Kept on hold for an eternity. Is there anything I can do?

Fenners1984

Hello, I've no idea if I'm putting this in the right place but here goes:

I called my car insurance company last night in order to correct the start date of the policy and it took a thirty minute call to make this amendment. Of those thirty minutes, I was kept on hold for twenty or more while the call handler reworked my policy into a new one, which came out at a higher price than the quote I had in front of me. I then had the handler work the quote I had into the policy.
Not once did the handler come back to me in the full 15 minutes she vanished to reassure me that she was working on the quote and given I was calling on a mobile, I was being charged for the call at 41p per minute. My home phone battery would have died mid-call had I used it, hence the mobile use.
Notwithstanding the fact that there is another potential issue with the policy which I will be keeping an eye on in due course...

My question is: Is it worth contacting the insurance company to complain about the 'on hold' time? It has probably cost me more to call them to correct the mistake in the policy they sent me than it would have by switching to them!

tomtontom

Get a new home phone. The charge should last hours, not fifteen minutes!

Fenners1984

tomtontom wrote: »

Get a new home phone. The charge should last hours, not fifteen minutes!

Yes of course - on the list of jobs to do but at present not especially helpful...

Bantex_2

Thats what you get for going for the cheapest. Companies need to shave the costs somewhere. Comparison sites have had their downsides.

InsideInsurance

Bantex wrote: »

Thats what you get for going for the cheapest. Companies need to shave the costs somewhere. Comparison sites have had their downsides.

To be fair, the OP says the majority of the on hold time was whilst the operator was trying to actually action their request and not a case of understaffed call centre having people on hold for ages to speak to someone.

The fact you have had to use your mobile that doesnt include the insurers numbers in your inclusive minutes because your home phone's defective isnt really the fault of the insurers. 20 minutes to change the inception date of a policy because you made a mistake when doing the quote does feel a little long but inception date isnt something that most would forsee changing often and so does tend to be fairly hardcoded.

If you feel aggrieved then follow the complaints process outlined in your policybook but I wouldnt expect much back other than a basic apology

bod1467

https://www.saynoto0870.com for finding geographic numbers (which would likely be inclusive with your mobile plan). There is also an Android app for this, and probably also for Apple.