Churchill Insurance gave out false information about me

[VFellows]

I could do with some advice please...

 

Back in March 2011 I returned to my vehicle from a doctor's appointment to find that a hit and run driver had "T" boned my car damaging the driver's front wing, alloy and door. I asked around but no-one saw or heard anything, so I went across the road to the Police Station and filed an accident report, in order to get an accident number to give to my insurance company. I subsequently contacted Churchill Insurance, my insurers at the time, and informed them that my vehicle had been hit by a hit and run driver. I also informed them that I was not in the vehicle at the time, that there appeared to be no witnesses but that there were CCTV cameras at both ends of the road that would have recorded the incident. At the time Churchill were very helpful and organised a hire car and to have my vehicle (only 6 mths old) repaired.

 

Later that year I sold the vehicle (group 19 insurance) and bought a smaller car with a much lower insurance group (group 6e insurance). When I contacted Churchill to notify them of the change over of vehicle they wanted to charge me an extra £300 plus because I had moved 1 mile down the road into a new postcode area and their excuse. I refused to accept their postcode discrimination and immediately went about sourcing new insurance, which I did find at much less than my original policy. I then cancelled my insurance with Churchill (did not receive any refund on my payment in full of one year's premium).

 

3 weeks into my new policy, having spent countless hours on the phone to Churchill trying to obtain my proof of NCD, my new insurer's Octagon contacted Churchill on my behalf. I believe that this is something they do not normally do. However when they contacted Churchill, Churchill informed them that I had a "Fault Claim" on my policy. This was news to me as I had never been informed of this and subsequently Octagon said that because I had said "No" to the question on the proposal that asked if I had had an accident that was my fault, that the policy was going to go up by about another £400. In the end I had to cancel that policy and take out a new policy with Octagon - worked out about the same as the previous one but minus the excessive charges for altering the policy.

 

It eventually took Churchill two attempts and 2 months to supply me with proof of NCD. The first NCD letter contained incorrect information, the second was correct in that it stated that I had 9 years NCD, with the NCD Protected and a "Fault Claim".

 

I had in the meantime being trying to ascertain why Churchill did not follow up on the fact that there was CCTV footage that would have shown the parking area where my vehicle was parked and more than likely shown the vehicle that collided with mine, thus enabling them to counterclaim for damages against that driver. No explanation was given to me and despite my protestations that I should not have to be penalised because someone in their Accident/Claims department could not do their job, the outcome was basically "there was no-one else to claim against so the fault automatically becomes yours". Basically I was told to suck it up and get on with life.

 

At the end of August my insurance with Octagon ran out but no new policy was taken out with them as I was added as a named driver on another policy. I requested and received my Proof of NCD from Octagon but on receiving it I found out that Churchill had furnished false information to Octagon regarding the circumstances of my supposed "fault claim".

 

Churchill told Octagon that the claim was lodged as a fault claim against me because "I hit a Third Party in the Rear". Nice one - how do they work that out from a vehicle that has been "T-boned" with no occupants in it by a hit and run driver. Do they employ people to falsify details on their behalf?

 

I contacted Octagon to try to get them to send out a corrected Proof of NCD but as they explained, they cannot do this without first receiving the correct information from Churchill. I have spent the last two days on the phone to Churchill being passed from one person to another.

 

The first person I spoke to in Customer Relations told me he had escalated my query immediately to a top level complaint and told me that I would be receiving £75 in compensation for having to have my insurance the previous year cancelled because of their laxity in releasing my Proof of NCD and also the numerous phone calls I had made to obtain it. He also organised for an enquiry into why Churchill had not acted on the CCTV information and had instead penalised me.

 

He arranged for someone from their Claims department to call me that day who was supposed to be organising for the correct information to be gotten to me in order that I could get Octagon to rectify the Proof of NCD as my partner's insurance company require it and time is now very short for getting it to them.

 

I spoke to someone from their Claims department who was incredibly unhelpful, but who told me that she would arrange for yet another person to call me by lunchtime yesterday to rectify the incorrect information that they supplied to Octagon regarding my "fault claim" on my Proof of NCD

 

No one bothered to follow this up so I contacted them again yesterday afternoon twice, and eventually having spent over 2 hours on the phone to them again, I was informed that the best that they could do was to put in a request to have a variance letter sent to me to furnish to Octagon (this would take 7-10 working days) stating that I had NOT hit a 3rd party up the rear and that in fact my vehicle had been hit by a hit and run driver.

 

The woman from Churchill refused to even contemplate that the "fault claim" could be registered as a "No fault claim" because of the fact that the policy was cancelled. She also could not care less that their laxity and their furnishing false information had resulted in my previous insurers being unable to provide me with the correct Proof of NCD details for the current policy that I am on or that because they can only get information to me "maybe in 7-10 working days" that my partner would stand to lose his motor trader's insurance because of being unable to provide "legally factual" information on my Proof of NCD.

 

I am sorry that this is so long but there is a lot of background information.

 

Basically what I need to know is:

 

If my partner's insurance is invalidated because I cannot provide my "legally factual" Proof of NCD to them can I sue Churchill for providing false information in the first place. This will affect his ability to trade and run his business and also to obtain future Motor Trader's Insurance.

 

Also what recourse do I have for compensation against Churchill for not investigating my accident fully when it was initially reported to them. (I was told that "If we had known about the CCTV footage we would have assigned an investigator"). They were informed of the CCTV and neglected to follow it up with the Police. In fact from conversations with the Police Officer assigned to investigate the report, Churchill did not bother to contact him either. I also requested that they listen to the recording of my conversation with them from March 2011 and from August 2011.

 

Any advice and help that you can give would be gratefully received.

 

Thank you

[unclebulgaria67]

War & peace was shorter !

 

Suggest writing to Churchills ( RBS Insurance ) CEO Paul Geddes with a complaint ( Direct Line House, 3 Edridge Road, Croydon, Surrey ,CR9 1AG). Sounds like awful customer service. They have gone downhill over recent years, as thousands of jobs have gone, they have outsourced etc and are in the process of being sold off.

 

In regard to some points. A claim is noted as 'fault' until the Insurers have made a full recovery of their outlay. The Insurers would not have asked for any CCTV unless it was advised to them that it showed the accident and could have indentified the 3rd party responsible. They won't note the claim as non fault, unless they get their money back for the claim.

 

In any complaint concentrate on the issues of poor customer service and being given the run around, with wrong information being provided to you and to Octagon.

 

I don't understand why your partners Motor Traders policy would need the NCD that you had. Would not think it is relevant to your partner or their Insurers. Perhaps Octagon Insurance are just concerned that the information being given is confusing, possibly misleading.

 

When you make the complaint to RBS Insurance CEO, I would suggest that you keep to the points and not write a story.

[VFellows]

War & peace was shorter !

 

Thank you advice was asked for sarcasm wasn't!!!!

 

 

In regard to some points. A claim is noted as 'fault' until the Insurers have made a full recovery of their outlay. The Insurers would not have asked for any CCTV unless it was advised to them that it showed the accident and could have indentified the 3rd party responsible. They won't note the claim as non fault, unless they get their money back for the claim.

 

In any complaint concentrate on the issues of poor customer service and being given the run around, with wrong information being provided to you and to Octagon.

 

Thank you - as I stated before they were notified that there was CCTV footage, but they did not investigate it, which is why I was made a "patsy" out of.