Teahot

Last year I went through a lengthy fuss over phone and internet to get various home insurance quotes after Direct line put up my insurance by around 100%. In the end they matched the “new customer” “internet only” offer and reduced my annual fee from £1,040 down to £528.

This year they really took the piss by trying to charge me an eye-watering £1,308, amounting to a 160% increase in premium. I phoned up their “customer care” who advised me that they could only offer a maximum of 40% discount unless I got an internet quote again first, after which they might match it. I was pretty annoyed with the irritation, waste of my time and the implicit corporate policy that their customers must be incredibly stupid to just renew without shopping around.

The Direct Line internet site quoted £865 (50% less than the renewal price, though it failed to save my quote and then promptly froze up giving a message of “technical difficulties” and telling me to try again later). Not too happy at this quote, I tried googling for comparison websites and plumped for moneysupermarket.com. Within minutes the Bank of Scotland had offered to cover my property for £272 for pretty much the same cover policy. So compared to Direct Line’s renewal offer, the lovely people at Bank of Scotland just saved me £1,036!

So what on earth is going on with Direct Line Insurance? Are they so hard up that they have to suck the life blood from every customer and confuse customer loyalty with customer gullibility?

CEO of Direct Line, LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS; I would have happily renewed my policy without blinking if you have offered me last year’s price plus, say, 6%. Now you’ve taken the piss by massively overcharging me, you have driven me to use your competitor. I’m really glad I don’t have shares in your company.