UK Assistance Anyone had dealings with them

dave_hazell

dave_hazell wrote: »

UK Assistance (Heywood Branch) are, I'm sorry to say, absolutely hopeless. A couple of years ago my car, a Freelander, was stolen and recovered. I was insured at the time by Direct Line and it went into UK Assistance directly from the police compound. There was no damage to the vehicle but as the keys were stolen the insurance company decided to have new locks fitted.
EIGHT AND A HALF WEEKS later I got the car back.

In March this year I was hit from behind by another car whilst I was stopped at a junction. The other driver admitted full liability and I agreed to go through his insurance company. Lloyds TSB, for the repair. Lo and behold my car went back to the same branch of UK Assistance for some minor bodywork repairs to the rear end & door.
3 weeks later I collected my car from UK Assistance, only to notice the next day that they had fitted the trim from a pre-2004 vehicle to my 54-plate Freelander, making it look like a "cut & shut". Finally, this Monday (2nd August) they collected my car and took it back in to have the correct parts fitted, and to look at the central locking that has been playing up ever since it came back from the repair in April.
They brought my car back to work in the afternoon (after taking it on a round trip of 87 miles) with the new trim hanging off from the rear door and only half the parts affixed claiming that again, they had been sent the wrong parts from Land Rover. They also claimed that the central locking was "a common fault on Land Rovers of this age" and, despite their three year guarantee on the new locks fitted in 2008, they would not do anything about it.
I have had a locksmith look at the rear door lock and he has confirmed that the lock barrel does not match the key. I can only assume that UK Assistance did not replace this barrel back in 2008 when they claimed (and charged) that they had done as the key that I now have is not capable of opening the door lock.

I have also since found out that the parts that have been used for the repair are not Land Rover genuine parts, they are cheap Chinese imports sourced from places such as e-bay (They also replaced my original vinyl rear wheel cover that was undamaged with a cheap & tacky fabric import that looks awful).

I feel that UK Assistance is in some way involved in a cartel-style scam with the Insurance companies whereby they are charging them for repairs that are not done and parts that are both incorrect and not genuine and the insurance companies are passing these costs back to their customers.

This needs further investigation and I am taking my case up with the local Trading Standards Office.

... quick update - I've now got Rochdale Trading Standards involved. They are looking at the whole matter of the removal (theft) of customers genuine undamaged car parts (and possible resale) and replacement with cheap knock off imports, whilst charging for unnecessary genuine parts, which in turn bumps up the Car Insurance Premiums for the ordinary motorist like you and me.

Anyone with any similar experiences might want to contact either myself or Peter Gallagher at Rochdale Trading Standards. ([EMAIL="peter.gallagher@rochdale.gov.uk"]peter.gallagher@rochdale.gov.uk[/EMAIL])

I'll keep the forum posted on developments !

peanuts966

I too am having problems with UK Assist, 3 years ago my car was insured by EGG and when i was involved in an accident the car went to uk assist for repair, it took them 9 weeks to repair, they even sent it to another garage at one point because they couldnt fix it, and they gave me a courtesy car without any tax on it. for the past 3 years i have spent over £1000, keeping my car on the road with various faults relating to the accident, trying to get anyone to help me and answer calls is impossible. 3 times i've called Egg and been told that i will get a call within the next 24 hours, the next 10-15 mins or whenever and i am still waiting. i'm sure my car should of been written off after the accident and i am at a loss as to what to do about it all? any advice guys?

Sagman

I have had a problem with them. I had a escape of water claims and they wanted to settle for £3,500. They have caused additional damage e.g. scrapped the ceilings in the rooms concerned, although the ceiling were not damaged. They have tried to find reasons for not paying the claim and pointed at other possible causes. The total costs is around £12,500 from the builders quotes. I reported the claim 15 months ago and it is still not settled.

I used a company called Rivnar Consulting (e-mail [EMAIL="consulting@rivnar.com"]consulting@rivnar.com[/EMAIL]) and they have helped me work through the claim. We are now pursuing the full amount through the Financial Ombudsman. The guy at Rivnar used to work for the insurer so knows what they are like. They are not your usual type of claims business and only work on certain cases.

It has taken a little longer than expected but UK Assistance have offered £7,000 today but, I am only willing to accept the full amount to get the work done.

Let's see what happens next.

scottiewods2

help ! whats going on been with direct line for years had 1 previous claim about five years ago all sorted within in 48 hours.who is uk assistance ? Got flooded and a week later I am living in a house with two ceilings missing bags of wet plaster everywere a garden full of sodden carpets mattress etc and not even a vist yet from uk assistance!!! Beware they do not return your calls answer your e-mails (why give you an e-mail contact address if you are not going to reply).
After reading the other comments on here , either they have taken on too much working for direct lne tesco etc or like others says they must be on a bonus for delays
Direct line you should hold your heads in shame !!!

filleighprint

I had a garage flood and a printing machine was damaged. I explained this to Direct Line who confirmed that it would be covered on my home policy (it was inherited and I have been a printer all my life). I told them the replacement value and was re-directed to UK Assistance. Their appointed assessor was very helpful. However, although he has tried to 'keep me in touch' with the claim, the final decision as far as if I am covered or not is with the 'underwritors'?
This has been going on for a while now and I think that there may be some corporate theme going on?. I have spoken to every dept. in Direct Line, only to be put on hold for ages and finally told that I shouldn't be calling them as my claim is being dealt with by ..........UK Assistance.!!

fying_pan_to_fire

i'm having a nightmare with Uk assistance. I was burgled 18 months ago. They caught the burglar and he's in prison. but, I still can't get Uk assistance to settle my claim. I've managed to get an interim payment after a year of effort, but they now aren't phoning, don't get back to me have asked me to search the net for costs of individual items and it seems just playing for time. I've tried to complain to my original insurers Tesco's, who have said it's nothing to do with them. I've tried to therefore complain to Uk assistance who said i can complain about my indiviual assessor but not the company. they have left me dealing with 4 replacement item companies, two of which have closed my case because UK assistnace haven't replied to their queries. I'm at a loss as to what to do- has anyone gone down the ombudsman path and does it get you anywhere?

malcolm_mcgregor

I have just been referred to UK Assistance by Tesco Home Insurance. I hope for better than the previous posts suggest. I'll let you know.

Derek_K

I'm currently dealing with a company called UK ASSISTANCE, and so far I'm not impressed – Here is the story so far.

I had an accident in my car just under two weeks ago. I phoned my insurer, DIRECT LINE, the following day. They put me in contact with their nominated garage, UK ASSIST, in CRAWLEY, on a Crawley telephone number. They said they'd tried to phone me but couldn't contact me. On checking, it appears DIRECT LINE had given them the wrong telephone number. I spoke to them three times, and first they wanted to come round, pick up my car, and take it back for estimate. But, although it had frontal damage, it was driveable, and I need it for work, and as they seemed unable to to give me an exact timescale, I declined. I arranged an appointment with “Tony” to take my car to Crawley, on Mon (29th Nov). On arrival, I used the phone in the lobby/reception to say I was here. A guy named “Lee” came down, we went outside and walked over to my car, whereupon, without even looking the car over he turned to me and said, leave it here, as the assessor only comes down on thursday or friday, and was due at the end of the week. Nobody told me this during any previous phone call. I said no, (for previously stated reasons). he said, I needed to arrange a home visit, and gave me the ENGINEERS LIAISON DEPT no. Like DIRECT LINE, an 0845 246 number.

I phoned the assessors, UK ASSISTANCE, to arrange a home visit, but they hadn't got back to me by Thursday, so I phoned them again, and they said they'd tried to contact me but my phone doesn't accept withheld numbers, (what a business needs a withheld number for, I'm not sure). I told them my phone does accept withheld numbers, and asked what number they had, it was the same wrong number as the other similarly named company. I gave them my landline number.

Today, Mon 6th Dec, a letter arrived from UK ASSISTANCE of CROYDON, stating they'd been instructed by DIRECT LINE to arrange an inspection of my vehicle at my nominated repairer, and to contact them on the same 0845 246 number, and that I'll need to leave my car at the garage from 09-00 until 17-00. I phoned today and the woman who sent the letter wasn't available, but another woman told me they'd left a message. I said they hadn't, as the number I gave them last week had an answering machine, and there was no message, she then said, notes said phone was engaged, she asked for my mobile number, and I phoned them back 5 mins later with it. She said the letter author would contact me.

I waited until 16-45 for them to call, and phoned them instead, to arrange a home visit. After at first denying she had my mobile number, she found it in a note. I went through the story so far with her, about the Crawley visit, and couldn't seem to get an answer on whether they were the same company, I'm still none the wiser. We were both on the verge of losing our tempers.

The earliest date/time available is Friday, between 09-00 & 12-00, I said anything earlier as I'm working, they said 11-30.

I can't wait for it to be over, as I'm completely unimpressed by my experience so far with my first claim with DIRECT LINE, after years insuring with them.

gloria22

malcolm_mcgregor wrote: »

I have just been referred to UK Assistance by Tesco Home Insurance. I hope for better than the previous posts suggest. I'll let you know.

Hi, I too have just been referred to UK Assistance through Tesco home insurance. I was wondering how you got on as Im terrified now I have read this!! Thanks!

Timman

Looks like I am in the club too...

Over 7 months and still not fixed my claim. UK Assist bloke is polite and curteous, but they appear to sub-contract everything and its with the sub-contractors that there is the problem as they are over worked.

The assessor is blaming Direct Line as they won't take on extra staff / sub-contractors to deal with the bad winter of 2010. Claims are still on-going from then - including mine.
The sub-contractors are telling me horror stories of people waiting 9 months for kitchens, so my 7 months of waiting isn't the record yet. Having discussed the size of the back log with those doing the work, we agreed it wouldn't suprise us that the 2010 winter claims wouldn't be fixed before the winter of 2011 when it will all start again.

To cap it all, Direct Line have the audacity not to answer complaints including chase ups from my MP from 2.5 months ago. FSO or Court is waiting for Direct Line.