DIAL DIRECT Insurance

[MilkMan555]

I just phoned DIAL DIRECT to change my physical address and have been told that an administration charge of £25 will have to be paid.
£25 just to change my address – that is crazy!!!

I’m I wrong to think that this £25 once-off-charge is unfair!

I asked to speak to a Manager, but none are available to speak to me.
My wife is with Norwich and she changed her address with no problem and no extra charges.
My one friend is with Tesco Insurance and she moved houses 3 months ago, and also paid nothing to change the address.

I feel that DIAL DIRECT is been extremely unfair with this charge and I really do not see why I have to pay to change my address.

Especially that I have no choice or options – i.e.: change it myself over the internet

The staff at DIAL DIRECT are simply not interested in customer service.
Yes, I realise that this information is in the T&C’s, but that does not make it fair – just like banking charges.

Of course, I will take my business elsewhere, but now I have to wait until my insurance comes to an end.

I am extremely UN-happy with Dial Direct, I hardly ever complain, but this has really p!ssed-me-off ...

[shywazz]

Hello and welcome to the site with friendly people and hopefully advice to your needs and concerns.........

Its always a choker when companys want money from you after such a small change, however as you state its in there terms and conditions, might you try one more phone call to them, and plea to there good nature, if you have been a good customer for many years there might wave the charge, even indicate that you are intending moving you custom else-where when your next renewal comes.....
I know the insurance that i am with, charge £15.00 for such a change, and other charges dependant upon whats changed.... so your not alone..

[MilkMan555]

Thank you shywazz for welcoming & replying to me.

The sad news is that I did try (all of the above), not once did I raise my voice, and I was still very polite on the phone.
I know that it’s not the fault of the person I’m speaking too, but when requested to speak to a manager, I consistently get told that no managers are available.
ALLWAYS.

This is not the first time I have had issues with DIAL DIRECT.
I have previously been told that a manager would phone me, but never received these calls.

Anyway, I feel that if companies do not give you options, then I guess it’s called Monopoly.
I now have to change my address and then pay them £25 to do this, which is equal to my monthly premium, so in reality DIAL DIRECT aren’t actually worth dealing with – in my view that is.

Well, I guess DIAL DIRECT had a choice, but now they will loose a client, plus I will make sure that people know about this.

I’m not saying that DIAL DIRECT should not charge for anything, of course some changes do require some effect and may affect certain things down the line.
But to change an address, well that only take a few seconds, in fact my phoning them and holding on the line should have covered that cost already.

[jampot]

What you need to understand, perhaps, is that (assuming this is car or house insurance) the underwriting criteria will change when the address changes. I recently moved house, and whilst my insurer didn't make a charge for changing the address, they were also 'forced' to issue a refund, since the postcode I have moved to is obviously rated as 'better' than the postcode I was living at previously.

Had the move been in reverse, my premium (pro rata for the year) would have INCREASED as a result.

So... firstly you need to be clear as to whether there WAS an admin charge, or whether it also took into account a change to the pro rata premium for the policy.

Then... you need to see whether this charge was documented in your paperwork you agreed to at the inception of the policy. A lot of insurers will quote a low figure to gain your business, and will levy charges for changes instead, to pay towards their admin costs. If the cost wasn't agreed to in advance, then you should be able to claim it back from them.

Be warned, though, if they didn't reassess the risk when changing the address, a change to the pro rata amount could cost MORE than the £25 charge they have levied, so if you make them withdraw the charge, and they then decided to reassess the policy based on the change of address, you could end up in a worse position!

[Darkangelsdelite]

Originally Posted by MilkMan555

My one friend is with Tesco Insurance and she moved houses 3 months ago, and also paid nothing to change the address.

Just to point out that tesco (as with all our RBS brands) charge a £15.75 amendment/admin charge for any changes to a policy, including changes of address.

Unfortunately this is now pretty much standard across the board.

I personally don't agree with amendment charges as i agree with the OP that it doesn't cost the company anything like that amounts they charge (i wish i could earn £15.75 for 3 mins work!!)

DA

[ReasonableRon]

The last two posters have hit the nail on the head. In today's price-comparison obsessed world the premium amount is the only thing that matters in order to win business. This naturally causes insurers to strip back their prices (and policies?) to the bone in order to win business.

Incidental charges such as 'policy amendment' fees will therefore creep in so that it is only those policyholders that create extra work for them (even if it is only 3 minutes) are the ones that get charged any extra.

Just out of interest, is Dial Direct a broker or an actual insurer? If it is a broker could you not simply inform the insurer directly?

[MilkMan555]

Thx all for your replies.

Originally Posted by ReasonableRon

Just out of interest, is Dial Direct a broker or an actual insurer? If it is a broker could you not simply inform the insurer directly?

Dial Direct is the actual Insurance Company and not a broker.

What really got to me was the fact that I phoned them, changed the address and then I was told about the £25.
This whole process honestly took no longer that 60seconds, but then I questioned the £25 charge.
She then cancelled the changes, I then asked to speak to a manager, but no luck.
In fact, I’m still waiting for someone from Dial Direct to contact me.

Sometimes companies just need to be a bit more flexible.
Like you all say, it’s a tough industry so surely keeping a client is more important.

I just don’t feel that £25 is fair to change an address and call it an Admin charge.
Nothing else is in question, i.e: premium increases

I understand the need companies have to make profit – we all do, otherwise how do we live.

Anyway, I have made up my mind and Dial Direct will not be getting my business again.
Not with this type of attitude.

- Maybe it’s more the disappointment

[gyzmo]

Dial Direct is an intermediary - not a actual insurer

[c00kiemonster]

Milkman I'm with you on the poor customer service provided by dial direct. Last year I changed banks and provided them with 3 weeks notice of my new bank details. They proceeded to ignore this change and set up a new dd on my old (empty) bank account, which led me to getting bank charges for failed dd payments and my insurance cancelled.

Trying to sort this out was like talking to a brick wall with dial direct, everytime i phoned you get someone new and have to explain yourself to each person.

I eventually got it sorted but after alot of stress caused to myself.

To top it off dial direct offered me a new cover on my car, but this time with a higher premium, after a short pause to think about it I declined there offer.

cm

[make them aktiv runners]

Although you have agreed to their terms, it is often worth complaining in writing. Keeping a customer is often better than a fee, but unless you make a fuss.......

[BigNick2]

Used to work for a broker and we actually got targeted on the amount of fees we collected for policy ammendments. I used to just waive them though and pretend the customer had complained Think they're a complete rip off.

[gunbyn]

I had the same issues with dial direct, when unfortunately I pick up some speeding points and had to pay a £25 charge to update my details !!
But more recently I have had huge problems, which I am still trying to resolve.
I have been insured with Dial Direct for 4 years with no claims, I bought a 3year old car, and asked them to quote to insure it.
They quoted me over £950 from the current £450 I had been paying for my current car.
I decided to go with another company they quote me £490 for my new 3year old car!!!!
I would of been happy to stay with dial direct but no way was I going to pay this sort of money, when another company had quoted me nearly half! I asked them to give me a better price and I would of gladly stayed with them. I had a sense of loyalty to dial direct but they had none to me who had been a good customer for 4 years!
That’s when the problems started, they said they were going to charge me a £55 cancellation fee for cancelling my policy, ok, fair enough.... then they took over £200 from my account!!!! I tried calling them "no one can speak to you for 48 hours" they told me. I told them" that’s not good enough, you have taken over £200 out of my account, I want to know why!" They keeping trying to tell me I had to pay for a short term rate, as I was cancelling my policy earlier. Story - still trying to find out why they have taken £200 out of my account, give this lot a wide berth, unless you are going to stay with them for life!!!! My soon to be new insurance company is even advising me on what to do about dial direct, and have been great.
Lets hope I get my money back, cheeky swine’s!

[gyzmo]

ON the point about prices, diffiernt companies will have different risk criteria and markets. I remember working at Abbey Insurance and anyone from Northern Ireland was charged a fortune (I mean a fortune - the lowets figure I remember (we had competitions in the office) was about £4,000 (which he took - was the lowest he had been offered!) and quotes of £15,000 were not unusual, simpy because the company did not want the business but was not allowed to not offer cover for some reason). We also did not do anything that was not run of the mill bog standard - again the business was not wanted and so was charged at an extremely high premium.

[tiaposy]

I had the same with a car insurance broker I used. £25 to change anything. After the policy had ended, I sent them a Subject Access Request (1st one I think they'd had) and the managing director dealt with it personally. Full refund - I was very impressed.
Might be worth trying that at the end of the policy.