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S.Irshad

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Review of the 1st Central, Car insurance:

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Thieving cowboys

I took out a car insurance policy with 1st Central back in October 2021, I paid for the year upfront. On 24/01/2022, I receive a text from the bank telling me I've gone into my overdraft due to 1st central taking £300+. I call up 1st central and ask them why they've taken out that money, they tell me they've e-mailed requesting x3 pieces of information from me, with no response on my end (this is true, unless I am on the look out for e-mails, I tend to miss e-mails due to the sheer volume I receive- I told them this& asked why they hadn't called me /sent notice via post to which they answered that they were a predominantly online company) . I was told I needed to provide proof of no claims, proof of employment and the date I'd purchased my vehicle. I called my previous insurers, who sent me an e-mail confirming my proof of no claims. I call up my father& he scans me a copy of my V5 form. I forward these to 1st Central and call them up. Whilst on the phone, they tell me they can't take a forwarded e-mail as proof of no claims (despite being a self described 'predominantly online company) and that I'd need to send them a letter from my previous insurers with their letter head. They also told me that they needed the complete V5 form, as opposed to the 1 page that my father had scanned in. They also asked me what my job role is, when I gave them the answer, (that is on the Policy) they said that what I'd entered onto the comparison site was different, I told them that it was more or less the same in terms of what I do at work, and so they changed it to what was on the comparison website, and told me I had to pay £100 admin fee for this. When I stated that when asked by them, I'd given the answer that was already on the Policy, they relented. I then called my previous insurers who then sent out a PDF version of a NCD letter which I forwarded to 1st Central. I then called 1st Central, and after hours complaining on the phone, I managed to get a refund (minus a £50 admin fee), on the condition that I provide the V5 in its entirety within 2 weeks, which I do, and receive confirmation of receipt of both. The refund would take 5-10 working days to appear in my bank account, which did nothing for me in terms of taking me out of my overdraft/overdraft fees. On the 24/01/2022, I explained the effect of them taking £300+ out of my bank account, the stress caused and that my experience with them had been awful- I didn't receive anything by way of apology- not even an offer for the manager to get back to me. I then, on 04/02/2022, get another e-mail stating that they're still going to charge me £288.53 for having had to make amendments to my Policy which I could see online (when I checked online, there was no audit trail as to what has been amended from what to what). I called on 07/02/2022, and was told that there was no outstanding balance. I requested a copy of this in writing, and have not yet received this, which does little to bring me any peace of mind. I also stated that they'd given me an incredibly stressed out weekend, and again reiterated that my experience with them had been awful. Again, I didn't receive anything by way of an apology. Reviewed on: 7th February 2022

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