Hi all,

We all know that all companies cock up - some more than most.

I am trying to collate the most common cockups.

Please add to this sticky, preferably in a one line statement, the cockups that you have experienced over the years.

e.g.

DVLA ignored SORN declaration and I was fined.

Company XXX refused to refund me when good were faulty from outset.

etc....

All will become apparent soon....

Thank you.

Insurance companies not honouring the 14 day distance selling cool off period.

To me they seem to quote low on insurance comparison sites, take your money, then say there is a problem and ask for more money.

Then they have you to ransom. You either pay more or if you say you don't want it at the higher price they charge your for cancellation.

This has happened to me 2 years in a row and this year I'm not putting up with it!

Some insurers are claiming cars with factory fitted options are modified cars!

I expect 50% of cars on the road have a factory option.

If you bought a Mini would you know if it had a Chilli pack or not? I wouldn't! If your sunroof or lighter socket was an optional extra are you underinsured?

This problem should be cleared up by the insurance industry it's crazy!

Call centers in India that either don't understand you or don't understand your problem :/

Loss adjusters not being fair. Perhaps through incompetence.

Call centres in India and 3G making me pay a mobile phone contract when they know I was bullied into taking it and will not even give me a hanset or repair mine without me shelling out more money even though they know I cannot use it and they won't let me give them more then 30 days notice of cancellation or they want more money and next month when I can cancel they need 30 days notice and a fee!!!

The Indian call centre staff are not trained in customer care and I will NEVER use 3G again

Added personal injury after I pacifically told the guy (probably on commission) on the phone not too.

Also asked them after citizens advice told me I had legal cover also on third party if I did, and that I wanted to use it. They emailed back saying thanks for the info on the incident, and ended the response. Completely failed to answer my question, I think they were avoiding answering. Had to ask a second time to find out they do.

That was Elephant.

14 day cooling off period. Many people think of this along the lines of a money back guarantee, it isn't. If you decide you want to cancel a policy within this period, an insurance co have every right to charge a cancellation fee, and I would do the same thing, as it's a waste of time and resouces.

The cooling off period is there for when the policy isn't suitable. If on receiving the policy wording the policy isn't right for you THEN you can claim under the 14 day period. You can't just decide you don't want it anymore because you've sold your house/car/whatever.

Hope this enlightens you a little.

Car insurance advisers that quote incorrect law! For example, I was stopped for having no insurance because the car didn't belong to me and it triggered ANPR - hence the stop. I gave them my car's insurance details which states I'm covered Third Party only for any vehicle not belonging or hired to me, which this car was.

After satisfying the law and allowed on my way, I got concerned about possible future action and called my insurers (KwikFit) to confirm I was indeed insured to drive that car later that evening - to which they said I wasn't covered by my policy if the car wasn't already insured by the owner. This made me feel quick sick with fear - what if I'd hit and hurt someone?!??! - so I stayed on the phone demanding they check because they were contradicting two experienced Traffic Officers (who accepted my insurance was valid for that car and let me on my way) and my own beliefs I've held for decades.

KwikFit were adamant I wasn't insured and both advisors and their supervisor assured me they were correct, but eventually decided to check with their legal team who agreed with my advisor that I was only insured to drive the car if it was already insured by the owner!!!!!

I was literally going mad with worry because I needed to use that car that evening to return it and feared for my freedom if I used it illegally. Eventually, KwikFit changed their mind and confirmed I was indeed covered and offered me £5 compensation for causing me undue stress, wasting hours of my time etc etc. Needless to say I didn't renew with them.

Insurance brokers using different language from your actual insurer. One example of which is "business items inside the home" vs "business use of the home". And there will be other discrepancies I just haven't lost money to them yet.

Legal 'assistance' that is actually no help whatsoever and only there to cut the costs of the insurer by fobbing off the customer. They are often more of a hindrance than an assistance and eventually the customer is forced to accept a poor outcome or take over the claim themselves. This board is littered with examples.

automatic renewal- RBS have lists of policys that do not automatically renew,despite a letter being sent to the policyholder confirming it will. Their solution,a team will manually renew the policy (on the day of renewal or even 2 days later). Policys that are not renewed manually are an acceptable loss ratio and the policyholder will only become aware when they are stopped by the Police or wonder where their documents are. So we are knowingly let you drive without insurance.

Call centers in India that either don't understand you or don't want to understand your problem and are trained to lie and be polite at the same time.

Actually this also applies to MoreThan UK call centre which should be renamed LESSThan.

Call centre staff who are trained to lie to you saying "you need to phone X about that", and transfer you to another line, who are in turn trained to lie to you saying "you need to phone Y about that"...and so and so on until you give up and they get your money (or, in the case of the insurance company, refuse to pay up)

Had a good one with sureterm direct in that they kept telling me that due to an I.T problem they coudnt generate my policy or give me a policy number and this was over nearly 3 months and fortunately when I changed my car they had the nerve to try and charge me for cancelling and when I threatened to take them to the ombudsman they suddenly managed to cancel it under the 14 day cancelation period and now theyve just sent me a letter asking for the policy to be sent back to them even though they already know they have never sent me a policy. Needless to say I would never insure with them again and belong to many forums and have told people of my experiences with them. It's my own fault in a way as on one of the forums I belong to have them down as one of the worst companies out there but I thought I would give them the benefit of the doubt but never again.

Performance Direct part of Grove and Dean based in Romford Essex. These people are utter **** and once they have your money will treat you with total contempt. Their only aim is to rip you off in anyway they can.

DVLA ignored SORN declaration and I was fined also got threats from a debt collectors for months AFTER paying the fine

DVLA sent out tax reminders for a car that was scrapped over a year earlier, its still showing as SORNed

Virgin Media for bullying my father into a new contract cause they moved house 2 months before a 3 year contract ran out, he died 3 months later and I cancelled it all then we got threats from debt collectors when he never even owed any money, the broadband speed was 500kbps on an 8GB contract which was pathetic service all round.

Nationwide Building Society for putting my mum died when it was my dad.............................all direct debits etc were stopped and it took 3 months and almost 500 miles of travel for it to be sorted out.

DVLA, Barclays, 3, Orange, Direct Line Insurance, council tax. That's over 6 years, so can't really moan much.

AGEAS Home Onsurance are next to useless.

Lack of communication between their contractors and policy holders.

No customer care especially when involving elderly and disabled policy holders

Call centre are staff obnoxious

Take more than 6 months to settle a claim or remedy claims

AGEAS is a totally unreliable company.