T4molie

Don't know if this breaks any rules but I need to get this off my chest BIG time!!

<rant mode on>

I now officially hate insurance companies full stop! I haven't been this angry in long time...I'm f$$king fuming.

I had to have my windscreen replaced in January cos it got cracked.....so I check my insuracne booklet and it just says that I pay the first £50 quid and they pay the rest NOTHING MENTIONED ABOUT A FRIGGIN PHONE NUMBER TO RING FOR IT! So I ring Autoglass and get it booked in. The day comes I get it fixed I pay my £50 and tell them who I'm insured with. Excellent!

So a week and a half ago I get a letter from Autoglass saying that they're having problems getting payment from my insurers and can I send them a copy of my Certificate - so I do! I get home last night and they've invoiced ME! for the whole lot £425 - £50 I've already paid and in the notes it says......"UNFORTUNATELY WE DO NOT HAVE A DIRECT BILLING FACILITY WITH YOUR INSURERS, PLEASE PAY US DIRECTLY AND RECLAIM FROM THEM, THANK YOU." Thank you my ar$e!!!

So I ring my insurance and she says that I should have rung the Glass Replacement Number.....which is........wait for it.....not any friggin where to be found on any part of the certificate OR the booklet that comes with it.....and because I've had it done by Autoglass who are not an "approved" replacement company They will only pay for a £100 of it......wtf? How the f$$k can AUTOGLASS not be an approved replacement company? They're the biggest in the UK (or close) FFS!! So I say to her I suppose next you'll be telling me that if somebody dented my car that I couldn't get it replaced at my local Subaru Dealer because ther're "not approved"...idiots!!

For what I've now got to fork out for the windscreen I should have stayed with my insurers from last year cos it I'll have spent the same on it for the year before... that being £1500!!!!

To$$ers the lot of them.......

<rant mode off>

sickboy

T4,
if you cannot resolve it with your insurers I would ask them to give the address of the insurance ombudsman (it may or may make them try and resolve further).

Don't accept the £100 or do anything else to settle.

If they had no guiding information about approved repairers, that is their fault not yours. What you have done sounds entirely reasonable (in the absence of any instructions from them).



good luck!

scu-b

Hello mate !

Not quite the same situation as yours but i have, along with a hell of a lot of other people a hatred for insuance companies !

I was driving along the other day on the way to an interview with my girlfriend as passenger when for no reason my car packed up and stoped working !

P*ssed off but ok i thought it would be a simple one to sort ! Get on the phone to my insurance co. and get them to pick me up with my GOLD recovery policy !

What happened next was truly amazing ! The woman on the other end of the phone told me i could not be rescued dou to the fact that i no longer hold any insurance with them as i had failed to renew my policy !!!!!!

The fact that not two weeks earlier i had phoned up and renewed my policy and specifically discussed the breakdown cover with them almost left me speachless !!!!!!!

She insisted that there is no record of me renewing either my insurance or my breakdown cover ! I got angry, missed my interview, didnt get the job, and had to pay £60 roadside rescue fee ! £100 to renew my car insurance and keep my no claims ! Not a single appology from them ( the company with the stupid RED PHONE )

Cracking Customer service huh !

To make things worse when i finally got home i looked at my bank statement to find that they had taken the money out for my renewal the first time round so there should never have been a problem !

What would have happened if i had of had an accident ???

Nexuas

I have recently started a new insurance policy with Highway through adrian flux, and I am sorry to say this, but I do remember it saying in the paperwork that you have to use their approved windscreen replacement company, now I can't remember off the top of my head who they are, but I was suprised to see that it was not autoglass or infact a company I had even heard of, and I do remember it saying if I used another company they would only pay £100.

Now what I can not remember is whether it gave the phone number or just the name?

Will check documants and let you know.

Nexuas

Actually mine only covers £75 if not through an approved replacement company, and only £200 if it is.

what would scooby do

same old story I'm afraid - you pay for a cheap pikey insurance policy and you get cheap pikey service from them..

T4molie

Nexuas,

I think in future I'm gonna check windscreen cover VERY carefully cos I've never seen this one before.

WWSD - Agreed mate but then I paid £1100 for this cheap pikey policy - I think a change of insurers is coming at renewal

Andy

Jerome

This case seems typical behaviour for all insurance companies.

They deliberately obfuscate the correct process and they know in advance that a large percentage of people will use the wrong process and they save a fortune by not paying out as much.

They have many practices specifically for avoiding paying out or at least delaying paying out.

I would lump insurance companies in the same category as wheel clamping firms. I apologise in advance to any wheel clamping firms that may be offended, but that's the way i feel...

RON

This a very unfortunate stroy, but at the end of the day, if you couldn't find the number of the insurers glass fitters, then you should have rung the insurance co, I'm with highway until next week, 2nd jan my car got reversed into, bonnet bu66ered, so made the call, hire car arrived sat 1pm, assesor arrived 2pm, car went into the bodyshop ten days later, and I got it back six days after that, very pleased with the whole thing, apart from the fact that I'm waiting on my excess back, but thats not highway dealing with it, it's the legal boffins!!

A happy Highway customer here!!

BedHog

I must agree with Ron, we all have mobiles these days, just store the insurers helpline number (you can also store the policy numer as a name!) and give them a ring before doing anything. A phone call that costs a few pence can save a load of hassle.

I'm sure they do try to confuse us, but lets try and be smarter than them.