Bedford Insurance - don't accept the lies.

[seylectric]

I recently got a quote for my car insurance from Bedford Insurance of Wimbledon. I was quoted £463.57 - very nice, considerably less than the next nearest quote.

 

I paid the deposit of around £139.07 having been offered the chance to pay the remainder by direct debit. No problem.

 

The policy cover note and documents arrived and all seemed well. Then a letter arrived from Amber Credit with a direct debit form and agreement to complete for the remaining balance. This stated an APR of 34.2%.

 

The documentation than adds, "We will charge interest on the account at the rate of 15.5% per annum. We may vary the interest rate". Next up it says, "Each month on the calculation date we will calculate interest at the interest rate on your account and add the interest to your account".

 

So if I'm reading this right, they are charging 35.5% p.a. interest PLUS adding interest on the remaining balance of 15.5%!!!!! :o

 

 

Anyway I'm having none of it. When I paid by deposit (by credit card) over the phone I was not told about these interst rates, as I believe is my legal right, and I have told the company (by letter) that I will pay the remaining balance for the car insurance as quoted to me in full but will not pay their extortionate interest rates.

 

I've also told them that I will be deducting the £15 administration fee they have added to the account from my payment - although this was included in the original quote, they did not tell me about it; again they should have done before I paid my deposit.

 

We'll see what happens.

[Tony Ginger]

This company are a total rip off!!! BEWARE!!! if you don't send in your No claims discount proof within 7 days of taking insurance out they will cancel your insurance and ONLY refund 25% of the money you paid. I contacted the company twice in 1 week to let them know I was waiting for the NCD info from my previous ins company then without any further warning I receive a registered letter from bedford ins (Motor Quote Direct) to let me know they are cancelling my ins. Never ever had this problem with previous insurers. TOTAL RIPOFF!!!

[banner]

Avoid at all costs. I Also had Bedford insurance [problem] me. I sent my no claims in but they claimed they had not recieved it. They also claimed i had not stated my penalty points on my original quote, which i had,why would i not and void my insurance. After a couple of weeks they cancelled my insurance by registered post, no email or phone call to warn me and said they would pay the outstanding amount into the account i had paid with, less 25 percent within 5 days. 10 days later another letter arrives asking for me to call a premium number to give the details of where i would like the monies paid. I had a bad feeling from the start about these conmen, since went back to my original insurer who was only 40 quid more anyway, lesson learned.

[torouurke]

I have recently changed address, I informed Bedford insure of the change of address, I then recived a letter from Bedford informing me that my policy would be canceled within 7 days.

They claimed to have informed me by email that there would be an extra charge for COA, never had any emails from Bedford insurance.

On phoning them, I was informed that the new address would cost an extra £70 for the remaining 2 months of my policy.

Bottom line I refused to pay the extra amount and have now renewed my policy for 12 months for £191.

 

DO NOT trust this company, very poor customer service and hidden costs, never again.

[brooksy boy]

Took out a policy with Bedford Insurance, they tried to cancel my policy twice whilst awaiting paper part of my replacement license, I forgot about the 3 points that were on it having not actually seen it for some consideable time. They charged me an additional amount to cover the points (fair enough) then cancelled the Insurance anyway, When I got this (recorded delivery) cancelation, I rang the 0870 number and asked wtf was going on, Oops they replied, Yes we can see you have paid the difference in the premium but your policy has been cancelled and you will have to take out a new policy, good news is your insurer, Highway is only charging you £ 43.00 for the length of time you have been on cover and if you pay now we will renew your policy without any break in cover!!

 

Called them up earlier this week to advise of a change of vehicle and switch over policies, gettin a smaller sized, newer van with a smaller engine, I thought there would be a refund in premium due back:sad: Not a chance!! £159.00 more and because you pay your premium annually you have to pay it in full NOW, When the renewal is due, I won't be going anyhere near them:| Steer Well Clear of BEDFORD INSURANCE AKA VAN QUOTE DIRECT

[flyer31]

Total crap BEDFORD insurance company.They seem to make the rules up as they go along.There tactics are usually to offer you cheaper insurance than their rivals.Then once you've taken out policy they'll nit pick at miniscule things which they'll claim you've not disclosed.So because of this you must pay them X amount otherwise they'll cancel your policy and only give you a partial refund.

 

LEAVE WELL ALONE YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!

Edited January 29, 2013 by honeybee13
Removing pejorative words. please refrain from trying to circumvent the language filter.

[Bepas]

I which I read this thread before I paid them. This company is absolute a rip off indeed!

The policy started, I did the mistake of paying them the amount in full, that was already very expensive, around £1800, a month later I receive a cancellation letter and a refund of £560. When I called them to say I didnt ask for any cancellation, they said it's because I didn't send them a proof of address! I asked why I wasn't sent any reminder, they said they did via email!!!! How can you cancel a policy and give notice by email!

I guess this is how they make money, by [edited] from people! Shame!

Please avoid them, they will find a way to rip you off!

Edited March 7, 2013 by honeybee13

[Surfer01]

I which I read this thread before I paid them. This company is absolute a rip off indeed!

The policy started, I did the mistake of paying them the amount in full, that was already very expensive, around £1800, a month later I receive a cancellation letter and a refund of £560. When I called them to say I didnt ask for any cancellation, they said it's because I didn't send them a proof of address! I asked why I wasn't sent any reminder, they said they did via email!!!! How can you cancel a policy and give notice by email!

I guess this is how they make money, by [edited] from people! Shame!

Please avoid them, they will find a way to rip you off!

Hopefully you have requested a full refund. If they refuse, follow their complaints procedure and then escalate to FOS.

[BG1445]

the problem is with insurance people are finding the cheapest cover around, but the problem i find with the years i've been working in insurance is a lot of people don't think why it's cheaper and this is the reason as to why they charge ridiculous amounts of money for doing the simplist things and have stupid clauses in there policies to catch you out. I always advise people always dig deaper then the price you see no matter what insuance you are looking at.

[Bepas]

I did escalate, and they said as a good gesture they can refund £220, but still there is £1100 missing, so I refused, they said the rest is the fee for the first month cover. so I raised it with the FOS, it's ongoing now, but the FOS will only try to arrange for an agreenent between both parties, and I am sure the brokers have put enough small footprints somewhere to cover themselves.

 

I just advise people to avoid them, the truth is that when you look for an insurance on a comparison website, go for the known companies and do your research in forums like these before throwing your hard earn money to [problem]mers.

 

Quotes you would get for big names are not the cheapest you can get. Contact the companies directly and you can get good deals. In fact, I managed to get a cheaper insurance and much more comprehensive with Admiral than from those [EDIT]...

 

I am not the kind of person who watches someone taking my money and not react. I will see what FOS will say, if they cannot help I will take them to the small complaints court and defend my case myself...

Edited March 11, 2013 by ims21

[Sims]

I did escalate, and they said as a good gesture they can refund £220, but still there is £1100 missing, so I refused, they said the rest is the fee for the first month cover. so I raised it with the FOS, it's ongoing now, but the FOS will only try to arrange for an agreenent between both parties, and I am sure the brokers have put enough small footprints somewhere to cover themselves.

 

I just advise people to avoid them, the truth is that when you look for an insurance on a comparison website, go for the known companies and do your research in forums like these before throwing your hard earn money to [problem]mers.

 

Quotes you would get for big names are not the cheapest you can get. Contact the companies directly and you can get good deals. In fact, I managed to get a cheaper insurance and much more comprehensive with Admiral than from those [EDIT]...

 

I am not the kind of person who watches someone taking my money and not react. I will see what FOS will say, if they cannot help I will take them to the small complaints court and defend my case myself...

 

Hi, two days ago I got insurance from them for 401 thinking I did good and today admiral phoned me and gave me at 342.00 and I am so cross with myself. Admiral has legal cover and lots more benefits added to that as well as being comp while Bedford was third party fire n theft n also that price does not protect my 9 yrs no claims!!! I called in n told them I want to cancel and they said 35 pounds which is weird cos my insurance only begins tomorrow with them....is that normal? I have to send in the cover letter and all the documents sent to me as well as write a note saying I am cancelling before end of day or they will charge me for tomororow. I wish I had checked here before buying cos now its a hassle and a stress and I'm thinking maybe just continue with them...what's FOS btw? Nway thanks for all the posts it has made me wiser

[Surfer01]

I am sure that you have 14 days grace especially if it was done over the telephone or Internet. Either way you are better off at Admiral.

[kaymiller85]

May 4th i purchased insurance from this company via Go Compare, they were by far the cheapest option available (almost too good to be true!!)

 

I took out the policy and heard nothing after paying the £78 deposit online to the company.

 

About a week and a half later they had been trying to call me on my land line as the policy wasn't quite right (apparently) and they were looking for an additional deposit of £30 on top of the £78 already paid over a week before. When i called them after getting the letter stating they would cancel my policy if i did not call them as they required more information ? YEAH, they meant money !!

 

NEVER on this call did the agent mention that there new policy and new rules applied from the government / insurance legislation on the 1st April 2013 now meant they would require the following or would cancel my new policy and charge me for the pleasure of it*

 

* 1. Copy of NCD documents

 

2. Copy of Driving Licence and Paper part for ALL named drivers and policy holder

 

I called them about this as i do not have this neither did my partner, unfortunately we lost these during our last home move. DVLA are asking for £20 for each replacement document and we would have to send our licences back. Taking up to 2 weeks to received them back. Meaning we would miss the cut off they had implemented for this information to be received.

 

I immediately asked for a refund and to cancel my policy with them after being miss-sold this insurance under false pretenses and false claims on the costing of it.. At this point they refused completely flat out to help me gave a million excuses about the rules etc. Over 14 days, now 3 weeks into the policy and i had been using it

 

Customer service here is NONE EXISTENT , even the manager whom i spoke with over the phone was speaking over me and wouldn't let me talk. I asked again to cancel and was told NO refund would be given and i would have to pay the cancellation charge but they couldn't tell me what this would be while on the phone . I argued that the policy should be canceled due to miss-selling and not informing me about these rules while in my 14 day cancellation period, which is very sneaky of the company, considering this was a must to have the policy, shouldn't they be advising EVERYONE of this FIRST ?? . (tell tale signs of cowboy company's selling insurance and trying to ROB / STEAL from there potential customers.

 

Apparently i had been emailed by documents on the 7th of may telling me this - Dont know where they sent them too, wasn't me clearly or i would have know this condition ? And instantly canceled and moved on.

 

I proceeded to end the call as i was getting no-where and his rudeness was attitude overwhelming me. First i demanded that all emails apparently sent shroud be resent to me this time so i could see the information about my invisible policy which i had heard nothing about until now.

 

Received the emails i asked for very quickly and the original emails that were sent to me with my policy information ? Which they could not forward showing the original date sent out.

 

In the end i sent a very long email to the manager about all this going on, he instantly canceled and refunded some of my policy payment.

 

Amazing what 1 email can do to help, as talking cannot be checked or proved, emails can be, ALWAYS email to to back up what you have said and what has happened.

 

 

I have attached the email sent and received from this so called Manager @ Bedford insurance. In the hope this will help someone else fight there rights with this horrible company.

[IWG]

I got to Bedford Insurance company through Go Compare, they were about the cheapest but not by much.

I received all their forms and paid the deposit. I then got a letter saying there was a problem with a licence. I telephoned them and we realised that I had put my wife's date of birth down as mine, they agreed to change it as it had just been an administrative error however there would be £70 to pay as there was a change of circumstances from the original application. I was changing it from them believing she was 56 to 52! Hardly a significant difference.

I questioned that and said it was not a big issue I will just take her off the policy - that increased it by £150!

I then said as it was within the 14 days I would cancel and take my business elsewhere - that was £90

 

They are a horrendous company and reflect really badly on Go Compare also

 

NEVER NEVER NEVER use them.

[christiy]

I bought and insurance through bedford (motor quote direct) and the insurance company is highway. I changed my car, bought a cheaper, smaller engine car and they said the premium will stay the same...but I had to pay an extra £45 pounds as an administration fee. Or I could cancel for £90.00 !!!!! And they said I had to request the cancellation in writing, and the policy would be cancelled from the date they process the cancellation. Basically, if it takes them two weeks to do it, I would have to pay for another two weeks pro-rata! An absolute rip off. Never again. Please avoid them!

[unclebulgaria67]

No they cannot tell you to cancel in writing. They have to accept your phone instructions. Make a complaint.

[mercedes180]

keep away from Bedford insurance ignore the cheap quote only interested in finding fault then try to charge you just been charged £150 on a £395 policy to cancel within 14 days. Stay away

Edited July 18, 2014 by honeybee13