Insurance compensation----->Comments please!!

daveskerr · Post by **daveskerr** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 11:58 am

My car is finally going in to be repaired on the 30th of April, a full SEVEN weeks after my bump.

.

I was told by a manager at elephant.co.uk last night that I will be due compensation for the inconvenience of:

1. Having to phone them over 50 times in just over a month.

2. The repairer having to send the estimate to the insurance assessor 5 times to gain authorisation.

3. Not one person at elephant calling me back, leaving me to do all of the leg work in between.

4. Having the inconvenience of writing letters of complaint to the managing director, operations manager and the operations manager of Admiral, elephants parent company.

Having only had my car for 6days before the bump happened, I have also had the embarrassment of driving around with a gaffa taped front clam, not being able to fully enjoy my new car to the max during the good weather we have had.

The question is guys and gals, what do you think would be a suitable level of compensation??

I was thinking a refund of my £500 excess at the very minimum.

Comments please!!!!!!

Thanks
David

MacK · Post by **MacK** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 12:07 pm

Sounds like pretty poor customer service from Elephant.

I am tempted to say try and get at least the £500 out of them, but since I'm insured with them myself, they will no doubt add that to my next premium come renewal time, so just get an M&S gift voucher

No go for as much as you think they will pay, £500 sounds 'fair' plus a discount on renewal next year.

daveskerr · Post by **daveskerr** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 12:11 pm

I've been with them for 4 years Mack and I have had a substantial claim (£5500 worth of malicious damage) in that time with another car.

This claim was authorised and the car was in being repaired within 3days, never had a problem with them before!!??

GregR · Post by **GregR** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 12:20 pm

What are you after compensation for? Elephant's negligence for not getting their finger out? Or compensation from the perpetrator for the inconvenience?

If its the latter, inconvenience claims are generally limited to £50. If the car's unavailable for you, you get £10 a day Loss of Use. If its been drivable, no loss of use & tough.

If it's elephant not acting quickly enough, their defence could well be you pay peanuts, you get monkeys! I doubt you'll get anything like the £500 excess back without a huge following wind.

More details please, then someone will be able to help out

Nicks · Post by **Nicks** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 12:25 pm

Ask to see their complaints procedure - realistically you should be looking at getting at least the excess back, and retaining any no claims bonus. Whether or not they'll do that though is another matter!

Nicks

daveskerr · Post by **daveskerr** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 12:35 pm

Hi GregR,

I have been told by elephant that I am entitled to compensation for the length of time that the claim has taken to be resolved as well as for elephants negligence during the course of the matter, both of which I have been told could have been avoided by themselves.
Surely it doesn't matter how much I am paying for my policy, having to phone over 50 times and misplacing a repair estimate 4 times should not be happening to any paying customer!

The 3rd party who I had a collision with (my fault, rear end shunt) had her car repaired within days. Meanwhile, myself who forks out money to elephant every year and have done for the past 4 years gets repeatedly fobbed off, told a pack of lies and generally treated like sh*t when all I ask of them is to do their job!

daveskerr · Post by **daveskerr** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 12:37 pm

Nicks,

I have received a copy of their complaints procedure in the post along with a letter stating that their quality control department are now dealing with the policy/claim due to the points that I have highlighted in my letter of complaint.

j2 lot · Post by **j2 lot** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:04 pm

David,
Sympathise with your plight - following an accident in December- third party admitted liability - I still have not got my car back and still no re-imbursment of 1800 pound expenses (submitted 26 Feb.)
I too am looking for appropriate compensation- my insurer, third parties company, legal assist and repairer all blame each other to varying degrees while I sit fuming in the middle with a loan car, a big bill and no end in sight to the whole sorry situation.
Gratefu if you could let me know how you get on and if you get compo on what basis so I know how best to pitch my claim.

Lets hope we both get speedy, satisfactory resolution. Cheers Keith

daveskerr · Post by **daveskerr** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:49 pm

Will let you know how I get on Keith, the insurance company have set themselves 10 working days to get this mess sorted out. I'm not the type of guy who would usually complain about things, but in this case i am not going to back down or be fobbed off!

My girlfriend used to work in the complaints department for 3mobile, and she advised me to bypass the complaints department and target the company directors etc with a letter of complaint in order to get a response. So far this seems to have worked.

Good luck with your claim, will keep you posted

Cheers Dave

r055 · Post by **r055** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:56 pm

cant see you getting 500 bucks mate unless you can prove with evidence of your exact disbursements.
phone bills are easy to quantify, time spent chasing not so much.

On the other hand, my ex worked for Morgan Stanley Credit Card and most complaints were very rarely argued with - they just gave them on the spot refunds - The call centre staff normally put up a resistance, then when the management get involved, they just instantly refund the cardholder.

Anyway, good luck with it as I have insured both cars through Elephant and i am interested to how far they will take it.

R

daveskerr · Post by **daveskerr** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 2:01 pm

I agree Ross, I worked for Norwich Union Direct whilst I was at uni, as soon as a manager gets involved, the complaint always got dealt with in favour of the customer.
It also saves insurance companies money to hold onto their customers year after year as opposed to getting new customers, so it in their interest to make sure i'm kept happy.

Will keep you posted!

Dave

Dominic · Post by **Dominic** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 2:15 pm

I'm insured with Bell, who like Elephant, are part of the Admiral group.

I have changed my car in the past week. Prior to that, I phoned Bell to get quotes on various cars I was considering buying. I asked for a quote on a brand new vw golf gti, I was asked for it's reg, to which I said, it's a quote for a brand new car, yet to be registered, so no reg yet, they then quoted £360 for the year (Astra was £305).

So, a few weeks later, I have bought a 1 year old golf gti (got a good deal), and phone up, give them the reg, they say there will be an additional charge & they'll post paperwork out. Fine. Paperwork arrives; with an extra charge of £159!!

They also managed to change my post code (I have another car insured with them, kept in a garage a few miles from where I live). So I phoned them up; explained the situation, to be told there is nothing they could do with the charge. Also, there would be an extra charge of £17 to correct my post code

I said that was unacceptable. Turns out, when I was given the original quote for a brand new golf gti, the guy had selected the first one on his list, which was a mark 1 8v gti. I asked to speak to a manager, who I asked to check back to recorded calls, and come back to me. Half an hour later, she phoned me back; no recording of quote call, but she would not make a charge for changing the post code, and would honour the original quote of £360

I have to say, it was annoying that they cocked up, however, they resolved the issue very quickly, with very little argument. I really did not expect that result, but thought I would express my dissatisfaction with their errors, and see what I could gain from them. It will be interesting to see what next year's premium will be.

r055 · Post by **r055** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 2:27 pm

aaaaarrrrrghhhhh i forgot about that!!!

Elephant stung me about 17 quid when i changed my address! - going to be doing pretty soon again - this time its 2 x £17!

B@stards!

daveskerr · Post by **daveskerr** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 2:50 pm

I really wish I had recordings of every phonecall that I have made to elephant in the last 6weeks. It's actually quite scary how thick their employees are.

j2 lot · Post by **j2 lot** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 3:08 pm

I think thick and insurance company employee are linked. Legal Assist people have faxed my claim documents to third parties insurace (Bell Direct) 12 times so far !!! It would appear that every phone call gets the response - I don't have the paperwork to hand can you fax it to me !!

Apologies if anyone here works for an insurance company but my feelings are running high just now !!