“If there was an option to give 0 stars, I would.
I was paying £76 a month for car insurance with no issues whatsoever. All of a sudden I notice that Admiral have started taking £188 out of my bank account. When I called to clarify why this had happened, they said it was because I had changed jobs. Just to be clear, and so there is no misunderstanding, I went from being a Digital Project Manager at a university in the Midlands, to a Digital Project Manager at a different university in the Midlands. My salary and commute remained the same. This caused my monthly premium to more than double (insert "bemused-face" emoji here).
When asked why they hadn't notified me of the increase in payment, they simply told me to read the terms and conditions from when I started my policy, which state that they can increase the monthly payments if I change my job. This was to become the official party line.
But wait, it gets better...
A few weeks later was looking through emails on my computer and noticed one from Admiral in my junk folder asking me to contact them about a missed payment. I honestly thought it was a scam at first, until I checked with my bank only to realise that no payment had gone out. I had been the victim of a fraudulent Uber transaction on the day Admiral requested the payment, so the bank had blocked it. The bank apologised and assured me that the DD mandate would be reinstated for the next month.
I called Admiral that same day to make the payment. A simple misunderstanding that could surely be easily rectified.
Now, the thing is, 95% of the time, I read emails on my phone, and it's only on the odd occasion that I actually use my laptop to view them. As junk emails don't come through on my phone, I sometimes miss them until I check on my laptop. As such, there were seven days between Admiral sending me the email, and my seeing it and calling them.
I called them, apologised, and asked if I could make the payment over the phone. They told me that because I had missed a payment (by seven days) that I had to pay the outstanding amount on my account there and then. After a thoroughly useless conversation with someone in the accounts team, I was put through to a team leader who said that although he was "sorry" to hear about my situation (and I cannot truly convey the deep, deep level of sincerity here), there was nothing he could do and I would have to make the payment in full.
[dramatic music] I was told that I had to pay £1,128 immediately or face legal action. I was completely stunned.
I asked if there were any other payment options and was told there were not. I asked what they would advise of a person who could not afford to pay £1,128 on the spot, and their response was "legal action". Again I was told to refer to the terms and conditions.
I asked why they had not notified me and they told me they had. By phone (nope), by post (nope), and by email (just the one). I even checked my emails to see if any had been accidentally deleted. They hadn't. I scanned my junk mail to see emails from months ago, so I know they weren't automatically deleted by gmail once they had be stored for a certain length of time as spam. They simply hadn't contacted me. Or had forgotten. Or the guy that was supposed to contact me had called in sick. Or the computers had all malfunctioned. Or my postman had gone a little nuts and decided that, although he would deliver the majority of my mail, he would be damned to see me receive any communication from my beloved Admiral. Whichever of these scenarios, I was assured that they knew I was being dishonest.
Feeling the love.
I asked if I could cancel my policy and they said that I could, but I would have to pay the same amount. And so I had no choice, I had to pay.
The customer service advisor (I use this term loosely) then asked if I wanted receipt of this sent to my home address. I said that I did, but was moving house that weekend, so he should update my address on the system. As he was updating this, he rather sheepishly advised that this might incur an increase in my premium. You can imagine the joy from my end of the phone. That will be another £313 on top of the £1,128.
Groan.
After, to put it politely, "having it out", with both this advisor and his manager (who, incidentally, sounded suspiciously like the same person) and being told for the forty-second time to refer to the terms and conditions, I told them I would pay it just so I would never have to speak to any of them again. I was told I could not. There was a block on my account and I would have to wait ten days.
Would I like Admiral to automatically take it out of my account ten days later? No, I would not. I have about as much trust and respect for you people as I do for the inventor of smallpox blankets. I will call in ten days and make the payment.
Ten days later, the payment was taken out of my account, without my authorisation. When I called to complain, I was told that an adviser had tried to call me earlier in the day. Yes, he called me at 2:15pm on a weekday. I was working. I said I would call back after work. I was told that they had assumed I would not make the payment and had to ensure my account did not "stay in arrears".
I asked them not to take money from my account without my authorisation again and they said that they could not assure me of that. If there are any changes to my situation (i,e, if I dye my hair, switch to a new brand of fabric softener, or decide I suddenly prefer plain to peanut M&Ms) there may be an increase in my premium and this will be taken automatically.
I cannot begin to express the level of frustration, and infuriation I have felt at the hands of this company. Because they have stated in their terms and conditions that certain changes to circumstance may cause an increase in premium, they can and will demand extortionate amounts of money with no apparent limit or rationale.
Admiral are unscrupulous and unethical, and speaking to anyone involved in any way with this company is like trying to communicate with a robotic clanger from Glorgon 6.
"Bleep bloop, we are sorry to hear you are unhappy"
"Glerrp, we understand your frustration"
"Please refer to our [*indecipherable static noise*] terms and conditions"
..."malfunction, malfunction"
Heed this, steer clear.
Oh, and if you happen to recognise this review, it'll be because you've read it elsewhere... everywhere on the internet I can find to post.”
“Got a policy with Admiral a while ago and all has been well until I changed my address..The new property is more secure with gated access and security, I am on the second floor so no one pops in through my Windows. so I am a little surprised when I am told that even with my no claims discount my policy price has nearly doubled. Not only that but as I checked out other companies before I changed my address thats an extortionate amount compared to other quotes.. and they are going to charge me another £20 to change the policy for the inconvenience of keeping me as a customer.. no change I say, lets cancel and I go somewhere else.. no worries says our helpful Admiral employee, But we are going to penalise you with a £50 charge for leaving us.. so whichever way you choose to go we have you over a barrel and we are going to get more money out of you.. and you don't have a choice. So basically they can quote any silly price they want at you knowing that you either have to pay that or a £50 fee.. I thought insurance was supposed to help you not to get robbed not be part of it, at least my burglar has the common decency to wear a stocking mask as they rob me.”
“1. couldnt get through on phone. 2. new to internet insurance. they automatically renewed my policy at £302. I couldve got it £100 cheaper for BETTER cover. Alas, If I now canceld I'll lose around 50 quid in admin. Never again Admiral”
“You get three prices and they look for the dearest.
We were not involved in an accident but I had my policy frozen I tried to cancel and they wouldn't let me. I'm still waiting November 2015 it's now JUNE 2016.
Will not inside with these guys again.”
“Had to use a courtesy car. Charged for the pleasure and had to ring a foreign call centre where they barely spoke English . DO NOT GET INSURED WITH ADMIRAL”
“Very poor customer service non english/welsh speekers. Customer service department in cardif and you get to talk to someone in pakistan or india. Verry poor company and very poor policy, would not recomend to annyone.”
“Gave me too much hassle and stress. Took 1 and half year to settle one claim. To start with, I paid excess of £400 as the car was a write off. It was a big headache as the communication was very poor. When I Forgot about it, I got email from them saying my claim is settled and it wont effect my no claim bonus, so I called back to ask for the access which i clearly deserved. But it is not straight forward either as they said I have to go through legal process and get Admiral law involved with and do more paperwork and questions. I was on the phone for more than half hour talking about the details which I already gave to admiral over a year ago. At the end I decided to accept the loss and not go through the stress again.
I am sure they will share/sell the third party contact details and I will get cold calls from many companies who wants a piece of the pie.
It is a good company and good value until you make a claim. I am sure most insurance company is like that, when they are receiving money they will happily accept it with a big smile ££. But when you want to change a small detail on the policy they want a admin fee. And you are paying over £500 for the insurance, they will still charge you to send a paper copy. When it is time to actually give money to the deserved customer, they turn their head around and make you do lot of paperwork and phone calls.
I would never use Admiral again ever even though it gives me the cheapest deal in the market.”
“excellent service above and beyond my expectations. due to an oversight when changing to a personal plate my son was not insured. A customer service advisor was able to help us with the issues outside normal working hours to enable my son to return to his place of work following a weekend leave.
Many thanks”
“I cannot fault Admiral. I had an accident and within an hour they had arranged to have the car picked up and taken to Just Car Clinic. One week later my car was delivered back to me.”
“Everything 2 years after I left them they sent me a bill for £1.500 given me 7 days to pay!!! Lol don't even know why but I will fight them in court, total joke of a company they don't know I have a 5000 clients database which I be warning about admiral insurance be warn”
“Absolute Cowboys. OK in year 1 because they low ball to get you in. But beware Year 2: they'll ramp it up. So, look at their first renewal and if it has been ramped up, phone them in plenty of time before the renewal date, and they'll offer you a reduction 'because of changes in the rates' about which they won't tell you otherwise. Don't leave it at that: having got their reductions, go to Direct Line and get them to quote based on the numbers you've got and from whom. I've just saved £700 on 4 cars that way. Customer loyalty has no part in their vocabulary. I've no doubt that I'll play the same game with Direct Line in a year or two and go back to Admiral or another similar automatic renewal insurer. This process gives car insurers a bad name, but they deserve it.”
