Norwich Union Direct ? (Not Very)

I currently buy my car insurance policy from Norwich Union Direct.

I usually pay one lump sum as it's cheaper than paying monthly, but last year they offered me monthly payments with no additional admin fee. Well I took up their offer as I could earn interest on the money as I paid it month by month rather than one payment in advance.

I have now received my renewal quote from them. I expected them to remove the 'free' monthly payment option, so I was ready to renew by paying with one lump sum.

But the swines didn't even give me the option of paying annually. The renewal form gave me the option of 12 monthly payments of £49.85 (8% admin fee), or 4 payments of £146.80 (6% admin fee).

Now I can work out that the annual payment would be £554 (no admin fee) but they had annoyed me, so I was enthused to find a better deal.

I went to the Norwich Union website to see what quote they would give me if I pretended to be a new customer. I entered the same details as my current policy but opted for a slightly higher excess.

That quote gave me an annual payment option of £392, a saving of £162.

So I rang them up and cancelled the current policy. When they asked why I was cancelling, I said it was because I got a better deal by pretending to be a new customer.

So I would ask all companies who sell me insurances etc. to try and piss me off when it comes to renewal time, because the more you annoy me, the more money I save.

Comments

[Chris McEvoy]

I also have my home insurance with Norwich Union Direct and have received an annual renewal premium of £368.99

After getting an online quote as a new customer, I can get the same level of cover for only £318.99, a saving of £50.

[Andy]

Modern life requires us to change all our financial and utility service providers at least every 12 months otherwise they reduce our savings interest to 0%, and overcharge us for everything. I told Abbay I thought it was unethical and their reply was that it can't be because everybody else is doing it.

[Louise Ferguson]

First rule of financial services: a bird in the hand is of zero value to management - they're banking on inertia.
Second rule of FS: the customers are always 'greener' when they belong to someone else. It's like a kid who always wants the ice cream that some other kid has.
Third rule of FS: musical chairs is compulsory. Where would these boring grey suits get their fun if they weren't busy messing with you and me?

My top gift of the decade would be a housekeeper/manager/PA, who would sort out all this crap for me, do the ironing and cleaning, answer the phone, deal with the utilities people, and generally allow me to function as an intelligent human being. I don't hold out much hope...

[The Insider]

The trick is to never renew. Especially if you DONT claim. The insurer will put a very slight load and place reliance in the fact that the customer is too bone idle to look around for business elsewhere.

If you do make a claim the Underwriter generally wont want your business and either decline to offer a renewal "sorry your risk falls outside of our current Underwriting criteria" or send you a quote that is in line with the Third World Debt.

Shop around.Drive carefully.

[Andy Todd]

It's interesting that they offered you monthly payments at no premium. It must have a been a one-off enticement offer, because this is how insurance companies make money.

Most of them don't make a profit on underwriting insurance (i.e. premiums <= claims paid out + their expenses) but rather on the interest they earn on the cover you buy in advance.

When you pay annually you are essentially paying for today's cover and the next 364 days in advance. This is free money which they invest in the capital markets (and various other ways) which earns them interest. This interest is then generally the major component of the insurance company's profits. At the end of each day (usually) they credit the appropriate amount to your cover but still have the rest of your cash to play with, etc.

[Tracey]

I would suggest anyone who is insured with Norwich Union Direct be very very careful. I had problems with renewal, I told them well in advance to take one yearly payment and they took a monthly premium. It took many phone calls to people who barely had a grasp of English to rectify this. Then someone ran into my parked car on Christmas Day and admitted full liability. I am now £350 worse off and have been informed today, again by someone who doesn't speak English that the third party has not admitted liability. Yes Norwich Union Direct may be cheap but there is a very good reason for that. They may quote you happy but it is very short-lived.

[Yvette Passmore]

I have been insured with Norwich Union Direct for years and had always thought them very helpful. However, since someone reversed into my (stationary) car in March 2004, they have been exrutiatingly incompetent, uncommunicative and have taken 11 months to come to a decision on my claim. They gave me a verbal decion 2 weeks ago and they still have not written to me so that I can take the matter further.
Yvette Passmore

[DANIEL TWITE]

I am having the very same problem with Norwich Union Direct & am about to join as a new customer rather than renewing, as they cannot beat their own price upon phoning them - it's a mad, mad world!

[David C J Matthews]

Please find attached my letter to the MD, I believe that it is self explanitary

6 Churchgate
Sutterton
BOSTON
PE20 2NS
Phone 01205 460178

04 March 2005

The Managing Director,
Norwich Union Insurance,
8 Surrey Street
Norwich
NR1 1NG

Dear Sir,

Please find enclosed a number of certificates all intended for my vehicle. They are all useless because they are for RAX6582. My existing vehicle already insured by you has the registration RAZ6582. It was explained to the person that made the offer of insurance, accepted and paid for at the time, that my registration was being moved to my new vehicle, I made sure she understood cherished plates. Double checked because she was obviously Indian.

In my latest complaining call I was told that the only point of complaint was so called "Customer Services".

You have broken the law issuing all these Motor Insurance Certificates. I now expect excellent service making me "happy" as per your adverts or the attention of "Watchdog" and the financial Sunday Mail will be brought into this.

I wish now that I had accepted the salesman's suggestion and obtained cover from the local broker.

To keep customers you not only have to "QUOTE ME HAPPY" you have to "KEEP ME HAPPY

Yours faithfully,

David C J Matthews I Eng MIEE FIED

One very UNHAPPY CUSTOMER.

[Oliver Ireland]

By far Norwich nion Direct is one of the only companies that go by their word. Its like, principle matters more to them than anything else .They go out of their way to satisfy people.In my experience it is, you come first then the business aspect of insurance.

I know that Norwich Union is run by a bunch of good blokes .They have outsourced their work to quote people happy .They believe in the customer being right and more often than not they have ways to find out what went wrong where and if it is a fault of theirs they accept liability often if they cant find results they always give the benefit of doubt to the policy older
Its a great company with an amazing vision
Oliver Ireland

[john riding]

I am currently on the phone awaiting an agent to become available,I telephoned 0800222400 at 9.00 am and it is now 10.05 on a Saturday morning.

If I do not report this minor accident i will be admonished by the underwriters who obviously do not ring this number to check their system works.

[john riding]

I am still on the phone in a queue awaiting an agent becoming available,have they got any agents?I am seriously doubting it,I could obtain a quicker response from the crew of Red dwarf.

The time is now 10.15 am saturday 07/05/2005 some poor team will be relegated before this call is answered.

[john riding]

i decided to hang up at 10.20am and ring again I chose option 5 instead of 7 for claims and a girl called meeha instantly took my details and said she would put me through without delay and it worked....so the lesson is do not press option 7 always press option 5.

[daniel twite]

Seems like their all at it. Abbey National recently informed me that my 2 year fixed rate actually lasts just over 11 months and due to a computer error I was informed of this (& my new monthly payment which based on current variable rate is around £150 more per month) on the day that my fixed rate was due to end. After at least 4 calls to pepole who obviously tell me what I want to hear ("yes sir, we apologise & as you've have now chosen our 1.3% discounted rate (tied in for 3 years) with no set up fee we will back-date your interest & you will only pay blah") they have just taken a higher amount from my bank account.
These people (mortgage companies, insurance companies etc.) love direct debit, it means they can take what they want from your account once they have your details. If you then want to sort out the error it costs money in phone calls & wastes so much of your time you feel like giving up and accepting that they have shafted you & it's just not worth it. If we let them get away with this they will only realise that this is their best way of making money & make any contact with them to sort out the problem even harder. I agree with previous comments it seems that the only way to not lose a massive amount of money from these companies is to change companies every 12 months. Just in the last few months if I had not looked into my mortgage, car insurance, car rescue I would have lost around £100 per month. It won't be long before it's worth while giving up my job just to find the best quote for everything because I save more than I earn just by looking into everything I pay for. OK rant over, I'm not that old & grumpy really & the only reason this gets to me is the fact that if I do nothing when my (whatever it is) runs out annually I cannot the fun things I do (holidays, stag trips, footy matches etc.) so have heart don't think you're boring for trying to save money look at it as you're just saving money to have fun with

[Shaz]

Further to insurance companies loving direct debit and being happy to relieve you of as much money as possible - My daughter had a direct debit set up in her account from Norwich union that she didn't even request! Fortunately her bank have been very quick sorting it out but not before Norwich had creamed off 3months money. As she is still at college it's not as if she has any money going into the account.

[David C J Matthews]

01205 460178 is only a grumpy man who would not touch Norwich Union with a barge pole.

[eric]

norwich union is separate to norwich union direct u dipshit

[NUD..!! angst!!]

i too have my car insurance through the said NUD .. and also found my premiums to be rising steadily, however when it came to renewal time i also got a better NUD quote online? i actually questioned this with them, and not only did they admit thier mistake in my premium but refunded my money too ..!!!!! (£700+ for over a 2 year period)

however ...
a year later and the premium went up again so i rang them back and they reduced it saving me £18pm ... so it would seem that there is ALWAYS something that 'can' be done.

i am currently looking for a new deal as they have now let me down with thier customer service & 'small print' .... go figure? you certainly get what you pay for.

[Gina North]

I have just discovered that Norwich Union have taken money out for renewal without notifying me, according to the 5th person I spoke to (Norwich Union DIRECT) I dont think, thats basically tough, they saent the paperwork if I didnt get it how were they to know, yet I have no policy, letter going to manager now.

[d. roney]

i have renewd my policy with norwich union for breakdown cover. the policy states that payment will be collected quarterly. having discovered that they extracted the payments monthly i wrote to them and explained the error. NO REPLY. so i cancelled the direct debit, as aresult i received a letter saying the bank a refused there request for payment. i phoned the number given a tryed to explain to some god auful asian person who did not haVE A CLUE. NO ENGLISH PERSON AVAILABLE. I HAVE WRITTEN AGAIN TO THEM STILL NO REPLY. WONT BE USING THEM AGAIN.

[Jason Ball]

David C J Matthews - Do you really need to include all professional memberships on a letter to Norwich Union? I'm sure the Managing Director will be rushing to write back to you based on this inclusion.

[Jeanette]

Can anybody tell me how to get an independent report. 4 months ago I was involved in a non fault accident (kids in a stolen car smashed into me head on at speed), after several times of being told my car was ready to collect and then it wasn't because it failed quality control I finally received it back, after leaving the garage the car didn't feel right but I thought it might be becuase I wasn't used to driving it (it is a 2 litre GTi and the courtesy car I had been driving was a Micra). By the time I got home with the car I knew it wasn't right and contacted a family member who works in the trade to ask him for his opinion - was it just me. He confirmed there was a problem and without putting the car up on ramps etc etc he thought it was the suspension (this makes sense as I was hit hard and fast - the car actually bounced in the air) I duly took the car back to the garage took someone out in it and they agreed it wasn't right. A week later I received a telephone call to say the engineer had assessed this and the problem was not related to the accident. I only know that there was nothing wrong with my car prior to the accident and if I want to pursue this I have to get an independent report to prove (or disprove) that it was ok prior to the accident and then they will look at it. I don't know what they mean when they say they will "look at it" and the only response I ever get is "the engineer states this is not as a result of the accident", if an independent report says it was as a result of the accident do the two guys who wrote the reports with conflicting advise get in boxing ring and slog it out. In the meantime I also have to arrange for the car to be delivered back to me via a tow truck as it is virtually undrivable and I have to return the courtesy car, although Norwich Union have said they will hire me a car for 2 days (whats all that about) So if anyone knows how to get an "independent report" or if anybody has any advice please pass it on. By the way this is Norwich Union and I have experienced the same problems about trying to get through on the phone and being able to speak to somebody who either knows what they are talking about or has some authority to agree things, these call centre people are harder than doctors receptionists (sorry if I upset any doctors receptionists I know you're only doing your job really)

Thanks for reading - comments welcome

[Chris]

Just been reading everybody elses so I thought I would share my experience so far with Norwich Union direct. Spent nearly an hour and a half on the phone earlier and spoke to 5 different people, all told me that there was a different department I need to speak to and would put me through, the loop only ended when I was put into a call queue of a department which closed at 5 and after waiting 10 minutes to speak to them all I got was a recorded message to tell me that the office is currently closed. I've been trying to get this sorted since some idiot drove into me head on back in October 2005 and am still getting nowhere. One of their lovely Indians even gave me a lecture for not reporting the incident sooner (even though I had just explained that I couldn't get hold of the other parties details and had to get the police involved and have literally just recieved them). Quote me happy?? My arse. Only 2 months left and the policy is over and I'll definatly be going elsewhere.

[Mark]

Just finished a policy with Norwich Union Direct at the end of May and moved to another company due to their hopeless customer service when my car was vandalised while parked. The new company were half the price. I called NUD at the beginning of June to tell them I was not going to renew, even though I had no obligation to do so. I have since received a demand for insurance cover between the expirey of my old cover, and the date I phoned them and an unspecified 'admin fee'. The letter was sent as a 'final demand' complete with several threats of legal proceedings unless I paid within seven days with no details of the payment breakdown. I had changed address recently and called one of their lovely call centres to change my address, and noticed that three lines of my address were wrong on the letter, which might explain the lack of any other letters. I called to correct this and query the demand, but after spending an age being transferred around departments and being asked to call other numbers I gave up. I then wrote to their customer services requesting a proper invoice, a full explanation of the charges and asking them to correct my address. Rather than responding to my letter they engaged a debt collection agency to recover the debt. I am absolutely furious at their attitude, and feel sorry for any vulnerable people who have been bullied into paying their demands by heavy-handed tactics. Their whole setup is designed to make it as difficult as possible to communicate with them. They try to make you contact them by telephone only which for most people allows no audit trail. They can then totally ignore you and there is no way to prove you have contacted them. I have now resorted to sending letters by recorded delivery and copying in the FSA and debt collection agency.

[Mike Whiston]

My car insurance is due within the next month. I have been insured with NUD for the last four years and thought I was getting reasopnably cheap insurance until I went onto the web site "confused.com". This is well worth a visit for competetive quotes. Feed the info in once and that is sent to all the insurance companies and remains on your file for future use. Saving this year £130 !!!!!!! Well worth the visit. Good hunting. Mike

[Cliff Clark]

Like so many before me (and after me, I suspect) I too NEVER renew our car insurances with Norwich Union because their renewal prices never 'make me happy'.
If you are insured with NU, take a tip, do NOT renew your present policy. Go on line, don't quote your Reg. No. (their system will recognise you) and get a new quote.
Really, they must be 'very unhappy' because, with 30 years insurance experience behind me before I retired, I know that the one thing any sensible insurer needs to do is hang on to its existing customers because it costs money to take on new ones - new quotes, new policies, new records, new documents etc.
I'm sure we are not supposed to comment on call centres because it's bound to be sexist, racist or some other ...ist but am I the only one who can't understand what the hell they are talking about (which doesn't 'make me happy')? And I really lost my rag when one of them (in India) INSISTED that my new car did not exist! The bloody thing was sitting on my drive!

I'm off to renew with SAGA or AGE CONCERN or some other old crock's company.

DON'T FORGET THE ADVICE!

[OKEY]

I THINK WE SHOULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS BUNCH OF THIEVES.THE ACCIDENT I HAD FEBRUARY 06 WAS`NT MY FAULT,I CALLED THE NORWICH UNION TO REPORT THIS AND ONE ASIAN LADY TOLD ME ALL IS GONNA BE SORTED.AFTER TWO/THREE WEEKS CONSTANT CALLS TO THEM THEY SAID R.GALLAGHE IS INSURED WITH THEM TWO AND THAT ITS AN IN-HOUSE CLAIM WHICH WON`T TAKE LONG.THEY STILL DID`NT DO A THING,I TOLD THE POLICE AND WAS ADVICE TO SEE CITIZEN ADVICE.WELL,IT WAS TOWARDS MY RENEWAL DATE SO IN MAY STOPPED MY DIRECT DEBIT SINCE I PAID TWO MONTHS UPFRONT AND WAS`NT OWING THEM,U SEE THEY TRIED TO COLLECT MONEY FROM MY ACCOUNT AFTER THE LAST PAYMANT!THEY EVEN HAD THE GUTS TO WRITE TO ASK WHY MY DIRECT-DEBIT WAS CANCLED! WELL,THEY HAVE`NT PAID ME MY EXCESS OF £220 I PAID TO THEIR FELLOW CRIMINAL GARAGE.U SEE,THEY SENT ME TO A GARAGE IN HACKNEY AND INSTEAD OF THEM TO FIX THE DAMAGED REAR WEEL,THEY MOVED IT FROM THE ACCIDENT SIDE TO THE OTHER SIDE AND AS SOON AS I TRIED TO GET TO NORTH-CICULAR ROAD,THE WEEL BEGAN TO SHAKE.SO WHEN I CHECKED AND CALLED,IT WAS WEEKEND AND THEY`RE GONE.SO I FAXED THEM A NASTY LETTER AND WANTED TO REPORT IT TO THE POLICE BUT THEY APOLOGISED AND BOUGHT A NEW WEEL TO FIX.NORWICH UNION SENT THE MATTER TO IRWIN-MITCHEL SOLICITORS WHO ON THIER LAST LETTER TOLD ME THAT NORWICH UNION HAS TAKEN THE CASE BACK FROM THEM AND IS PASSING IT TO AOTHER SOLICITORS.JUST MY £220 EXCESS? HM! I WON`T LET THEM GET AWAY WITH THIS EVEN IF IT MEANS GOING TO THEIR HEAD OFFICE.AND IF NOT I WILL MAKE IT AS JOB TO INFORM AT LEAST A MILLION PEOPLE TO BE VERY-VERY CAREFUL AFTERALL THE INTERNET COULD GO A LONG-LONG WAY. WATCH ME.THEY EITHER PAY ME OR I PAY THEM.PERIOD!

[F George]

I have read the comments posted. I had paid realistic premiums to NUD - compared with Royal and Sun Alliance, who were pathetic about allowing my partner to be a named driver - and they themselves had been excellent (including the lovely lasses in India who are so helpful and polite) in administrating to the two non fault claims I had to make (car stationary when clots hit me) but living in Norfolk may have provided some inspiration as I am not against 'knocking on doors' to get satisfaction. Their 'official repairers' were pathetic. They messed up completely, no courtesy car at beginning, allowed battery to go flat, cracked screen, panels didn't fit, left gap under screen for water ingress, unacceptable paint match (paint supplier called and agreed with me, not repairer), then said car had 'other dents' (untrue) when NU told them to completely respray car.
Not isolated case of repairer problems: found two more without looking too hard, one BMW owner playing up hell at same time as myself. Last year NUD put my premium down (!) - yes, true "to save me bother of getting quotes elsewhere", but gone up this time as car now 10 years old, and paying a lot more than I do for my Ferrari which has super cover including EU wide breakdown and 'free scrap' if written off, agreed value, and allows 'her indoors' (previous experience only a few years driving her Kia Pride!) to use with no additional premium or excess.
Sad one has to waste time shopping around to remain solvent.......no discounts for Aviva shareholders either!
From one who in 50+ years of quite rapid motor cycles and cars has never had to make a fault claim. What more do they want?

[Fat Bloke]

To the author of the original message.
Th erason why your insurance quote is cheaper over the internet is because a discount gets applied. This is intentional and if you read the small print in the terms and conditions you will find it's all listed there.
The discount is applied because when you buy your insurance over the internet you enter into an agreement that you will personally administer and maintain your own policy through the website. In effect, you waive the right to use the customer service callcentre.
As soon as you call the callcentre, the advisors are under strict instructions to remove the percentage discount, thus returning the premium to the higher level you would otherwise have been quoted.

However. Having worked in this very callcentre, I can confirm that 99% of advisors don't do this. If your policy was an internet one and you call the callcentre, most advisors will just leave your discount in-tact.
This is for a number of reasons.
1. Its easier than arguing with an angry customer who wants to save money.
2. We don't get paid a lot so we know what it's like to be on teh receiving end of such tactics.
3. The information pertaining to teh discount is quite well hidden on the screen, so a lot of advisors don't even know about it.

My advice is to take your policy out on the net and then carry on using the callcentre regardless. If they take the discount off, kick up a stink and the poor harassed callcentre-monkey will more than likely re-apply the discount just to get rid of you.

[withheld]

I work for NUD and all that has been said is true, and i understand how frustrating it must be. At the end of the day there are much worse insurance companies out there and we are truly doing our best to remain competitve in the market and offer you the best service we possibly can. We have hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers, but as you can imagine things do go wrong from time to time and we are always striving to amend these and have a positive outcome. We all need to remember NUD are a business and sometimes we may do things not everbody will agree with. Its just the way it is im afraid. LET US QUOTE YOU HAPPY!

[Cara Fletcher]

I should take an insurance quote this month too.My business needs it and I should do my best to keep it in good shape and the good insurance is one of the ways to do this.

[pissed off with nu direct]

nud need to call people back when they say they will i have called every day now since last wednesday, being passed round from the uk to india & back more times and knowbody knows what they doing. total waste of time, am now going to write to cheif exec & then going to the sun newspaper. they are toss..

[pissed right off]

my car was vandalised 2 weeks ago, im fully comp and i amm still waiting on them phoning
me ,so i phoned them and asked how the claim was,they said it was with an enginer and he would phone me ??? well that was a week ago and im still waiting,i phoned today and was told the enginer that had it was away on a course??and forgot about it???so i phoned complaints dep,they said they would sort it out in the morning {yes sure} then asked was i happy with the courtesy car ??i never got one ,i dont think iwill be renewing my policy ,they are pathetic,and i was dealing with the liverpool office ,so if you get the office in india god help you ,

[DUN - you have been.]

I have been with NUD for 3 years. In that time I have had a driver run into the back of me - the 3rd party was with Direct Line and was sorted very quickly. I took out new insurance with them this year as a new customer - I put my reg in online and it didn't recognise me as an existing customer - and saved over £100. 2 weeks ago my car was stolen and they are dragging their feet. Despite this the courtesy car has to go back on Monday - 14 days after I got it. Yes, that is what it says on my policy, but I have absolutely no say in how long it is going to take them to sort out my claim. So now I am stuck with sourcing and paying for a courtesy car whilst they piss about passing me from pillar to post. No way will I be renewing next year.

[SHAFTED BIG TIME BY NU DIRECT]

I HAVE HAD THE MISFORTUNE TO BE INSURED BY N.U DIRECT...I HAD TO MAKE A CLAIM FOR THEFT OF MY WORK TRUCK THIS YEAR....N.U REFUSED TO PAY OUT A WRIGLED OUT OF PAYING COSTING US OVER £1500 TO REPAIR THE TRUCK AND RECOVERY COST AS WELL...

KELLY MC DONALD OF NU DIRECT YOU SUCK....I ADVISE CUSTOMERS TO READ THE SMALL PRINT

YOUR POLICY IS VALID UNTILL YOU MAKE A CLAIM..

[mrs gripes]

I have my car insured with norwich union direct. What a bunch of useless barely able to uderstand and speak english rip off merchants in up town bangalor. I work with many wonderful asian people and even they won't speak to an indian call center because their all thick as two short planks as one of my asian work colleagues told me.They are kept cooped up in an office and work un-natuarl hours because of the time differance and have to use english names and pretened to be in the uk. They also have on their computer screens info on local attraction in your area so that they can pretened to be local to you, codswolup. We all know that they are treated like cattle and only understand company policy and if your enquiry doesn't fit the modle on there screen their lost. Aways insist on speaking to someone in england it does their heads in, just keep saying you can't understand them as their english is so bad it makes them more flustered . I had to make a claim in march of this year and the greif i had with them trying to get it sorted out. Now my renewal came aroud i had to phone and ask for it as they had sent me any documents, then when i got the paperwork wrong. I phoned them because i had to make a claim this year i have gone down from 16+ years no claims protected to three and not elageable for for protection as i no longer have enough no claims. My file was transfered for hill house hammond when NU Direct bought them out. I was assured by norwich union direct that nothing would change and that my at the time 14 years was safe and nothing would change unless we wanted to. I was ok with that. Every thing was fine untill march of this year when my husband had an accient getting a hire car was a nightmare, taking the car in for repair well the garage took one look at my american impotred dodge ram and wet their pants and refused to deal with it , so they gave me the money to repair it. why an approved garage couldn't repair fiberglass and replace a headlight is beyound me i manageed it and i'm not a mechanic and becuase of this i now have a policy thats not worth the paper it's written on. Your right norwich union suck and wouldn't recomend them to any one in fact i made a piont of telling as many people as possible how bad there service is. They tried to tell me that my custom was valued and i told them to start acting like it .

[nud hater]

Can i just say to the fat bloke who works for the worst customer service company in UK.....get a life. NUD gives crap service. I'm British and really proud of it and when I deal with a British company, I expect to speak to some British not some in middle of India who don't give a dam about us and don't speak the same English as me.
Out of all the car insurance companied NUD come up the most.
1.They need to return calls when requested
2.Stop pass the buck and deal with the situation and stop involving the whole work force.
3.Steal excess money out of settlements for written off cars - especailly if it's not your fault

From a person who will NEVER USE NUD AGAIN.
Not at fault, had car written off, had money stolen out of settlement cheque, never had one phone call returned, Spoke to 40 people in 4 weeks and still rising, suffered injuries and is FIGHTING BLOODLY STRONG TO GET WHAT IS RIGHTLY MINE.....WILL TAKE THEM TO COURT IF I HAVE TO

[Joy Dey]

I'm sick of them all. Why is it all so difficult? I am abroad at present and tried calling Norwich Union to renew my insurance. I'm not happy with them - but no time to surf the internet, be given unrealistic quotes stripped of all extras - only to find out they are more expensive than the first one you get. If you don't have a touch tone fone you can't get through to Norwich Union. No option to hold! Can I have a moan about BT, Estate Agents, airlines etc. while I'm at it? Never posted here before so don't know the rules. I hope I don't receive spam now?

[NUD worker and proud of it!]

To nud hater... I would say you need to get a life! People work so that they can have a life outside work and it shows your level of intelligence that you feel the need to insult people for this!
I work for NUD and I'm proud of the service that I and my team deliver. We have many people in India who work hard and do a damn good job, particularly when faced with the prejudice they have to deal with on a daily basis from people who don't know them from Adam.
Unfortunately in India as well as in the UK there are a few that don't deliver the service we expect but rest assured they are soon weeded out and are in the minority. We have many fantastic people who do a fantastic job. I'm sorry that some people have the misfortune of having to receive the level of service that isn't acceptable before we get it right. Remember, not everyone is perfect.
As has already been said on this post, we have hundreds and thousands of very satisfied customers, otherwise we wouldn't be one of the top insurers in the UK, Europe and worldwide. It's unfortunate that people shout loudest when they have something negative to say, but that is human nature.

[karen coyne]

I also had 2 insurance policies by NUD and have had 1 for 7 years this year I cancelled my direct debits to open a new bank account ( I was using someone else bank)I rang the customer services to cancel my second policy as I had sold my car and was asked to post back my documents to them which was done. I was also then informed that my other policy had been cancelled at the beginning of the year( I was driving with no insurance for a month)they told me they had written to me at the begining of the month which I recieved on the 21/01/08.They then refused to reinstate my policy and I had to set up a new one which they gave me £200.00 compensation for and pay another 2 months deposit. I have now recieved a final notification today of a demand for £33.01 outstanding payment and cancelllation charge for my second car with threatening court action if not paid within 7 days. But in Dec they took a deposit for 2 months payment and I only had the car insured for 1 month and 17 days surely they owe me a refund not the other way round RIP OFF MERCHANTS I THINK !!!!!!!

[liv]

In November I cancelled my car insurance with Norwich Union Direct. They promised me a refund. I then received a letter demanding £56.26 with no explanation as to what the charge was for. I phoned them to be told they had refunded too much to my account, but the customer services officer wasn't clear as to why. I asked for a letter to be sent to me with detailed information as to what the sum was for, on receipt of which I would pay them the amount due. Instead of the letter requested, I then received a final demand. I contacted them again and made the same request. I then received two letters from a debt collection agency, which threatened to take me to court and added on their charges, bringing the sum due up to £136.26. I phoned them yet again and was promised a letter. This has now finally arrived, signed by the Director of Customer Management, but has so many typing errors that I find it hard to believe it is genuine. So far, this process has taken three months. I certainly will not use Norwich Union Direct again. They have wasted a great deal of MY time, patience and money sorting out their error. I have had no apology or offer of goodwill. SHOP AROUND!!! Do not settle for this company.

[Witheld]

Iwork for NU (not Insurnace), and after reading all the comments I am inclined to agree. I too was insured by NUD and being a member of staff should get a 10% discount. After going on line on their Intranet site and getting a quote I then phoned up a Call centre in bangalore. Oh be geeses.. I gave up after explaining the same thing over 20 times..In the end I get it on line with NUD. I then had to change my address called up and was told I was now living in a more dangerous area (funny as I'd just moved up the road and from a main street to a little cul de sac) I had to pay £30 .. which after questioning why 4 times I gave up as they didn't seem to have a script for my query... (I'm certian I heard her searching for it). Any way after changing address 6 months later I moved back to my old address... Phoned themn and again they charged me £30 for living in a more dangerous area.. Hmm... then I had a car go into the back of me (taxi driver) His car was writtenoff but mine didn't have any damage. I phoned NU to report it just stating that I wasn't claiming and was just advising in case the other driver tried to blame me... Got my renewal quote .... £600 more than last time,,,This year I thinkI'll go with any other insurer not linked with NU (take care NU insure under alot of alternate names!)Oh and Diamond are just as bad.. in fact I think they may be worse!!! Thee must be some good insurance company out there!!

[Angela Manda]

Norwich Union? Where is the union? It must be with the diabolical team that work there because it most certainly is not with the customers..or should I say its with the customer when you free up your insurance money but try waiting for damn cover note when you haven't got any tax on the car?..they're not interested... its the Post Office's fault, not ours. How the hell do you know its not your fault? Help me out here, send me another cover note special delivery so I can get my INSURED car on the road. You press a number on the phone to ask them for clarification on it being sent out, and you get some non English accented bloke asking me to repeat everything...you press another number for setting up a new policy and the phone's answered by some chick with a masters in the English language ready to write down your bank details...I will make certain that I and everyone I know including family and friends has NOTHING to do at all with Norwich Union Non Direct!!! No wonder folk drive without insurance...its easier and cheaper to get caught and get a fine than it is to get insured anyway...set of prats

[Norm]

In my job I have to correspond with various different insurance companies every day and I can honestly say that Norwich Union Direct are by far the most incompetent - second only to Royal & Sun Alliance.

[d woodbine]

hi i,m not pleased with norwich union at all,i just wanted to change over my insurance over to another car admittedly newer car but i find the fee of £57 pounds a lot of money hence my insurance is £360 this year got car after renewal quote and found as normal it was and has been higher every year.they moved abroad to in my opinion to save on tax and wages as they must find it cheaper and they don,t even pass the cost on to their loyal customers which i was and now i won,t be it was the little customer who made them but of course we don,t matter anymore now they are big business the only way to stop them is by getting your insurance cheaper else where with a BRITISH COMPANY, i only hope that the indian population start asking for more money instead of being walked over and used

[d woodbine]

i would also like to say i now carry a sticker on the car QUOTE. I GOT CAR INSURANCE WITH NORWICH UNION DIRECT DON,T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE GO TO A BRITISH COMPANY ITS CHEAPER. A nd it will remain there untill this prob is sorted or the rest of the year

[d woodbine]

i would also like to say i now carry a sticker on the car QUOTE. I GOT CAR INSURANCE WITH NORWICH UNION DIRECT DON,T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE GO TO A BRITISH COMPANY ITS CHEAPER. A nd it will remain there untill this prob is sorted or the rest of the year and did the worker of nud 26th of jan get a discount or payrise for the comment nud national union of dipsticks they should go under the name of I.S.T LEAVE YOU LOT TO WORK THAT ONE TO WORK OUT

[Russ]

over five months after my car was stolen, I still have not have my claim settled. Norwich Union Direct's service is appalling, to say the least

[Steve]

Norwich Union Direct offer one of the worst motor claims services I have experienced. I have just spent a good section of my life listening to their famously poor music (composed purely as a deterent to would be claimants, probably).

The phone was finally answered by a Mr Kumar, who informed me in broken English that the claim had made no progress whatsoever. No suprises there. He then asked me for our allegations (already provided but hey I'll give them again), i told him that their insured drove through our client's hedge. He then wanted to know if it was the nearside or offside of the hedge that was damaged (oh dear God!), and if our driver was injured. Surely that would depend on which way round the hedge was being driven down the road, and whether the driver was wearing his safetree harness. Marvellous service!

[duncan]

NU Direct provided the worst customer service I have ever experienced. Quite without compare. I will never deal with the company again for anything...ever.

[duncan]

From the official NU web site I found a phone number 0160 3622200 which is answered by a human in english. After attempting to divert me to a call centre, I managed to insist that I be put through to the Chief Executive. I was put through to the CEOs office and informed the department of my circumstances. I await to see if any response will be forthcoming.

[gill]

How refreshing to read of so many complaints re- norwich union car insurance.. I thought I was on my own. I was involved in an incident which was clearly not my fault (Nov 2007) I have been offered a 50-50 settlement, without, as far as I am aware. any proper investigationbeing made. When I asked for a copy of the other parties statement I was told this would be forthcoming (June 4th 2008- still waiting 10th July) What makes me very angry and frustrated, is the lack of sensitivity and continuity of the claim. Passed from pillar to post. Norwich union demanded an extra £53 and cooly told me my no claims bonus would reduce to 2 years.. which would suggest I was guilty before investigation.. Oh, they did suggest this would be re-instated, if no fault was the conclusion.... I too will not insure with this company again

[Ron Rusbrook]

Terrific storm, wind and torrentiol rain the other night, brought my side elevation guttering down, in the early hours. next day call norwich union, they informed some cowboy management firm called Aspeira, based in Bromley. they sent a local hastings builder out, he sympathised and made safe. by taking down a piece that was hanging, breaking off the next section as he said that was ok it would have to be renewed anyway.then a couple of days latert, Aspiera sent out an ignorant man who they call a surveyer. he was armed with a camera. he took photographs from the ground of the bracket that had been twisted by the make safe man, and the existing gutter which was in good condition, also the facia board which was in good condition. this was confirmed by the builder. When I received his report it said the gutter must have been in poor condition, and the brackets not compatible with the gutter and I would not be covered.
I'm not talking through my pocket, I've been in the building trade all my life, and have always, carried out maintenace myself, but I'm 70 now and have been paying buildings ensurace for many years. How could this man make this decision he had no ladder, the gutter had been taken away by the builder and he could hve got confirmation of the bad storm that night.