To think this was insensitive - Hastings car insurance

[itsgettingweird]

I'm going through a lot right now. My mum is in hospice with cancer on end of life care.

Sadly everyday life also needs to be sorted included my car insurance.

I'm simple with it - know what cover I want, excess etc and go through search company and select cheapest.

Hastings offered me a quote to stay for £8 a year more. I got it elsewhere for £150 less.

Renewed this morning. Unfortunately stopping Hastings renewing wasn't clear on website when I signed in so rung up.

Started with the questions when I said I wanted to renew. What quotes have you had, who with, monthly etc.

I just said I had to go out so,where important and all I wanted to do was cancel renewal.

Woman goes on. Which company - I say it's irrelevant. I don't want to stay with them and have a right to stop my renewal.

She starts on with how there are changes since last year so she can check and it may be cheaper. I said if that's the case they should have offered me a cheaper deal - told her then I needed to go to visit my mum in a hospice and can she just cancel it please.

Then - and this is the bit that's so fucking insensitive - she starts going on about how she can still check etc.

I said I wasn't interested - I'd already paid for it via a different provider and just wanted her to cancel it so I could go.

Then to add insult to injury she starts on about the 14 days cooling off period. She would not just SHUT UP AND CANCEL MY INSURANCE RENEWAL.

I mean - yes - right now I'm emotional. But when someone says they have gone elsewhere and explain why they don't have time or want to answer a load of questions surely you just thank them and let them go?

I won't ever go with them again even if they offer me the best quote next year.

Sorry - I promise I did type in paragraphs!

I had this last year when I renewed, pissed me right off, I don’t want to piss about negotiating, either give a competitive quote for renewal or I’ll go elsewhere.

i imagine she was just doing what she was trained to, but I’d be really annoyed too.

That's really insensitive!
I was with Hastings and they doubled my monthly direct debit to £160 without telling me. When I called to find out what had happened they accused me of lying about how long I'd owned my car. Sent them the documents to prove it (wish they'd asked for them or at least contacted me in some way before just taking the money) and they refused to refund me the over charge and then added it to my account as a credit. Will never go through them again!!

Sadly this is probably what she’s been told she has to do as part of her job. I find just repeating “no thanks, I just want to cancel” over and over again without engaging in any further discussion is the most effective strategy.

That's awful and dreadfully tone deaf of her, I'm sorry 😥

I moved out of the UK and had to phone to cancel my car insurance. Despite me telling them that my insurance wouldn't be valid as I no longer lived in the UK, I still got the script.

Its very frustrating.

I did at first.

Then I said please can she just cancel and explained why.

But she followed the script. And kept going on and on.

I'm sure it wouldn't have taken much this once to use som emotional intelligence and if the call was recorded I'm sure the boss would understand why - in this case - she ended without the sales pitch.

No, I think you had to get stroppy to get a basic service. I'm fairly resilient but your account of cancelling just brought back a memory of me battling to do the exact same thing.

If more customers get pisses off they might change their shitty policy of dealing with customers who want to cancel.

In the end I interrupted the lady and stated again ( for about the umpteenth time) 'I wish to cancel, I have insurance elsewhere now, your renewal quote was not competitive, can you put me through to a manager who can actually do as I ask....' she then acquiesced and cancelled. I also told her that if it was this difficult to cancel I would not be using Hastings again which was a shame as other than that, they were okay (didn't have any claims ).

Feel for you, it isn't needed! All you need is a cheery thanks and of course, maybe see you as again as a customer....

I don't think YABU but I don't necessarily think she was BU either.

Most customer service staff have a script they have to follow, and they can (and do) get disciplined for not following it.

I'm so sorry for everything you're going through but I agree with others, this is likely what she's been trained (threatened with consequences) to do and with most calls being recorded she could be at risk of being told off if she doesn't. It's also likely certain things need to happen before she can pass you onto the people who can cancel as she might not actually have the power themselves. I would probably have escalated (asked for manager or put through to cancellation team etc) it at that point as I know I wouldn't be in the right frame of mind to deal with it. I have sympathy for both sides here, is there anyone else who could deal with this on your behalf. I've found if you call, explain you'd like X person to deal with Y issue and hand over the phone most companies are pretty ok with it provided you confirm at the end.

I still remember a company calling about a piece of equipment my granddad was due to get as he was receiving palliative care in my home. This was a week after he died when family had all returned to mine after the funeral. I was very blunt on the phone which was probably unfair to the poor person on the other end who should've been told what had happened by that point.

I move all sorts of insurance around regularly to get the best deals. When faced with this approach I tend to just stop talking, which usually prompts them to say something like Hello? Are you still there? , I will then repeat Please cancel my policy. Non engagement seems to work, I’m never rude about it, just don’t engage.
Sorry about your Mum

She cancelled it herself. No passing through.

I hope Hastings do listen to the recording. I hope they do rethink their tough sales pitch and train staff that when someone states a reason for wanting to go that is serious that they have some respect.

I mean seriously - did she actually think when my mum is dying I wanted her to go and call me back soon with a better quote and I go through the hassle of cancelling the one I've paid for.

Sometimes you have to remember your deal with real people with real lives at the other end of the phone.

Customers service agents ahould have the autonomy to change from thescriptt where necessary without it causing them problems.
When my dad was in a coma , his phone was lost at the hospital and I had to ring and try and get the phone stopped . Three times on the same call i was asked to ask my dad for his special password, in the end i had to say- do you think I would be ringing wth out his pasword if he wasn't dying and in a coma?

You could email them and point this example out when you have the time . I often follow up on both good and bad service examples as how are they going to change.

In this case having worked in call centres for years in my company, people have a script but they more important than the script is that they should also be reacting to the needs of the customer they're talking to. I think you should raise it with them so it can get fed back to her that if a customer is distressed and needing to go to a hospice, she can use her discretion and not keep that customer on the phone.

I had this with Hastings too, they were a nightmare and basically wouldn't let me cancel! In the end, they offered me a very, very cheap price so I stayed, but agree that they're awful.

Telling you about the 14 day cooling off period might have been a legal thing to protect them, but continuing to try to retain your custom when you made your circumstances clear was pretty awful.

She was offering to try and get me a cheaper quote than the one I had already paid for by answering a lid of questions about what I had paid for, how much and with who. She was then telling me after she's done that she could call me back and I could cancel my insurance with the company I was with as it's with in the 14 days cool off.

It was literally a sales pitch via script. Didn't seem to even occur to her that I wouldn't want a phone call in 2/3/9 days or whatever as it's likely I'm dealing with my mums death and won't want to be faffing around with car insurance I've sorted to avoid them clashing.

I'm so sorry for everyone else who has been through the same with them. Companies seem to have forgotten good customer service gets custom rather than a sales pitch when it's made made clear you've no interest.

If you want to take it further post on their Twitter account and put a 1 star review on Trustpilot. Only things they seem to take notice of.

Unfortunately some places they really don't give people the freedom to not follow a script. They are marked on their phone calls and can get fired for deviating.

Hastings has some of the worst customer service I've ever experienced with a company.
I'm sorry she was so rude and insensitive.

That's the sad reality.

Yet really they should be firing someone for hassling a customer who had been very clear and explained a personal situation that should mean they use common sense and shut the fuck up.

Oddly this thread having shown that has made me feel better about it.

Clearly it wasn't personal. Just a crap company with zero customer service care.

Like many others on here - I'll NEVER use them again. Even if their quote is cheapest.

You can also make a formal complaint if you feel up to it. Insurance companies are regulated so they have to take it seriously and every escalation to the regulator costs them. They absolutely shouldn't be treating you like that and I really hope it's a one off mistake.

Sorry to hear abut you mum ive been there itstressful and the last thing you need is people being irritating

i think theere is a new ruling come in that they have to match new quotes or something like that , but as you had already paid someone else it doesnt really matter

Companies deliberately insight that you can only cancel by phone so that you are subjected to pressure to stay.

Some companies (newspaper subscriptions services are curiously bad for this) don't even answer the phone so you effectively can never cancel.