“Absolute joke of a insurance company, Had house and pet insurance, dog broke her leg and cost £750 to put right , they gave me 86p towards it stating as it was a sunday the vets were more expensive. I said ok in future i will train the dog to brake her leg on a monday if that helps 😡pathetic, then a property of ours burned down , it took
6 months for them to respond, completely ignored us , we had to
get a claims specialist in to chase it and they came back and said we decline the claim because you didn't do enough checks on your tenant 😡Just a cowboy firm with no intention of paying you at all . it's a scam and really infuriating to see there adverts sprouting how great they are for speedy work and pay outs ? absolute disgrace 😡”
“I’ve just had one of the most frustrating and frankly baffling experiences I’ve ever had with an insurance company, and it’s convinced me never to use Direct Line again.
I took out a policy after carefully checking every detail — including correcting the vehicle information when their system inexplicably pulled through a completely different car (a 1.4 VW Polo… for a BMW X1, which doesn’t even exist in a 1.4). I selected the correct vehicle from their own dropdown list, watched the premium increase accordingly, and completed the purchase.
Fast forward to receiving the documents: the engine size and BHP were wrong, and even the number of children in my household had been changed. These are not minor details, and they were absolutely entered correctly at the time of purchase.
When I contacted Direct Line to have their errors corrected, I was told I’d have to pay an extra £43 — to fix their system’s mistakes. Despite repeatedly explaining that the incorrect details were not mine, and despite the fact that their own paperwork showed the correct registration and model heading, they refused to waive the charge. Instead, I was told that because the quote originated from a comparison site, the errors must be mine — a lazy, dismissive, and demonstrably false assumption.
Even when I pointed out that their system literally cannot quote for a 1.4 BMW X1 because such a car has never existed, they still insisted the mistake was mine and refused to take responsibility.
In the end, the only option they offered was to cancel the policy entirely. So after wasting my time, causing unnecessary stress, and refusing to acknowledge their own system failures, they cancelled the policy and refunded me — which they could have avoided entirely by simply correcting the details at no cost.
This whole experience shows a complete lack of accountability, zero flexibility, and no regard for customer time or common sense. If this is how Direct Line behaves before a policy even starts, I dread to think what would happen if I ever needed to make a claim.”
“Incident 1/9/2023... and only completed dealing with this nightmare last month. Seems like my original review was removed... So let me just back it up with.. DO NOT TOUCH THIS COMPANY. Worst company ever to deal with.. they lie... They cheat... They Mitigate everything ... No help....They waste your time.. over priced... No communication.... Make your life hell... Make you lose money and have to go to court.... Don't chase the perpetrating sides insurance and lied about it after they got caught out.... Don't accept responsibility for all the mess they create after they cause you to reach court and pay all the costs involved, which took me over 2 years where the judge saw exactly how mishandled my case was and refered it to be investigated. Still refused to pay out the damages after accepting liability in writing to me. Be aware.... You don't get what you pay so much for every month with high premiums. Also tripled my premiums even though I was the victim. After two years, when caught out, they decided to finally use the insurance details provided by the perpetrating party just to inform me the details are not real. Something they should have found out at start so I could have bought it up in front of the judge when I had the perpetrating sides in front of the court. Now I lost it all because of the mess they created and delay with dealing with things that couldn't be in court as I did not have the information at the time because they didn't do their work..and left me in debt and still damage while the other side get away clean and with out care with their brand new extension making thousands every month while I'm still repairing damage. Despicable. Seems they were working for the other side more than me
Also...They're the most expensive insurance company out there. Supposedly the best too... Absolute joke... Worst one. And I can tell you since I did my last review, I can see many more complaints with one star.. so I'm not the only one. STAY AWAY .. you have been warned. Other companies offer much better deals with much more cover for less money. One big scam... And very unprofessional. Horrible people and company. Will never insure anything with them again. And I have used them in past for other things including my vehicle. Hopefully..they will get what they deserve for treating their customers so badly.”
“Don't come near them...
Don't come near them...
Not only they are useless, they rip you off.
I just sold my car and I cancelled the insurance with Direct Line.
They deducted £50.76 as admin fees.
The Council and other affiliation to the car, deducted a max of £18, only Direct Line think they have the right to take a large cut to press a button.
Shame on you, Direct Line, never again”
“Home insurance claim
This is not an insurance company; it has been a nightmare of mismanagement, proving they are liars, have no care for customers, and offer nothing but false promises.
For over eight months, my home has been uninhabitable due to Direct Line's chronic mismanagement and failed repairs. We are living in a house with no cooking, washing facilities, water supply on the ground floor, severe drafts from holes in the walls, and a broken plumbing system, all while housing two vulnerable children.
1. ASBESTOS NEGLIGENCE: Their contractors exposed asbestos in May, but Direct Line delayed testing until November
2. SUBSTANDARD WORK & INACTION: Their own surveyor confirmed the work was substandard on August 26th. Despite this, no remedial works were arranged by December 2025. This is a chronic and accepted failure to repair.
3. CHRONIC MISMANAGEMENT: After two formal complaints, Direct Line acknowledged the property is uninhabitable and promised to prioritise the claim. Instead, handler Felix has continually failed to communicate, failed to provide the promised scope of work, failed to provide the surveyor's content report on the substandard work, and unilaterally stopped paying the disturbance allowance—despite Direct Line being entirely responsible for the ongoing delay. 4.BREACH OF CONTRACT: Felix later insisted on a cash settlement, attempting to force me to close the file and avoid the costs of fixing the damages he created. He has since failed to follow through on any communication regarding this settlement.
AVOID!!!”
“Since Aviva has taken over Direct Line and Green Flag premiums have increased very considerably without cause and an excellent claims history
They obviously have no regard to customer loyalty”
“I got an online quote, tried to make payment , couldn’t. Received a message to open an account and activate it which was also done. The account would default to higher quote when tried to make payment and the system wouldn’t allow me to make payment for online quote. Spoke with five different people , no one could help and no one would put me through to any manager. I also complained an online complaint form. No response. The company is completely useless and highly inefficient and unprofessional. Suggest no one should use them. I will never ever use them now.”
“I am wondering if I am alone. I had to make a claim for an escape of water, Direct Line instructed a Loss Adjuster (Davies BVS) who inspected, prepared a report (which they ignored) and tried to offer me £1700 in full and final settlement. The claim is now standing at well over 10 times that value. And that got me thinking. How many people who dont understand insurance have Directline and their supply chain short changed through attempted settlements of this nature.
There is no excuse for it, its either gross incompetence, i.e the claims handler being unable to read or understand the content of the report from the surveyor or it is gross negligence bordering on a deliberate act of financial piracy to defraud paying policyholders out of fair and due settlements.
Be very wary of accepting offers, and for self protection seek out a Claims Assessor (Not an Adjuster an Assessor) they will work with you to ensure you get a fair settlement for the claim as opposed to doing it yourself where you could be losing out on thousands through this sharp practice.”
“They refuse to let us use an approved and authorised VW Volkswagen repair centre, which can effect the warranty and safety of the vehicle.
Have referred the complaint to the Financial Conduct Authority.
This is the first time we have had a policy with them, would never use them again for any type of insurance.
Obnoxious and arrogant Customer Service”
“Double payment taken in error.
Told I had to wait 72 hours before contacting them about it.
Now I have more than £400 less than I should have in my current account.
Direct line failed to take my premium. I couldn’t see how to pay on line. I used the chat to ask for help. The bot put me through to a human being who told me I would need to pay in the chat app. I was sent a link to make a secure payment. The human assistant said it had been rejected and sent a link for a second attempt. They said the second attempt was successful. I checked my banking app there were 2 pending transactions this was the reaction from the assistant.
*Sarwar*
Please do not worry, one pending payment will be rejected by the system and in case if you have any issue, you can contact us back after 72 hours and we will help you accordingly. Is it fine?
I replied it is not fine.
*Sarwar*
I understand ******, System does not take payment twice so one payment would be rejected, in case both the payment is processed successfully ( this should not happen), you can contact us back after 72 hours and will get this investigated and if payment is taken twice, you will be refunded one payment. Rest assured.
Unsurprisingly both payments went out of my current account today leaving me without enough money to cover upcoming expenses. Obviously I haven’t waited 72 hours to contact them. Why on earth would waiting 72 hours help resolve this?
I have filled in their online complaint form but after previous bad experiences with direct line am not expecting them to return my money any time soon.”
“Utter garbage of an insurance company. I phoned up for a car insurance quote. They quoted over £3k and wanted £650 extra to protect the NCB. What a joke and ripp off!! My car was over 20 years old and I'm 60+, still they gave extortionate car insurance price. Don't use them”
“Got public liability insurance
Tried to access policy online it said wasn't linked to email phoned for advice was passed round 6 people none of them had a clue will not be renewing have told my co workers to steer clear”
“Scam central. 4.3 k a year and they have done nothing but make my life difficult. They are tryna take 375 out of my bank that I don't even ow. Staff havnt a clue.
Joke. Don't use them unless u want messed about and your time wasted.”
“Car insurance went up £250 with no claims in over 16 years last year put up 350 i managed to get them to only increase by 50 then this year only were willing to take 40 off price there robbing loyal customers I won't be renewing with them”
“come to life is a burden that Direct Line CUSTOMER SERVICE +𝟭 𝟴𝗢𝟱 (𝟰𝟭𝗢)' 𝟱𝟲𝗢𝗢 Direct Line PHONE NUMBER +𝟭 𝟴𝗢𝟱 𝟰𝟭𝗢 𝟱𝟲𝗢𝗢 only the parents of the kids have to carry. But even when there are things to prepare, parents must keep childcare in mind which is a herculean task in itself. This often leads to parent relying on TVs”
