Car hire excess - ?rip off?

hughrober

Went to Greece in May, with well known travel company and hired a car through them. Being a good MSE follower, I arranged my own insurance excess with a company I thought I had used before. Had a minor conflict with a roadside pole [due to local driver showing full beam lights at night, needing avoiding action]. Local car agent swapped cars no problem, gave me an invoice for small amount of damage. On return home, sent off by post relevant paperwork to claim excess - sent to the UK address shown on their website.

Now the fun starts!  I was contacted by someone asking why had I sent this claim to them by post, and not online? Sadly, I had omitted to include one necessary item, so I re-submitted all the paperwork.

Absolutely nothing happened for several weeks ... subsequent telephone calls to the company suggested that their UK operation appears to be nothing more than a girl with a phone! Their main location is somewhere in deepest Europe! They reply to emails, usually saying that they're very busy and will try to respond 'within 5 days'.

I re-submitted my claim electronically and received a similar template reply.

I have now (mid-August) been trying to get a resolution to my claim without any success, but I'm blowed if I'm going to let it drop.

The XS Ins outfit is NOT the one I had used before, but presents itself as a look-alike. I believe they may be conning others in the hope of fleecing them.

carhireexcessclaims@defendinsurance.co.uk

eskbanker

If your "rip-off" point is that you're asserting one company to be trying to imitate another, leading you to pick the wrong one, then why not identify the two sites that you feel are similar (i.e. not just an email address of one)?  Or were you using "rip-off" to summarise a poor customer service experience?

Bonhomie

I'm guessing the original is https://www.carhireexcess.co.uk  But, I think the OP is mistaken in thinking that they 'picked the wrong one'. Defend Insurance Group in the Czech Republic are the latest Claims Admin for Car Hire Excess UK(since 2020)
There has been some 'consolidation' within the industry; owners and underwriters may change and companies that were formerly exemplary can suffer from teething problems in the transition. 
I am also reviewing my insurance products purchased for these changes. If you don't, it might come as quite a shock when you try to claim.