Really Annoyed!! Fed Up Of Fob Offs! (Insurance & Accident Repair)

[SeanW]

Seriously wonder how the hell insurance companies can get away with what they do!

As I may have mentioned once or twice (yeah, and the rest...) I had a wee bump requiring substantial work on my car (and wrote off a Micra in the process).

A few weeks went by and I got the car back, paid my excess and off I trotted.

Fast forward a couple of months and I started noticing a creaking and groaning from the front end of the car. Specifically the nearside. Took it back to them and got told that because I was a young lad, I might be a little over sensitive! Nothing was found upon a visual inspection. So I left.

Whilst in Blackpool on a course, a couple of things happened to annoy me some more.

First of all, I had a letter from my former insurers demanding I pay my excess. I rang them up to inform them I did when I collected the car. Ahh, no, this would be the "Young Drivers Excess" - the one I was apparently informed of over the phone when I had the crash. To be fair, I probably was told - at that time, you could have told me the moon was made of cheese and I wouldn't have noticed! The letter said I could pay by cheque or BACS - I wasn't in possession of a chequebook, so I rang them up. I was then accused of trying to dodge paying them - after repeatedly asking for BACS details. After being told that if I didn't pay, the Police would be involved, because my insurance would be invalidated (yeah, the policy that had expired the previous year...)

I called the accident repair group who didn't have a clue what I was on about. They arranged for the insurers to contact me back - but be prepared to wait 2-3 weeks. Meanwhile, I received another threatening letter. Aaannndddd another call to them...the pillock I'd spoken too had written down on my file that I was point blank refusing payment. I informed the agent I was speaking to what really happened. Turns out I was right - I could have spoken to a supervisor when I asked!! I also requested the BACS details AGAIN as I (still) was not in possession of a chequebook. A further SIX WEEKS LATER they finally sent me the details I requested. But they very kindly waived the late fees...out of the goodness of their lying, cheating, stone cold hearts.

Still in Blackpool, I had the same noisy problem again - well, it got noticeably worse (almost a year after the repairs). Went to the Blackpool branch of the accident repairers. They had a look - nothing obviously wrong, not evident on the test drive (same story as Scunthorpe, just without being patronised).

I've just put up with the noise until recently. I had to get 2 new tyres and the tracking done along with some new pads up front and shocks down back - fantastic service from all those involved there. Unfortunately, the noise got worse! As the noise was most prominent when steering, I thought it was the steering rack. Mechanic I spoke to agreed. Sooo...I rang up the accident repair people and was told I could either a) have the car collected and taken to Hartwell Scunthorpe or at my suggestion, go to Hartwell Grimsby (I can see it from my doorstep). I was told by Hartwell Grimsby that I would have to pay an £85 diagnostics charge. I rang the accident repairers back and said I wasn't prepared to pay that - "No worries, we'll collect the car instead"

Which they did - this morning! This evening they rang me back - "wear and tear to the top mounts, that'll be £85 please" Err...not what I was told...they're now telling me I won't be getting my car back until I pay it. I was accused of being a liar over the phone - I don't like that. He claimed to have been stood next to the receptionist when she spoke to me. Yet he's conveniently neglecting to remember the part where I said that I wasn't prepared to pay the charge and they responded that's fine, we'll collect it!

[Phil 87]

Wow, that's a lot of [insert swear word here] to put up with

I'd try and find the part of your contract that says you have to pay this so called "young drivers excess", and if you can't find it ask them where it is in the contract. I've not been in this kind of situation before but I'd say just ignore any threats from them because you're obviously cooperating.

Is this Hartwell Grimsby which are messing you around? I've used Hartwell Scunthorpe a few times and was pretty happy with them (used to live in Barton and worked in Scunny). It might be worth using them instead of Grimsby, although it's probably too late if the Grimsby garage have your car lol.

I think you're in a situation where the garage is illegally holding onto your car and demanding payment which you didn't agree to. Hopefully our resident legal expert can clarify, but this sounds like something I've seen on some programme like Rogue Traders. You didn't agree to pay the £85 before they took your car, so they have no right to expect it from you, someone correct me if I'm wrong. The problem is, being without your car is a massive inconvenience and most people in this situation (myself included) would probably bite the bullet and pay the £85. I'm sure they know that, and they're using very dishonest tactics to squeeze extra money from you.

[gregers]

wonder if you could find someone with a cheque book go in and pay,then cancel the cheque?

[SeanW]

I have a cheque book now - different account lol

[SeanW]

Phil - the car is with Nationwide in Scunthorpe. Hartwell - both Grimsby and Scunthorpe are okay. I took the car down to the Grimsby branch only to be told there was an £85 diagnostics fee. I point blank refused to pay this and was led to believe that by allowing Nationwide to arrange it, there would be no fee. The agent at Nationwide kept trying to trip me up on the phone and and all but accused me of being a liar.

I have messaged our very own Caped Crusader and have received some excellent advice off of him (he's been honest and has stated that he isn't 100% sure - but has suggested different avenues to take)

My first call tomorrow will be to the Nationwide Accident Repair Group head office. And if needs be, my insurers at the time. Last resort will be to seek legal advice.

I'm not backing down on principle. I was lied to and have been accused of lying myself...THAT'S what's annoyed me. If they'd been upfront and said "Look, if it isn't a warranty issue then you will be charged for the investigation of the fault" I would have said thanks, but no and gone to see my local independent garage. Who may have charged me half hours labour if he needed to strip anything down.

I'm interested to watch back the dash cam footage too...

[Phil 87]

wonder if you could find someone with a cheque book go in and pay,then cancel the cheque?

Good idea lol, give them a cheque from an account with no money in it just to get the car back. Actually no, don't do that :P. Would be funny though.

[SeanW]

S'alright - I've got the spare key and I know where they park the cars...get it home, whack it up on axle stands and remove 2 wheels and lock 'em in my shed - not much they can do then, even if they do follow me home :P

What CAN they do? Not like they could report it stolen - cars in my name, I have the V5 and I dare say that if they did try it, when the Ol' Bill sees I have the car, can't imagine they'd be too impressed with them :D

However tempting - I'm still going to tackle this sensibly, and as amicably as possible...I won't take the whole "we're a big company and you're not, therefore we can do what we want" attitude off of them!!

[SeanW]

Got the car back...they said that if I could pick it up today, they'd waive all fees

Friend took me out and in exchange, I'm fitting a sink tomorrow - so for the sake of a tenners worth of petrol...;)

[Phil 87]

Nice one :). So if you had to pick it up tomorrow would they still have wanted your money? Seems like they aren't using any logic in what they're doing.

[SeanW]

Probably lol

[Ianb]

I've not been in this situation with car insurance etc, however I have been in a similar sort of situation with talktalk... Partner and I took over a business and changed phone providers, the previous owners hadn't paid up and cancelled their phone account.. we used it partially in September, I was sent a big bill (for August etc) I told them I wasn't going to pay it etc and that I will only pay for September usage and thats it... After getting that through someones head, he eventually said the only way forward was to set up a new account and transfer the September usage over - I said that was fine ONLY if it did not have any attachments, ties, contracts, 30 day notice periods etc as I had already signed up with another company, he assured me that was the case (to be fair he did his part).

Then in October I got a bill for line rental from Oct-Nov, I phoned them up and they said it must have been a mistake, then in November I got a bill for Oct-Nov line rental AND Nov-Dec line rental... bearing in mind I left them in September.. I went ape (a refined ape, but still ape)...

Anyway, after many verbal promises to investigate and answers ranging from "You'll just have to pay it (£300 this was!) and we'll reimburse you 'some' money" to "still a mistake" to "just the way our system works" I got so hacked off I phoned up free legal advice and they basically said ALWAYS get people to send email confirmations of points mentioned in telephone conversations, and if you don't and you have problems then demand that all future correspondence be either by email or letter form, this way YOU, ME, US have a copy of it... They always record their conversations, but I bet you don't.

So anyway, long story short, I can't help you other than to suggest you tell them that "you wish to have no further telephone conversations and that you wish all future correspondence be in email or letter form"... that way you can review what was sent, rather than have some slimy git on the phone tell you what you said... especially when you can't quite remember what that was...

[Phil 87]

Yes emails are always best for this sort of thing. I've never really had a dispute of this sort, but whenever I have to deal with something that could cost me money I try and send emails instead of phoning. It's easier to get everything across and you have proof if they try and lie to you.

[SeanW]

When I originally dealt with them, they were fine.

But they were getting paid then.

When asked what outcome I would like, I just told him that ideally they return my car, I don't look at the fuel gauge and they cancel the remaining warranty (about 11 months)

They're not brilliant at responding to emails, which is why in this instance it was all done over the phone.

Even if the steering rack exploded tomorrow, I'd rather get it repaired by somebody I trust to do the job and be upfront with me.

This would be the same guy who rang me after he'd closed to ensure that I'd got home alright after having new brake pads fitted. (Any boxing fans may know the name Joe Frater - it's his garage, run by his sons)

I worked out roughly...to have returned my car would have cost them:

- 2 hours (40 minutes each way + faffing, fuelling and handover)

- 2 drivers (both claims assessors) based on a slightly below average (pre-tax) wage for the area of £10.00ph

- My petrol (about a tenner)

- Another cars petrol (maybe £7.50)

Total = £57.50

So really, they're not even £30 down...worth it to stop me pestering them :D

[Ianb]

To be fair Sean, it's normally like that! You always start on good terms (like my story above), then when things go south you're always trying to dig 'OUT' of the hole...

Don't get me wrong, next time I'm going to get into the same situation... In fact I currently have a similar situation with a commercial fridge that was 'supposed' to be taken away last week.. According to the telephone conversation... Sigh.. Looks like I'm going to be on the telephone again today...

I guess it's more a case of "if it's possible do what you can to get it all on email, even if it's a little more inconvenient" as I mentioned, they record calls to screw you over later, so you might as well use your only means which is to get the words..

Sent via carrier pigeon using Ford OC

[Phil 87]

They're not brilliant at responding to emails, which is why in this instance it was all done over the phone.

Yeah that's a common problem, you send an email and a week later there's no reply. I'd treat it like you're expecting them to call you back, if they don't reply to your email after a few hours when they're supposedly at work, call them and tell them to check their emails :P

[SeanW]

They didn't record the call...which probably worked in my favour.

Woman at head office suggested it. At no point in any phone call was I informed that it may be recorded.

For me it was very much a matter of principle - I do not like being lied to or being called a liar. If I thought I was in the wrong, I would have held my hands up and accepted it.

Going to nip and get a quote for the work later. No doubt sit down and have a coffee whilst I tell my story lol