“The chat line is almost always at 100% capacity therefore cannot be used on line, a message pops up to this effect, the Help centre phone numbers on the web site are wrong and patch you through to the Validation dept. which cannot help with car insurance enquiries.
My Hastings account on-line does not break down the cost of a multi-car policy, and the chat-line will not discuss this aspect therefore you must call the Help centre? I eventually got through to an analyst via the Validation dept who put me on hold to try and find the cost of each car on the policy, and was unceremoniously cut-off after 5 mins being on hold.
Okay I thought I'll look at my previous Hastings policies before I went multi-car in 2018, I can then work out for myself the cost of the additional car, I can see all the old policies are listed on my Hastings account but when trying to access a pop-up message tells me these are old policies and you do not have access therefore must call the Help Centre, aaaaaagh!!!!!!!!!!
Hastings have all my details including phone number but as yet no one has called me back?
Poor, poor & frustrating service, I'll be taking my insurance business elsewhere at the earliest opportunity.”
Hello there,
I apologise for any inconvenience caused by this, we are extremely busy at the moment and therefore customers may see an increased queues in our services. We have a dedicated phone line to Multi-Car policies, all details can be found here: https://www.hastingsdirect.com/car-insurance/multi-car-insurance.shtml.
~Freddy
“Waiting time on telephone calls
When altering a policy I had to cancell old policy and open and pay for new one then wait a week for canceled policy to be refunded.
Being sent to so many departments to deal with any problems
Just bad customer service proceedure”
Hello there,
I apologise for any inconvenience caused by this, at times when a change is made our Underwriter is unable to provide cover on the current policy. This can mean we need to create a new policy with the change from the current date. I appreciate this and any delay in the refund may cause some frustration. I hope this is resolved for you shortly.
~Freddy
“Despite having a great competitive price, I chose to cancel as my current insurance reduced their price. (I don’t currently use Hastings) I had already paid upfront my yearly premium which I chose to cancel. Seemed to be easy enough, however was told the money would be refunded in 3-5 working days, it’s now been a week and I still haven’t received my refund. Contacted someone today to be told the policy was only cancelled today (as this is when it was meant to start) and now have to wait a further 5 days. In times like these it’s a shame they take money before the start of your policy then tell you they can’t process a refund until the day your policy should begin, which will now take up to another 5 days. I’m going to have went 2 weeks from the date I phoned and cancelled before receiving any money back.”
Hello there,
I apologise for any delay in receiving your refund. We advise of a 3-5 working day delay as these are banking times and are not controlled by us. I hope you receive the funds shortly.
~Freddy
“Disappointing. I organised motor insurance with you through Go Compare which starts 2n March, but the documents still have not appeared on my log in web page.”
“So called home emergency service is useless, had a water leak in the house, said they couldn’t send someone for 24 hours, good job the fire brigade have a different take on the word emergency”
Hello Terry,
I'm very sorry to hear this and I apologise for any inconvenience caused, Our 24/7 Emergency Service is provided by an external supplier, if not done so already you can relay any feedback to their line directly.
~Freddy
“My initial renewal was over priced and I got a better deal with Hastings on a comparison site, this is not the first time that my renewal has been increased by 30%, I have stayed with Hastings as a loyal customer but as Martin Lewis says there is no loyalty when companies are trying to rip you off
Mrs A Murray”
Hello Angela,
I apologise if you were unhappy with your renewal price. This price is based on your previous year's insurance which is why it may differ to that of a policy online. So we can resolve this for you please call our Renewals department on 0333 321 9790.
~Freddy
“Had an accident yesterday Hastings arranged for my car to get picked up and taken to their “ people” to assess damage! Called today to ask if I would get a courtesy car and told no only if car has to go in for repairs and they won’t know for 3/4 days so I’m now stuck with no car and no way of getting to work! Great!!! The whole idea of providing a courtesy car is so I’m not at a loss without my vehicle”
Hello there,
I apologise for any negative experience you may have had while claiming. If the vehicle is a Total Loss we won't provide a courtesy car. This courtesy car is subject to the vehicle being in for repairs with our approved garage network and will be provided when your vehicle is in with the garage.
~Freddy
“Was charged twice for my policy. Couldn't talk to anyone to rectify the issue. Had to raise a complaint, when simply returning my money was all that I wanted. Then I was sent a cheque to return the overpayment. Why was this not just put back into my credit card?”
Hello there,
I apologise if you were unhappy with the cheque, we send these as a last resort if the card details can't be approved for the transaction.
~Freddy
“The renewal you offered was horrendously expensive. I went online and saw a proper rate from a third party, for the same Hastings policy. Trying to rip off existing customers is insulting. You will not inspire brand loyalty by treating existing customers with distain.”
Hello Gordon,
I apologise for any inconvenience caused, I appreciate this process may be frustrating. Your renewal is based on your previous year's insurance which is why it may differ to that of a new policy online. To have this price matched please call our Renewals department on 0333 321 9790.
~Freddy
“Had a lot of trouble contacting Hastings both online and by phone. Eventually ended up having to take out a new policy, rather than being able to renew my existing policy. Very stressful, when should have been strightforward.”
Hello there,
I apologise for any delay in reaching us and I completely appreciate your frustration. We are extremely busy at the moment but all our agents are doing all they can to respond as quickly as possible. We appreciate your patience at this time and I hope this has since been resolved for you
~Freddy
“Website and prices fine but customer service quite poor. Impossible to contact by phone, number just keeps on ringing out. On the odd occasion I did manage to get through the agent said he would find the answer to my query but did not return. After five minutes of listening to the music I hung up, none the wiser. I tried to access the online chat option this evening 29th Jan at 0540 hrs but was advised that the office was closed, despite the text stating that closing time Mon - Fri was 1800 hrs..
- I am being asked to pay the renewal premium on p/n 20004205395 but I have purchased and paid for a new policy, 20005816210. No co-ordination at all between renewals and new sales by the look of it.
Very disappointing to say the least.
Anthony McShane.”
Hello Anthony,
I apologise for any negative service you have experienced. We are extremely busy at the moment and therefore our call queues and wait times may be extended. If you still require assistance please email your details to socialmedia@hastingsdirect.com so we can assist.
~Freddy
“My van was insured by them I had the renewal quote with was £35 more than the previous year so now £330 I purchased a new one with a different insurance and saved £130 when I cancelled with hastings they suddenly said they could do it for £211 why try and RIP me off when they could of kept my business.”
Hello Mark,
I'm sorry to read that you had such a poor experience and that the renewal wasn't competitive on this occasion. As a broker, Hastings Direct works on behalf of a few underwriters and has different levels of cover. It could be the case that your current policy was rating higher than others that we have, however at times the old one needs to be cancelled to start a different one with a new underwriter or level of cover. This cannot be done without your consent. Thank you for having been insured with Hastings Direct and I hope you have a positive year with your new insurance provider.
~Theo
“I would have preferred not to have to phone up and cancel an automatic renewal.
Call broke down (connection issues your end) and you didn't call back and so i had to go through the automatic call answering process all over again”
“Absolutely no issues until trying to leave. They put an auto-renewal on my policy and had to ring to cancel it (had found significantly cheaper cover elsewhere). Lines were busy and when I eventually got through to someone, the line kept cutting out. If insurance companies want to use auto-renewal, they at least need to offer a way of cancelling it online.”
Hello there,
I'm very sorry for any delays experienced in trying to reach us, we are extremely busy at the moment. I'm glad to hear you were able to have this resolved in the end.
~Freddy
“I rang Hastings regarding car insurance renewal and upgraded my policy to Premier which I was happy with. I paid the amount in full over the phone. A few weeks later I received an email warning that my policy would be cancelled and I could be left with a debt if I didn't pay the outstanding amount. I rang customer services 2 days ago and they said they would get back to me. Still waiting! I'll have to pay up as I don't want insurance cancelled. I'm more annoyed at the tone of the email than paying the extra.”
Hello Barry,
I'm sorry to hear this and apologise for any confusion caused. I hope this has since been resolved for you, however if you still require assistance please email us at socialmedia@hastingsdirect.com.
~Freddy
“i waited 7 hours for the rac to come i phoned on the morning when my car had a flat battery and i could not move it then they phoned me at 4pm to say they are realy busy tonight can someone come out in the morning i said no then at about 7.15pm another motoring service came to start the car the wiat time is disgusting when i was told on the phone i would have to wait between 4 to 5 hours if you are with hastings and you have breakdown cover my advice is go with some one else”
Hello Lynn,
I'm very sorry to hear of the delays with RAC. As your insurance provider we are unable to assist with the third party service provider however, we recommend you raise a complaint with the RAC to discuss compensation for the delay.
~Freddy
“This is the second survey I have done telling you the same thing .I had no problem getting the quote but when I came to pay I could not pay after phoning and trying to pay online as you wanted £12 something to pay on the phone which I think is unrealistic I got through to web chat to someone after over a hour trying to pay for the insurance who told me it’s because I was on safari on my iPad and was told to go through a different web site so went through google and got it paid not a good experience”
“I tried to get hold of them to say I wanted to cancel my breakdown, as I already get it free from my Building Society, but there was no way to get through to them. Why isn't there a phone number or a link of some sort. They would be able to get hold of me easily enough, so why can't customers get hold of them.
I tried everything I thought would work, but to no avail. I see you have Live chat on this page now, but I never saw it before, nor the other two options.”
Hello Patsy,
I apologise for any delay in reaching us to discuss this. As you are a Hastings Premier customer the breakdown can't be removed, it comes as a package with the policy.
~Freddy
