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One Call Insurance!!!?? Help please.
GTGAMMON
Posts: 1 Newbie
On the 1st November 2017 we renewed our Insurance Policy with One Call Insurance for our vehicle, Citroen Picasso EX10 OAU, policy number 04315009 for the second consecutive year.
Shortly afterwards our son’s car, a Volvo Estate had the gearbox break. He needed a car quickly so we passed on our Insured Citroen to him. We bought a Jaguar S-Type, SM04 VVW and I told my son to insure the Citroen, which he duly proceeded to do, and I sent an Email to One Call Insurance telling them to amend our insurance to the new car, the Jaguar. I looked back at the numerous Emails I had received from One Call Insurance and informed them of the changes. I sent the Email on 6th November 2017 at 15.15. I have the copy of this Email. This was all a rush as we were going away on holiday. I had no reason to believe the Email had not gone through, such as “No reply Email.” When we returned from holiday I had no reason or indication to think that the details I had sent had not been acknowledged. I opened my Emails only to find loads of promotional Emails from One Call Insurance for Christmas competitions.
I have several classic cars that are on a group policy with Hagerty Insurance, on Friday 12th January 2018 I Emailed them to tell them that I needed a change of car on that policy as I was going to Rayleigh to collect a Jaguar at 10.30am on Saturday 13th January 2018 at 10.30am. My wife and I went down to collect the car in our Jaguar S-Type, SM04 VVW. On Sunday 14th we returned, me driving the Jaguar I had just collected with my wife following behind in the Jaguar S-Type, SM04 VVW. On the A120 near Stansted Airport the Jaguar I was driving broke down. Unfortunately that stretch of road has no hard shoulder. I got out of the car I was driving went back to my wife in her car and positioned it squarely on the inside lane a 100 yards before my broken down car with the hazard lights on. I tried for some length of time to find out why the car I was driving had stopped. After some length of time I believed it to be the fuel pump. We immediately phoned the AA and reported the breakdown, stating it was in a dangerous position. While we stood at the side of the road the battery went flat on the Jaguar S-Type, SM04 VVW. It is dark blue and could hardy be seen. Cars were going by at an alarming speed so I shouted to my wife to phone the Police immediately as I ran 800 yards up the road trying my best to wave cars over and alert them to what was ahead. Brakes were squealing as cars still tried to pass our broken down cars 2 abreast. Eventually a Police car arrived put on its Blue lights and closed the carriageway whilst we pushed the first broken down car on to the grass and up the bank, then proceeded to attach a towing eye to the Jaguar S-Type, SM04VVW because the battery had gone flat, and the Police car towed us down to the off road at the roundabout at Stansted Airport. When the officer, P.C. Christopher Holland got out of his car he informed us that the Jaguar S-Type, SM04 VVW was not insured, asked us to provide details, which we could not do, and then cautioned my wife for driving a car without insurance, saying he needed the keys to the car, SM04 VVW as it would be impounded.
Eventually a breakdown vehicle arrived for the car I had been driving, we jumped in and went and collected the broken down car I was driving. AA relay took 4 changes of recovery vehicle to get us home to Fulletby, LN9 6JY. A fifth breakdown vehicle was involved, but only to tell us he could not take the car we were in, too heavy. We arrived home at 2.45am on Monday 15th after the incident had been reported at 5.30pm on Sunday. It took us over 9 hours to get home, a journey of 2 hours 20 minutes. We have been with the AA for 21 years!
I immediately went on to the computer to find the Email I had sent to One Call Insurance to show my notification of vehicle changes. I called them at 8am Monday 15th and they told me the Email I had sent the details to was purely a promotional Email site and that they did not have any such details. Because we were told the vehicle compound fees were £150 and £20 a day after the first 24 hours I asked One Call Insurance to change the cover of the policy we had to the Jaguar S-Type, SM04 VVW with immediate effect so we could go and collect it. They said that the Insurers we were with would not do that because the car was in a Police compound. I immediately Emailed P.C. Christopher Holland to inform him of all the information we had been given. He did not start his shift until 2pm on Monday and did not reply to us until 2.29pm by which time it was too late to go and collect the car. We had to find an Insurance Company that would insure the Jaguar S-Type, SM04 VVW for 30 days at a cost of £295, Adrian Flux, so as to go and collect our car. This meant it was collected on the Tuesday and when we went to pay for it they charged us £150 and an additional £40 for 2 days storage.
One Call Insurance stated that the Email address I had informed them of the changes of vehicle on was purely a promotional Email address. I asked them why then did it not come up as a “No reply Email?” They could not give me a satisfactory answer, just that vehicle changes cannot be made online, that it should have been by phone or online chat. I tax vehicles online, I change vehicles on my Hagerty Insurance with the classic cars I own, I pay for the Dartford Toll online, and the list is endless………..
When I sent details of a change of vehicle to them at an Email address that has sent me countless contacts for Holiday Insurance, Home Insurance, Christmas promotion details it has not informed me, it never flagged as a “No reply Email.”
Our costs so far have been 6 points on my wife’s licence, £300 fine, £190 compound charges, £295 Adrian Flus insurance and receipts for fuel that are in excess of £200, not to mention the grief and aggravation.
I am 61, my wife is 56, we have never avoided insurance or any other associated costs, vehicle tax, etc. It was us who called the Police! I had insured the car I collected on the Saturday 13th from 10.30am. We simply do not risk such things. Can you please assist us with what has occurred with One Call Insurance? Everyone we speak to states how everything we do nowadays is online. Had the original Email I sent them come up as “No reply Email” this would never have happened.
My son duly insured the Citroen Picasso that was on our policy, is nothing flagged up to say that the vehicle is being insured with some one else? His policy along with dates can be shown in evidence. Does this show a shortfall in what could be fraudulent double insurance claims?
My wife has just noticed a difference in an Email we have had since this has been brought up with One Call Insurance. The first one attached is the Email I replied to for the change of details on my car. One, which we have since been told, is purely a Marketing Email. The second is an Email that has come to us since our complaint about the details having not been recorded. The stark difference is the first has an Email of: OneCallInsurance@ocinsurance.co.uk no reference to “do not reply”. The second now has an Email of: noreply@onecalldirect.co.uk in addition to which is printed “One Call Insurance-Please Do Not Reply To This Email” in large bold letters. It even gives an Email address of: noreply@onecalldirect.co.uk below. Why attach an Email address that clearly states no reply. We have highlighted a fault, which they are clearly trying to rectify since we have informed them of our case! These I shall attach as items 1 and 2 respectively.
This whole scenario needs to be investigated, have other people fallen foul of replying to their Marketing Email address? And if so, are there other vehicles out there being used without insurance, in the same belief as we were?
I have too many copies of Emails of where I have been able to notify changes simply by Email, be they Car Tax, other Insurers, Personal Income Tax, Toll Charges…….the list is endless. I do have the hard copies of these and will use them should this have to come to court.
My conclusion to this matter, along with many others I have spoken with, is that One Call Insurance has been using an Email address, which gives no indication that it is a no reply service!
The value of the Citroen insured on the policy is £3,962 the value of the Jaguar we bought was only £1,800 we therefore had no cause to expect notification of any financial change to our policy.
Ammendment: In addition to costs listed above we have been advised to seek recompense for the 2 days my wife had to take as annual leave whilst we dealt with the above.
I also wish to state that the outcome we are looking for is a letter from One Call Insurance stating that due to the OneCallInsurance@ocinsurance.co.uk not being recorded as a “No Reply Email” or brought up as MAILER-DAEMON@yahoo.com we made a genuine assumption that our car was insured. The Police therefore require a letter of indemnity as shown in the communication from P.C. Christopher Holland, so as to avoid the 6 points on my wife’s licence.
(From P.C. Holland)
Hello Wilma,
I have just come on duty at 1400hrs, hence the delay in responding. I can see the email that you attached confirming that you requested the change of the insurance, and I understand the position that you have been put in. Unfortunately at this stage the offence of driving without insurance still stands, as it appears the insurance company did not acknowledge of update your policy. What you will need to do is contact your insurance company and request a letter of indemnity from them which will confirm that you were insured at the time of being dealt with yesterday. If I receive this letter then I will be able to quash the ticket, until this is received the ticket process will continue and you will receive some paperwork through from us in due course, ultimately this letter of indemnity can be produced at court if the offence is disputed.
Thanks
Chris HOLLAND
Stanway Road Policing Unit
In addition to this we require full recompense of all associated costs, as listed below:
£300 Fine
£190 Compound fees
£295 Adrian Flux 30 day insurance cover
£140 As part fuel expenses. Receipts are available for in excess of £200 fuel,
we accept not all was used on this event.
£150 Loss of earnings for 2 days taken as annual leave to deal with the matter.
This is purely my wife’s loss. No figure added for my time lost, or phone calls or correspondence.
£1,075 Total expenses incurred.
This figure will suffice if an early conclusion can be sought, however the amount will be larger should this have to go the route of litigation, as it has caused far more aggravation and additional costs than outlined in the above. The subsequent visit to the Police Station in Harlow, Essex to show documents and collection of the vehicle in the Police compound, Boyton Cross, Harlow can be verified by the attached receipt, with time and mileage shown by Google Maps with associated post codes, which again do not account for the nightmare journey with extensive roadwork’s on the A14. We are prepared for this to go to Court if demeaned nesseccary.
I attach this as an Email to all parties concerned. And await a response. Receipts available along with other hard copies of communications sent.
P.C.Holland has given us 2 incorrect pieces of information, firstly the compound fee is £150 for the first 24 hours and £20 a day thereafter, incorrect; secondly that the fine would be £200, a letter now states that to be £300.
We have been told by One Call Insurance that our policy is now cancelled, we did not request this. It was renewed as of 1st November 2017 at a cost of £255, it has been cancelled on 23rd January 2018 and we have been refunded £94.21 meaning they have charged us £160.79 for less than 3 months insurance, which we never cancelled!
We taxed the Jaguar, SM04 VVW as of 1st December 2017 online. I now know that DVLA DO NOT check if a vehicle is insured. M.I.B. is the department that deals with that, but why were we not informed by them that our vehicle was not insured between December 2017 and this event that took place on 14th January 2018? How long do the Government Departments let people drive vehicles with no insurance before they contact them?
Shortly afterwards our son’s car, a Volvo Estate had the gearbox break. He needed a car quickly so we passed on our Insured Citroen to him. We bought a Jaguar S-Type, SM04 VVW and I told my son to insure the Citroen, which he duly proceeded to do, and I sent an Email to One Call Insurance telling them to amend our insurance to the new car, the Jaguar. I looked back at the numerous Emails I had received from One Call Insurance and informed them of the changes. I sent the Email on 6th November 2017 at 15.15. I have the copy of this Email. This was all a rush as we were going away on holiday. I had no reason to believe the Email had not gone through, such as “No reply Email.” When we returned from holiday I had no reason or indication to think that the details I had sent had not been acknowledged. I opened my Emails only to find loads of promotional Emails from One Call Insurance for Christmas competitions.
I have several classic cars that are on a group policy with Hagerty Insurance, on Friday 12th January 2018 I Emailed them to tell them that I needed a change of car on that policy as I was going to Rayleigh to collect a Jaguar at 10.30am on Saturday 13th January 2018 at 10.30am. My wife and I went down to collect the car in our Jaguar S-Type, SM04 VVW. On Sunday 14th we returned, me driving the Jaguar I had just collected with my wife following behind in the Jaguar S-Type, SM04 VVW. On the A120 near Stansted Airport the Jaguar I was driving broke down. Unfortunately that stretch of road has no hard shoulder. I got out of the car I was driving went back to my wife in her car and positioned it squarely on the inside lane a 100 yards before my broken down car with the hazard lights on. I tried for some length of time to find out why the car I was driving had stopped. After some length of time I believed it to be the fuel pump. We immediately phoned the AA and reported the breakdown, stating it was in a dangerous position. While we stood at the side of the road the battery went flat on the Jaguar S-Type, SM04 VVW. It is dark blue and could hardy be seen. Cars were going by at an alarming speed so I shouted to my wife to phone the Police immediately as I ran 800 yards up the road trying my best to wave cars over and alert them to what was ahead. Brakes were squealing as cars still tried to pass our broken down cars 2 abreast. Eventually a Police car arrived put on its Blue lights and closed the carriageway whilst we pushed the first broken down car on to the grass and up the bank, then proceeded to attach a towing eye to the Jaguar S-Type, SM04VVW because the battery had gone flat, and the Police car towed us down to the off road at the roundabout at Stansted Airport. When the officer, P.C. Christopher Holland got out of his car he informed us that the Jaguar S-Type, SM04 VVW was not insured, asked us to provide details, which we could not do, and then cautioned my wife for driving a car without insurance, saying he needed the keys to the car, SM04 VVW as it would be impounded.
Eventually a breakdown vehicle arrived for the car I had been driving, we jumped in and went and collected the broken down car I was driving. AA relay took 4 changes of recovery vehicle to get us home to Fulletby, LN9 6JY. A fifth breakdown vehicle was involved, but only to tell us he could not take the car we were in, too heavy. We arrived home at 2.45am on Monday 15th after the incident had been reported at 5.30pm on Sunday. It took us over 9 hours to get home, a journey of 2 hours 20 minutes. We have been with the AA for 21 years!
I immediately went on to the computer to find the Email I had sent to One Call Insurance to show my notification of vehicle changes. I called them at 8am Monday 15th and they told me the Email I had sent the details to was purely a promotional Email site and that they did not have any such details. Because we were told the vehicle compound fees were £150 and £20 a day after the first 24 hours I asked One Call Insurance to change the cover of the policy we had to the Jaguar S-Type, SM04 VVW with immediate effect so we could go and collect it. They said that the Insurers we were with would not do that because the car was in a Police compound. I immediately Emailed P.C. Christopher Holland to inform him of all the information we had been given. He did not start his shift until 2pm on Monday and did not reply to us until 2.29pm by which time it was too late to go and collect the car. We had to find an Insurance Company that would insure the Jaguar S-Type, SM04 VVW for 30 days at a cost of £295, Adrian Flux, so as to go and collect our car. This meant it was collected on the Tuesday and when we went to pay for it they charged us £150 and an additional £40 for 2 days storage.
One Call Insurance stated that the Email address I had informed them of the changes of vehicle on was purely a promotional Email address. I asked them why then did it not come up as a “No reply Email?” They could not give me a satisfactory answer, just that vehicle changes cannot be made online, that it should have been by phone or online chat. I tax vehicles online, I change vehicles on my Hagerty Insurance with the classic cars I own, I pay for the Dartford Toll online, and the list is endless………..
When I sent details of a change of vehicle to them at an Email address that has sent me countless contacts for Holiday Insurance, Home Insurance, Christmas promotion details it has not informed me, it never flagged as a “No reply Email.”
Our costs so far have been 6 points on my wife’s licence, £300 fine, £190 compound charges, £295 Adrian Flus insurance and receipts for fuel that are in excess of £200, not to mention the grief and aggravation.
I am 61, my wife is 56, we have never avoided insurance or any other associated costs, vehicle tax, etc. It was us who called the Police! I had insured the car I collected on the Saturday 13th from 10.30am. We simply do not risk such things. Can you please assist us with what has occurred with One Call Insurance? Everyone we speak to states how everything we do nowadays is online. Had the original Email I sent them come up as “No reply Email” this would never have happened.
My son duly insured the Citroen Picasso that was on our policy, is nothing flagged up to say that the vehicle is being insured with some one else? His policy along with dates can be shown in evidence. Does this show a shortfall in what could be fraudulent double insurance claims?
My wife has just noticed a difference in an Email we have had since this has been brought up with One Call Insurance. The first one attached is the Email I replied to for the change of details on my car. One, which we have since been told, is purely a Marketing Email. The second is an Email that has come to us since our complaint about the details having not been recorded. The stark difference is the first has an Email of: OneCallInsurance@ocinsurance.co.uk no reference to “do not reply”. The second now has an Email of: noreply@onecalldirect.co.uk in addition to which is printed “One Call Insurance-Please Do Not Reply To This Email” in large bold letters. It even gives an Email address of: noreply@onecalldirect.co.uk below. Why attach an Email address that clearly states no reply. We have highlighted a fault, which they are clearly trying to rectify since we have informed them of our case! These I shall attach as items 1 and 2 respectively.
This whole scenario needs to be investigated, have other people fallen foul of replying to their Marketing Email address? And if so, are there other vehicles out there being used without insurance, in the same belief as we were?
I have too many copies of Emails of where I have been able to notify changes simply by Email, be they Car Tax, other Insurers, Personal Income Tax, Toll Charges…….the list is endless. I do have the hard copies of these and will use them should this have to come to court.
My conclusion to this matter, along with many others I have spoken with, is that One Call Insurance has been using an Email address, which gives no indication that it is a no reply service!
The value of the Citroen insured on the policy is £3,962 the value of the Jaguar we bought was only £1,800 we therefore had no cause to expect notification of any financial change to our policy.
Ammendment: In addition to costs listed above we have been advised to seek recompense for the 2 days my wife had to take as annual leave whilst we dealt with the above.
I also wish to state that the outcome we are looking for is a letter from One Call Insurance stating that due to the OneCallInsurance@ocinsurance.co.uk not being recorded as a “No Reply Email” or brought up as MAILER-DAEMON@yahoo.com we made a genuine assumption that our car was insured. The Police therefore require a letter of indemnity as shown in the communication from P.C. Christopher Holland, so as to avoid the 6 points on my wife’s licence.
(From P.C. Holland)
Hello Wilma,
I have just come on duty at 1400hrs, hence the delay in responding. I can see the email that you attached confirming that you requested the change of the insurance, and I understand the position that you have been put in. Unfortunately at this stage the offence of driving without insurance still stands, as it appears the insurance company did not acknowledge of update your policy. What you will need to do is contact your insurance company and request a letter of indemnity from them which will confirm that you were insured at the time of being dealt with yesterday. If I receive this letter then I will be able to quash the ticket, until this is received the ticket process will continue and you will receive some paperwork through from us in due course, ultimately this letter of indemnity can be produced at court if the offence is disputed.
Thanks
Chris HOLLAND
Stanway Road Policing Unit
In addition to this we require full recompense of all associated costs, as listed below:
£300 Fine
£190 Compound fees
£295 Adrian Flux 30 day insurance cover
£140 As part fuel expenses. Receipts are available for in excess of £200 fuel,
we accept not all was used on this event.
£150 Loss of earnings for 2 days taken as annual leave to deal with the matter.
This is purely my wife’s loss. No figure added for my time lost, or phone calls or correspondence.
£1,075 Total expenses incurred.
This figure will suffice if an early conclusion can be sought, however the amount will be larger should this have to go the route of litigation, as it has caused far more aggravation and additional costs than outlined in the above. The subsequent visit to the Police Station in Harlow, Essex to show documents and collection of the vehicle in the Police compound, Boyton Cross, Harlow can be verified by the attached receipt, with time and mileage shown by Google Maps with associated post codes, which again do not account for the nightmare journey with extensive roadwork’s on the A14. We are prepared for this to go to Court if demeaned nesseccary.
I attach this as an Email to all parties concerned. And await a response. Receipts available along with other hard copies of communications sent.
P.C.Holland has given us 2 incorrect pieces of information, firstly the compound fee is £150 for the first 24 hours and £20 a day thereafter, incorrect; secondly that the fine would be £200, a letter now states that to be £300.
We have been told by One Call Insurance that our policy is now cancelled, we did not request this. It was renewed as of 1st November 2017 at a cost of £255, it has been cancelled on 23rd January 2018 and we have been refunded £94.21 meaning they have charged us £160.79 for less than 3 months insurance, which we never cancelled!
We taxed the Jaguar, SM04 VVW as of 1st December 2017 online. I now know that DVLA DO NOT check if a vehicle is insured. M.I.B. is the department that deals with that, but why were we not informed by them that our vehicle was not insured between December 2017 and this event that took place on 14th January 2018? How long do the Government Departments let people drive vehicles with no insurance before they contact them?
Legal action against One Call Insurance? 11 votes
Success?
0%
No success?
63%
7 votes
Partial success?
9%
1 vote
One Call to be avoided at all cost?
27%
3 votes
0
Comments
-
One Call to be avoided at all cost?TL;DR
You need to work out how to summarise.0 -
Whenever you are unhappy with your insurer the route to go down is a complaint.
Their complaints procedure will be set out in the policy documents.
Then if you are unhappy with the reply or they ignore you for 8 weeks you can escalate to the FOS for their adjudication at no cost to you. If they side with the insurer you then have court action as your remaining option though that will involve you in costs only recoverable if you win. Get proper legal advice on your prospects of winning before embarking on that course!
Not a good idea to post all those details online (reg number,/ policeman personal details etc!!)
Having a cancelled policy on your record is bad news ( you must inform all your other insurers about this and disclose it to any new Insurers you approach for quotes for ever more)0 -
No success?Apologies if i did miss something as too be honest I nodded off for a few mins around the middle section of the post (at Precisely 9:04am E14 5LB)
But you said "I sent an email in a hurry then went on holiday,..."
Surely changing anything on your policy may incur some sort of admin fee/change of price etc, you can't just send and email and assume its all ok, surely you would have called them to confirm the update?
You may as well of just opened the window and tried shouting your request to them?0 -
Can't see you having much luck trying to blame One Call.
Even if you emailed a valid email address I'm sure you'll find in their terms of business a section which will tell you what to do in the event of a mid term adjustments and most insurers will instruct that you call them to make such amendments.
Never assume because it makes an !!! of U and MESave £12k in 2019 -0 -
Partial success?I've voted 'partial success' as it had no votes and I felt sorry for it.0
-
No success?I'm afraid I didn't read the whole post as it has far too much detail, most of which is irrelevant to your actual complaint.
But if I understand correctly you wanted to change the vehicle you were insuring, so you replied to an Email you'd received with some marketing info from. You didn't receive confirmation that they were willing to insure the new car (this is not a given)? You didn't receive the new price that you were expected to pay (a change of car would always result in a change of premium - up or down)? You didn't receive your new insurance certificate (legally speaking you are not insured until you get the new certificate - either physically or electronically)? You just assumed on the basis of an Email that you'd sent that all was sorted, and when it turned out not to be sorted it's OneCall's fault?
If so you have little to lose by making your complaint, but I'm afraid I don't rate your chances of success very highly.0
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