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

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

“Disgraceful service all round. The box I had in my car was complete rubbish. I was told that it would decrease my score if I drove after 10pm however it decreased my score after 8pm. My acceleration constantly decreased also...upon ringing Hastings smartmiles I was told to ?pretend you have a bucket of water in the passenger seat and try not to spill it when you accelerate?. Although this is ridiculous advice I tried it...the score still continued to decrease. I also had several issues with payments. They told me no more payments were required and I was actually due a refund, to which they then took ?120 out of my account two days later. This put me into an overdraft that I don?t actually have so my credit score has now been affected. Terrible customer service on the phone during this time. I was literally told I was a liar on the phone. I was then told I wasn?t allowed to put a complaint in. Would never recommend these to anyone!”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Hi, I'm very sorry you didn't get on with the scoring and that you had a problem with payments. Please send your complaint to help@hastingsdirect.com and we'll ensure it is looked at? ~Joe?

Posted 6 years ago

“Poor customer service”

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Posted 8 years ago

Hello Hannah, Sorry to see that you didn't find our service to be of the standard you expected. If we do get the opportunity to assist again, I hope you are much more pleased ~Joe?

Posted 6 years ago

“Not very good at all. I wouldn't have purchased a policy if I knew what their customer service was like”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Still waiting for Hastings customer service to get back to me.”

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Posted 8 years ago

Hi Natalie, Sorry to see you're waiting for a reply. As we're primarily a call centre service provider, you may wish to ring the team on?01733 308 380 instead and we can help right away ~Joe?

Posted 6 years ago

“The worst black box insurance I have been with. The scores did not work at the beginning and although tirelessly contacting them about this matter, there were no improvements. The scores starting at 0 meant that you could not improve them, allowing this company to threaten to revoke your insurance and apply extra charges, even if you did not drive dangerously. Completely unfair and rude during contact.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,Thank you for your feedback. I'm sorry to see you have had such a negative experience with our SmartMiles policy. We do try to offer the help and support you need to improve your scores and have a dedicated team to assist with this. When the box first measures your scores, roughly after the first 70-90 miles, your average score will be shown. If your braking or acceleration over this period was late or a bit eager, your first scores will show as being very low. If you do require further assistance, please call the First Response team on 0800 048 2955.~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“Cannot get through to cancel my policy”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,Thanks for your feedback. I'm sorry to see you have had so many issues trying to cancel your policy. We wish you all the best with your new provider.~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“Had nothing but problems since I purchased my insurance with this company, had customer service operators hang up on me and the service is appalling. Would 100% not recommend. Only reason I haven't left is because they have no given me my years no claims for no reason and Because of this I can't afford a new policy the whole think is a con”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi, I'm sorry to see you've not been happy and apologise for any disconnects. We will offer customers NCB if you complete the full year without making a claim that reduces it. ~Joe

Posted 6 years ago

“Not a happy bunny at all, after calling them regarding my policy in 2016 and the curfew they have in place they told me if I was to continue to drive within the hours of 10:30pm-5:00am they would cancel my policy or put my premium up, bare in mind I'm a student and was working part time within theses hours I find this disgraceful! They must expect you to keep your car on the drive and never drive it; oh and not to mention the statistics they keep on there system regarding your breaking, acceleration and speed (that is not one bit accurate) they only reduced my quote in 2017 by a whopping ?45 where and the year before they more than halved it, it's literally one problem after the other! Unless you want to keep your car on the drive and pay through the roof for your insurance then DON'T TAKE OUT YOUR POLICY WITH THESE!!!”

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Posted 8 years ago

Hi, Thanks?for your review and feedback, I'm sorry you weren't happy with the discount you received. It is important to understand that we intentionally want to keep you from driving after 10pm as this is when the most and worst accidents happen. In exchange for safer driving, your insurer will be able to reduce more from your next premium.? ~Joe

Posted 6 years ago

“You have sent me a smartmiles box which is not compatible with my car. My car is newish car and has many devices attached to the car battery which is incased in a frame with no place to put the box. The battery has a cover which is screwed to the car covering the battery secured in a box compartment with little room for a box to be fitted. You obviously don't check cars registrations to see if their car is compatible before you take money from people who just want car insurance cheap as it can be.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

Hi, Thank you for taking time to provide us with your experience and photos. I have forward this over to the team which handles the box to ascertain more about compatibility. If you feel it is not installed correctly, please do call us though ~Joe

Posted 6 years ago

“Sorry can't tell you what to do if you don't even listen to your customers”

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Posted 6 years ago

HI there,Thank you for this feedback, I'm sorry to see you have had such a bad experience with our policy and feel that we haven't listened to your comments.~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“I called and cancelled my policy the day before renewal, however they'd taken the money early. They said it would take 3-5 days to be refunded. However it has it has now been 6 working days and the money has still not been returned. They are now saying it will take 14 working day. Better staff training is needed.”

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Posted 8 years ago

Hi, Sorry to see you're waiting for your refund - I appreciate it's frustrating and thank you for the review and feedback ~Joe?

Posted 6 years ago

“Wish there was a 0 star rating. Appalling to the point I'm considering legal action.”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Be more helpful if they used the current score for their renewal after a year's worth of driving instead of 11 months, especially if it "magically" changed for the better. Also not sure how said score improved by 15 points in a matter of days!”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hello, I'm sorry for any frustration that this has caused. The price tends to be generated after 11 months so that there is time for the renewal on a whole to be sorted whether that be; allowing sufficient time for the documents to reach you, you have time to shop around or to contact the renewals team to discus the price. If this was done in the 12th month then the risk would be of the policy running for longer than a year. I hope this didn't cause too much of an inconvenience and you were able to get a competitive prce for your renewal -Theo

Posted 6 years ago

“They couldn't answer a simple question without repeat calls failed to ring back as promised failed to do what they said when they said they would and then charged more than the original quote. The only positive was it still worked out a bit cheaper than everyone else. You need to get a grip and start providing proper high quality customer service! LP”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,Thank you for your review. I'm sorry to see you have had such a bad experience dealing with our Customer Services team. I can only imagine how frustrating this must have been for you. We do appreciate your feedback though.~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“I have been with hastings direct for 5 years, and have not received the customer care as well as satisfaction that I should have. They have a scoring system that does not benefit the customer if they have done well throughout the year. Usually if no claims are made throughout the year the insurance would go down by a reasonable amount! Well not with smsrtmiles (it's little to nothing). The only reason why I am still with them at the moment is because my insurance is a reasonable amount due to MY loyalty as a customer.”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi, our scoring system is based on a score out of 100, with those closest to a full 100 score receiving the largest discounts. Please contact our SmartMiles customer service team if you would like to receive coaching on how to improve your score. ~Connor

Posted 6 years ago

“Absolute rubish, I had to phone on 4 seperate accasions, hanging on the line around 15 minutes each time (one time over 20 minutes) befor eventually getting fed up and hanging up. When I did eventually get through, the apointments to have te Smartmiles box fitted were not very flexible at all.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

Hello, Sorry to see you needed to call us and we didn't answer promptly. We value your feedback and thank you for taking the time to provide the review ~Joe?

Posted 6 years ago

“I challenged the "braking" accuracy of the tracker they fitted 2 weeks after it was installed, they said the technology was such that it cant be wrong, the braking results over the whole 12 months never altered and it meant we had a poor score, even though my wife had been Driving like Miss Daisy throughout, how anyone can say tech is 100% accurate is beyond me!”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hello there,I'm sorry to see you had issues with your braking score. When you brake (especially when braking late) your vehicle goes through G-Force and its this that registers as a negative event. If on a mile journey you have 5 braking events and 3 are late, your score will always be in the negative. I do apologise if this wasn't explained to you fully and if you do need a full explanation you can call our dedicated team on 0800 048 2955.~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“they might be sightly cheaper than competitiors - but i would never ever buy insurance through them again - insurance companies are awful when having to deal with them - but not as bad as this company! pay the extra money to go else where!!!!”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi,? I'm really sorry to see you had such a negative experience with us. We do try to provide a high standard of customer service and I apologise if we have fallen short on this occasion. I hope you were able to find competitive cover for your vehicle and thank you for having been insured with Hastings Direct Smartmiles -Theo

Posted 6 years ago

“I did not purchase this. stop sending messages”

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Posted 8 years ago

Hi,? Thank you for lettng us know - I have passed this onto the team to check into ~Joe

Posted 6 years ago

“My renewal prices have been fairly competitive with the installation of a black box. However, I had a very poor experience with their customer service team while trying to switch my insurance onto a new car, which was denied due to a small amount of paint on the brake calipers (deemed to be a modification). This resulted in months of back and forth and work on my part in getting this sorted. Eventually, I had to physically remove the paint myself and get it certified by the manufacturer before they would retract their decision and allow me to remain on the policy. I think there could have easily been a more sensible way of sorting this, but unfortunately this was not the case in my experience.”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi there,Thank you for your feedback. I'm sorry to see you have had such a bad experience when trying to change the vehicle on your policy. We do look at modifications for example, potential performance brakes and have to make sure they are covered properly. This is mainly because if there was a potential accident we would need to make sure your vehicle is repaired to the same specification as prior to the accident. This could mean having to source the modified brakes or even having to get a specialised mechanic to fit them. I do apologise for the inconvenience this must have caused though.~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

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