Zurich

Trodney_Rotter

Hi - This is my first time on MMT forums, but I've just had a really bad experience with Zurich Insurance Company. Now I'm not sure if I've posted this accordingly, so sorry if this is the wrong place to rant.

My wife, who is our 'household money saver', decided to look into cutting our monthly outgoings and initially looked at our gas and electricity, which she managed to save us £48 per month and claim back around £40 in overpayments. I realise that this is an insurance thread, so I'll shut up about that.

Secondly she rang Zurich about our building and contents insurance, which we had £250k building, £40k of contents insurance, £16k Valuable limit, £2.5k individual item, £3k personal possessions, I wish! Zurich stated that they could reduce the monthly premium by reducing the cover to something more realistic, but they would need to gain authorisation from me, as the insurance policy was in my name. My wife agreed and then discussed it with me.

The next day she called back to accept the quote. she gave the advisor my date of birth and our postcode for the security questions, then confirmed my (our) home telephone number and proceeded with changing our insurance policy, expecting to be asked to put me on the phone to authorise this, as the policy was only in my name. The advisor read through the details and told her it was done.

I also wanted to complain about being given a substantially lower car insurance claim on confused.com from Zurich than I was currently paying Zurich.

So my wife put me on the 'phone and I asked 'very politely' to be put through to the advisors team leader. I explained what had happened and that they had broken the data protection act and I wasn't happy about it and the team leader explained that the advisor was very new and had made a mistake. I asked the team leader to put through to his manager, which he did. I was on hold for over an hour and as the clock struck 21:00, I was cut off. I called back and spoke, again very politely and calmly, to another advisor. She explained that the customer management team had now closed and she would arrange a call back tonight (20/06) at 19:00 and if she couldn't get me through to the customer management team, she would call me and update me. This didn't happen, so I called again and spoke to another advisor, and was told that the she had spoken with the customer management team and they weren't accepting any calls, because they were too busy.

I have requested another call tomorrow, but then again I doubt I will get one.

It made me realise that it was possible that my wife could have cancelled all of my insurance policies, without me knowing. Luckily, this wasn't her intention, but you have to think what if. If my wife and I had seperated and she was acting in vengance... She could have cancelled my insurances and gained my personal details.

In summary, my main rant is that any companies, however large or well recognised, only give a damn if you pay up, shut up and don't question them.

Thanks and any advice would be welcome.

gazza975526570

Im sorry but what exactly do you want them to do?

They have apologised and mistakes do happen. What did you want their TL and then Manager do for you other than apologise?

You havent lost out in any way and your data hasnt been compromised

Is your wife named in the policy? If so most insurers state in their DPA straplines that spouses can deal.

vivmagb

i too have had a bad experience with zurich and would not reccomend them to anyone, once they have got your money, customer service goes out of the window.

Trodney_Rotter wrote: »

Hi - This is my first time on MMT forums, but I've just had a really bad experience with Zurich Insurance Company. Now I'm not sure if I've posted this accordingly, so sorry if this is the wrong place to rant.

My wife, who is our 'household money saver', decided to look into cutting our monthly outgoings and initially looked at our gas and electricity, which she managed to save us £48 per month and claim back around £40 in overpayments. I realise that this is an insurance thread, so I'll shut up about that.

Secondly she rang Zurich about our building and contents insurance, which we had £250k building, £40k of contents insurance, £16k Valuable limit, £2.5k individual item, £3k personal possessions, I wish! Zurich stated that they could reduce the monthly premium by reducing the cover to something more realistic, but they would need to gain authorisation from me, as the insurance policy was in my name. My wife agreed and then discussed it with me.

The next day she called back to accept the quote. she gave the advisor my date of birth and our postcode for the security questions, then confirmed my (our) home telephone number and proceeded with changing our insurance policy, expecting to be asked to put me on the phone to authorise this, as the policy was only in my name. The advisor read through the details and told her it was done.

I also wanted to complain about being given a substantially lower car insurance claim on confused.com from Zurich than I was currently paying Zurich.

So my wife put me on the 'phone and I asked 'very politely' to be put through to the advisors team leader. I explained what had happened and that they had broken the data protection act and I wasn't happy about it and the team leader explained that the advisor was very new and had made a mistake. I asked the team leader to put through to his manager, which he did. I was on hold for over an hour and as the clock struck 21:00, I was cut off. I called back and spoke, again very politely and calmly, to another advisor. She explained that the customer management team had now closed and she would arrange a call back tonight (20/06) at 19:00 and if she couldn't get me through to the customer management team, she would call me and update me. This didn't happen, so I called again and spoke to another advisor, and was told that the she had spoken with the customer management team and they weren't accepting any calls, because they were too busy.

I have requested another call tomorrow, but then again I doubt I will get one.

It made me realise that it was possible that my wife could have cancelled all of my insurance policies, without me knowing. Luckily, this wasn't her intention, but you have to think what if. If my wife and I had seperated and she was acting in vengance... She could have cancelled my insurances and gained my personal details.

In summary, my main rant is that any companies, however large or well recognised, only give a damn if you pay up, shut up and don't question them.

Thanks and any advice would be welcome.