The Great Hastings Direct Rip Off!

roonaldo

Why shouldnt you be charged? You are altering your policy and making the amendments, it wasnt their idea you went out and changed cars and bought a private plate.

Also the customer service agent would be correct in trying to enforce the companies policies and your terms and conditions you agreed to.

You sound like a spoilt child to be honest.

twincamms

Thank you all for your responses.

Personally, I don't care if you agree or disagree, I have previously been insured with other companies and in twenty years of driving never encountered such charges.

So I've put these facts out there to warn others, use Hastings at your own peril, I dread to think what they'd be like if you had to make a claim, perish the thought!

Oh and for all you who mentioned it was my choice to change cars or assign a private plate to them, so what? Get a life! Don't be so jealous. Get a job, stop spending all your time on the interweb, get off your backsides and you too can have things instead of critisizing those who've worked hard to get them..................

Have a nice day!

mayfair1985

I really hope you never come through to my call center and start abusing my staff because they are doing the job they are being paid to do, as directed by the Insurer. I do hope that you didn't speak to the advisor in the same way your post infers. That's someones son / husband / brother, working hard to support themselves in a job that they probably hate, that's most likely paid at minimum wage, which is not made any easier when dealing with nasty people who don't read the terms and conditions and then kick off when they are enforced.

Thank you for bringing it to everyones attention. Hopefully it will mean less horrible attitudes, like yours, to deal with when the Hastings Direct 'front line' staff are just doing the job they are paid to do.

twincamms

mayfair1985 wrote: »

I really hope you never come through to my call center and start abusing my staff because they are doing the job they are being paid to do, as directed by the Insurer. I do hope that you didn't speak to the advisor in the same way your post infers. That's someones son / husband / brother, working hard to support themselves in a job that they probably hate, that's most likely paid at minimum wage, which is not made any easier when dealing with nasty people who don't read the terms and conditions and then kick off when they are enforced.

Thank you for bringing it to everyones attention. Hopefully it will mean less horrible attitudes, like yours, to deal with when the Hastings Direct 'front line' staff are just doing the job they are paid to do.

If they don't like their jobs then they can move on, perhaps they should have tried harder at school?

I do sympathise for them though, you've answered your own queries, it's not the irate customer you should be castigating, it's the big, powerful, extortionate corporates who put these 'call centres' together, employ teenagers who are thinking about their next game on X Box as opposed to work or good customer service, pay them minimum wage and treat them like excrement.

But then I guess you fully support that, flog 'your' staff and get your bonus?

Thank you for briniging that to our attention.

mayfair1985

Bonus? That's a good one.....

My staff provide good service, even to people who shout at them for things that are beyond their control, and whilst I would love to pay them more, who's going to foot the bill for it. Isn't that the whole issue that you have? Paying that admin fee for the staffs time? If everyone on the phone was able to alter terms and conditions, and waiver fees that you believe to be unfair, they would all be on Underwriter wages, and your fee would suddenly jump from £35 to £90.

And not that it matters - my average team age is 26 so best not to judge.

dacouch

mayfair1985 wrote: »

Bonus? That's a good one.....

My staff provide good service, even to people who shout at them for things that are beyond their control, and whilst I would love to pay them more, who's going to foot the bill for it. Isn't that the whole issue that you have? Paying that admin fee for the staffs time? If everyone on the phone was able to alter terms and conditions, and waiver fees that you believe to be unfair, they would all be on Underwriter wages, and your fee would suddenly jump from £35 to £90.

And not that it matters - my average team age is 26 so best not to judge.

and no doubt a polite and friendly customer who queries a charge is more likely to be given the benefit of doubt or some rule bending by your staff than someone who is rude to them

twincamms

mayfair1985 wrote: »

Bonus? That's a good one.....

My staff provide good service, even to people who shout at them for things that are beyond their control, and whilst I would love to pay them more, who's going to foot the bill for it.

Same quote again. My staff. Do you mean your colleagues? Or perhaps you own the company, that would make them your staff.

It's a little condescending to call them 'my staff', perhaps one has visions of self importance?

And for the record, I am always polite in my approach to call centre employees as I know they're job is thankless and somewhat frustrating.

I only become agitated and rude when they are clearly unhappy in their jobs, don't care about customer service and adopt a 'computer says no' approach, which is most of the time, that's if I get connected to a UK call centre and the operator can speak English of course....................

System

I have found them to be very reasonable , when we moved last year we had two policies to change having read the T &C i expected to pay 2 x £35 but because we were doing them both at the same time we were only charged once.
Maybe had the car change and number plate change happened at the same time you would have been charged only once.

GingerBob_3

trukdiver wrote: »

How do you expect them to pay for the infrastructure, processing costs, software etc? - or do you think software is free?

They pay for the infrastructure, staffing and everything else by their core business, not by routine administrative work. Policy changes are effected instantly and cost the company virtually nothing. The vast majority of staff would be employed even if no one changed anything. They are a fixed cost. These scammers have spotted an opportunity and are exploiting it. Since when the hell does it cost £35 for an instantaneous update?

Don't forget, insurance companies are the lowest of the low. They are cavalier with the data they hold about you, they generally make things difficult, and they overcharge you for basic admin. And, if they can wriggle out of paying a claim they'll do so. Thoroughly objectionable organisations, the lot of them.

TSx

GingerBob wrote: »

They pay for the infrastructure, staffing and everything else by their core business, not by routine administrative work. Policy changes are effected instantly and cost the company virtually nothing. The vast majority of staff would be employed even if no one changed anything. They are a fixed cost. These scammers have spotted an opportunity and are exploiting it. Since when the hell does it cost £35 for an instantaneous update?

If there was no administration, they could probably half their staff - their core business is selling insurance (as a broker) - every customer service person they hire to deal with admin is a drain on resources. They either have a low premium but charge their customers who want to use the call centre, or they have a higher premium and don't charge. Guess which model they're going to use to appear higher on comparison sites?

The company I work for is primarily broker-led business, but we do have some direct business, we don't charge for cancellations or amendments - however you'll find that most of those policyholders are paying double the premium that they would on a comparison site.