message stating that they are 2 days behind on emails. There is no phone number available as an alternative contact. Googling sent me back to the company website.
In the end I resort to Twitter...I find them and send a message asking for a telephone number urgently. Then I realise its out of office hours so they've probably gone home.

At this point I'm thinking 'how the hell am I going to get to work?' which is 35 miles away. I can't drive as they have told me I'm not insured! I doubt a policeman would care if I said 'I have an email confirming they have my no claims proof!' Unfortunately no one else from work lives out my way, so I couldn't get a lift.

There were tears before work this morning out of sheer frustration. I ended up walking 20 minutes to the train station, travelling 20 minutes on the train to another town where a colleague lived who kindly offered to give me a lift the rest of the way. what normally takes 45 minutes took me 1 hour and 45 minutes.

When I get to work, I call the financial ombudsman to see if they have a number for Quote me happy - they don't and suggest I call Aviva (Mother company) - spoke to a lovely lass who said they don't deal with Quote Me Happy but she understands I cant wait days for an email response, so having spoken to her manager will pass it to their complaints team and walk over to speak to them - Nothing heard from them after this.

Just before 10 I receive a response on twitter asking me to email my details through. Which I do, promptly.
At 12.30 I hadn't heard anything back - so tweeted again asking 'I emailed you 2.5 hours ago, this is urgent. How long will it take for a reply please?'
To which I get a reply 'we have received your email and our service team will be in touch ASAP with a resolution'
2pm: 'will I have a response by the time your office closes? What time are you open to please?'
4pm: 'I'm worried its past 4 o'clock and I havent heard from your service team. Will I be left up the creek again tomorrow?!!'

The last 2 tweets have been ignored.

So, I cant get to work tomorrow, because Quote me happy have dropped a clanger and are unobtainable! The lady who picked me up from the train station is not there tomorrow so I am going to have to take a days unpaid holiday.

Are there any other ways to contact Quote me happy? I cant afford to take any more time off for this.

Sorry for rambling on... but its causing me so much stress! I just can't believe this thing is allowed to happen, especially when they have a regulator!!

Any help on sorting this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

rs65

From the policy:-



We (or any agent we appoint and who acts with our specific
authority) may cancel this policy by sending 7 days notice
to your last known address.



What to do if you are dissatisfied
If you have a complaint about this insurance, you can write
to us at policyproblem@quotemehappy.com or telephone
us on 0844 891 1181*

SwitchedOn

Thank you. I'll give that number a call.

rb1

Hi- I'm disturbed by your e-mail as I'm about to renew my insurance and theirs was the cheapest quote. I have worries about them being exclusively on-line and the NCD proof was one of my worries. I haven't made a claim since 1994 but all my renewals show 9 yrs + NCD as that's the maximum so I don't know how I'd prove the 15 yrs+ I claimed on their quote application. Your experience has compounded my worries so I'm going to give them a miss. I hope your problem is resolved.

Quentin

SwitchedOn wrote: »

.... I call Aviva (Mother company) - spoke to a lovely lass who said they don't deal with Quote Me Happy..........
Are there any other ways to contact Quote me happy?

If we keep mentioning aviva on a thread, (even when it's about qmh), their online damage limitation rep isially comes along to try and get it off the net.

Hopefully his robot search machine will spot the mentions of aviva here and the aviva rep will turn up and offer aviva personal assistance!

dunstonh

I haven't made a claim since 1994 but all my renewals show 9 yrs + NCD as that's the maximum

Actually it is not the maximum. Some companies have more, some less. It is important you keep your own history as the ability to prove longer periods may be required if your existing provider only has say 6 years (or 9 years etc).

byjimini

That's unbelievable, what terrible customer service to not have the decency to phone you when you're a customer of theirs!

Save the train tickets etc and file a claim for compensation, and get insurance somewhere else. Unbelievable.

dunstonh

That's unbelievable, what terrible customer service to not have the decency to phone you when you're a customer of theirs!

Maybe they tried and didnt get an answer. Maybe the OP didnt select telephone as a contact method. Maybe it was an online service only that was chosen.

We dont know the full details and we only know one side. Its a bit premature to give judgement. Aviva dont have a great reputation for getting things right first time but they are generally pretty good at dealing with issues when they are told about them. Lets see what the OP comes back with as the outcome and explanation before we start criticising them.

Quentin

dunstonh wrote: »

.......... Lets see what the OP comes back with as the outcome and explanation before we start criticising them.

We are well past the "start" on that job!!

SwitchedOn

I called the telephone number shared, which put me in touch with Aviva complaints. They couldn't deal with Quote me happy customers but passed my details on to someone who could.

In a nutshell, they accepted my insurance was cancelled due to a fault there end and were apologetic about it. However they couldnt re-instate my insurance, as their systems wont let them! So, I had another stressful day trying to find a new insurance policy. there is a question asking 'have you ever been refused or had insurance cancelled' if I ticked yes to this, it added c£500 to my premiums! I spoke to the ombudsman who said that its a reasonable request to expect Quote me happy to reinstate my insurance and remove the cancellation. However, QMH were still adamant they couldnt do this, just to untick the cancelled box as that is around fraud.

I am now insured with another company...but it took all day to get there, as I wanted to speak to them to check that not ticking the have 'I had insurance cancelled' box was the right thing to do in these circumstances.

QMH sent me an email last night stating that I am happy that the complaint is resolved...At no point did those words come out of my mouth! Its not over yet Quote me happy.

I cant help but think 'what if I changed my phone number?' they gave me 6.5 hours notice of the cancellation by text message. There wasnt an email or letter. I could be driving round now unaware that I'm insured.

A colleague has told me today the exact same thing happened to her with quote me happy, she too had to find insurance else where.

rb1 - close shave there! :-)

dunstonh

I spoke to the ombudsman who said that its a reasonable request to expect Quote me happy to reinstate my insurance and remove the cancellation.

When you phone up you are not speaking to an adjudicator or ombudsman. The phone line is manned by unqualified individuals and is notorious for agreeing with everything someone says and assuming everything is wrong.

However, I would ask QMH to confirm in writing that the cancellation was due to an error at their end and nothing to do with you and they are not treating it as a cancellation that needs to be declared. This should suffice going forward therefore allowing you not to say yes to the "have you ever had insurance cancelled..." box. Keep that letter safe. If they refuse, then you go to the FOS.