Our experiences with AXA (AXA Insurance)

Member Name: JackVanderwyk

Product:	AXA Insurance
Date:	11/08/09 (118 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: They did nothing for us

This is what AXA Limonier (General Agent: Walter Limonier) promises you: "English speaking service for all your Insurance needs" ; "Call Christina Wingfield, your British insurer on the Riviera for 10 years. Competitive prices for ALL your insurance needs direct from AXA. Home, car (including UK plates), life insurance and health. Claims dealt with in English" and "English speaking Banking service to clients resident in France, the UK and Ireland. So that you can manage your money wherever and whenever, 24 hour on-line telephone banking - Internet banking; Full English speaking service for all your French banking & insurance needs."
Is this true, you may ask yourself, or is it just another sales pitch?

My partner and I became clients of the AXA bank and insurance company in France because they promise English speaking people in Nice that they will take care of their affairs and help them in case of language barriers.
In good faith we insured our home and our car with AXA Limonier in Nice, hoping, of course, that we would never need their services.
However, in May 2009 there was a fire in our bedroom, caused by someone who threw a cigarette through the shutters, and there was a lot of damage.
Not knowing French language too well, and certainly not when it comes to French insurance technical terms, we counted on AXA Limonier in Nice, to help us with these problems.
Friends of us, living in the same building, had these problems once, and they were helped by their insurance company in a very nice way, and everything was settled within a couple of weeks. So we were hopeful.

However, no initiative whatsoever was taken by AXA. Mr Thiery Wherlen (Ingexco) noted the damage and the value of the damage goods, so we expected him to send these details to AXA. He didn't. We asked AXA to keep us informed about the proceedings, but they didn't. There were no proceedings. All the initiative to get things done had to come from us, and AXA seemed to be quite annoyed because we dared to complain about the fact that 2 months after the fire NOTHING had happened. There was no understanding whatsoever, no sympathy for our situation (fire damage, broken windows, no clothes, no wallpaper, no computer, etc.), and only when we became angry and told AXA that we were deeply dissatisfied with the services of AXA Limonier in Nice, something started to move. But only a part of the problem was solved, and none of it was an initiative of AXA Limonier in Nice. We had to call again and again, send emails again and again, and nothing happened.

When we approached mr Thiery Wherlen (Ingexco) to ask about the progression, he had the nerve to reply that he was waiting for our list of the damaged goods, while he himself, the expert, had made that list right after the fire, and we expected him to send that list to AXA. Right now we are asking ourselves what did he do with that original list, why did he make that list, and why has he been paid, and for what services?

Our bedroom has been cleaned by a professional company (Cedric Koehl, AAD Phenix), but they also took our clothes, our bed linen, to clean, and after more than two months they still have not returned these items. When we asked AXA about the progress in this case, they advised us to pick up the goods ourself. Of course we could not agree with this "solution". Why should we go through all the trouble of finding out where are possessions are, and when it will be suitable to pick them up? Isn't this the task of the company that took them from our home? We emailed the person responsible for our goods, and he never replied. We were not surprised anymore.

So, the fire in our bedroom was on the 27th of May, and today it is the 11th of August. The only thing that happened was cleaning the bedroom, and, only because we put a lot of pressure on it, the bedroom window was repaired. However, when we came to AXA Limonier ten days ago and presented the bill of Euro 858,91, AXA refused to reimburse us, although they promised before that they would.
This procedure may be the norm in France. But it certainly isn't the norm in other Western European countries, and it absolutely isn't the norm in the United Kingdom. Yet, people like us turn to AXA Limonier in Nice, expecting that the (English) staff will help them, also because AXA Limonier in Nice promises to help their English speaking clients, also because of this promise AXA Limonier in Nice attracts a lot of English speaking clients.
Since reality has shown us that AXA Limonier in Nice does nothing more than any other French insurance company would do, and probably a lot less than many other French insurance companies would do, I feel that (English speaking) clients of AXA Limonier in Nice are misled. But of course mr Limonier, the agent general of AXA in Nice, would be the last person on earth to admit that the services they provide are very limited, and certainly not up to the standard of the rest of Western Europe.

Jack Vanderwyk

Read the full story and the updates on http://axa.bellevueholidayrentals.com/

Summary: The worst insurance company I ever dealt with