Direct Line to Difficult and Stressful Relationship (Direct Line)

Member Name: JHWilts

Product:	Direct Line
Date:	22/05/09 (73 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: I am no longer with them

Disadvantages: Everything a bad insurance company should be

If there is one company or service that will really make me react in a negative way it is Direct Line.

I inherited the house from my dad who took insurance from Direct Line and just decided to continue with them as I had no real reason to question - he had made several small claims over the years (contents not buildings and there lies the rub) and they appeared to be ok. They were courteous and efficient with their service in transferring the policy, every year I could renew automatically (although I regularly questioned the rates for new versus existing customers however they tended to assist with that and offer me the competitive rate) and everything seemed to tick along quite nicely and I rested assured that if anything happened then I would be covered.

This service continued for a couple of years. Until of course you have to make a claim. The adverse storms of a couple of years ago had dislodged a number of tiles in our roof causing rain to pour through into the electrics. Did you know that on a Sunday Direct Line customer service does not work? Therefore we were told to ring back on Monday morning. Nice. So we were in a building deemed dangerous due to a storm and they do not engage in services on a Sunday and only until midday on a Saturday - so be aware that you need to plan your claims as a result of such an emergency during the recommended hours.

Eventually we found a roofer who agreed that he would come out and amend the tiles and we could then claim with direct Line - which is what they did agree on the phone. All calls are monitored right?

Come Monday morning I rang them to confirm what the supervisor has said and we had arranged for our own contractor to deal with the emergency situation. I was then told this was incorrect and they had no record of such a conversation as not all calls are recorded and the supervisor had not made the recommended notes. It was not an emergency and therefore I was lumbered with a bill for a Sunday callout.

Eventually after much wrangling they agreed to cover the payment - I thank my contractor for the hard work - and so it was settled.

Unfortunately we had to make another claim this time for our hall carpet which was damaged when we were renovating our house and paint was spilt on it. Contacted Direct Line, they would send out an assessor who then proceeded to assess the carpet at the 2000 price but not for fitting and fixing! So they agreed the carpet was a write-off, needed replacing but they only paid for the carpet and not the fitter!

Suffice to say that we finally got rid of Direct Line and took a policy with another company. I would never use Direct Line ever again. They are untrustworthy, frustrating, not customer focussed, rude and only ever provide conflicting information. I dread to think how a pensioner could deal with a company such as this. You may think they are cheap but you will only get stung in the long-term when you really need their assistance.

I rang them once to discuss something in my policy and jokingly said that as I live near an airbase if a jet crashed into it would I be covered. The next time my policy was renewed, there was a clause in there to say that if you lived near airfields etc they reserved the right not to honour the policy due to damage from the planes and / or fractures to the building which could be due to the supersonic jets. I kid you not - this company is unbelievable.

Summary: Appallingly bad policy, service, experience