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Rebecca

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Review of the 1st Central, Car insurance:

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I have never had such an appalling experience with a...

I have never had such an appalling experience with a company in my life. 1st Call Central Car Insurance has shown me exactly how NOT to treat a customer. I took out a policy with them, only to later be told (after the fact) that I’d be charged almost £500 more. When I challenged this, the representative on the phone openly admitted that they understood I had not been given the full information needed to make an informed decision about taking out the policy in the first place. So essentially, I was misled into agreeing to something I never would have accepted had I known all the facts upfront. Despite this clear failure in duty of care, I was still told I’d be charged a £100 cancellation fee just to say, “No thanks.” After more discussion, the agent acknowledged the lack of information and agreed to refund the £50 cancellation fee as a “gesture of goodwill” – yet refused to refund the £50 arrangement fee, even though it was agreed that had I been properly informed, I would never have taken the policy at all. When I raised this obvious contradiction – that if you admit fault, the arrangement fee should also be refunded – I was told it was simply “her decision” and that my only recourse was to take it up with the ombudsman. I fully intend to do exactly that. Even more disturbing, the conversation I had earlier in the day seems to have mysteriously changed. The written record now being offered to me does not match what was actually said. Instead, I’ve received an empty “gesture of goodwill” in writing – a far cry from what was acknowledged on the call. I will be submitting a formal Subject Access Request (SAR) so that the recording of this conversation can be passed to the Financial Ombudsman. They deserve to hear the full picture, not the rewritten version the company is trying to pass off. It’s not just about the £50, it’s about principle. A company that admits wrongdoing but still fines the customer for their own failings is not a company that deserves to be in business. I’ve now wasted hours trying to resolve this and will be exploring my right to bill them for my time as well. Steer well clear of 1st Call Central. They are untrustworthy, dismissive, and operate with a shocking lack of transparency or fairness. If I could give them zero stars, I would. Reviewed on: 5th September 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Rebecca, Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear about your experience with us. All details on the policy impact the price of the policy we offer, if details are found to be incorrect we need to update them and this can impact the price of the policy. If you’d like to speak to the team about this process, please give us a call on 0333 043 2095. We’re here to help from Mon-Fri: 9am to 5pm. If there’s anything you’d like us to look into for you, please contact us by sending an email to [email protected]. Please include your policy number and details of what’s gone wrong, and we’ll see if we can put things right. Ashley Response date: 8th September 2025

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