julian wrote:Why's that Sproggs? I'm with eBike & they have given good service to date.
Have you made a claim? If not, I assume that 'good service' means that their website has worked when you've used it and they've sent you the appropriate documents on time. They've done that much (mostly) for me too.
I'll try to be brief....ish. Early April, commuting to work with Mrs Sproggy on the back of the bike, a van driver gets out of his van and expresses his displeasure at my not letting him in in in front of me (he was cutting in) by pushing us and the bike over in the road in front of other traffic (and, crucially, loads of witnesses).
I report this to the police and, doing things by the book, to e-bike's claims adjusters (e-bike don't 'do' claims themselves - they farm them out). Give full details and ask if I need to fill in any claim forms and they say no - I've given them all the info they need. I tell them I won't be making a claim straight away and they say fine, let us know what you want to do. They confirm that if I don't claim, everything will be forgotten - no black mark.
e-bike 'legal cover' - when you read the small print it only covers you in the event of a collision between vehicles - the damage wasn't caused by a collision so it's worthless to me. And I couldn't claim of the van insurance because the driver isn't covered by it when he's outside of his vehicle, which he was when he 'attacked' us. So I either claim off my own policy and take the financial consequences (excess, loaded premium next year) or cough up for repairs myself.
I decide to repair the bike myself (estimate from dealer was about £1,100 -I repaired it for about £450 - what's the point of FC cover, I wonder?) and a month after the indicent call them back to tell them there won't be a claim and they say fine, that's the end of it.
A further month later (2 months after the incident) The Claims Service (that's their name) send me a stroppy letter telling me that they don't seem to have received a claim form from me yet, enclosing a form and asking me to fill it in and send it back straight away.
I phone them and put them straight and after being passed around half the office I get an apology and am told that it was their mistake and they wouldn't do it again.
I think everything's sorted.
Then I sell the bike (a 1200GS) and when I go to add its replacement (my 1100S) to the policy online I find that there's a record of a claim going through, "insured hit by third party, costs reclaimed by insurer". This is on my permanent record. I write to them explaining that I WAS NOT hit by a third party (in their sense) becasue the guy was a pedestrian at the time and THERE WERE NO COSTS TO BE RECOVERED BECAUSE THERE WAS NO CLAIM. I asked for them to remove this from my permanent record and to confirm in writing that they'd done so. Letter ignored. I then sent another letter, enclosing a copy of the first, by Recorded Delivery to their UK forwarding address, again requesting a reply. That was 3 weeks ago. I phoned them and was told that "we're an internet insurer - we don't have many staff and it can take a long time for us to reply to letters". Load of bo**ocks.
If I'd been insured with Carole Nash or similar they'd have dealt with any claim themselves, not left it to some cowboy outfit to deal with (badly) on their behalf.
As things stand, when I come to renew (with a different insurer) I'll tell them I have no claims in the past 3/4/5 years, they'll "share information" and discover that apparently I had a claim this April and void my insurance because I lied to them. Maybe.
As for the incident itself (in case you wondered) the CPS are taking it to court next month (assault, criminal damage and DWDCA) with 5 witnesses for the presecution (including me and the Mrs) and none for the defendant. Hopefully I'll get a settlement - I know how I'm going to spend it already (Power Commander, lennies, dyno setup......
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That's why I won't be renewing with e-bike. There's not much to choose between companies other than the premium when you're shopping for insurance - it's when you come to make a claim that you find out whether they're good or bad.
