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Really bad insurance customer service
Dazedandconfused
Posts: 473 Forumite
My dad had a stroke last year but it has only recently been diagnosed as a stroke. It presented as temporary vision loss - the GP gave him migraine medication. So he didn't stop driving apart from for the 2 days when he was affected by the "migraine"
Anyway it wasn't until this year when he had a routine eye test that his optician picked up he had changes in his vision with some visual loss in the bottom quadrant of one of his eyes. He was referred to the eye hospital and several tests and months later and he was diagnosed with a stroke.
His doctor said he needed to notify the DVLA which he did as soon as he was told he should. The DVLA requested documentation from his GP and the hospital and then sent him for a vision test for fields of vision at their nominated opticians. He received a letter on Friday from the DVLA to say they were happy and he is fine to continue to drive.
He rang his insurance about it on Saturday (he was too late opening the letter and lines had closed Friday or he would have rung same day) as he wasn't sure if he needed to let them know. They said it was absolutely fine and that as he had an ok for the DVLA he didn't even need to tell them.
Last night late he looked at his bank account online only to find they have returned his car insurance premium to his bank account. I have checked online and his car isn't insured. I think it's absolutely outrageous, they have cancelled his policy and he hasn't even received a letter about it less let alone an explanation but I'm assuming it's linked to the call on Saturday. The T&C of the policy say any cancellation should have 7 days notice.
What if he had driven and had an accident and been uninsured!!
Or been stopped by the police. He is going to be late for work today because he can't drive until he gets this sorted. What horrendous customer service!!!
Anyway it wasn't until this year when he had a routine eye test that his optician picked up he had changes in his vision with some visual loss in the bottom quadrant of one of his eyes. He was referred to the eye hospital and several tests and months later and he was diagnosed with a stroke.
His doctor said he needed to notify the DVLA which he did as soon as he was told he should. The DVLA requested documentation from his GP and the hospital and then sent him for a vision test for fields of vision at their nominated opticians. He received a letter on Friday from the DVLA to say they were happy and he is fine to continue to drive.
He rang his insurance about it on Saturday (he was too late opening the letter and lines had closed Friday or he would have rung same day) as he wasn't sure if he needed to let them know. They said it was absolutely fine and that as he had an ok for the DVLA he didn't even need to tell them.
Last night late he looked at his bank account online only to find they have returned his car insurance premium to his bank account. I have checked online and his car isn't insured. I think it's absolutely outrageous, they have cancelled his policy and he hasn't even received a letter about it less let alone an explanation but I'm assuming it's linked to the call on Saturday. The T&C of the policy say any cancellation should have 7 days notice.
What if he had driven and had an accident and been uninsured!!
Or been stopped by the police. He is going to be late for work today because he can't drive until he gets this sorted. What horrendous customer service!!!
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Comments
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Dazedandconfused wrote: »My dad had a stroke last year but it has only recently been diagnosed as a stroke. It presented as temporary vision loss - the GP gave him migraine medication. So he didn't stop driving apart from for the 2 days when he was affected by the "migraine"
Anyway it wasn't until this year when he had a routine eye test that his optician picked up he had changes in his vision with some visual loss in the bottom quadrant of one of his eyes. He was referred to the eye hospital and several tests and months later and he was diagnosed with a stroke.
His doctor said he needed to notify the DVLA which he did as soon as he was told he should. The DVLA requested documentation from his GP and the hospital and then sent him for a vision test for fields of vision at their nominated opticians. He received a letter on Friday from the DVLA to say they were happy and he is fine to continue to drive.
He rang his insurance about it on Saturday (he was too late opening the letter and lines had closed Friday or he would have rung same day) as he wasn't sure if he needed to let them know. They said it was absolutely fine and that as he had an ok for the DVLA he didn't even need to tell them.
Last night late he looked at his bank account online only to find they have returned his car insurance premium to his bank account. I have checked online and his car isn't insured. I think it's absolutely outrageous, they have cancelled his policy and he hasn't even received a letter about it less let alone an explanation but I'm assuming it's linked to the call on Saturday. The T&C of the policy say any cancellation should have 7 days notice.
What if he had driven and had an accident and been uninsured!!
Or been stopped by the police. He is going to be late for work today because he can't drive until he gets this sorted. What horrendous customer service!!!
Well has he phoned them and asked what is going on? If he had been in an accident he'd probably sue the insurance company for breach of contract.
As you are right they must give reasonable notice of cancellation.0 -
Well has he phoned them and asked what is going on? If he had been in an accident he'd probably sue the insurance company for breach of contract.
As you are right they must give reasonable notice of cancellation.
He can't yet their phone lines dont open til 8. He will be polite but I wouldn't want to be the person on the other end of the phone he's not a happy bunny.0 -
Dazedandconfused wrote: »He can't yet their phone lines dont open til 8. He will be polite but I wouldn't want to be the person on the other end of the phone he's not a happy bunny.
Well Ye I wouldn't be either, just the customer service might turn out to be brilliant and this an error0 -
How can it be "horrendous customer service" if he hasn't even spoken to them about it yet!Dazedandconfused wrote: »What horrendous customer service!!!
All it might turn out to be is a simple mistake which they'll easily rectify.0 -
It sounds like a simple error given they said everything was fine.
Unfortunately even the best companies in the world occasionally make mistakes. A much better judge of a company is how they deal with the matter when the mistake is highlighted.0 -
How can it be "horrendous customer service" if he hasn't even spoken to them about it yet!
All it might turn out to be is a simple mistake which they'll easily rectify.
Because they had cancelled his policy without notice. It's hardly good service is it. If he had an accident he would have been an uninsured driver.
It appears they had marked on his policy that his wife called on Saturday and told them he was deceased. So they had cancelled his policy. So some poor widow is probably waiting for the cancellation from the insurance money as I would think they must have mixed up two calls. They don't seem to know how it happened which is worrying. He is now back in the land of the living on their systems and has insurance again after spending a lot of the morning on the phone.0 -
So after contacting them they realised their mistake and rectified it promptly. So whilst a mistake was made, yes but not "really bad insurance customer service" after all was it.0
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Dazedandconfused wrote: »Because they had cancelled his policy without notice. It's hardly good service is it. If he had an accident he would have been an uninsured driver.
It appears they had marked on his policy that his wife called on Saturday and told them he was deceased. So they had cancelled his policy. So some poor widow is probably waiting for the cancellation from the insurance money as I would think they must have mixed up two calls. They don't seem to know how it happened which is worrying. He is now back in the land of the living on their systems and has insurance again after spending a lot of the morning on the phone.
1: if he had an accident they would be liable to pay all costs
2: no I doubt two calls got mixed up, but rather the call handler entered the wrong details. It's now been rectified - with one call
I'd say that's pretty good0
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