A sense of false savings (Quoteline Direct)

Member Name: reknaw

Product:	Quoteline Direct
Date:	28/02/01 (417 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: An intelligent site

Disadvantages: A suspicion of dirty tricks

My brother, heavily into fashion, has a saying; "It's not how much you pay, it's how much you save", and my little story certainly testifies to that.
I decided to try the internet for insurance quotes. The Quoteline Direct site in particular was very thorough indeed, then quoted me £1,200 - about £200 more than the others. I moved on.
Two days later, I recieved an email from them, saying that there were questions that I hadn't answered, would I like to call them on the telephone - I could save up to £400.
Well, I called them back, and after about 10 minutes of confirming my original answers ("yes, I'm still 25; yep, still Male; no convictions yesterday"), a new quote came out at surprise surprise, a lower amount!
It's probably very above board and legal, but is still a scam. This is how I think it works:
Give a quote in internet, vastly over average price
Wait two days
Send new email, promising deals
Get call, flaff around for a bit, strike with better deal
Punter thinks they save £200, on phone, so they're feeling safer with their credit card
Get business.

Nasty, nasty, nasty.

Althought the site itself is quite slick, and as I said previously, thorough, I have a feeling of mistrust, and am keen to hear other user's stories, to see if the same miracled result occurs for them too!

One other word of advice for insurance companies: make sure your employees can be understood if they are in telesales!

Summary: