Poor experience with Chris Knott insurance

[Dave3283]

Be warned extremely long post incoming.

 

I have just had what can only be described as one of the worst customer experiences with Chris Knott insurance.

 

I called last week for a quote on my modified Skoda octavia VRS, spoke to Kathy who was great and gave an excellent quote, or so I thought.

 

On the call I said that I was coming from admiral where I currently have a multi car policy but I was only bringing my octavia across to Chris knott.

I was asked for the best renewal quote from my previous insurance which I advised as £347 (this was an over the phone quote from admiral after I had called them to quote me without the escort on the multi car policy, the original multi car renewal was £570) , I was advised that they may require proof of the quote which I thought strange as I had never been asked for this before but thought nothing further of at the time.

 

Chris Knott beat the £347 with a great quote of £315 which I went ahead with.

 

My documents arrived the other day and I checked them to find a list of documents required to allow the policy to go ahead, there was the usual no claims bonus proof, but then a copy of driving licences for all drivers, a driving licence code to allow them to check the licence via dvla ( no idea why they need both as surely one or the other provides all details,) confirmation of mods (fair do's) and the mentioned proof of renewal quote.

 

So I rang Chris Knott to discuss how they expect me to send proof of a quote recieved in a telephone conversation and what could be done to move this forward.

 

I spoke to Ian first who was very dismissal of my query and said he would get Kathy to call me back tomorrow, when I advised I wanted to sort it tonight I was told, hold on I'll put you on hold and try and sort out Kathy's mess. 

 

Ian then came back advised without the proof of quote I would have to cancel by sending an e-mail.

 

At this point I was not looking to cancel as the quote was good and Kathy had been great so I questioned Ian at which point he put me on hold stating I'll put you through to my supervisor you can speak to her.

 

So now Chris Knott has my back up.

 

Supervisor Kim came on the line and asked how she could help making me relay my story again ( not good customer service, when escalating a call the agent should relay all information to the supervisor so the customer does not have to repeat themselves) Kim then gave me what I assume is a script about why the proof of quote was needed by the insurance provider equity red star to allow them to discount the quote by a maximum 10%, to which I pointed out the price they had provided was more than 10% so not sure why I was told this.

 

This is all well and good but as I don't have a physical copy of said quote still left me between a rock and a hard place. 

 

Up to now no solution has been given to the issue other than cancel.

 

Kim advised that as she could see some dicrepency she would allow me to cancel with her over the phone rather than email in.

 

When I advised I did not want to cancel but try to resolve the issue Kim finally turned her attention to the admiral multi car policy and advised that if I sent in the quote showing £570 they may accept this however if not I could still cancel.

 

I advised I was not happy to do this as I felt that sending in a quote for a multicar policy that they were not matching and showed a primus of £570 was a waste of my time.

 

I said if this was the only option I would like to cancel however I would be posting my experience on here.

 

At this point Kim advised she could put me through to her manager which I agreed to. 

 

What a waste of time this was, The manager Andy basically told me the same as Kim and offered no other solutions other than reiterate that I could send in my multicar renewal quote that might be OK to carry on with the policy.

 

By this time I had had enough and just asked for the refund I was promised by Kim, now I don't know if the policy for Chris Knott staff is to push customers as far as they can but Andy advised that he could not cancel the policy and process the refund as he does not have access to the systems and there was no one around to do this, it was 5.30pm by this time although I had started the call at 4.15pm

 

Seriously a manager without access to basic account systems ??????

 

So to bring my tale of woe to an end Andy will cancel the policy tomorrow and issue a cheque as I am not available due to work commitments to call back in to have the refund issued to my card during their working hours.

 

I have now insured with Adrian flux through guess who equity red star for only a few quid more than Chris knott and the only document they require is proof of no claims.

 

Chris Knott learn from Adrian Flux, ditch your stupid document requests, invest in some staff customer services training and objection handling as it appears it is not just me that has had these issues going by threads on here

 

As for me lesson learned read all threads on a forum not just the first few good ones and I won't be using Chris knott again.

 

 

Edited 18 May, 2017 by Dave3283

[ChrisKnottIns]

Hi Dave, I'm sorry you don't feel you've been dealt with fairly. I do try to make it clear throughout the forum that we can often beat members' lower quotes if proof of the alternative quote can be supplied. Without proof unscrupulous drivers could just make a figure up.

 

We've listened to the call and, crucially, this condition was mentioned when we gave you the quote and again in the documents you received when you took the policy. As you were not able to supply proof of your best quote or even the multi-car renewal quote, the insurers won't proceed with the cover. I can't comment on why another provider was able to do the same thing without requiring proof of quote but we won't act dishonourably towards an insurer or risk a client's cover. You could of course have used Flux's quote as the proof if Admiral's was not forthcoming and continued cover at our lower price.

 

We're genuinely sorry to see you go because of this quote-validation (we don't turn business away lightly) and that the refund will have to be by cheque if you can't speak to us due to work commitments.

 

Members can be assured that Briskoda continues to be one of our top club relationships, regularly featuring at position 4 out of about 180. 'Additional Car' is our single biggest producer of business, closely followed by 'Recommendation' and 'Returning Clients', so our service and reputation speak for themselves.

 

best,

Nick

[Dave3283]

Hi Nick,

Thank you for the response, however I would like to point out that I have never at any point said I would not supply the multicar renewal.

However as stated in this thread and to your manager last night, I could not see how sending you a Multicar renewal quote stating a renewal price of £570 would then allow a policy for a single car to go ahead at £315, especially when you are not quoting me for a multi car policy and would be nothing more than a waste of my time.

As stated the quote from my original provider was over the phone so I have no physical way of providing this, it was not mentioned on the call or in the documentation that you would not except a verbal quote.

The quote from Adrian flux was again verbal when I rang them so unless you expect customers to record conversations with other providers I cannot see how I or other customers can provide the information you require to allow policy's to go ahead, unless they only pit yourselves against their original renewal quotation and unlike myself shop around using the old aged method of picking up a phone and speaking to a human to ensure I get the best policy for my money.

 

I appreciate that you wish to safe guard yourselves against unscrupulous drivers and have a process in place to carry this out, however my point is that the process is flawed for customers who get verbal quotations.

 

My main concern is that from the start of my call last night every agent, supervisor, manager that I spoke to had only one aim which was to cancel the policy, at no point did any of them look for an alternative solution.

Maybe this is due to my call being at 4.15pm and it was close to closing time so this was the quicker option.

That a side as stated I will not be insuring with you, however could you please confirm that as per the discussion I had with your manager last night that my policy has been cancelled and a cheque for £83 has been issued today?

 

Regards Dave

Edited 18 May, 2017 by Dave3283

[ChrisKnottIns]

31 minutes ago, Dave3283 said:

I could not see how sending you a Multicar renewal quote stating a renewal price of £570 would then allow a policy for a single car to go ahead at £315, especially when you are not quoting me for a multi car policy and would be nothing more than a waste of my time.

 

Actually it would have given us proof of what the 2 cars were covered for and for how much - we could then take a view on whether we thought our £315 was about right against that context for the Octavia. In the absence of any other quote proof, if we were satisfied that would have been the end of it. Job done. Hassle for you saved.

 

31 minutes ago, Dave3283 said:

As stated the quote from my original provider was over the phone so I have no physical way of providing this, it was not mentioned on the call or in the documentation that you would not except a verbal quote.

 

It's obviously the case with comparison websites that screenshots can be taken and many insurers will provide written quotes on request. With respect, you telling us what someone quoted over the phone is different to proving it. In cases where proof of price, and that it's like for like cover, can't be provided we have to walk away I'm afraid. It's to protect this successful scheme for everyone else by removing the opportunity for insurance fraud (I'm not suggesting you were trying to be underhand by the way).

 

31 minutes ago, Dave3283 said:

...could you please confirm that as per the discussion I had with your manager last night that my policy has been cancelled and a cheque for £83 has been issued today?

 

We are sorry to see you go and yes I can confirm that the refund has been issued and will go out in tonight's post.

 

All the best.

 

Nick

Edited 18 May, 2017 by ChrisKnottIns

[Dave3283]

5 minutes ago, ChrisKnottIns said:

We are sorry to see you go and yes I can confirm that the refund has been issued and will go out in tonight's post.

 

Thank you Nick.

[CWARD]

Dave, not dissimilar to my experience with them. First a massive jump in price even though I'd had no claims. Shopped around got a quote cheaper than the previous years and also better quality. Gave Chris Knott another shot I'd been with them for a few years only to  be met with attitude and for me to do all the work for them only for their quote to be suddenly reduced to the competition, which may I had wasn't the cheapest but with a well known brand. I'd only gone with Chris Knott after having a modified car and kept with them bringing the wife's car too. Renewals are now far less shocking now and the customer service leagues ahead.    

[Jigger72]

Would I be mad to suggest that in the first instance you realised you needed the Admiral quote you could have got on the phone to them and asked for it via email? I would assume they had the quote logged on the system in case you came back to purchase.

 

That said, Chris Knott still sound like a bunch of half-wits.     

[CWARD]

Shouldn't need to if they've quoted you on the information you have provided.

[Dave3283]

@Jigger72 In hindsight I suppose that would be possible, I have never had to request a copy of a quote obtained over the phone before so I could not confirm if Admiral would accommodate this.

 

However it was never mentioned by Chris Knott agents as an option ( instead as Nick mentioned above I was told that had I got the quote online I could take screen shot which does not help a customer with a verbal quote) and to be fair why should I do all the running to give a company my business, especially when other company's are willing to offer comparable quotes without the hoops to jump through.

We as customers are expected to take it as read that the quote provided verbally to us over the phone is the company's best ( we all know that this is not always the case) without proof, however we have to prove that we have sat for hours of our time ringing round to get the best deal.
 

 

[Dave3283]

8 minutes ago, CWARD said:

Shouldn't need to if they've quoted you on the information you have provided.

Exactly @CWARD if I have provided the full details of the vehicle I wish to be insured then what should be supplied is the best possible quote the company can provide regardless of what other companies offer. 

[KenONeill]

And that is why no company has ever retained my business by giving me a "better quote" after someone else has beaten their renewal quote.