I am, to quote some TV sitcom that I vaguely remember seeing, a Woman on the Edge...
Let's see if I get any results from this letter. I certainly can't any other way.
Mr Darrell Evans,
Chief Customer Operator,
Direct Line Insurance,
Churchill Court,
Westmoreland Road,
Bromley.
BR1 1DP
Dear Mr Evans,
I am writing to you in the
hope that you may be able to use your influence to bring about a
statisfactory outcome to my extremely fraught dealings with Direct
Line Car Insurance, as I seem to be making no progress at all through
the normal channels.
At the end of April this
year I did some research in order to renew my car insurance, due at
the end of May and, having received a very reasonable quote from
Direct Line, decided to buy from them. I paid the total amount and
received the documents very quickly, in addition to a request for a
Proof of No Claims Bonus letter and proof that an imobiliser was
fitted to the vehicle. The NCB letter was duly dispatched and so was
the paperwork that I had about the immobiliser, which, in all my
forty years of driving, I have never before been asked for, I might
add. Noticing on that paperwork that the car's number plate had been
changed since the immobiliser was fitted (it is about 20 years old),
I also sent the car's log book so that the VIN number could be
checked as proof that this was indeed the same car.
As I had not had my
documents returned by the end of May, as promised in the letter
requesting them, I rang in early June to chase them up and was told
that they 'had only just been received' which I translate into
'Because they were sent early, they have only just made their way
onto our system' and I was told that they would be returned shortly.
Unfortunately, we are now in mid-July and I am still waiting, which I
presume means they are lost but that no-one is going to tell me so.
The other problem was that
the proof of immobiliser which I had sent was deemed to be
inadequate, as it was 'only the handbook for it'. If that is the
case, it would not have had the previous registration number on it
and VIN number on it. I was advised to take the car to a garage and
ask them to provide written proof of the presence of an immobiliser,
which I did. However, as the auto-electrician who provided the letter
does not have headed notepaper and there was no information about the
model of immobiliser on the actual immobiliser, this too was deemed
to be unacceptable, even though he was able to guarantee that an
immobiliser was fitted and working. Maybe if the documentation I
orginally sent could be returned to me, I would have the model
information and could provide it! (The conundrum of which comes
first, the chicken or the hen, springs to mind.)
Every time I ring Direct
Line, on an 0845 number, by the way, I am informed that 'We are
experiencing an unusually high volume of calls' and that my call will
be put in the dreaded queue. I might add that I have now found a way
of circumventing that. If I choose the 'cancel policy' option, I get
through to a living, speaking person straight away. A cynical person
might choose to interpret that in a decidedly non-favourable way.
The last person I spoke to
offered to open a complaint for me and did so, but I am still told I
need proof of the immobiliser, albeit the headed notepaper demand has
now been waived, and I STILL have not had my documents returned.
To add insult to injury, I
was then emailed with an online customer satisfaction questionnaire,
but it was concerning the lady with whom I last dealt. I had no
problem with her handling of my problems. My complaint is with the
fact that I have not had my documents returned and with the
difficulty, not to say expense, of contacting Direct Line.
At present, I am one
extremely dissatisfied customer and I am hoping that you will be able
to instigate some action on my behalf. I await your response and
thank you in advance.
Yours sincerely,