Direct Line - Car Insurance Issues

Hey I posted this up earlier the full details are here HELP! - Direct Line Negligence Claim

I lost track of it chasing HSBC but I now have a car sat on my driveway completley undrivable

I believe that Direct Line acted negligently and poorly on this claim that has resulted in me being without a vehicle for 6 months - I want my money back or the car repaired to the state it was - can I go to the Ombudsman now or can I just claim it in a small claims court - there seems to be a few "insurance" employees on here now so please if you can help it would be great!

[bed32]

From my research it seems to be they best idea to go through the FSO before considering court action. Apart from the time factor there is no disadvantage to taking this route - I don't believe the FSO decision is binding on you - although it is on Direct Line - so if you disagree then you can still consider court action.

In addition I think the FSO has more latitude in both its interpretation of the rules and the compensation it can award - for example I think the FSO can award compensation for distress that the court would have difficulty doing.

In order to access the FSO you do need to raise a formal complaint and wait for that to be processed by Direct Line (up to 8 weeks).

However I should point out that I have not yet had experience dealing with FSO (I am about to complain to them about Privilege - which is really the same company) so I don't know how unbiased they are

[Darkangelsdelite]

Hi Rils,
Sorry to hear you're still having problems with this. Before you go to the ombudsmen, you need to make sure you have exhausted all lines of communication with Direct Line, otherwise they will just refer it back to them to give them a chance to rectify the situation.
I would suggest you write in to the customer relations team for direct line (the address is in the back of your policy booklet, if you cant find it i'll dig it out at work tomorrow and post it here for you) make sure you include all the information you've posted on here regarding work carried out and faults you've had etc. I would also inform them in the letter that if the matter isn't resolved to your satisfaction within 14days, you will be taking the matter to the ombudsmen. Little inside info, make sure you mention this in the letter, most insurers will bend over backwards to settle with you as it costs them a fortune to go to the ombudsmen with cases so they'd much rather avoid it where they can.
Hope this helps.

DA

[Pat-Uk]

Hi sorry to hear that you have to deal with the RBS group (Directline) as already mentioned you will have to raise a complaint and go through their complaints procedure in full, this will take 8 weeks, but once you have their (we're not going to help you) reply you can then go to the FSO.

The downside is that RBS are one of the most unfriendly companies you'll ever have to deal with, they really are a law unto themselves and it does seem they are allowed to get away with anything they want.

Make sure you have all the information you could possibly need, do not rely on RBS (Directline) to give the FSO anything usefull, they deliberatly withold information if it is to their advantage (I HAVE PROOF OF THIS, they tried to imply that I took out an insurance policy after a fire and withheld the Firebrigade report to substantiate their claims)

If it does go to the FSO try and stay one step ahead, and keep checking to find out of they need any other information that you may be able to provide rather than them having to wait for a reply from RBS as RBS have a habit of dragging their feet when it comes to dealing with the FSO (again I can prove this)

The FSO will do their best but can only act on information provided, so make sure yours is complete. Hope this helps.

Pat

[bed32]

I did at least manage to bully Direct Line into giving me a final response to my complaint within a couple of weeks - so my complaint is now with FOS and I should hear something from them shortly.

I also found that they were very selective with their view of the truth - even to the extent that they had deliberately missed some information I gave them off the claim record - and they freely admit it too! I did an Subject Access Request including requesting recordings of conversations and as a result I will also be complaining to Information Commissioners Office and laying information with FSA.

[Darkangelsdelite]

Originally Posted by Pat-Uk

The downside is that RBS are one of the most unfriendly companies you'll ever have to deal with, they really are a law unto themselves and it does seem they are allowed to get away with anything they want.

Thats a little unfair and just a tad bias, I, along with most of my colleagues, will bend over backwards to do what i can to help the customers i deal with (around 70 or so a day). Granted there are those that have a "i don't give a s**t" attitude, but you get that with any company and we have an internal feedback system so if a customer makes a complaint against staff, it is passed to the team mangers to deal with.
If we were really that bad then we wouldn't be one of the largest general insurers in the country.

DA

[Pat-Uk]

Originally Posted by Darkangelsdelite

Thats a little unfair and just a tad bias, I, along with most of my colleagues, will bend over backwards to do what i can to help the customers i deal with (around 70 or so a day). Granted there are those that have a "i don't give a s**t" attitude, but you get that with any company and we have an internal feedback system so if a customer makes a complaint against staff, it is passed to the team mangers to deal with.
If we were really that bad then we wouldn't be one of the largest general insurers in the country.

DA

Sorry to Hijack the OP's post but this has to be said

I have no intention of getting into an argument over this,Yes I'm sure that many of the call centre staff such as yourself are nice friendly people who do thier job very well, but the minute it goes beyond you, it's a whole new ball game.

When it comes to dealing with claims managers and also higher up management such as the likes of Mr Rudelis and RBSs' Private investigator who lies and pretends to be there to help the customer and often calls himself a claims consultant and many other things too, Ed Pattington. there's a whole new side to RBS that is not portrayed in their adverts.

They even contacted the landlord of the house I was renting (while I was waiting for a decision on the claim) to tell them I was moving out in 3 days time, I knew nothing about it till my landlord phoned me panicking to arange last minute viewings so they could rent it out again. I then get the same letter 2 days later. they had deliberatly tried to make me and my 7 months pregnant partner homeless. Luckily the landlord was OK and let us stay on.

Just click on my homepage for a brief run down of my dealings with them it's a temporary site while the main one is put back up, I know of several others that have had thier lives ruined by the firm. I was even emailed last night by a guy that was bankrupted by them after a fire.

The proper site will be done shortly and will be advertised EVERYWHERE and as there is only truth and copies of genuine letters between me and them, there is nothing legally they can do about it, I own my own server so they can't even bully a host into taking the site down.

[bed32]

Originally Posted by Darkangelsdelite

Thats a little unfair and just a tad bias, I, along with most of my colleagues, will bend over backwards to do what i can to help the customers i deal with (around 70 or so a day). Granted there are those that have a "i don't give a s**t" attitude, but you get that with any company and we have an internal feedback system so if a customer makes a complaint against staff, it is passed to the team mangers to deal with.
If we were really that bad then we wouldn't be one of the largest general insurers in the country.

Don't take it personally - the staff I've dealt with have all been polite and responsive - but the corporate attitude is terrible.

They don't seem to think that they are bound by the wording of their policy. They don't seem to think the Data Protection Act applies to them. They don't bother to comply with the regulators requirements (FSA) either in terms of how they handled claims or how they handle complaints.

They take the view "We are one of the largest insurers in the country you you can just lump it".

I have just made a complaint to FOS and I am 100% certain FOS will find that Direct Line are at fault - ditto Information Commissioners Office.

I have worked for large organisations (larger than RBS) regulated by first SFA then FSA for 10 years and in all that time I am not aware of a single customer complaint having to go to FOS - let alone being upheld. For us the customer comes first and the entire company would be ashamed if we felt a customer even had a legitimate cause for complaint.