Hastings Direct Smart Miles Reviews

Name: Hastings Direct Smart Miles
Rating: 3.29

3.3 Rating 2,006 Reviews

56 %

of reviewers recommend Hastings Direct Smart Miles

3.3

Based on 2,006 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Courier
On-time Delivery	Greater than 72%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour

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Hastings Direct Smart Miles 1 star review on 12th July 2024

James

Hastings Direct Smart Miles 5 star review on 29th September 2023

Jason Major

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

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“Appalling customer service, any change of details incurs a huge price change (eg address change - even though when I checked the comparison sites the quotes were the same price from hasting smart miles for the two addresses I was still charged £80 to update the details and given the ‘option’ of cancelling my insurance, i.e. pay £80 or take out a new year of insurance). Takes an age to actually speak to anyone on the phone, very unhelpful when you do get through to anyone who try their hardest to stay on-script and intentionally stay as vague as possible to avoid saying anything they may regret. Online features of the black box I was completely unable to access over the entire policy length even though I had rung up repeatedly to sort out. Fitting black box is free but charge almost £100 to remove the box, so ended up removing it myself. Even though at the end of the policy (I changed insurer) they say the box is turned OFF, when I located and removed the box, the box was STILL ON and monitoring until I disconnected the wiring which had been crudely spliced into my wiring loom and cable tied under the dash.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Customer service is appalling. Constantly having to ring up with black box troubles because when they say they're going to ring you back they never do and they don't seem to have any get up and go in them to sort the problems out. As soon as they have your money they don't care how long it takes to sort things out I think.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“We have had continual problems with smart miles box since this has been fitted. From inaccurate data, two extreme speeding events 1 of which did not tie in with the data on the journey, 2nd extreme speeding the vehicle was not being used at the time. Complained and the first one has been verified that it is correct although my son didn't even know the road or ever had driven on the road in concern. 2nd one still currently being looked into but asked if anyone could have taken his car during the 35 mins that it was parked on our drive way. Don't get me started re no night time curfew quotation, my sons score has been continually at zero as like other reviews they couldn't explain. Although I have now been advised for every 1 hour of driving merits 10 mins of driving during the night (10pm-5am). I would be very cautious taking out this policy as customer services are shocking and not helpful at all. They don't call back when they say they do and a very frustrating company to deal with.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Very good service,”

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Posted 9 years ago

“I tried to insure my 19 year old and was told about late night driving will affect the scoring- which I agree however when I asked how many points she would get to get an idea of what is allowed to keep within the allowed points - the answer was 'I do not know and noone here know' How ridiculous to advise on a point system that will affect her but have no idea what is allowed or not - They call this unrestricted!! Re train your staff - a concerned parent .”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Dreadful. Didn't contact me to fit the black box, when they notified me that my policy would be cancelled, I phoned up to arrange it. Lots of back and forth and telling me to call back tomorrow, blaming the installation company, lying about contacting me and no real effort to help or care for the customers. Now my policy is being cancelled because the box cannot be fitted in the time period. Through no fault of my own I am being thieved of a few hundred quid. Disgusting company. Never ever ever go near them.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“worst insurance policy ever”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“worst insurance ever, they cancelled my insurance as my score was 24 i had 5 days to get it up to 25 and above which i did and they still cancelled it, they do not take anything into consideration and have a lot of rules in there 'small print' which are absurd . When speaking to there team over the phone they were not helpful one person was saying one thing and the other person was saying another which was not helpful. I would not recommend this company at all!!!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Cannot believe the way I have been treated by this company!! Had my first ever car accident, a car drove into the drivers side, no fault of my own and he admitted liability straight away. Contacted my insurance company and let my insurance company know the next day when I was out of hospital. Had some injuries and my car was a total loss. Hastings smartmiles offered me £1400 for my car which I was happy to accept. The day I was due to receive it I was then told I had to pay my excess as I did the wrong claim not that I knew I could do this, so after days of not understanding and arguing eventually I accepted this due to just wanting it to be all over. Next I am then told that they are also taking the rest of the policy charge out of the £1400, as this is one of their rules in the very small print which I did not see. So eventually I had to just accept this as they were taking the courtesy car and I do not live near my work and college, this then left me with £200 which wouldn't and did not buy a new car so I had to find money towards a little run around just to get me by. After all of this I have gone to insurance my new car and have to pay another £135 upfront for a new black box, even though I didn't want to change my car but been left with no choice. After paying my policy off for the rest of the year, I cant really afford to go to another company and am unfortunately stuck with this company until December, I can't afford the £135 as I have just had to pay for a new car so I now I can't even drive my new car!!! Been left in such a mess thanks to this company even though I wasn't at fault and have been messed around and been left gutted and injured!!! Seriously avoid this company!!!! I will be spreading the word and writing this on other websites and sharing it in local newspapers and ad's to make sure that no-one else is left in such a devastating mess!!!!!!!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Been with them for over a year and had no problems, or with the 'black box' itself. However, recently changed my vehicle and had to get a new box fitted. This came with a £135 'installation fee'. They said on the phone I have 21 working days to get it installed and gave me a choice of 3 dates for my area, policy was taken out on the 4th may, appointment for box to be fitted made for the 20th, well within the 21 day rule. Today I had a call from them (2 days before) as they could not get an engineer out to me and the only next date was the 27th, I arranged for the 27th and then they call me back realising they made a mistake as the date is after 21 days. I called customer services to see if I could get an extension but their reply was no and that I should of chosen a sooner date to start with and questioned why I didn't pick a sooner date! The lady then said my policy would be cancelled Monday if I don't get it fitted before then even though the 25th would be the cut off point for the 21 day period??? Then contacted the installation company and they said they struggle to get an engineers to my area, so therefore I have to travel 50 miles to my university address to get it fitted Wednesday so they don't cancel my policy. All I can say is, don't let customer services push you about on the phone and stand your ground. Didn't get any apology for the confusion on their part. I'm not paying nearly £700 a year plus 'installation' fees for that. Won't be renewing.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Taken out a policy for my son, the App is failing to respond to his driving, it's still saying that he's on 0....I'm a proffesional HGV driver and as been using his car, to try and boost points, but no joy...........reading the reviews on here and realising that most so called customers are being mistreated, I'm propably going to cancel policy to save my son any future stress with more professional insurance companies. PLEASE DO NOT PURCHASE A POLICY OFF THESE!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“I made a enquiry about how the feedback scores for time of day, acceleration, braking and speed were calculated- received an e.mail back but still unclear as they seem to carry a different rating. It also seems they penalise (i.e. score of 0/100 ) if the car isn't driven for whole days. Doesn't seem fair. Otherwise very good.”

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(Car Insurance) - Posted 9 years ago

“Good cover, had the black box installed. The dash for that is easy to understand. Little difficult to raise your score as Road type isn't included. But good all round.”

Helpful Report

(Car Insurance) - Posted 9 years ago

“Fantastic help from customer services at the start of my policy, I WILL be renewing with them definitely”

Helpful Report

(Car Insurance) - Posted 9 years ago

“Really pleased with my policy and even more pleased with he customer service I have just received. Spoke to a young man named Tom for the best part of half an hour and every question I had he answered honest and truthful. 10/10.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“No problems with the policy but this is my first car so I had a black box fitted. One of the criteria is Time of Day. Whilst I accept that accidents occur more at night, I work odd hours, and public transport is not an option. I score badly in this area and the only advice I got when I rang to discuss was to 'get a lift' or 'use public transport'; the very reasons I bought a car!! Also, agent was unable to explain how the scoring worked, which appears random a best!”

Helpful Report

(Car Insurance) - Posted 9 years ago

“This is a scam. They install a smart miles box the cost of which is £210. 15 days after you take out the insurance they accuse you of exceeding the speed limit and threaten to cancel the policy. Your right to free cancellation expired after 14 days. Clearly the risk of an insurer cancelling your policy would leave you exposed to ever getting cover elsewhere in the future. You are left with no choice but to .cancel the policy yourself They then deduct £45 cancellation charge, you lose the £210 cost of the box, and they want to charge £91 to remove the box. Hasting smartmiles is a scam. You have been warned. Do not take cover with these scam artists.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Beware! They may appear the cheapest insurer with the black box fitted but check the small print! Any amendments can cost you dearly as their charges are far from reasonable.”

Helpful Report

Posted 10 years ago

“n/a”

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(Car Insurance) - Posted 10 years ago

“i will never get insurance with this place again! Customer service is absolutely diabolical which lead to my insurance being cancelled because the person who come out to fit the black box did not take a photo of my no claim bouns failed to contact me them cancelled my insure find out it was too late to I have got to 48 day to get my money back and what I not get all my money back them take £351.81 for these self and still wait 48 day £732.62 and because I pay up front and then have to wait for my money back I not have the money to pay next insure at all they just cancelled my insurance Now I pay month payment because I not had £1000 for my insure what I saver up to pay for and now I am half way through my month payment now saying my driver is bad and them want cancel me this place need putting back them just taking people money and robber people So people don't get it Because late smart mile rob your money”

Helpful Report

Posted 10 years ago

Hastings Direct Smart Miles is rated 3.3 based on 2,006 reviews