*** caution hastings non fault claims will be met with resistance ***

[jay david]

as a customer with hastings and an employee of another large insurance company i can only say an insurer is only as good as their claims department. in hastings case this service is deplorable.

 

i was involved in a non fault accident which the 3rd party insurer has already admitted liability. my vehicle was purchased less than 8 weeks ago and is still under dealership warranty. the damage was not extreme and mainly the costs of repair will be airbags and labour. the car purchase was £8500 and i have since been told that hastings have deemed the car a cat d total loss and value repairs at £6500. i was told the vehicle was a total loss in my first call to hastings to register the claim even though no-one had even seen the car at this stage. i am now at a stage where i am 5 hours of phone calls later and many missed promised callbacks in dealing with my claim (ongoing since 21st feb) that i am dealing with the 3rd party insurer myself. hastings even told me at one stage it was better that i deal with them as i wanted to buy the car back. is'nt this why i have paid a policy with hastings that in an event of a claim they act on my behalf not against me and i have to deal with it all myself.

 

the car was taken to salvage to be estimated and when i requested a copy of this estimate i was assured i would be copied into this email. however this was not the case and again i am back on the phone to hastings to get this information. i was assured of a callback from my file handler this afternoon but when this was not forthcoming i yet again call them to be told awfully sorry but he had a busy day. unlike myself who has not been busy as i have been sitting in all afternoon awaiting said callback. i have since spoke to the third party claim department who were extremely helpful and advised they have had the engineers report which is very vague and they have twice sent emails to hastings regarding who have failed to respond (suprised i was not).

 

today i have an email stating the hire car will be collected this week as hastings are awaiting an estimate from myself,

. i have yet to be able to provide an estimate as they have not provided me with the engineers report that they promised so cannot get an estimate completed.

 

each time you call hastings be prepared to waste lots of your own time and be promised callbacks that do not happen and also details of your claim being provided to you which does not happen either. i even had to inform hastings that the 3rd party insurance company admitted liability as hastings were unaware because they had not contacted them until i pushed them to do so.

 

i have had to deal with the claim mainly myself not with hastings as they are not competent in doing so. as stated earlier an insurance company is only as good as their claim department and in hastings i would never trust and all this came from a non fault claim, i can only sympathise with their customers whovdo have to register an at fault claim.

 

paula

[honeybee13]

Hello and welcome to CAG.

 

We have a Hastings rep here who should be able to help you. I expect he'll be here tomorrow, but I'll keep an eye on your thread and make sure you get a reply.

 

My best, HB

[unclebulgaria67]

Hopefully Hastings rep will respond tomorrow.

 

If there is damage affecting the structural integrity of the car, you might not be able to get it repaired. If the car is less than 12 months old and you are the first registered owner, some policies do cover the replacement cost of the new car in the event of a write off. Have a look, if this is relevant to you.

 

There have been similar complaint about Hastings, which their rep has managed to resolve, by getting someone senior from their claims dept to to deal with it. Hopefully this will happen.

 

Some Insurers have outsourced their claim departments to outside companies and I do wonder whether this is the case with Hastings.

[jay david]

hi all the car is not within the 12 month clause unfortunately as its a 2007 model. however the car only has 11k miles since new and condition is immaculate hence why purchasing car back. my issue is that hastings told me to deal with the 3rd party myself regarding this and then told me i shouldl not have been advised this. each time you call them it becomes contradictory information that is provided. the level of service they provide is quiet shocking. the damage is repairable and structure is fine on the car.just can not believe a non fault claim is handled so badly and hastings want to resolve claim themselves then recover costs when claim is settled. the 3rd party insurers have actually been more helpful than my own insurer. this case luckily has not been outsourced so the blame will lay with hastings in how they treat their own customers. the amount of time i have wasted on calls is not fair and i was in tears today whilst my husband was on the phone to them yet again trying to be kept informed. they only way to get information is if you call them and push for it. just dont understand why it is so difficult for them to be helpfull and get the fairest outcome for the customers when they are not at fault

[Hastings Direct. Joe - Soc]

Hi Paula, Thank you for posting and explaining the situation. I am very sorry to hear that you are unhappy with the service that you have received to date in regards to your non fault claim. If you can please contact us directly and provide your policy details I will be happy to liaise with the claims team on your behalf to hopefully get this matter resolved promptly. [email protected] Many Thanks, Jamie

[jay david]

hi jamie my claim ref is 001391300 the above issue is a result from already dealing with a manager as i asked for this when first register the claim and have since been dealing with the same person throughout. im not sure any issues can be resolved if a manager has not been able to resolve any of my complaints or queries to date. ill await a response again but dont hold much hope of this as so far i have many callbacks that have not been completed and this is from a senior member of staff.

 

thank you

[jay david]

and to add to the above i am still awaiting again 2 callbacks that i was informed would be completed yesterday afternoon when i spoke to the manager at 4pm regarding the courtesy car and also the return of my own car.

[Hastings Direct. Joe - Soc]

Thank you, I will pick this up now with our claims team for you. Many Thanks, Jamie

[jay david]

thank you jamie. i will keep the thread updated with outcomes of how this claim is progressing and regarding the further communications i have with my claim

[jay david]

so i am still to hear anything back from hastings however i have just this minute received a call regarding the courtesy car i have and informing me it will be collected tonight at midnight!!!

 

midnight is not a time i would be expecting a knock at my door to say the least. apparently the courtesy car company have also not heared anything from hastings (suprised not the least)

[Hastings Direct. Joe - Soc]

Hi Paula, Thank you for the update. I have just spoken to a member of our team and asked them to make your file a priority and get in contact with you shortly. Many Thanks, Jamie

[jay david]

just spoke 3rd part insurer who like myself and courtesy car company are awaiting a response from hastings. this is becoming a farce and time consuming for us to deal with. im an enquiring to see if the 3rd part are willing to deal with me alone as hastings cannot act in a proper manner on behalf of me as their customer. so all hinges now on hastings making contact with us all!!!!

[jay david]

so another phone call made by me to court car provider who advised they spoke to albany who in turn spoke to hastings yesterday afternoon and hastings asked to extend the car however albany declined due to delays. obviously these delays are a result and direct fault of hastings. the 3rd party insurer also confirmed still no response from hastings as the engineer report sent to them is to vague. so again im am in a position where i have to call hastings to get information not them contacting me as a previous post here has just advised me. fos will certainly involved in this case now as its becoming more and more frustrating dealing with such incompetence. no wonder hastings didnt return my call as promised yesterday about the courtesy car as they knew it was more bad news

[Hastings Direct. Joe - Soc]

Hi Paula, I appreciate you keeping this thread updated. Please be assured that I am passing all of your updates over to the claims team so that they are aware of this. I appreciate your patience whilst I get to grips with the status of your file. Many Thanks, Jamie

[jay david]

its not helping that im here at home phoning other people to get information that hastings should be supplying me.the court car company want a callback from me in ten minutes to give a time to collect car tomorrow a.m. which i cannot provide without knowing any details. im caught between everyone here because everyone is awaiting a repsonse jamie myself included from hastings. what do i tell the court car company in ten minutes? when can the 3rd party get a response from the 2 emails requesting a more detailed report and last but not least when can i the customer get the callbacks that were promised yesterday afternoon? its time consuming for me sat here again another day today dealing with all this. i paid a premium and and to re-iterate its a non fault claim and this can be resolved simpler and quicker if i alone dealt with the 3rd party insurer and not hastings

[jay david]

so finally hastings have called to ask how they can help me with the courtesy car query. i have had to give all the information as outlined in the original post in this thread again in detail. now informed that because i didnt accept the offer of settlement this means the court car will have to be returned. at no point in many calls to hastings manager was this ever highlighted to me. like i have then informed hastings if they had sent the original engineer detailed report when promised i may not even be in this situation. the caller was not even aware the 3rd party has been trying to contact them and can only apologise for many callbacks that they promised and did not fulfill. they will now speak to salvage yard to get time i can expect my car returned and i had to ask them can they please contact the 3rd party to find out what information they require from hastings. i had to suggest this. i have asked for a sars request form to have copies of my calls to proceed with my complaint to fos which i have to pay hastings for and this is the usual we will respond in 8 weeks to try and resolve the complaint. which is fine by me as the response will be passed to fos as unsatisfactory on my behalf. so where do i stand currently? again awaiting a callback from hastings to find out when i can expect my car and the result of what they have discussed with the 3rd party. 2 weeks of me calling has now been started all over again at a cost to me not to them. so the saga begins yet again. they had not even communicated between themselves in the claim department before calling me to establish my concerns!!! and now i have to go and rent a car when i was put off the road by a 3rd party who are willing to deal with claim asap but hastings wont allow them or me to do so. please think before insuring as price can impact service as is my case with hastings claims procedures and competence with claims handlers. matter far from resolved and as mentioned im back to square 1 all over again and awaiting another promised callback

[unclebulgaria67]

This exact situation has been experienced by a number of people reporting on CAG. I really do think that Hastings need to revisit their claims processes to make sure there are no gaps. Hastings should have a flow chart of the claims process stating what actions they need to take at different points, so the customer is not forgotten and they have all the information that is needed to make decisions, so the claim is dealt with as smoothly as it can be.

 

I would guess that Hastings (like many Insurers) has outsourced some of it claims handling and they are therefore not in control of what is happening. This can make it a frustrating experience. When will Insurers learn that if they lose control over how claims are handled, it will eventually hurt them in terms of customer reviews and more complaints to the FOS.

 

It may be easier to just get the car back to a local garage and get the third parties Insurers to handle the claim.

[jay david]

indeed unclebulgaria we probably will deal with 3rd party alone as they have been very helpful. the issue we have is all insurance companies understand the process of "the life of a claim" and its process however hastings dont seem to follow it. its all very ad hoc with them and customer service is most certainly their biggest issue and communication between themselves within their own departments. they leave the claim until you physically contact them and push them to do the work they should not need instructing to do. im sure their fos charges are very high especially as every fos complaint is a charge of £500 to them regardless of who wins the outcome. the 3rd party want the claim resolved asap in their words but yet hastings are the ones preventing that and hastings are meant to act in my best interest. they should be acting for me not against me!!! feel free to comment anyone on this thread your more than welcome

[jay david]

so finally do get my callback and hastings advised they have sent a full engineer report at last to the 3rd party which i have also asked for a copy emailed to me this afternoon. courtesy car will go back tomo even though the delays were caused by hastings. they will start the complaint process with the quality dept which i wont hold out much hope at this stage due to my current experience with hastings. i will speak to 3rd party tomo to see wether i will cancel my claim with hastings and i have also asked them to inform their own customer service dept of the issues as i am sure they will try and retain a full premium even though they have no costs to recover as its 3rd party liability. i will also be looking to have cancellations fees waiverd if i am to cancel as think this is only fair. they informed me as i have a complaint the claim maybe kept open so wont be able to cancel my policy even if i do not progress with a claim with hastings and decide to deal with 3rd party alone. in summary hastings have done nothing for me but cause hassle loss of many hours in having to call them the 3rd party the salvage company and also courtesy car company myself. as a non fault claim i have done the majority of their work and have wasted how many hours for callbacks that they failed to adhere to. lesson has been learned by myself to never insure with hastings or recommend anyone to do so (in fact i would do my utmost to dissuade future business from family and friends in doing so) but im sure lessons have not be learned by hastings themselves as this is not an isolated incident looking around this site and forums. i have never experienced a company work so hard against their own customers when their own customers are not at fault on in anyway shape or form. will post when i have further information regarding my claim and complaint to show the outcome of this claim and how i am to be treated by hastings going forward. it was only the power of this site that even got them to start listening to me and to actually call me back

[unclebulgaria67]

You can cancel at any time you choose, even if there is a claim and/or complaint open. If this was not the case, if people had a claim say a month before renewal, they would have to renew their policies.

 

The problem you would have is getting a new company to insure you, as you would have to explain the situation to them. The car if it is to be repaired, could be off the road for awhile or if it is a write off, you won't have the car to insure.

[jay david]

exactly uncle and what if claim was worse scenario could be running for years as an open claim. also they advised would send me report they sent to 3rd party as soon as got off call to me and guess what. they have not as im sat here refreshing my inbox every 2 minutes. what a mess of a follow up they have done yet again!!!! so yet another call to them I HAVE TO MAKE because the can not fulfill the promise they make

Edited March 4, 2014 by jay david
forgot to add details

[jay david]

error in post

[jay david]

just received the detail report with labour and costs etc. very detailed apart from missing that 2 airbags deployed that would need to be replaced and interior ceiling kit required to replace after deployment. thought these would be included due to nature of cost to replace if new is very high

[jay david]

so now another call to 3rd party who have advised they now need to send an engineer to my home to do estimate as without this the claim value will be less the costs of new airbags and kits and ceiling etc etc. so we still have not got this issue resolved even after all this today and hastings pretty much assuring me would all be correct. the highest cost of repair is actually missing from their report how can they miss that??? this is yet another day wasted today and now i have to have an engineer call to do another assessment because hastings is incorrect. its just error on top of previous errors. at least i have a log of this all for my complaint now and they just keep adding more to it by the incompetence. the salvage yard as a joke when i called to arrange the car to be returned tomo as a joke told me it was scrapped. thank god i can not take any issue with them and see the funny side of that as if it happened yesterday i think i would have had a breakdown

[jay david]

still no response to my email back asking why the airbags etc were not included in the report. however the court car company have called and are calling at 8.30am to take the car back which now means i will walk to work and be late. wouldnt mind if i had more notice than being told at midday today about them wanting car back and this was because albany disagreed to extend the cover because of delays (hastings delays). it seems when you get a reply from hastings on this forum its a generic reply and indeed you still end up in the same position or in my case starting again from scratch. to make it worse the hire car company just called to advise will be picking the car up thursday morning as staff levels cant manage this tomorrow. i understand it is totally not their fault however i have a car outside my house that i have to keep there on the street whilst i walk to work. again because of hastings. i am sure this is a candid camera situation im dealing with.

 

do hastings actually 1 care and 2 react in a proper manner to this forum not just monitor it.

 

this thread is now being shared on my facebook and twitter pages as i believe the more people it reaches the more people will be able to make an informed decision on insuring with this company. in that all i can add at this stage is do so at your own risk because it certainly wont be at theirs. other readers feel free to post on your own facebook and twitter pages to share this thread i urge you please to do so. big companies cannot continue to treat their customers like this and think a voice has no power