I had always driven Company Cars until last November when I was made redundant and purchased my own car and insurance for the first time. Privilege were the cheapest quote I found.
I set up the policy on line and was advised that I could have a no claims discount if I provided proof from my previous employer's insurer that I had made no claims. I requested this via my employer but it was not forthcoming and I contacted Privilege in Jan 09 to advise them that I had not deliberately 'overlooked' this but was having difficulty due to the redundancy circumstances. They then cancelled my policy in February. At this point I was fairly sanguine as I had not provided the proof. I reinstated the policy with zero no claims on the understanding that when I managed to obtain proof of no claims I would receive a backdated refund of the difference.
I finally got the 'proof of no claims' in June and sent it to them immediately. Three weks later I received a letter, clearly standardised, stating that the proof was not acceptable and giving a list of standard causes such as the letter not being on headed paper (which it was) and not giving details of my no claims status (which it did). I called them and challenged the letter and it came down to the exact wording of 'business social and domestic purposes' and the fact that 'sole use' was not mentioned. At no point had Privilege ever mentioned that they would be so fussy about the wording, or provided me with the criteria so that I could pass this to the insurer. They also apparently believed that I had never told them I had come out of a Company Car scheme and that there was no record of my call in January!
At this point I got cross and lodged a complaint and was told that there was a long wait for Customer Relations (aka the Complaints Dept). I was instead promised a call back that afternoon but none came. I rang again the next day and left a mobile contact number. Still nothing.
A week later I received a letter informing me "we are committed to providing the highest standards of service to our customers" and informing me that they would be in touch in 10 days. They weren't.
Today I rang the Customer Services team to check that the wording of the redrafted no claims letter was suitable for their requirements and was put on hold and cut off after 1 minute. Twice.
I then rang the number given on the "complaints response" letter and was on hold for 55 minutes before giving up in disgust. I rang the Sales line and strangely enough this call was answered straight away. I was put back through to Customer Services who confirmed that the new wording was acceptable but they would not then put me through to Customer Relations - I now wanted to complain about a) their lack of response to my initial complaint and b) being cut off and being on hold for so long. I was told that the only option was to call the '55 minute' number again. This time I was on hold for 1 hour and 23 minutes.
When I eventually got to speak someone he proved to be, in my opinion, unhelpful and unsympathetic. He told me that the complaint was being looked into; that procedures were being followed, which they clearly weren't; that the complaints response letter was erroneous and should have promised a "20 day" response rather than a "10 day" response. He would not look at the casenotes and told me that the person who was dealing with my complaint had gone home at 5pm. (I had started trying to call at 3pm; this was 6pm).
I managed to obtain the name of the Customer Relations Manager and am now planning to write to her. Needless to say, I will not be renewing my policy as I believe that Privilege do not deserve the custom no matter what the price. I also make a point of telling friends and family about my experiences. I wonder if the well known actors and, who advertise the services of Privilege and the Parent Company Direct Line, are aware of their customer service reputation?
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Aug 19th, 2009
very helpful by (83%):
helpful by (17%):
