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  • Westmo3
    Westmo3 Posts: 1 Newbie
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    I must plead guilty in the first instance for being stupid enough to trust my home and contents insurer (Halifax) to look after my interests as a loyal customer. I've had the same policy for 10 years, first premium in 2006-7 was £259.56 which has steadily risen to this years quote of £782.01. I pay by direct debit and rather than bother to chase down other quotes I merely let the policy run on. BIG mistake!
    I retired last year and have a bit of time on my hands and decided to follow Martins advice and tried a comparison site.
    I got a quote with improved cover for £259 with £50 cash back on the policy making £189! A whopping £593 of a saving. I now pay annually due to saving. But this isn't the worst thing. The new quote is with HALIFAX! My own insurer! I contacted their care team, or "don't care team" who informed me that this is a new policy introduced over a year ago. They still charged me a 10 year loyal customer £744.82 last year in spite of having a much cheaper product. Shady dealings in anybody's book.
    Moral of the story.... loyalty counts for nothing!
  • Doc_N
    Doc_N Posts: 8,271 Forumite
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    Westmo3 wrote: »
    I must plead guilty in the first instance for being stupid enough to trust my home and contents insurer (Halifax) to look after my interests as a loyal customer.........
    .........Moral of the story.... loyalty counts for nothing!

    Up to a point I'd agree with you, but after their excellent handling of a large claim (around £30k) I'm more positive about them than I used to be.

    They do increase the premia regularly, but all it takes is a phone call, and they usually knock them back down again. For us, they're also by far the cheapest insurer giving unlimited cover for buildings and contents.
  • Chappers27
    Chappers27 Posts: 97 Forumite
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    Contents insurance. I paid for 15 years and never claimed ONCE. Ergo, I no longer take out content insurance.
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  • Chappers27
    Chappers27 Posts: 97 Forumite
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    nicmalauren wrote: »
    Hi Everyone,

    Apologies if this is in the wrong place (please point me in the right direction if that's the case!) but I wasn't sure where to post!

    I took out a combined buildings and contents insurance policy with Direct Line earlier this year, following an incentive scheme for a £50 eGift card. I have used a similar scheme in the past and after the 120 days following the start of the policy, received the gift without any problems.

    Only this time, nothing has arrived. I emailed the address given to me in the eGift confirmation email, and received an auto-response with a ticket number. That was weeks ago now, so I contacted Direct Line, who basically washed their hands of it entirely and said I need to take it up with Tradedoubler who were running the promotion on their behalf. The chap then very helpfully (not) directed me to Tradedoubler's corporate website and customer helpline number. I phoned said number - it doesn't even connect.

    So I responded to original auto-response from help email with my ticket number as advised asking for someone to please get in touch. Received another auto-response with a different ticket number!

    Feel like I'm going to end up going round in circles here. I'd have thought that seeing as the Tradedoubler email actually appears in my inbox labeled as "Direct Line" and carries their logo etc that they should at least take some responsibility.

    Has anyone got any advice?

    TIA,

    Lauren

    You wont get anywhere with Tradedoubler, they are just an affiliate referral company. Your beef is with DirectLine.
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  • eddddy
    eddddy Posts: 16,449 Forumite
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    adindas wrote: »
    In majority of occasions, when I actually visit the site and put my information directly, the quotation vary between 1.5 - 3 times higher (mostly 2x, higher) than the quotation given by the comparison site.

    From your post, it sounds like you're not using the comparison sites correctly.

    When you get a quote from the comparison site, you must 'click-through' directly to the insurers site from the comparison site - and all your info will be carried across.


    Exactly as you say, if you navigate to the insurers site (e.g. using google) and enter your info directly, you will get a much worse quote.

    You get better quotes from insurers when you use a comparison site, because they know you are a price conscious buyer and comparing them against their competitors. (If you go straight to their site, they are hoping that you are a less price sensitive buyer.)
  • eddddy
    eddddy Posts: 16,449 Forumite
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    edited 21 August 2017 at 4:48PM
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    adindas wrote: »
    I intend to use this comparison site as pre-screening before applying it via Cashback site such as TCB, Quidco for obvious reason, the cash back. But found it is not very useful as they are so inaccurate.

    It is not uncommon to find the one which is listed in the comparison site with considerably good price turn to be one of the most expensive one if applying via cashback sites, even before the cashback is taken into account..

    Yes - that's how the 'game' works.

    You can get a low price through the comparison sites...
    - or you can pay more through the cashback sites, and then get cashback
    adindas wrote: »
    In many occasion, I did actually click the insurance company site from the list provided by comparison sites and compare their quotation with the one listed in the comparison site search result.

    As mentioned previously in many cases it is 2x the quotation listed by the comparison site.

    Well that's never happened to me. I always get exactly the price quoted on the comparison site.

    Are you clearing your 'cookies'? The insurance websites might be finding 'cashback site cookies' and therefore quoting you the higher 'cashback site' premiums.

    Take a look here, http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/cashback-websites
    and scroll down to '5. Consider clearing your cookies'.


    Edit to add...

    Or if you're getting lots of quotes from the same insurer, you might be triggering a 'suspicious activity' flag, so they just start quoting high premiums.
  • molerat
    molerat Posts: 31,867 Forumite
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    Just had my renewal and shocked at the 30% increase over last year. Did some quotes and can't save much even by adjusting cover. The base prices look good but once you start adding bits on all the majors are coming in around the same. Bert's Insurance care of The Dog and Duck can offer a good price but I will give those insurers a miss thank you ! Is everyone finding that steep an increase this year ?
  • tempus_fugit
    tempus_fugit Posts: 1,189 Forumite
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    We were with Halifax last year and the renewal premium doubled from around £180 to £360. We got quotes from elsewhere and several were cheaper, including Sainsbury's who were back at around the £180 mark, so we went with them.

    I wasn't impressed with Halifax anyway. We informed them of a house move in January about three weeks in advance and they told us we had to call them on the day of the move. I told them that I was unlikely to have time for lengthy phone calls on the day that we would be trying to empty the house in time for the handover, and they said OK give us the details now. I did this and they said the premium would go up by a small amount, which we paid and they scheduled the change.

    When renewal came round 6 months later we saw on the documents that the address had not, in fact, been changed. So I called them to point this out and they said it was an admin error and that they would correct it now, but they wanted more money again! It was a smaller amount but I complained at being charged twice but they didn't seem too interested. They offered to add it onto next year's premium so we agreed to that, and as we moved elsewhere we seem to have got out of paying it. An absolute shambles though, which is strange because I have had bank accounts with them for years and that side of things always goes very smoothly.
    Retired at age 56 after having "light bulb moment" due to reading MSE and its forums. Have been converted to the "budget to zero" concept and use YNAB for all monthly budgeting and long term goals.
  • Doc_N
    Doc_N Posts: 8,271 Forumite
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    molerat wrote: »
    Just had my renewal and shocked at the 30% increase over last year. Did some quotes and can't save much even by adjusting cover. The base prices look good but once you start adding bits on all the majors are coming in around the same. Bert's Insurance care of The Dog and Duck can offer a good price but I will give those insurers a miss thank you ! Is everyone finding that steep an increase this year ?

    No great change here. Has your area been reclassified on the flood risk maps, perhaps?

    You've tried negotiating with your existing insurer?
  • MrCH
    MrCH Posts: 105 Forumite
    edited 22 August 2017 at 11:14AM
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    I've been quoted £300 by a company who I was referred to, who compares numerous insurance companies.
    £100 excess. That's for building and contents.


    How does that sound?
    House under £150k. Don't own much contents wise. Bog standard3 bed house.
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