One Call car Insurance - be VERY careful if you use them.

superbabe2904

I’m not sure where to start here, but in May I opted to buymy car insurance with One Call Insurance.

I had been a named driver on my ex partners policy and hadaccrued 4 years no claims bonus as a named driver. When I did a quote online Iwas very pleased with what I saw at £509, but I wanted to talk to them on thephone and check that I would be able to use my no claims accrued from being anamed driver.
The advisor I spoke to was seemed to be very helpful, andthe first thing I asked about was my no claims and if they would accept that.The advisor said yes, so I thought, yes, I have a bargain here and decided toproceed with buying the car insurance. All throughout the phone call I keptchecking that the no claims would be ok, and he kept reassuring me it was.
Then came the shock, I was expecting it to be honest. Myprevious insurer had sent me a letter toprove I had 4 years no claims bonus as a named driver. About a month after I had bought the carinsurance with One Call Direct, I received a letter from them stating that myinsurance was invalid as I did not have the appropriate no claims bonus andwould be cancelled within 10 days from the date of the letter (which by the waywas almost a week before I had received it). I rung them to try and sort this out and tell them their advisor said itwas ok. I was even prepared to pay up to another £300 more just to be insured.
This was this bigger shock, they wanted an extra £1000 toinsure me. I have been driving 20 years!!!! I have complained about it and I asked them to listen to the phonecall, they had the cheek to tell me they were going to charge me £15 to listento the call. I wasn’t very happy and the advisor I spoke to said she would notcharge me for listening to the call and I would be due back part of my £509 Ihad paid. They say they are returning £382.02 and if when they listened to thecall and I was in the right I would get the rest of my money back.
I received a letter confirming the money I was due back, andafter 4 weeks, still no sign of the money, so I rung them to chase it as I hadpaid it on my credit card. I was told it takes up to 6 weeks for a refund. Irung them again tonight as it is now almost 7 weeks and still no sign of mymoney. The advisor I spoke to told me it was only 4 weeks ago. I asked him torecount the weeks as it was now almost 7 weeks and all I got was an “ohyeah”. He also told me I needed to ringtheir finance team, and that he could not transfer me through! I also questioned the listening of theoriginal phone call and the advisor told me that at the end of the call I wasread a script. The bit they read really quiclkly, this is where they have stungme. I could not argue with them, though I tried. I did say that when I called Iasked if they would accept my no claims as a named driver and the advisor hadsaid yes. I was then told the advisor who sold me the insurance was one of themost experienced.
Quite clearly the advisor was only interested in selling methe insurance, as he is probably commission based on his wage, but he shouldhave been honest with me in the first instance and stated that One Call wouldnot accept my no claims. That way I would not have bought the insurance and Iwould not be £127.34 out of pocket.
My advice to people is avoid One Call Insurance.

no-oneknowsme

superbabe2904 wrote: »

I had been a named driver on my ex partners policy and hadaccrued 4 years no claims bonus as a named driver. .

I dont think named drivers actually accrue NCB?

Some companys will offer you a discount based on claim free years held as a named driver but I am sure I remember reading on here that you dont actually get the whole lot.

However , even in saying that , the agent you spoke to when taking the policy out SHOULD have told you this during the call....

Personally I would keep pushing for transcripts of the phone calls you made to prove that you did indeed inform them clearly that the 4 years you were declaring were gained as a named driver.

Quentin

You do need to sort this out.

At present you have a cancelled by the insurer policy on your record.

This has to be disclosed to all future insurers you approach for cover for ever!

If you now have a new policy with a new insurer, then you need to tell them now about the cancelled policy so that there is no comeback should they use this non disclosure to void any claim you might have.

Dispute the cancellation all the way, with the objective of getting a 100% refund and them agreeing that the policy was terminated due to their error and that you do not have it as an ongoing cancellation to disclose.

Pursue your complaint all the way (insist on a transcript of the conversation), and escalate it if they won't agree to expunge the cancellation from your record.

When this is concluded, make sure you keep the correspondence safely in case this issue comes back to bite you at some time in the future.

superbabe2904

Thanks guys - I'll give them a call again tomorrow - if not I think it might be a case for watchdog?