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Direct Line Complaint - Help :(
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zoeyb
Posts: 10 Forumite
Can anyone give me some advice please. This is a really long story so I am sorry.
This has been going on for around 14 months however it starts on 22 November 2011 when a wild deer ran out in front of me. I hit this at around 40mph and it caused a fair amount of damage to my little peugeot 107 (58 plate).
I called Direct Line and reported the accident. I was advised by Lisa that 'as deers dont have their own insurance, unless I can trace the owner, I am not covered and cannot claim'. I laughed as thought she was joking. She wasn't.
I called back around 10 or so minutes later and asked if I could claim for my personal injury on my policy. I was advised no.
I could not afford to repair the car myself, so after only using it again two or three times, it has sat outside my house, rotting. I pay £130 a month finance for this, and £30 car insurance to DL for a car I cannot use.
I had to take out a loan and buy another car, which is also insured with DL. Now I am paying for two cars and in serious debt.
In November 2012 my sister happened to mention that as I am fully comp I could claim against my own policy. I had no idea, i have been a customer of DL for 12 years, never had to claim.
I called DL and was advised yes I could repair the car under my own policy if i paid the 150 excess. Finally.
After an inspector missed three appointments, refusing to use the garage I wanted as 'he didn't have a good relationship with them'. I have been called a liar and 'David' in the claims team rudely advised 'he would not discuss anything with me until he heard the calls but 'no trained member of the DL team would ever give that advice'.
Three hours later 'David' calls me back, sweet as pie and advices unfortunately the call cannot be listened to as the recording is damaged. How very convenient.
I contacted the Financial Ombudsman on 17 December 2012 and requested they help. They wrote to DL and things started to happen. I was written to on 18 December by DL who stated I would receive a full written response by 16 January 2013 - today!
I emailed Paul Geddes CEO of DL and advised him of my complaint. He said the FOS liaison team was dealing with it, and he would leave them to it.
Had a call today from Lesley DL's FSO liaison team, she said she cannot find any record of the original call where I claim I was given the bad advice, but she has the call I made 8 minutes later.
How did she know the call was 8 minutes later if she cannot find the original call.
She has offered me £200 compensation. So far my costs just for the 107 are over £1800, not including everything else.
What should I do?
Please please help
zoeyb
This has been going on for around 14 months however it starts on 22 November 2011 when a wild deer ran out in front of me. I hit this at around 40mph and it caused a fair amount of damage to my little peugeot 107 (58 plate).
I called Direct Line and reported the accident. I was advised by Lisa that 'as deers dont have their own insurance, unless I can trace the owner, I am not covered and cannot claim'. I laughed as thought she was joking. She wasn't.
I called back around 10 or so minutes later and asked if I could claim for my personal injury on my policy. I was advised no.
I could not afford to repair the car myself, so after only using it again two or three times, it has sat outside my house, rotting. I pay £130 a month finance for this, and £30 car insurance to DL for a car I cannot use.
I had to take out a loan and buy another car, which is also insured with DL. Now I am paying for two cars and in serious debt.
In November 2012 my sister happened to mention that as I am fully comp I could claim against my own policy. I had no idea, i have been a customer of DL for 12 years, never had to claim.
I called DL and was advised yes I could repair the car under my own policy if i paid the 150 excess. Finally.
After an inspector missed three appointments, refusing to use the garage I wanted as 'he didn't have a good relationship with them'. I have been called a liar and 'David' in the claims team rudely advised 'he would not discuss anything with me until he heard the calls but 'no trained member of the DL team would ever give that advice'.
Three hours later 'David' calls me back, sweet as pie and advices unfortunately the call cannot be listened to as the recording is damaged. How very convenient.
I contacted the Financial Ombudsman on 17 December 2012 and requested they help. They wrote to DL and things started to happen. I was written to on 18 December by DL who stated I would receive a full written response by 16 January 2013 - today!
I emailed Paul Geddes CEO of DL and advised him of my complaint. He said the FOS liaison team was dealing with it, and he would leave them to it.
Had a call today from Lesley DL's FSO liaison team, she said she cannot find any record of the original call where I claim I was given the bad advice, but she has the call I made 8 minutes later.
How did she know the call was 8 minutes later if she cannot find the original call.
She has offered me £200 compensation. So far my costs just for the 107 are over £1800, not including everything else.
What should I do?
Please please help
zoeyb

Total won so far.......................£0 - but hopeful!:)
Bank charges reclaimed:
£800.00 - Alliance & Leicester :T
£2300.00 - Nationwide :T
0
Comments
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They cannot find the original recorded call but have the logs of teh time possibly.
But you will need to prove thet didnt advise you correctly.
Rather tit and tat. You didnt know you were fully comp and could claim. Did they say this and you missed it. Or did you ask the wrong question when reporting the incident.
You could have used the garage you specified but they could charge you a greater excess. A lot more in fact. And any issues down to the quality of the work maybe down to you. Especially if they have had issues with them before.
Your costs for the 107 are £1800? How? You mean buying it? But you were buying it anyway. Insuring a car you cannot use?
You bought another car. Would you have had to do this if you claimed at the start? Or did you have a hire/courtesy car in the insurance?
If not you will have needed to sort that out anyway. You bought a car but you can sell it again to recoup some money.
What did the call 8 minutes later say though? Was this when the accident 1st happened?Censorship Reigns Supreme in Troll City...0 -
Hi thanks for your reply.
My costs for the 107 are the finance and insurance payments made since the accident and the car has been unusable. I still owe finance on the car, which is nowhere near what the car is worth seeing as it has been damaged and left unrepaired for 14 months.
They admit I was given bad advice in the first instance, although they claim they cant listen to the call.
The call 8 minutes later was just after the accident when I asked if I had personal injury cover. They have this call, just not the initial call to report the accident, when I was told deers don't have insurance.
If they had advised I could claim against my own policy i would not have had to buy another car.
They have admitted they are wrong, and offered £200 compensation.
Thanks againTotal won so far.......................£0 - but hopeful!:)Bank charges reclaimed:£800.00 - Alliance & Leicester :T£2300.00 - Nationwide :T0 -
All companies authorised by the FSA have to uphold certain principles. These can be found at http://fsahandbook.info/FSA/html/handbook/PRIN/2/1 . I would recommend writing to the FSA and Paul Geddes explaining how you feel DL have failed to uphold one or more of these principles. I know you have already made a complaint but specific allegations of breach of high level principles should get their attention.
You are under no obligation to accept any compensation offered by DL (although DL have to honour any compensation required by the FOS) and if you don;t get any success from the letter, the you may have to instruct solicitors - they would be able to advise if you can claim for additonal costs for purchasing a 'temporary' vehicle.
(I can't believe that a member of claims staff in this country (don't DL make a point of using UK based staff?) didn't know what cover was provided under a comprehensive policy - unless they thought that you were talking about making a claim against someone else and not on your policy)0 -
(I can't believe that a member of claims staff in this country (don't DL make a point of using UK based staff?) didn't know what cover was provided under a comprehensive policy - unless they thought that you were talking about making a claim against someone else and not on your policy)[/QUOTE]
Yes was a UK based customer service agent, she was so very sarcastic and i think completely obvious by the way each customer service agent changes their attutude that they have heard the call, even though the call was noted initially as damaged, now they are stating it was not even recorded.
I just dont believe a word they are saying anymoreTotal won so far.......................£0 - but hopeful!:)Bank charges reclaimed:£800.00 - Alliance & Leicester :T£2300.00 - Nationwide :T0 -
I have been with DL for 20 years, and have always found their claims service excellent.
I can only agree that they interpreted what you asked as to be making a claim against the third party and not a claim under your own policy, normally the car is in within days.
However if you believe you did ask the right questions, then you will have to follow the route outlined above, if you don't accept the £200.
I CAN understand the joke about not being covered taking into accout personal injury claim and the deer by the way...
Using their garage is normally the easiest way too.
There would be no need for DL to lie about the calls, (dragging this out even further) sounds like she found one call but not the other and the timing (8 minutes) has come from your written complaint.0 -
When I mentioned I laughed as I thought she was joking, she wasnt. There was no joke, just a sarcastic comment about deers not being able to take out their own policies.
I have never refused to use their garage. They stated I was not covered.
I took the car for an inspection at Balgores in Romford and the quote came in at £1900. DL refused to use this garage as the DL inspector didnt get on with them.
I never mentioned the second call, the lady today told me about the second call 8 minutes after the first. I'd actually forgotten all about it until she mentioned it.Total won so far.......................£0 - but hopeful!:)Bank charges reclaimed:£800.00 - Alliance & Leicester :T£2300.00 - Nationwide :T0 -
Follow their complaints procedure and formally refer to the FOS if you still aren't happy.
I think I'd be inclined to invest £10 on a DPA subject access request before doing anything else. That will give you everything they have on your file.0 -
That is a fantastic idea, thank you!
I will contact DL tomorrow and arrange a data protection act subject access request.Total won so far.......................£0 - but hopeful!:)Bank charges reclaimed:£800.00 - Alliance & Leicester :T£2300.00 - Nationwide :T0 -
and I'd be inclined to do everything in writing from now on and keep it simple and to the point..0
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As above in writing unless you can record the phone call. I have an app on my Android phone that records calls now.
What have they admitted to being wrong? Claiming the finance for your car would be a no go i think. You would be paying that anyway. When the cars repaired you will be in the same position had they repaired it at the time.
Now the issue with buying the 2nd car. This gets tricky. Would they have supplied you with a car at the time? Is this included in your policy?
Sell the car when yours is fixed and then claim the loss between buy prices and sale price?
Why are you paying insurance on a car you dont use?
Probably lots of other things that will come to me later.Censorship Reigns Supreme in Troll City...0
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