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.

They asked me if i was still "just a housewife" for that comment alone i left them.

This, their calls are audited and they HAVE to stick to the script no matter what.
I worked in a call centre for a different industry but our managers understood that being human and treating customers kindly came before sticking to the script.
I'm very sorry you are going through this op 💐

I would email a complaint if you feel up to it
I work for a contact centre but we aren't scripted and I've gone way outside any form of script before! It's like when you ring up about a bereavement and they don't take the time to say sorry for your loss. Takes 30 seconds

Don't shit on the person - it's their job and they get a hard time for not following the proper protocol. My DP does customer service for an insurance company and if he doesn't jump through all the correct hoops he is penalised. If he gets negative customer reviews (...for doing what he's told to do...) he doesn't get his bonus.

For future reference, if you want to cancel renewal, just say you've sold the car and don't intend to buy a new one. Then they can't try to sell you anything new.

It's like when you ring up about a bereavement and they don't take the time to say sorry for your loss. Takes 30 seconds

I agree, but I also hate it when they go too far the other way and keep putting a 'sadly' into every sentence.

I had to cancel things and change the person responsible for bills whilst everything was going through for a deceased family member. I think the companies must have been recoiling from criticism about not being sensitive and decided to address it by sympathy-bombing people.

I was contacted out of the blue - and then several more times after that for needless 'updates' on the progress of the house sale by a specialist company that several of the utility companies employ (if they're getting their bills paid by somebody, why is it any of their business?)

I gather the idea of this company is to sensitively help bereaved people feel as though somebody cares about their special circumstances, but in reality, they're just an unwelcome hassle like a fly at a picnic and make you feel like it's the velvet glove-approach in their determination to get their money. Maybe some people do find their involvement helpful, but I just found them intrusive and making it all worse, not better.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll yep definitely. I just say something relevant. Like if someone mentions they're going away "have a lovely time"

Firstly so sorry to hear about your mum.

In relation to any service provider or insurance company that I phoned up and I wanted to cancel - I'd repeat ad nauseum "I'm not answering that question. I want to cancel my subscription/policy/whatever".
If they kept going on and on, the next answer I would give is "I've repeatedly asked to cancel my subscription/policy and you're still trying to sell me something. Please transfer me to your supervisor"
Then speak to the supervisor.
Tell them that you want to cancel your subscription/policy.

That is shocking 'service' you received @itsgettingweird .

I also hate the way that 'customer retention' departments (who they put you through to when you ask for 'cancellations') are not allowed by their managers to use any common sense.

Every single request for cancellation is met with an insistence that they can do you a good enough deal to stop you leaving - they value your money, erm, I mean custom, and will do whatever it takes to make you stay with them. This is irritating enough when you simply have decided to move to one of their competitors to try to get a better deal, but when you're clearly telling them that their customer - who lived alone - has now died and thus their service can no longer possibly be used by that household (until a complete stranger with their own choices and responsibility moves in), it's intensely annoying when they persist in trying to cling on to now non-available custom.

Incidentally, I tend to find as a rule that the very best companies are the same ones who put their 'if you want to leave us' cancellation link prominently on the front page. The small ISP that we've been with for 10 years is one of these - with clear instructions as to what to do to cancel with a 'please do contact us if you're unhappy and want to discuss this - we would love to help you if we possibly can' message and their service, quality and dedication to their customers is so good that I wouldn't dream of looking elsewhere.

I had this with Vodafone.

Rang for a pack code as was changing to EE. She started by saying “Well, EE make lots of promises they don’t keep, don’t be so quick to think you’re getting a good deal.” Even if I’d been inclined to stay at that point the minute she started slagging off the opposition she lost my business.

I repeated that I wan’ted a pack code and she said “I see there are some benefits here you’re not yet getting. Again I repeated my request and she said “let me just have a look at what we can add for you, at which point I asked to speak to a manager. She genuinely seemed surprised and asked why. I said that I’d asked for a pack code 3 times and she had failed to comply so I would like to speak to someone who knew what they were doing. She then gave me the code.

I used to work for the AA, and while we did have scripts to follow there is absolutely no way anyone would ever have been disciplined for deviating in the OP’s circumstances. In fact I remember taking a call once from a customer saying that he needed to cancel his daughter’s insurance as she had been killed on holiday. There was never any question of trying to persuade him out of it, all he had to do was return the insurance certificate for the policy to be cancelled and I added a note to the policy.

Tell them you want to make an FCA complaint because they have not treated you fairly.
You are entitled to do this however you want so don't be fobbed off with "it must be in writing/via email/via telegram/via telephone" it can be in any form of communication.
You ARE entitled to your money back!

Thanks everyone.

But the point is that the company should not be requiring its staff to blindly follow a script if that's what had happened here. There could be multiple reasons why this is not appropriate and firms should be treating their vulnerable customers with care.

Put in a complaint OP if you feel up to it. That treatment is appalling.