Chris Redman's reviews - Smart Money People

Largely a waste of time

2

This lot largely wasted my time. I applied for business funding and they made swift contact, only to start asking for proof upon proof of income, contracts, solictor and accountant's reports and the like. For a sole trader who does his own accounts this was nigh on impossible, and after much deliberation (which took ages) Iwoca rejected me. They then passed my details over to a bunch of other companies that were clearly on some sort of referral scheme and the deluge of calls began. Not the best experience. Reviewed on: 24th December 2016

Great until things go wrong...

3

The company itself are fine and dandy when things are good. Contact is frequently returned when needed and I relieved when calls are answered from within the UK. However, when I lost my job and fell behind on payments they suddenly became very inflexible. I had to call repeatedly and then it would take quite some time for someone to respond, if at all. Contact was more of the feeling that it was made purely as it was obligatory rather than a wish to help. No offers were made to lower the APR or suggest a plan in my time of need. That said, once things were back on track they mysteriously reverted to their old helpful selves! Reviewed on: 24th December 2016

A good product but shoddy customer service

2

The product itself is not bad. The APR is quite high but I knew this getting into the agreement. However when I got into some financial difficulty, I had to play the most ridiculous game of cat and mouse trying to get hold of someone, only for them to never return my calls, or call back with no prior knowledge of what our discussion had entailed. Complaints are VERY slowly resolved although gestures of goodwill are often given to make up for the wait. Reviewed on: 28th March 2016

Good but too much parting out to other companies

3

Octagon themselves are a good company to buy from. Their customer service is prompt, and as I was local to their head office I was invited to swing by in person with any queries if I wanted to rather than email back and forth. Friendly, helpful staff. However when there was an issue with taking my payment they had parted the finance out to a third party who were dreadful, and this for me reflected back on Octagon. If they took more ownership of issues then I would happily give them a better rating. Reviewed on: 28th March 2016

Took ages to sort out an accident that was not my fault!

2

My car was hit when parked by a truck. 1st Central said they'd take control of the claim but simply handed it over to a shady third party claims management company, and then refused to discuss the matter further with me. They eventually compensated me for the inconvenience but come January I'll be moving my policy to someone else. Reviewed on: 10th November 2015