Advantages: They invest and look after your money for you
Disadvantages: The value of shares can go down as well as up

...Sun Life Assurance Society was established in 1810 and Equity and Law in 1844. You probably wonder what on earth that has got to do with AXA Investment Managers? Well, these well established and well known UK companies were the beginnings of a company which now has £45 billion under management in this country. Life assurance and insurance companies have been investing in the stock market and in property for many years and to do that they either employed their own fund managers or outsourced this responsibility to outside fund managers. When they employed their own fund managers it didn't always prove very cost effective. It would be difficult to attract and keep expert fund managers when fund sizes were small and when more attractive job opportunities existed in the City. So what to do? Either the insurance companies outsourced... Read review

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Advantages: Benefits, Customer service, Price,
Disadvantages: None Yet

...Just like most people when it comes to buying something I shop around. Well we as a family have been going abroad for just over 2 years and to date we have been abroad 6 times. We have had our travel insurance through many insurers including Insure&Go, Direct line, Post office, Kwik fit and a few more. Out of all of them we have to say that AXA direct is the best company we have used not just for there product but for there customer care standards. You can contact AXA either on the telephone (0800 368 3911) Call centre opening times are 8am to 9pm Mon-Frid, 9am to 6pm Sat and 10am to 2pm on Sun. or online at www.axa.co.uk you get instants quotes online as well as on the telephone. What they cover: £1500 accidental loss, theft, or damage to baggage £200 for any one article £300 for valuables £150 for emergency... Read review

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Advantages: None
Disadvantages: You'll lose out on months of interest and get nowhere

...Good points: None whatsoever Bad points: Customer service, total incompetence and confusion, delaying tactics in return of money, I could go on! I would never ever recommend anyone to trust their money to AXA after my experiences of this company. Their pension plan was recommended to me by an independent financial advisor, and since applying for a pension in April 2007 I have had nothing but trouble. They were quick enough to take the lump sum of money and put it in a holding account until the pension was set up. I waited about a month for confirmation of policy set up to come through, yet nothing arrived so I called them 3 times over the following month and a half ....each time I was told that they would send out a form for me to sign, yet nothing ever arrived. At this point I decided that I wished to cancel... Read review

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Advantages: Great Gurantee of building up a tax free lump sum
Disadvantages: None

...of your first years premiums paid directly to you. * You recieve a free gift 28 days after your first payment which can be anything from a Digital set-top box to a pair of watches. * You get excellent detailed policy documentation posted to you on acceptance. Also you do not need a medical to apply. You can apply for this when it is on promotion sent through the post to most peoples houses every year as this is a limited offer only available at certain times of the year and by phoning AXA sunlife on the customer services number which is 0800 31 600 39 My advice is go for the BONUS CASHBUILDER PLUS IN THE HARSH GLOBAL ECOMOMIC CLIMATE AT THE MOMENT. I GREATLY RECOMMEND IT.... Read review

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Advantages: A quick initial response....
Disadvantages: A slow reaction when things go wrong...

...We are presently insured through AxA insurance/ AXA Direct. In May this year we had a flood in the bathroom, leading to the need to have our entire ceiling inoour lounge diner replaced. The system which AXA uses, meant that this process is still going on in October.. The difficulty we have found, is that while the insurance company themselves are very approachable and deal with the initial paperwork and drudgery of the claim in its early stages, the details are then passed to a surveyors team, who then pass it to a building team, who then pass it to a contractor. This system works well when things go right and straightforwardly, but in our case, the first contractors to begin work left the room in a worse condition than when they began and we were asked not to use it due to the fact that it was deemed as unsafe. We have spent... Read review

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Advantages: cheap
Disadvantages: time, frustrating, unhelpful,untrained staff

...Car insurance is legal must. Tempted, by so many insurers, brokers, and branded names, it is difficult to know who and what to trust. You can save time and money, investing in a research period to give yourself time to serach for cheaper deals, but whatch out on the excess amount you have to pay, rising as the policy gets cheaper. Otherwise you will be paying out the first £250 pounds! The cheapest deal is always tempting, and whatever the company they are always ready to take your cash. It is a gamble which ever company you choose, there service is never really put into notion until a claim is in full throttle. Well Axa insurance, which we got through a company budget insurance ( they search through a directory of companies to offer you the cheapest deal)an internet based company are indeed so un proffesional that you are left... Read review

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Advantages: cheap, easy, online car insurance
Disadvantages: none if you can satisfy terms

...I was searching the web for insurance for my wife's latest car, but they were all coming up expensive. The prices were ranging from around £176 to around £220. This was for fully comprehensive with no claims or convictions, and the car parked on the driveway of our house at night, with my wife as the only driver. My wife's latest car is a nissan micra profile 1.0, and is "w" registration. after around 10 insurance companies / brokers, I tried AXA Direct, and got a price of £180 approx. Then I had a brainwave. I remember when buying car insurance for myself that third party fire and theft was actually more expensive than fully comprehensive, so I thought I would try something just as potty. I added myself as a named driver on my wife's insurance, and AXA quoted £149.25!! About the company?, here goes! Axa direct... Read review

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Advantages: Extremely professional
Disadvantages: Expensive for learner drivers

...We insured our car with AXA last year and protected the no-claims bonus for the first time. We chose AXA because they offered the best deal at the lowest price, but when my husband had an accident we were very glad that we had chosen them. Luckily nobody was hurt and our car was only very slightly damaged, however, extensive damage was caused to another vehicle, and as my husband was in the wrong we claimed on our insurance. AXA took care of everything with the minimum of fuss and very little contact with us, I was very, very impressed! As we had the protected policy we didn't even lose our no-claims bonus. I didn't reinsure with AXA this year, but that was because the price shot up when we decided to include a learner driver on the policy. I would not hesitate to recommend AXA to anybody, I've never dealt with an insurance... Read review

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Advantages: Flexible, can chop and choose ins. options
Disadvantages: None when compared to other ins websites

...Axa.com offers a very flexible way of choosing your insurance. There are the main laborious questions to make your way through at first, however, all sites are like this so it can't be seen as a disadvantage. The site uses drop down menus, yes/no answers and a few text questions. Within a few minutes you're onto the final page where the site shows its advantages. You have the option to change the excess / see what difference having various options have and cost, the cost of getting extra cover, insuring your no claims. Out of about 12 companies that i tried, axa was the cheapest by about £50 (from hill house hammond). I drive a Polo P97, 1.4 and live in an ok part of Leeds Big stinkers were the AA (yeah, like they try really hard to find the best quote, they quoted me £1200.) Axa quoted 615 with a 150 excess. (i have only... Read review

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Advantages: A Guaranteed Tax FREE lump sum.
Disadvantages: None

...I wonder how many of the younger members here on Ciao have thought about or actually have life insurance. I got married at 16 years of age and as I lived in a counsel house, Life insurance never crossed my mind, as I thought only older people or people with mortgages took out policies. I suppose you could say that I was very naïve, and I would assume that the younger generation today are more in the know than I was. By the time I was nineteen, I had 2 children and still had no life cover, it only was brought to my attention when I was suddenly left on my own with my children, when my husband walked out. A friend of mine mentioned it to me, and pointed out how important it actually is to have cover, especially as I had two dependants and what would happen to them if something happened to me. She gave me the details of AXA equity & law... Read review

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