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

“My son has been told they are withdrawing his car insurance as his score has been below 40. Tell me why his speed has been scored at 30 for the whole 5 months and he did ring and query it and they said everything was fine. Also his acceleration is 0 and has never changed in the 5 months he's had his insurance?????? Surely this is a system that is faulty???? Is it fare that he loses his insurance and all the money he's paid??”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, Thank you for your feedback. I'm sorry to see your son has had so many issues with his SmartMiles policy. If you are unsure of the scores that your son has accumulated and want some clarity, we do have a dedicated team that can give examples, helpful hints and support to see him improve his driving behaviour score. The First Response Unit can be contacted on 0800 048 2955. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“Had been with the insurers for almost 2 years with a black box and they got me a good deal on my renewal after year one but as soon as I got a new car I had to be treated as a ‘new customer’ and they couldn’t give me a better deal even with a great black box score previously and they made me cancel my policy and make a new one for the new car, which impacts my no claims discount. For the black box to be fitted, they arrived late and broke my glove box door. They don’t listen to customers, they simply say ‘feel free to shop around for another insurer’”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, Thank you for your feedback. I can only imagine how frustrating this must have been for you especially in the light that you had such a strong driving behaviour score the previous year. Unfortunately, as we use a panel of underwriters, some will cover a new vehicle and some wont, if the one you had at the time refused, it would be a case of having to take out another policy (having an impact on your no claims.) I really am sorry that this situation arose and hope you now have the cover on place meaning you can enjoy your new vehicle. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“Avoid avoid avoid always telling u they going to cancel your insurance takes the whole fun of passing your test away... u cant always access the app to check your score and even after driving in the speed limit and driving like a saint the scores stay low and defo dont update as often as they say... had the policy for 3 days and they said will cancel it.. then there system had to b updated as the speed limits in our area had changed and there system hadnt updated this so was getting low scores all the time which was there fault. Complete nightmare wish i had just paid more and had no black box in the first place... my son has been with them 3 months and for some reason his score is lower than ever its like they keeping it low so they can cancel it....”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, Thank you for your feedback. I'm sorry to see you have had difficulties with your SmartMiles policy. Our boxes update every 70-75 miles so you should see a change at about this time. If you feel you need help and support, we have dedicated team that can do just that. The First Response Unit can give you helpful hints and tips and also explain how the box works, they can be contacted on 0800 048 2955. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“Quite literally the worst experience I received from this company when comparing against any other company I've dealt with - They decided to try charge an additional £1000~ for not declaring claims which were in fact false, they then attempted to state we lied and had to do their job for them by getting records from our previous insurance company just to have smartmiles then try change the issue to not getting a blackbox fitted when in fact it was scheduled on the same day as paying for the insurance and that making sure smartmiles knew when it was getting fitted and finally have them send an outrageous letter saying they're cancelling the policy under no legal grounds and further demanding more money with none of the staff people polite in anyway and not even understanding how insurance works.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, Thank you for your feedback. I'm so sorry to read that you have had such a negative experience with your SmartMiles policy. We are as professional as we possibly can be so to read that you were accused of lying is extremely disappointing and I apologise sincerely. I hope that by the time you receive this response the matter will have been rectified. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“awful customer service”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, Thank you for you review. I', sorry that you have had such a negative experience dealing with our Customer Service team. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“Modern day robbers who give threatening behaviour, hiding behind Smart box technology whereby the consumer wouldn't be able to challenge if the data was correct or not or if its been manipulated. Only 10 days into a car insurance policy and I am sent an email saying my insurance could be cancelled by Hastings Direct Smart Miles if my score continues to be below 40 over the next 200 miles, but I won't be entitled to a refund on the £100 (1/3 of the insurance premium paid upfront) and they will charge another £45 for THEM cancelling the insurance premium!!!! What’s to stop this company taking the equivalent of 5-6 months premiums including the cancellation penalty and manipulating the data on the smart box to allow them to cancel the policy in the first couple weeks….”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, I'm sorry to see you have had such a negative experience with our SmartMiles insurance. When our policy holders take out policies, they are made aware that we have four areas we observe and require you to have a score above 40/100. We also have a process in place and also help and support to enable you to get the score back to where it needs to be. I completely understand your frustrations but the First Response Unit would be more than happy to provide you with data examples of where and when braking or accelerating may have been a bit erratic, as mentioned they can also help with improving your scores. They can be contacted on 0800 048 2955. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“Exactly the same experience as others! 1 month in and the braking is at 0!! Threatening to cancel the insurance after 40 miles!! It is truly a scam as these boxes which do not update after every journey must cost under a £1 and they charge you £150 when they cancel your insurance. I have contacted BBC watchdog and they are aware of these cowboys but need more complaints as they can’t go by the many hundreds on here. Please contact them on the bbc website so we can shut them down.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hello, I'm truly sorry to see that you had such a poor experience with us. The team does strive to disclose all potential fees before the policy is purchased so I do apologise if this was information was missed and added to the frustration as a result. I hope that you have been able to find suitable cover for your vehicle since this review. If you do wish to raise a complaint regarding the experience you had please contact the team to do so by visiting: contact@hastingsdirectsmartmiles.com -Theo

Posted 6 years ago

“An absolutely diabolical company, who are dictating to it's customers with 20+years no claims, how to drive. I would not recommend this company to anyone. Neither would I give it any stars. Unfortunately most, if not all of us, do make some poor choices if life - taking my car insurance out with this company was one of mine.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hello, I'm very sorry to hear that you didn't have the best experience with us at Hastings Smartmiles. I appreciate that this policy may not be suitable for all drivers and it does tend to be aimed at younger drivers starting out on their driving experience who may need assistance managing their driving and getting used to the road. Thank you for taking the time to leave a review and I do hope that you've been able to find more suitable cover since this review -Theo

Posted 6 years ago

“I would not give any stars if it gave you the option because these illegal corrupt company are committing criminal acts by illegally putting young drivers mostly at risk by playing with people lives by illegally scoring drivers false targets to put pressure on the driver to set them up to fail and when are made to make their customers look like they don’t know how to drive despite passing there driving test years ago and because these black boxes are not calibrated and hence give incorrect reading and false marks for driving , since having the box fitted some 4 months ago I have with the help of the sat nave kept UNDER the SPEED LIMITS but they still mark you down for speed what a bunch of fiddling misfits tha talk so nicely to get you signed up and when they got your money they treat you Ike s—-t the ombudsman need to receive more complaints about the criminal company to be able stop these people stealing money from parents and your drivers who work hard to pay these fiddling sods. Please email me to add you to the list of unhappy customers so we can put a stop to these people and hold the person at the top him responsible in a court of law which was mentioned and get the government who are aware of this scam. Please send a message to. Meenagary1@gmail.com. We need to get these people help accountable for their criminal acts and to stop them trading and ruining people’s lives.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“fucking bollocks of a company, rip off pricks, id rather drown my self then recommend them to anyone.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“I placed a review 6 days ago with another review site, which described how poor this Company is. In the review I made particular mention about the shortcomings of the Smartmiles black box and Hastings' poor customer service. I cancelled my daughter's policy (after only 14 days) and was told that there was a £175 cancellation charge. I said that I was prepared to pay for the two weeks cover, but owing to the fact that I was given misleading information by Hastings, I requested a full refund of the cancellation charge. I was told that this was not possible and after much complaining and many phone calls, was only given a partial refund. I was advised that the matter would be passed to the Complaints Department, who would decide if I could have a full refund as requested. I read their response to my review with utter amazement. It says " Box scores will update after every journey" and " I am happy to hear that we have now resolved the situation". Both of these statements are completely untrue. Let me make it absolutely clear to anybody reading this: 1. Box scores will not update after every journey - no matter what device you are using. 2. My complaint is far from being resolved. In fact, Hastings Smartmiles' Complaints Department, have sent me a standard response letter saying that they are still investigating the matter and it may take EIGHT WEEKS for them to respond with their findings. I phoned Hastings yesterday to make them aware of the inaccuracy of their response to my review. I was told that they would look into it and amend it. Today it remains unaltered. The Company is a complete disgrace and I would urge anybody who is considering taking insurance with a black box, to look for a far more reputable and trustworthy company, even if it may cost a little more. I have now moved my daughter's policy to another company, who have provided her with a black box that does update after every journey and has staff who can be relied upon to give accurate information about the policy. y ”

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Posted 6 years ago

“I had only been insurance a day when they sent me an email saying, ' we are cancelling your policy because your black box is not installed '. Their instructions say you have 14 days to install the box from your day of purchase of the policy so I've deduced not from the START of cover but from the day you paid for it ! BE AFRAID VERY AFRAID.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, I do apologise that the terms and conditions were not made clear to you when you took the policy out, and hope that the policy is now running smoothly. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“Absolute con for an insurance company. Literally was left not wanting to drive. Unrealistic driving expected! Lost 6 month no claims! Waste of time! Do not insure with this group impossible to get and maintain a score over 30!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, I'm sorry to read you have had such a negative experience with our insurance. We do offer help and support for all policy holders who's scores drop below 40/100 so if you didn't receive this help I apologise sincerely. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“Terrible scores on braking and time of day very bad policy”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, I'm sorry to see you have had issues with your braking score and your time of day score. We do have a dedicated team that can offer you help and support in these area's if you require it. The First Response Unit can be contacted on 0800 048 2955. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“Sold my car people still trying to claim from me for accident which happened when I was not the owner very little help from hastings”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, I'm sorry to see you are still having contact fro us regarding this matter. I do hope that this matter gets resolved and apologise for any inconvenience this has caused. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“this company cancelled my sons policy now they want £150 for the telematics box and £45 for them cancelling. Rip off company”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Absolutely disgusted with this company.Failed to show up to repair a faulty telematics box, "engineer running late", but no call to advise. Tried to rearrange twice, being in queues for over 40 mins both times.Then received an email to say insurance had been cancelled! Then when I called to see what was going on, they said during their security questions that email was their primary contact method, clearly not, since no emails were sent advising of any potential cancellations. After speaking to an adviser (for 40 minutes) who had to keep putting me on hold whilst she tried to get hold of a telematics engineer (welcome to my world I said!), and faced with an uninsured car, that was needed to go to work, I was told that I couldn't get re-insured until 'an investigation' had taken place. Clearly I have been forced into a corner where I have had to go to an alternative insurer, which i would have done in December at the point of renewal, following poor service from Hastings Direct Smart Miles. I have requested a full explanation by email, although I very doubt I'll see it. It is, however, imperative that any sign of having cancellation on my insurance history, is removed immediately, since this is wholly unacceptable without prior notice and is not 'treating customers fairly' as required by the FCA. It is my intention to escalate this to the highest level unless I receive, both the above, along with an apology for the horrendous lack of communication from this company, within 7 days, along with some sort of recompense for the now lack of No claims Discount, having had to cancel 10 months into the year. I intend to approach the relevant ombudsman service accordingly. I too wish I had read reviews on this company, avoid at all costs. Absolutely furious.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Avoid this scam of a company they offer you cheap insurance after 3 months they lower your scores significantly forcing you to cancel the policy as you will not get another insurance if they cancel it. They will then charge you stupid over the top cancellation fees now that's how they make their money back. It is impossible to get the scores up even after perfect driving with 32 yrs experience yet the scores reduce immediately. This company should be banned from trading avoid this shocking scam of a company pay that bit extra and go elsewhere.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“All I would say is to keep away from hastings smart mile black boxes. Im just in the prosses of cancelling mine. It's a complete scam. Back to PROPER SAFE DRIVING. Hooray.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“braking 100% night driving100% speed 70% acceleration 0% this in a 10 year old car which is a very small diesel driven by a 75 year old!!!!!!!!!!!!! GET REAL HASTINGS SOMETHING MUST BE WRONG.”

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Posted 6 years ago

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