Hasting Direct Incompetance (Hastings Direct)

Member Name: grumbles

Product:	Hastings Direct
Date:	24/01/06 (777 review reads)
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Disadvantages: Most

Hastings Direct
Hi, for anyone thinking of going with Hastings Direct, I would advise you to read the following email i sent to them after they refused to refund money they had taken, without me writing a letter to them enclosing proof of my new insurer, even though i had informed them that i would not be renewing with them prior to the old policy expiring.
I did not even get an apology from them when i explained their error & the fact that it was costing me interest on my credit card!.
They are not really that competitive but everything else about them is definately CHEAP. Their authorised repairers are a joke, I got hit whilst stationary & when i put the car into their authorised repairer i had to go back twice as the first time i went to collect it there was tiny pin holes in the filler they had used & a nasty paint line on the bodywork where they had masked off across a panel prior to spraying with no blending in, being exercised at all. When i pointed this out the owner just said 'oh your just fussy' well do it again then. Now i have a car in 2 tone silver where they have not matched the paint correctly & a slightly raised area where they have used too much filler not to mention a rough line around the door handle where they sprayed up to it without removing it as any decent repairer would.
Whilst at the repairers the council done a raid. When they entered the office & introduced themselves, the owner went pale & whilst the inspectors where on there way down the yard to the paint shop frantic phone calls took place between the owner & the paint shop asking whoever he was speaking to to hide the chemicals & oil based paint which is banned apparently & cheaper than the legal alternative . I contacted Hastings Direct about the shoddy work but they could not have been less interested , their Customer Service is non existent.
They also take money off your credit card without your permission.
Look elsewhere for insurance or you may well regret it, like we did. You have been warned...

Email Follows

Further to our conversation today with regard to policy (******) which I cancelled around the 10th Dec 2005, I have spoken to my Credit Card company who have agreed to reverse the payment.

I find your whole attitude towards this issue absolutely abhorrent & I am glad that we decided not to renew with you. Not only is your Customer Service Useless ( something other web sites point out) but your standard of authorised repairers has a lot to be desired. Not only did I have to go back twice to get the work done to a amateur standard, but during the time I was at your useless repairer, He was raided by the council looking for banned substances which they found. This as I explained on or around the 10th Dec was the reason we were not renewing with you.

I have done all that was needed back on the 10th to cancel the policy, just because useless staff don't do their jobs properly, that does not mean I now have to inconvenience myself further by writing letters & including proof that I am insured with another decent company just to get the money back that you illegally took off my card.

Who I am insured with is absolutely nothing to do with you. If you decide you want to contest this then please be my guest.

I WILL TAKE YOU TO COURT & I WILL WIN. I can easily prove my case to a court.

You are also lucky that I am not charging you the interest on the 481-80 that you took out of my account back in December without authorisation.

Please be advised that if you cause me any more grief over this then you will not only be paying back the original sum but also my costs in sorting this out ,which under consumer law I am quite entitled to do.

I will also be posting my experiences of Hastings Direct & their Authorised Repairers on the usual consumer websites.

I hope I have made myself clear.

Good Riddance

Steve Webber

Summary: Bad Company, Do not pay with Credit Card, They Automatically Renew, Have Trouble Getting Refund