Good company, poor branch service (Endsleigh Insurance)

Member Name: babybat

Product:	Endsleigh Insurance
Date:	01/10/05 (463 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reasonably cheap, one of the few providers of student/renters insurance, helpful callcentre

Disadvantages: Branch staff seem uninformed, quotes can differ widely

Last year I took out rented contents insurance with Endsleigh, and my quote for £5,000 came to around £125. This year, when it came to time to renew my insurance, I phoned the nearest branch (Lewisham) to discuss the cost, and was quoted £118. I did not renew at that time, but called back a few weeks later (once I'd been paid!) to renew, and was quoted £130. When I asked why it was not only higher than the quote I'd been given two weeks ago, but higher than last year's premium, I was told that my cover had expired 24 hours ago, so I was being treated as a new customer by the system, and there was nothing that I could do about this; furthermore, the price increase was also down to inflation.

I pointed out that I had one year's no claims with them, and that 24 hours is hardly a sufficient lapse to merit such a price jump - and was met with a stubborn refusal to alter the quote. So I went to Endlseigh's website, and generated an online quote, using the exact information that my policy covers, for £114 - a pretty significant discount! I phoned the call centre, who confirmed that they could cover me for this amount, and were friendly and helpful - unlike the branch reps I spoke to. There wasn't even any of the hold music or set script that you might expect from a call centre!
The only real catch is that to get through to the call centre, you must call from a mobile, as landlines are automatically routed to your nearest branch; and since 0800 numbers aren't free from mobiles, this is a bit annoying. But for a difference of £16, it's something I can live with, and next year I'll do it all again...

Summary: Friendly, helpful and inexpensive IF you go straight to the source.