Hastings Direct - AVOID AT ALL COSTS (Hastings Direct)

Member Name: funzo

Product:	Hastings Direct
Date:	22/10/08 (347 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: none whatsoever if you have to claim

Disadvantages: Appalling service

On returning from my recent trip to France, I came home to find to find two nasty surprises. The first was in my haste to leave I had forgotten to do the washing up and there was a good smelly pile of decaying plates and cups just waiting for an industrial hose. No one else to blame but myself on that one. The second nasty surprise was that my car had been stolen.

Like any insurance policy be it home, personal or car the true worth of the policy is only measurable once you have to make a claim on it. You can have the cheapest premiums in the world but if when you come to need the insurance company and they fail spectacularly to deliver, what price those discounts now.

I never asked to be Hastings Direct. In the same way we never asked to be under Gordon Brown, my policy was transferred from Budget Choice. I do not know the ins and outs of why Budget Choice transferred their book over to Hastings Direct, but upon renewal last year I received a letter from Budget Choice saying that Hastings Direct had taken over Budget Choice accounts. The premium seemed cheap enough and they seemed a large and reputable enough company to deal with....oh how I wish I had read previous reviews here and other review sites beforehand as it seems I have not been alone in receiving criminally poor service.

The problems started almost immediately with promised callbacks not being made and having to be chased up. Letters and documents were then misplaced by Hastings Direct for a number of works before magically turning up once I started to discuss making a complaint with FSA. I was forced to telephone Hastings Direct on a near daily basis for two whole months in order to get my claim paid out. Letters and documents had to be resent special delivery, as they consistently were magically disappearing within the Hastings Direct system as were internal emails all to my cost and to my immense frustration.

Any company governed by the Financial Services Authority has certain guidelines to adhere to. Hastings Direct is such a company. However from my experience and from reading of the experiences of others Hastings Direct do not feel that they have to adhere to these rules.

From the FSA website - ICOB - The insurance Code of Business rule no. 8.1.1 The insurer has to

1) handle claims PROMPTLY and fairly - 2 months after reporting my car stolen I have finally banked the remuneration cheque
2) provide reasonable guidance to help a policyholder make a claim and appropriate information on its progress; - Constant misinformation, the losing and finding and re-losing of important documents
4) settle claims promptly once settlement terms are agreed - despite their claims of everything gets settled within 2 to 3 working days once settlement terms are agreed it took them two weeks of me having to phone at least every other day.
I am currently going through the complaints procedure. The whole Hastings Direct Experience has not been a pleasant one at all. Their policies are generally not as good as others (no free car hire for those with cars stolen!?), their service is abysmal and the best review or advice anyone can give of Hastings Direct is AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

Thanks for reading.

Summary: Why I would never go with Hastings Direct again.