Hastings Direct Smart Miles Reviews

Name: Hastings Direct Smart Miles
Rating: 3.29

3.3 Rating 1,999 Reviews

56 %

of reviewers recommend Hastings Direct Smart Miles

3.3

Based on 1,999 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

Filter: Rated 1 None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“Can someone please explain why this company hasn't been fined or taken to court? My story is practically the same of hundreds/ thousands of reviews. My daughter was forced to cancel after 6 weeks resulting in losing a lot of hard earned money. Crazy that majority of there customers have score of 38/40 a lot of bad drivers out there NOT more like cheap black boxes they import over here and scam every one.. beware this shady company has been on watchdog on BBC before perhaps we can bring them back for some answers and refunds!!!! Stay well clear”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Avoid this company! Having only recently passed my driving test and being eighteen I was looking for affordable car insurance, Smart miles seemed perfect. Since taking the policy out the black box has not worked at all, initially i was scored 100 for every aspect apart from 0 for acceleration. I thought this issue would resolve but didn't so I decided to phone customer service and spoke to an advisor who told me I was driving over too many potholes and speed bumps on my journey home from work and told to alter my journey. Trying my best to avoid pothole my acceleration score didn't not improve and phoned customer service back and the advisor said they would refer this issue to specialist black box engineer and if there was a problem I would be contacted within 48 hours, which they didn't, so I phoned back myself a week later to be told there was no information from the engineers and to phone back later. Problems with the black box have since exculated to my speed score dropping. I feel i have to continously justify myself as a safe driver to them and I feel have to be an overly cautious driver. This black box does not represent my driving , as a consquence I will be cancelling this policy before the situation exculates. Smart miles is a complete SCAM and I will be referring this issue to the omnibus regulators.”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Atrocious insurance company - along with cancelling my insurance policy without warning (because I mentioned on the phone that I would be changing address online then didn't do it within a certain time frame) they have quoted me for a temp driver for our holiday, and withdrawn the product 4 days after the quote. 2 weeks later we are about to go on a road trip holiday leaving in 3 days, I called to activate the quote and told that the underwriters have withdrawn the product and it is not possible anymore. Left with the option to insure my friend on the whole policy, which is 2.5x the price for just 5 days of driving. Jokers. Oh, and they will take up to 8 weeks to come back to me with a solution to my complaint.”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Every thing mentioned in the reviews....avoid avoid avoid like the plague.Some body needed to take this company to the courts it's like the PPI scam all over again only in a bigger scale. Keep all documents as this will become a class-action law suit some day”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Don't take a policy out with this company!! I made the mistake of taking out the policy then going to download the smart miles app & seen all the bad reviews about losing money and policies being cancelled I said to myself I've made a mistake here... so I rang up to cancel winthin my 14 cooling off period to receive a letter today saying they want nearly £400 to cancel when I had only been insured with them 10 days and I hadn't even fitted the box yet! What 'young person' has nearly £400 to give to an insurer at one time to cancel it!? I'm very disgusted in this and will be calling them to ask why 10 days of cover is nearly £400 I think that's extortionate! Do not take the policy out!! You will regret it!! Money making scam!”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Absolute rubbish,went over speed limit 2 mph got 25 out of hundred.rubbish rubbish”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Scammed £250, forced to cancel”

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Posted 7 years ago

“A Scam to make money - Took out policy in February 2017 and have today (26 July) had notice that they are cancelling the policy - the car has hardly been used as I am currently off work - disgusting. Rude people on the phone. I have been a driver for 20 years - no penalties and how they can justify this I don't know - policy was taken for my son. Worst ever insurance I have seen in my life”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Unjustified bad score. These people are making money from cancelling policies. They charged me £448 for being insured for a month and a half, after I was forced to cancel it. Very sneaky, slimy company. Do not get insured with these people.”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Don't make the mistake I made and buy out insurance from Hastings before reading the reviews, they are shocking and rob you off, take your money and a few months down the line cancel for minor faults, breaking sharp because someone pulls out infront of you and driving late at night if you work late hours then this policy also isn't for you, ridiculous and day light robbery!”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Nothing but unhelpful costumer service.”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi, Sorry to see this - hopefully your next call with be much better with us ~Joe?

Posted 5 years ago

“SHOCKING COMMUNICATION AND SERVICE”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi Chloe-Anne, I'm sorry to see you weren't happy with us. If we can be of assistance still, do let us know ~Joe

Posted 5 years ago

“Need to improve on the smart miles box”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi Liam, Thank you for taking the time to review us and offer your feedback. We're always looking at how to improve and welcome your comments as our customer ~Joe?

Posted 5 years ago

“They're dickheads !!!!!”

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(Car Insurance) - Posted 7 years ago

“My car was written off by Hastings in April 2017 However after this I received further phone calls about the box being inactive and needing a new one (even though the car was no longer on the road) I then received further calls regarding payment on the policy which was cancelled when the car was written off Later the policy was then renewed without my permission on the same car that was written off earlier this year. My experience with Hastings has been terrible and the customer service over the phone appalling with bad attitudes and inexperienced agents I would not recommend, especially on a ?2k a year policy for a new driver”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi, Thanks very much for taking the time to feedback your experience - I'm sorry you weren't happy with it. Hopefully we were able to explain to reasons that the policy needed payment and renewing when you called but if you do need further help you can alwasy get in touch and we'll be happy to talk to you? ~Joe?

Posted 5 years ago

“Complete con of a black box policy and I strongly urge anyone reading this to look for insurance elsewhere. The app points system is purposefully made to lower your score and does not take into account speed bumps and mounting pavements when measuring your breaking score which in turn can lead to your policy being cancelled without any notice whatsoever. Furthermore, it is very easy for your score to decrease but not even remotely easy to increase your score afterwards. Please read other reviews and then ask yourself why people are reviewing Hastings badly.”

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(Car Insurance) - Posted 7 years ago

“PREPARE TO LOSE YOUR MONEY IN 6 WEEKS AT BEST! We paid the non refundable £210 smart miles fee along with £170 insurance premium. Fitted the box ourselves which states to fit to a flat surface. The box instantly read '0' for breaking and '100' for both acceleration and speed. We complained to Hastings to find the most arrogant customer service representative who kept repeating 'what do you want to do?'. We asked for the data to be reviewed and he responded that it takes 28 days. They were giving us 7 days or they'd cancel the insurance! Again he just said 'what do you want to do?'. Another customer service rep. said it was because my son was putting too much pressure on the pedal whilst sitting in traffic! It turns out that the boxes have accelerometers in them so nothing to do with brake pressure in traffic! However we did discover that the box we fitted WAS fitted to a flat surface BUT not a level one. It looked level being on the battery but was leaning forward which would explain why the breaking was on '0' and both speed and acceleration on '100'. I bet we are not the only people to have experienced this error in install. Flat and Level are two different things! We notified them but they were not interested. Result £670 for 6 weeks cover. Oh, the polite customer service girl today informs me there is a number that will give me the data immediately. TOTAL SCAM! RIP OFF!”

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Posted 7 years ago

“I've only been on this insurance company for just under a month and I've been checking my score on the app. How can I have 10 breaking and all the others at 100? If someone can explain this then please help. I only just thought to look at reviews (don't worry I'm already beating myself up about that) and so regret going with this company. It was a yearly cost of just under £920 and after driving for less than a month I don't want to get back in my car until I need to renew. I'm currently at 77 In my overall score but 100% feel that if I make it to next year without cancellation, whether they say yes or no to renewing with me I'm going far far away and triple checking reviews. Honestly I know that money wise black boxes seem good but my god I wish I stayed with Churchill off a black box and payed £1800 !! It's not worth the added pressure !!Unless you have no other option, get a black box but do NOT get it with this company. The fact I am now TERRIFIED to drive and basically loose £920 ... it's wrong. But how the hell would I get the score to go up so quickly ? Would just a 5 minuet quiet drive round the block now and then help me to get it up? Does it matter if it's 5 minuets or 2 hours ? Surely from points A to B however long that counts right ? ... we shall see but I'm not holding my breath !! BEWARE”

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Posted 7 years ago

“AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS!!!! I had a blackbox last year with a company called MyPolicy and had no problems whatsoever with their blackbox. My score was always fine with the odd dip if I drove it at stupid O'clock. However being with Hastings Direct for just over 3 weeks I can not recomend to anyone. The score will never go up or stay above 40. I've driven the car at normal speed limits and made the odd trip 10 minutes down the road and my score is already 23 out of 100. Bare in mind your policy can get cancelled if it stays below 40. This company may be the cheapest on the market but I will never ever renew with this company again. ABSOLUTE SCAM”

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Posted 7 years ago

“AVIOD at all costs. They are a useless compnay.”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hastings Direct Smart Miles is rated 3.3 based on 1,999 reviews