Axa +pass the parcel (person) (AXA Insurance)

Member Name: wildthing666

Product:	AXA Insurance
Date:	17/12/03 (2186 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: none

Disadvantages: unhelpful , excel at pass the parcel (person), customer complaints a joke

On the th November 2002 a mechanic picked up the wife;s vehicle (an adapted ford transit) . While driving it to his place of work he had an accident (between 8-9 am).
He returns the vehicle at 7:PM (approx), after repairing the bodywork, he charges £90 for the work the vehicle went in for then says ?i had a small accident in your vehicle? he explains briefly what happened then leaves.




Th /21st November 2002
Letter arrives from Axa insurance saying they were sorry to hear about our recent claim,ending with should you need to contact us phone quoting number at top of page.
Wife immediately phones Axa to tell them who was driving , she even phones the mechanic to get his policy details (Axa insurance Glasgow ),shouldn't be a problem as were both insured by Axa,WRONG.
December 2002 (middle)ish
Wife gets into van to go do some Christmas shopping,starts van, puts it into reverse, presses accelerator, van goes forward, not back wards.
This on a van that has done only 46500 (forty six thousand and five hundred ) miles

Wife phones some automatic gearbox specialists, the first one that she mentions the van has recently been in an accident and this is the first time anyone has tried to drive the van since it was returned after the accident she is told the accident could be the cause of the gearbox problem .
So more phone calls to Axa (WHAT FUN)

20th January 2003

2nd letter from Axa asking for details of the person that was driving at the time of the accident (all this was done in November).
More phone calls to Axa , every time someone different on the other end of the line.
Axa arrange for the van to go into their approved repairer , they pick the van up at the beginning of February they prepare an estimate and send the wife a copy (£650) approx on top of the work already done by the mechanic who caused the damage in the first place , he sent them an estimate for £1000 approx (t
>his amount he told wife). The £650 is only for bodywork parts and labour ,no gearbox. So wife phones Axa ,very frustrated ,someone new to talk to again , the usual ?yes i can see where it's going wrong leave it with me and I'll sort it and phone you back?.
They never do .
Wife phones insurance broker who arranged insurance to see if they can be any help, (well she is insured fully comp), no luck there as the mechanic's insurer are supposed to be dealing with it.But did find out that the reference number on the letters from Axa were her policy number .

12th march 2003

Wife phones Axa , the calls to them are mounting , she wants action and is told the files were sent to Glasgow two weeks ago so she asks on what date the reply THE 12th MARCH , wife says thats today , oooopppppsssssss!.
So wife lets it known in no uncertain terms that she is very unhappy before putting the phone down.

2nd April 2003

Wife phones Axa (Glasgow) they know nothing about it and have not received any files from Axa(Birmingham) , another phone rage incident .

The wife tells person at Axa that she wants the van repairing at the ford dealer, but they need a letter from Axa giving them permission to remove the van to their premises (they never sent a letter)

Between now and the middle of many more phone calls between the wife,Axa and Axa's approved repairer including one from the approved repairer saying that they want the van removing by the 1st June 2003 of they will charge £15 aday storage (£105 weekly). By this time the wife is in touch with Axa's customer complaints in Ipswich, as well as the FSA

3rd June 2003
letter from repairer informing they have started charging for storing the van .Wife phones Axa and tells them their repairer as started charging £15 a day storage and she isn't paying it they are
(hoping this will make them do something).

5th June 2003

Ano
ther letter from Axa (only the 3rd ) saying sorry about the trouble their motor engineering technical services are going to look into it and they will contact her in ten business days.
Ten day later nothing ,
even threats of involving the FSA .

Now lets move on six weeks or so

25th July 2003

All the paperwork from the ombudsman is filled in and every bit of correspondence photo copied (not a lot for nearly 9 months ).
Sent it to ombudsman that day.

28th July 2003

Letter from ombudsman confirming receipt of the paperwork

3rd August 2003

All the paperwork returned from the ombudsman saying we have not done things correctly and Axa cannot find anything to do with the case (only if pigs fly), and we have to give them another eight weeks.
Wife is straight on the phone to the ombudsman and is finally told that the paperwork was returned in error. (yeah right).

11th August 2003
A letter from Axa saying that they have received the complaint from the ombudsman and they were sorry to note her comments regarding the claim and he was passing it on to someone in the corporate claims dept. and you can guess what (ten business days again).

21st August 2003

Another letter from Axa to let us know that person 2 had passed the matter onto person 3 (now it's pass the parcel &the wife is the parcel).
Enough wife phones ombudsman and says about the letters and just being passed around , they agree (at last action?)
Well no because the literature from the ombudsman say they will keep you informed , well yes if you phone them (more expense).

Now we can jump up to Dec.

December 3rd 2003

Wife phones ombudsman and they tell her that they have told Axa to pay £200 while it is sorted out , wife blows top and says tell them to stuff the £200 that's less than £4 a week and their repairer wants £105 a week for storing the van .
She tells
ombudsman she wants it sorting out in 14 days or else?
(fighting talk)

15th December 2003

Another phone call to the ombudsman this time the wife is told there are a couple of small points she want
s to clear up and will call her back later.
The storage charges for the van are now £3000 (more than the vehicle is worth).

Later the ombudsman does phone back and tells the wife she has to get a letter from the mechanic to say the van wasn't going in for work on the gearbox,and the mechanic who smashed the van up had been paid for repairing the van, (blown top time again), seems Axa are trying to say the gearbox had already gone when it was picked up and that is why it was going in .
All someone from Axa has to do is go and look at the business premises to see that they couldn't raise a semi-high roof ford transit off the ground to lower a gearbox out, .
Ombudsman says she will get in touch with Axa and call back tomorrow

11th December 2003

No phone call from ombudsman (just like Axa)



we wait in hope

23rd December 2003

a letter arrives from the ombudsman which says that she is finding in favour of the insurers because we cannot provide independent proof that the gearbox fault is a cause of the accident and their earlier offer of £200 is final(fat chance of that when Axa's repairer has had the van since early Feb and every gearbox repairer says they want axa's permission to move the van to their premises to inspect it properly, it's not Axa's property it's ours )

5th Jan 2004

The wife phones the ombudsman and tells them she is not accepting their final offer and will not be signing the form for full and final settlement.

19th January 2004

The new Thompson local arrives through the door so wife looks through it to see if there is anyone new to phone inside the front cover there is so she phones them an
d they agree to look at the van and remove it to their premises to inspect the gearbox (without a letter from Axa). AT LAST


20 January 2004
I find Axa's repairer's website and on reading through it find that they have a mobile estimator that visits your home or where ever you choose (so no need to take the van in for an estimate)

22 January 2004

Their mechanic goes to look at the van and arrange to remove it (i waited for the call to say he had been refused access to the van {time for war if he refused} luckily he was allowed to look at it )and arranged to pick it up either later that day or on the 23rd.
Did find out that Axa's repairer's idea of storage is left outside at the back of their premises with the bonnet left open (because they are to weak to pull the bull bars out to let it catch)

23rd January 2004

waited for a call to say they hadn't been able to pick the van up because Axa's repairer would not let them remove it hopefully they removed it has i forgot to check.


(will update again soon hopefully)

Summary: