Hi,
Thanks for your review.
We’d love to know why you gave the rating you did and if there’s anything we can do to help you.
If you want to let us know more about what’s happened or there’s something specific, you’re unhappy about, please send us a message via Facebook or X (formerly Twitter).
Thanks,
Nicole, Social Media Team
“Terrible service. Didn't respond to my emails. Wouldn't reinstate policy then took £60 off my refund. Awful. No wonder they have 1 star on Google. Wish I'd looked at that before accepting policy.”
Hi Sally,
Thanks for your review.
We’d love to know why you gave the rating you did and if there’s anything we can do to help you.
If you want to let us know more about what’s happened or there’s something specific, you’re unhappy about, please send us a message via Facebook or X (formerly Twitter).
Thanks,
Nicole, Social Media Team
“Honestly awful. I was away at the time of insuring the car and was unable to access my post. You then cancelled the policy so I've called up to reinstate it and was met with 'There's nothing we can do.'
JOKE”
Thanks for your review, we're sorry to read about the cancellation of your policy.
We normally cancel a policy when the conditions of your insurance haven’t been met. You should’ve received a few notifications, via email in advance of the cancellation explaining why your policy was cancelled, including the date we’d cancel it from. It would have been a case of contacting the team when they arrived to explain that the tab hadn't arrived and you may not be able to pair the app and the tab on the relevant date.
I regret that the policy was cancelled and I hope that you are able to find suitable cover for your vehicle soon. ~Theo, Social Media Team
“Have been charged £20 to cancel insurance 2 hours after buying online. When cancelling i wasn't told about this and was instead told I would recieve my full refund.”
Hello Rickvir,
Thanks for your review, we’re sorry to hear you’re unhappy about our fees.
We appreciate no one wants to be charged fees but, like most other insurers, these cover some of our business costs - like the costs of staffing our contact centres, managing your policy, creating and sending documents and maintaining and developing our systems.
We try to keep these in line with everyone else and make it as clear as possible how much these fees are and that they’re non-refundable.
If you weren't properly informed of this by the advisor and you would like to raise a complaint, please give us a call (on 0333 321 9801), send us a letter or fill out our online form found on our website here:(https://www.hastingsdirect.com/about-us/customer-complaints/). Once we’ve logged your complaint, we’ll get back to you within five working days. ~Theo, Social Media Team
Hello Bharti,
Thanks for your review, we’re sorry to hear you’re unhappy about our fees.
We appreciate no one wants to be charged fees but, like most other insurers, these cover some of our business costs - like the costs of staffing our contact centres, managing your policy, creating and sending documents and maintaining and developing our systems.
We try to keep these in line with everyone else and make it as clear as possible how much these fees are and that they’re non-refundable.
If you have raised a formal complaint, you can check on the status of this by calling the team on 0333 999 8904. I hope some positive progress can be made concerning this soon. ~Theo, Social Media Team
“Hastings direct unfairly cancelled my driving policy with no notice, meaning that I was driving uninsured without being aware. The sudden cancellation has cost me thousands in insurance costs.”
Hi,
Thanks for your review, we’re sorry you’re unhappy your policy was cancelled.
We normally cancel a policy when the conditions of your insurance haven’t been met. You should’ve received a few notifications explaining why your policy was cancelled, including the date we’d cancel it from.
We’re sorry if you didn’t see these. If you think your policy was cancelled incorrectly, please call our team on 0333 321 9801 so they can take a look at this for you. ~Theo, Social Media Team
“Hastings direct unfairly cancelled my driving policy with no notice, meaning that I was driving uninsured without being aware. The sudden cancellation has cost me thousands in insurance costs.”
Hi,
Thanks for your review, we’re sorry you’re unhappy your policy was cancelled.
We normally cancel a policy when the conditions of your insurance haven’t been met. You should’ve received a few notifications explaining why your policy was cancelled, including the date we’d cancel it from.
We’re sorry if you didn’t see these. If you think your policy was cancelled incorrectly, please call our team on 0333 321 9801 so they can take a look at this for you. ~Theo, Social Media Team
“Absolutely terrible company! Awful process, awful service, ultimately costing us hundreds of pounds. Formal complaint made, and will be writing to the consumer watchdog. Avoid at all costs.”
Hello,
Thank you for your review, I'm sorry to see that you have had such a poor experience and had to raise a formal complaint as a result.
I hope that you get a quick resolution to this complaint.
If you need to add anything further or raise further complaint points, please call the team on 0333 999 8904 so they can help you. ~Theo, Social Media Team
“Dreadful! You're set up to fail. Inadequate instructions re the 'black box' meant I lost 46 points without driving an inch. Attempts to rectify the situations only resulted in a 'computer says no' response.”
Hello,
Thanks for your review, we’re sorry to hear you’re having trouble with your driving score.
By going into your ‘Individual trips’ in the app, you can see the time and location of your trips and, what might have affected your driving score. It could be a number of reasons, such as accelerating harshly, driving above the speed limit or using your phone while driving.
If you’d like to discuss your score in more detail, please give our YouDrive team a call on 0333 321 9801. ~Theo, Social Media Team
“I have had the worst experience with Hastings direct. First of all my car was driven into. It was proved to be the other person's fault so it was all paid for. But I had to deal with the repairers, loan car and Hastings myself, repeating the same story to half a dozen different people. The communication between Hastings and their subcontractors for repairs is shockingly bad. Second. We received our renewal quote and decided to not renew with Hastings as they were 30% more than another provider. We followed the pages through the 'cancel auto renew' option. We did this twice to make sure because we had no confirmation emails. I then have £420 taken from my account and an email thanking me for renewing. After calling customer service I was told that the cancel auto renewal was for the fictional policy that I may have had in 2026. Complete nonsense. After this I was also told there was a £20 service fee for setting up the auto renewal. After an extensive conversation with their, quite frankly aggressive, renewal team I was assured that I would be getting a full refund. I then had an email stating I would infect be getting a full refund only to find today that my refund is short by £20. I'm not happy that Hastings have stolen my money without my permission and lied about the refund. Insurance and financial ombudsman are my next stop but I'll be sure to never recommend these theives again.”
Hello,
Thanks for your review, we’re really sorry to read about the experience you've had while insured with us. At Hastings Direct, we strive to deliver great customer service, so I regret if we have fallen short on this occasion.
I hope that you get a quick resolution to your complaint and that this can be resolved soon for you. If you would like to add anything further to the formal complaint you have with us, please call our Complaints team on 0333 999 8904. ~Theo, Social Media Team
Hi Alwaz,
Thanks for your review, we’re really sorry we couldn't offer you a quote.
When we work out the price of our policies, we consider various policy details and the risk associated with these. If the information on your policy changes, the risk associated with this can change too, and sometimes this means your underwriter can’t offer cover.
I hope that the driver has since been able to find suitable cover. ~Theo, Social Media Team
“The chat was friendly but I wanted to cancel my policy which was within the 14 day cooling off period and was more than two weeks away from the start date. You insisted you had to charge me to set up the policy. I am not happy about this and have advised that I will be informing Martin Lewis about this
nonsense charge.”
Hello Annette,
Hi,
Thanks for your review, we’re sorry to hear you’re unhappy about our fees.
We appreciate no one wants to be charged fees but, like most other insurers, these cover some of our business costs - like the costs of staffing our contact centres, managing your policy, creating and sending documents and maintaining and developing our systems.
We try to keep these in line with everyone else and make it as clear as possible how much these fees are and that they’re non-refundable. We're sorry if this information outlining our fees wasn't seen. ~Theo, Social Media Team
Hello,
Thank you for your review, I'm sorry if you are unhappy with the level of cover on this policy. We do ask that the terms and conditions are read before the policy is purchased so our customers can make an informed decision about what is being purchased. If you would like to discuss the policy at all or look at other options, please contact the team on 0333 321 9801 so they can help you. ~Theo, Social Media Team
Hi Nikita,
Thanks for your review, we’re sorry to hear you’re unhappy with the process of cancelling.
When you cancel a policy that has not yet started, the only thing that my happen is the refund will not be released until the day the insurance was meant to start, due to our processes.
If you wish to discuss this in more detail, please send us a message via Facebook or X (formerly Twitter).
Thanks,
Nicole, Social Media Team
Hi,
Thanks for your review, we’re sorry to hear you’re unhappy that you had to call to purchase.
You can take out policies online, we ask you to call if there is an error in details matching, usually around claims, or if you already have a live policy with us in your name under the same vehicle.
If you’d like to discuss this in more detail, please send us a message via Facebook or X (formerly Twitter).
Thanks,
Nicole, Social Media Team
“The 'YouDrive' app is not working even though ti has been set up according to the instructions. I managed to find an e-mail to technical support in the end (the response was helpful and polite but the technical issue hasn't been resolved yet) but this was difficult - trying to get techincal help through the phone number and options provided proved impossible. I already regret taking this insurance policy out.”
Hello,
Thank you for your review, I'm sorry to see that you have struggled to set this up. If you are unable to reach us on the phone. If this is still a concern, you can email the team at yourdriving@hastingsdirect.com and they can help you with this. ~Theo, Social Media Team
Hi Henry,
Thanks for your review, we’re sorry you’re unhappy your policy was cancelled. We normally cancel a policy when the conditions of your insurance haven’t been met.
If you believe this was incorrectly cancelled or you're unsure why this was done, please contact us at 0333 321 9801 so we can help you. ~Theo, Social Media Team
“I took out a motorcycle policy having be advised and promised that it would be possible to add additional motorcycles to the policy as this was my expressed clear intention. On attempting to add a second motorcycle I was told that the underwriter would not permit this or offer cover. No alternative policy or solution was offered by Hastings and therefore I had to take out an alternative policy elsewhere.”
Hi Jonathan,
Thanks for your review, we’re really sorry we couldn't offer you a quote. While it is something that we offer, a quote still needs to be done to see if the underwriter will provide cover for this.
When we work out the price of our policies, we consider various policy details and the risk associated with these. If the information on your policy changes, the risk associated with this can change too, and sometimes this means your underwriter can’t offer cover.
I regret that we couldn't offer you cover on this occasion and I hope that you have since been able to find suitable cover for your bikes. ~Theo, Social Media Team
“I was refunded a month's payment twice by accident when switching to a different plan, and have now been given a notice to pay due to a payment not gone through”
Hello Krittisha,
Thank you for your review, I'm sorry to read about the poor experience you've had and to see that this ended with the cancellation of your policy. I appreciate the frustration this would have caused you.
I hope that you have since been able to find suitable cover for your vehicle.
If you believe that this has been poorly or incorrectly handled and you want to make a formal complaint about this, please give us a call (on 0333 321 9801), send us a letter or fill out our online form found on our website here:(https://www.hastingsdirect.com/about-us/customer-complaints/). Once we’ve logged your complaint, we’ll get back to you within five working days. ~Theo, Social Media Team
“Got a good quote for my son’s car insurance. After a few days we were asked to send in photos of his car (back view side view front view and interior.) We did this and the next day received an email saying his insurance had been cancelled due to risk. I phoned up to query what was going on and they accused us of having a modified exhaust. Which is not true, the car had a standard exhaust. They never asked questions on it, just straight cancellation. I said I wanted to take it further and sent more photos of the exhaust to show it was not modified. They then reinstated the policy but explained they would have to add on £600 as we had a modified stereo system. (We also didnt have this we had a sat nav installed) they said it has to go as a modified stereo system and not a sat nav installation. They said they couldn’t offer anymore quotes either. I feel they were extremely judgemental on my son’s age and were determined to make out he was some sort of boy racer which was untrue. I feel we were treated extremely unfairly and was accused of modifications when there was non. Be careful if you have young drivers of them doing this. Would not recommend at all!!”
Hello Sharon,
Thanks for your review, we’re sorry to hear you’re unhappy with our validation checks.
Our Policy Review Team review policies at random to make sure everything checks out and the policy details are correct. They do this to prevent fraud and make sure customers are paying the correct amount for their insurance (this is because fraudulent claims can increase insurance premiums).
This is our standard business practice, and we apologise if you weren't aware of this.
If you believe that this has been poorly or incorrectly handled and you want to make a formal complaint about this, please give us a call (on 0333 321 9801), send us a letter or fill out our online form found on our website here:(https://www.hastingsdirect.com/about-us/customer-complaints/). Once we’ve logged your complaint, we’ll get back to you within five working days. ~Theo, Social Media Team
