ING B&C Insurance + £50 M&S Voucher

Sideways

Being an ING saver, I recently got a flyer through the post from ING promoting their Buildings and Contents Insurance.

Coincidently my current policy (with LloydsTSB) is coming up for renewal, although I have made no claims on Lloyds to date they have decided to raise my premium by over 15%. This motivated me to give ING a ring and get a like-for-like quote, this came out quite reasonable, roughly 5% less than what I was paying Lloyds BEFORE the 15% increase they now want me to pay.

Also, ING are offering me a £50 M&S voucher if I take out their policy. :T

I have decided to dump Lloyds and go with ING, it seams a better deal and the £50 voucher will come in handy at Christmas! Besides, I think the 15% increase with Lloyds is just greedy.

Before I proceed with the change I wanted to know if any MSE members have had experience with ING Insurance, good or bad, have any of you taken up this current offer with ING?

Thanks

EmberJDIns

I'll tell you what ING Home Insurance is like: 100% like AXA Insurance.

Like supermarkets, banks, and large retailers, ING don't insure or administrate the Buildings & Contents Insurance they are offering. It's all about product branding and cross-selling.

You could have an insurance with X Bank, move at renewal date to Y Supermarket, but still be with the same Insurer, and even the same call centre.

In conclusion that don't insure or adminstrate, they just brand and promote the insurance product and take a slice of premium as profit.

Some might say that these profiteering companies add an unnecessary layer to the costing structure, and should let insurers and brokers who's business is insurance get on with it, but that would be cynical.

Sideways

EmberJDIns wrote: »

I'll tell you what ING Home Insurance is like: 100% like AXA Insurance.

Like supermarkets, banks, and large retailers, ING don't insure or administrate the Buildings & Contents Insurance they are offering. It's all about product branding and cross-selling.

You could have an insurance with X Bank, move at renewal date to Y Supermarket, but still be with the same Insurer, and even the same call centre.

In conclusion that don't insure or adminstrate, they just brand and promote the insurance product and take a slice of premium as profit.

Some might say that these profiteering companies add an unnecessary layer to the costing structure, and should let insurers and brokers who's business is insurance get on with it, but that would be cynical.

Thanks Ember

I was aware of this. Even if a shop-around does eventually lead me back to the same supplier but with a 20% reduction and £50 worth of vouchers thrown in, it can't be a bad thing, can it?

missionman

hello, I am in need of Building and contents insurance and tried ING. It was the best I have got yet. Is there any way I could get the £50 voucher ?!! Did you have a code, it did have a box for promotional codes. Thanks

EmberJDIns

Hi Sideways

If you look at insurance purely on price no, although this extra marketing and profit taking layer isn't adding any expertise to the insurance as a product.

MoscowFlyer

The problem that you've got is that you as a customer are purely looking at the price and the carrot that's being dangled in front of you, ie the £50 vouchers. If that's all you're concerned about then go for it, but if you need to make a claim or an adjustment and you're spending hours in a queue for an Indian call centre, just remember why you took the policy out in the first place.

All these offers of vouchers are great but at the end of the day, you should be taking out a policy purely based on what it provides, and the reason a lot of these companies get so much business is that they offer an incentive and people look at that rather than the policy itself.

Personally I have and always will use an independent broker, but unfortunately due to companies offering incentives like these they're all slowly going down the pan. I'd much rather speak to someone who actually cares about you and treats you as a customer, not just a number.

This is maybe going off on a tangent but I can't help but rant because I think it's a shame the day of the broker is slowly being phased out (I used to work for an IB some years back). It seems people are more than happy with crap customer service from India though these days.

Sideways

MoscowFlyer wrote: »

The problem that you've got is that you as a customer are purely looking at the price and the carrot that's being dangled in front of you, ie the £50 vouchers. If that's all you're concerned about then go for it, but if you need to make a claim or an adjustment and you're spending hours in a queue for an Indian call centre, just remember why you took the policy out in the first place.

All these offers of vouchers are great but at the end of the day, you should be taking out a policy purely based on what it provides, and the reason a lot of these companies get so much business is that they offer an incentive and people look at that rather than the policy itself.

Personally I have and always will use an independent broker, but unfortunately due to companies offering incentives like these they're all slowly going down the pan. I'd much rather speak to someone who actually cares about you and treats you as a customer, not just a number.

This is maybe going off on a tangent but I can't help but rant because I think it's a shame the day of the broker is slowly being phased out (I used to work for an IB some years back). It seems people are more than happy with crap customer service from India though these days.

I think you raise some good points Moscow. In my case, I did check the details carefully, I was getting a like-for-like quote, in fact, my new policy offers a little more. Saying that, I have no idea how good or bad their customer service is, nor did I know how poor my previous suppliers would have been because I had not made a claim.

I would be surprised if regular visitors to this site were not aware of the ‘you get what you pay for’ philosophy. Saying that, if you pop over to the Investment & Savings section you will find people who are delighted to move their savings around just to get an extra quarter percent on their savings.