Dear All,
I have a problem with Esure and the contractor they use Body Tec. I would be most grateful if someone can give me an advice.
In August 2009, a lady crashed into my husband’s vehicle. It is a Mercedes and the accident caused damage to the bodywork. Prior to the accident the car was working well and in good condition. The car is only 1.5 years old and is serviced by a Mercedes dealership regularly.
My husband has had full comprehensive insurance with Esure for more than 3 years and never filed a claim before. From the first call to Esure we have experienced problems, which I will mention later in this post.
Our car was taken for repair to Body Tec. They had the car for over a week and whenever we called we were told that they were waiting for the parts to compete the repair.
Whilst the car was in repair by Esure repairer Body Tec, we received a letter from Transport of London informing us about a congestion charge fine. We always pay on the day if we plan to go to a congestion charge zone. When we checked the dates and time on the fine we were shocked to find out our car was driven to the congestion charge zone after Body Tec collected the car. The Body Tec garage is located only a 7-minute drive from us (Body Tec Ltd, Unit 3, Minavil House, Ealing Rd, Wembley Middlesex HA0 4EL) and is nowhere near the congestion charge zone.
I called Body Tec and asked to speak to the manager, but instead I was put through to the same person who collected the car. He told me that they were still waiting for a part, which they expected to arrive in a couple of days. After finally getting through to the manager, I raised my concerns about the time of the repair and about the congestion charge. Instead of trying to reassure me that the company is trustworthy and offering to look into the problem, the manager of Esure repairer Body Tec came out with excuses such us Transport of London had made a mistake or someone copied our number plate. The number plates could not have been copied, as from the congestion charge picture it is clearly our car. Damage on the front of the car can also be seen.
In addition to that, only two hours after speaking to the manager we received a call saying that the car had been fixed and we could collect it. I called and confronted them about the fact that I was told that the car needed a part but after my complaint it was suddenly ready for collection. I was told that they had been waiting for a small clip-on part, which was delivered after my phone call.
Our car was delivered the next day. The worker from Esure repairer Body Tec was extremely rude and quite intimidating. We told him that we did not wish to discuss the matter with him as we had already made a complaint to Esure. However, the Body Tec worker continued arguing, saying that he does not need to drive our car as he has a nice BMW.
When we checked the car we found an extra small clip-on part, a Mercedes Flat Bonnet Badge Bonnet Star. I believe that was the part for which Esure repairer Body Tec was waiting. However, it was never damaged in the accident and there was no need to change it.
As soon as my husband started driving the car, we noticed that it was making a very loud noise and vibration from the engine could also be felt from inside of the car as well as black smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe. The car now sounds like a taxi or an old car. We also found that the DVD player was not working, but it was perfectly fine before they collected the car.
I sent an email to Peter Wood, the founder and executive of Esure peter.wood AT esure.com. One of the customer service representatives contacted my husband and asked him to send a copy of the congestion charge document and a copy of the Body Tec document proving that the car was not in our possession. The advisor suggested we take the car to the Mercedes dealership; however, they did not provide instructions on who was going to pay.
I spoke to other advisers the next day. I was asked again to send a copy of the congestion charge and Body Tec collection note. I pointed out that we had sent all the documents; however, I was told that the colleague with whom we communicated previously did not pass any information along and was off of work.
Then the matter was passed to Jason M. Hirst (MIMI, IMIAEA, AMSOE, AMIRTE, Eng Tech), Senior Team Leader, Technical Services (Manchester) 0161 862 2057 (ext - 12057), Jason.hirst AT esure.com.
Mr. Hirst insisted that we should pay the congestion charge fine and wait for them to investigate the matter. Only after I mentioned that I would have to send a complaint to HBOS and the board of shareholders did he reluctantly agree to send a cheque for it.
I found Mr. Hirst very difficult to communicate with. Regardless of the fact that I had raised a complaint about Body Tec services and the behavior of their staff and brought to his attention the problem with the engine and DVD, and regardless of the fact that the other colleagues advised us to take the car to the Mercedes dealership, Mr. Hirst proposed as a solution to TAKE OUR CAR TO BODY TEC SO THEY COULD INVESTIGATE THE PROBLEM. I found it unacceptable that instead of looking into a complaint and investigating how trustworthy their contractor is, Esure wanted to send my car back to the people who caused the problem in the first place.
In a few days I contacted Mr. Hirst again to let him know how much the Mercedes dealership would charge us to investigate the problem and also to inform him that they could not provide a courtesy car and that Esure needed to take care of it.
I was told by Mr. Hirst that we had to pay the Mercedes dealership, provide them with a report and they would only settle the bill if the problems were related to the accident. I stressed again that we did not have any problems with the engine before Body Tec collected the car and that money should not come from the accident claim, as it was the Esure contractor that caused the problem. In relation to the courtesy car, Mr. Hirst said that they were not prepared to provide one unless we would again take the car to Body Tec.
I am very disappointed, as we had decided to join Esure after finding good reviews on the Internet. In our experience it has been an absolute nightmare.
In addition to the above, as I mentioned in the beginning of the post we had problems when we first contacted Esure to report the accident.
We called Esure on Saturday after the accident happened. Although we have full comprehensive insurance we were advised by the new claims department to directly call the other party’s insurance company. The information provided by the Esure operator was not correct and after waiting for almost 20 minutes to speak to the other party’s insurer, we were told that they do not communicate with individuals and that our insurance company should contact them.
When we called on Monday to find out when Esure was going to collect the car for the repair, we were put through to the new claims department again. Apparently the Esure operator did not take any of our details and there were no notes of our call. Only after speaking to a manager (it took almost 45 minutes before I could speak to someone senior), Esure agreed to back date the claim.
We also were given the email address of one of the Esure representatives to send details about the lady who hit our car. When she hit our car she came out of her car, comforted her two crying children and said not to worry because she was fully insured. She also apologized and wrote all her details on a piece of paper. However, to complicate matters she did not report the accident and also gave us incorrect details such as non-existent telephone and mobile numbers. She also lied about the name of the insurance company she was insured with. We emailed a copy of the paper with the other driver’s handwritten details. Esure was supposed to contact the other insurance company and inform them that their client provided incorrect details. We have been told by a police officer that it is against the law to not report accidents.
However, after more that 5 weeks after reporting the accident, reply from Esure states that they have sent their allegations to other insurer, holding them at fault, but are still waiting for a response. Now they insist that we have to pay for the claim, which will also result in loss of our non claim bonus.
Esure has all the documents, and their procedure is to after a certain time inform the other party that they will take the matter to court. However, it looks like Esure’s position is just to claim money from us.
Esure is one of the biggest insurance providers and one would expect excellent customer service as well as quick responses.