SAGA, overcharging for phone quotes by more than double
1
My grandma (who is 84, but well) rang up SAGA as her yearly travel insurance was due to run out, as she was only due to take one trip this year, she requested a price for a 2 week holiday. She thought it was expensive but thought it was just due to her age, so paid the £300.
She then spoke to me, I thought that this was rather extortionate and checked on online price comparison sites, where I could get the same insurance, from SAGA, for around £120.
She rang them back (within 2 hours of taking the policy out) and they refused to do anything. Their only defence was that "the policy sold over the phone had £12 million cover rather than the £10 million available online. I have also complained to them and received a very bog standard reply admitting that the £2 million was the only difference in the products
From a company specialising in the elderly, this seems very unfair behaviour. She was not renewing an existing policy, and was not given the option of a cheaper policy on the phone (who would pay nearly £200 extra for that extra £2 million cover on top of the £10 million available?!).
This seems like a very shady practice on their part, especially given a large proportion of their customers likely do not use the internet for insurance quotes.
Reviewed on: 4th March 2019
