Direct Line - "Telephony Fault" Abuse?

[aliasflorence]

I am trying to reach my car insurer, Direct Line, by telephone. Using the number in my documentation and those listed on-line I keep getting the message "We cannot take your call due to a telephony fault." All the numbers connect to the same message which says "if you have a claim press one, otherwise just hold" then after a few seconds the telephony fault voice message is played.

These are all 0845 numbers and cost money as soon as they are connected. This has been happening over a period of several weeks. Do they get a share of the 0845 call charges? If they do, it is in their interest to accept the call and then report a fault, rather than let the call fail to connect.

If they do make a gain I will be asking for a refund of my failed calls?

Anyone else come across this?

Regards,

aliasflorence

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.

[LemonTwist]

Yes you're right, they do get a share of the 0845 call charges. This has been investigated in a recent Which (Consumer Association) report at The worst offenders - How to avoid expensive phone call charges - Your money - Which? Advice
So if you put in a complaint, you should ask for a refund for the failed calls.

However, many insurance companies use free 0800 numbers instead of 0845 ones.

** Hall of Shame – organisations that have expensive customer lines
0871: Admiral Insurance, Bell Insurance, Diamond Insurance, Elephant Insurance, Nikon, Tiscali
0870: Apple (tech support)^, Carphone Warehouse/Talk Talk, DVLA, Gladiator Insurance, Lexmark, Philips^, Sony, Zanussi-Electrolux
0844: AOL, Orange, Panasonic^, Sky (free for Sky Talk customers from July), TV Licensing
0845: Barclays, British Gas, Consumer Direct, Direct Line, Eon, Green Flag, Halifax, LloydsTSB, Miele, Npower, Philips^, Scottish and Southern Energy^, Scottish Power, TV Licensing, Virgin Media

Roll of Honour – organisations that have cheaper customer lines
0800: Apple (helpline)^, BT, Canon, Churchill^, Dyson, Norwich Union Direct, RAC, Scottish and Southern Energy
03: Passport Office (from August)
01/02: Panasonic^, Philips^, Toshiba

(taken from Which? magazine - Press - About Which?)

[vusys1]

i wouldnt hold you breath on getting anything back,unless you can give dates & times you tried & they confirm that they did have phone problems (they do sometimes have switchboard probs). What info do you need r.e you car insurance

	Car Insurance

[patdavies]

Try one of these 0117 984 9922 or 0113 292 7339

More listed on SAYNOTO0870.COM - Non-Geographical Alternative Telephone Numbers when you search on Direct Line.

I never call any non-geographic number without checking here first. The operator/agent remains unaware of which number you used to call into the PABX.

[gyzmo]

A word of warning from a former insider (l'il ol' me!)

DL has several offices around the country. If you get through to a call centre that is NOT handling your claim, they will simply send a message on to the region that is dealing with it. Expect to wait at least 5 days if you are lucky. Write in (recorded) with a well reasoned explanation (make it a complaint).

Believe me, DL operations in this respect is like little kids arguing over who gets to play with the toys (or not). Many a time have I seen minor situations explode into FSA complaints due to internal departments arguing over who is supposed to deal with something and passing the ball instead of actually sorting issues out.

How the hell they managed to get into The Times top 50 call centres is beyond me.

[vusys1]

Originally Posted by gyzmo

A word of warning from a former insider (l'il ol' me!)

Believe me, DL operations in this respect is like little kids arguing over who gets to play with the toys (or not). Many a time have I seen minor situations explode into FSA complaints due to internal departments arguing over who is supposed to deal with something and passing the ball instead of actually sorting issues out.

How the hell they managed to get into The Times top 50 call centres is beyond me.

things have changed,its departments now argue who wont deal with and why should they etc I see it everyday,sit back & laugh

[gyzmo]

Oh - I saw that when I worked there. See it hasn't got any better then.

To me it's absolutely pathetic. I got sick of being prasied by customers for sorting problems out (not sick of that!) when previously it was just passed fom pillar to post, and then get a bollocking from managers for acting outside my key indicators or something.

The company is more concerned about hitting targets than they are about anything else.

[vusys1]

Originally Posted by gyzmo

Oh - I saw that when I worked there. See it hasn't got any better then.

To me it's absolutely pathetic. I got sick of being prasied by customers for sorting problems out (not sick of that!) when previously it was just passed fom pillar to post, and then get a bollocking from managers for acting outside my key indicators or something.

The company is more concerned about hitting targets than they are about anything else.

Nail on the head,its unfair on call centre guys and admin guys,they impose these unworkable time restraints on calls & paperwork, max 3 mins on a call (then they ask you why you were on a call so long) paper work is a joke each letter is different,but again they managed to put a max time to deal.

[notlam]

I spoke to a guy at Direct Line Leeds office called Suky yesterday.

Unhelpful and hopeless.

[gyzmo]

Don't phone in! Write in. I know what you said on the other thread about writing in but pleae read my response.

When I was at DL Leeds was the worst office (along with Croydon). In fact I am sure the FSA closed the office down for some time. I do not think I have ever come across more apathetic or incompetent staff.