123.ie

mirwillbeback

Hi,

Signed up with 123 last year as they were so cheap in comparison to other providers. Got my premium for this year, up 100 euro.

Went on to their site and put in all the terms again as though it were a brand new policy and the price is almost the same as last year.

Should I ring and complain and maybe look for further discounts or is there any point.

I would imagine there are many people out there who would just renew on the basis of " cheap last time, must be same again ".

F8cking chancers in my opinion.
:eek:

seamus

Check another insurer. I got a quote for home insurance which was up about €25, so I went to Hibernian who quoted me €80 less (a drop of about 35%).

Paulw

Ring, ring, ring.

Hassle them. Tell them you got a quote from someone else, almost matching their last year price. They will generally want you to stay with them, rather than taking your business elsewhere.

If they don't reduce their quote, then shop elsewhere.

dahamsta

Unfortunately the insurers like to play their little games, so you have to beat them with their own stick. I'd advise going one further than the last poster though, because other insurers might actually give you a better quote. I'd suggest calling Hibernian, AXA and FBD at the very least, then take the best quote you got, undercut it by as much as you dare - I wouldn't go further than 10% - and go back to your current insurer and tell them to "match it". If they won't, see if you can get them to match the actual price you were quoted, otherwise leave them for the best quote.

I wouldn't bother with the brokers, they play the same game and it's just adding another layer of complexity. Screw them.

It's lovely behaviour on their part though, isn't it? Wouldn't it be great if our pubs and shops charged us more every time we went in because we're regulars? Someone should send them a giant printout of the word "Loyalty", in dictionary format.

adam

Cabaal

mirwillbeback wrote: »

I would imagine there are many people out there who would just renew on the basis of " cheap last time, must be same again ".

F8cking chancers in my opinion.
:eek:

And thats the customers fault for assuming, certainly not 123's fault anyway

dahamsta

Cabaal wrote: »

And thats the customers fault for assuming, certainly not 123's fault anyway

It's absolutely not 123.ie's fault, but it does show a lack of respect on their part imho.

_Whimsical_

If you don't get back to 123.ie to pay them soon they will call you up.You'll complain that the premium was more expensive.They'll ask you what the cheapest quote you got was and they'll then match it or drop it by a tenner if you pay by CC there and then.They'll act like they're doing this just because they like you.There'll be some "oh,am,uhhm let me talk to my boss and see if I can help out here".They don't expect anyone to be silly enough to pay the first quote they send.They are notorious for doing this.Tesco insurance do it too.

Over the last few years it seems like insurers have taken the attitude that customer loyalty equates to stupidity and must be punnished.If you don't shop around every year for a better deal they'll just take you for ride.

Kashkai

Agree with the last poster. I'm with 123.ie and I too got a very cheap house insurance quote first time round but when the renewal arrived, it had gone up by €80. I did nothing about it as I was busy at the time and the day before the renewal was due, I got a call from 123.ie to ask if I was renewing the policy. Off the cuff I said I'd gotten a cheaper quote than the one they offered me last year and he said he'd match it without even asking what it was :eek:. Silly me only knocked €30 off last year's quote which he then matched and I paid by credit card. Thinking about it later, I could have chanced the arm and said it was €100 cheaper but that would probably have been stretching it.

The one thing to watch with them though is that their "voluntary excess" (i.e. the bit you have to pay yourself before they'll cough up) is pretty high at €500. He never mentioned this when quoting me for the policy.

bmaxi

There is no logic to car insurance. I once got a quote from Hibernian, €500 or something like that. I pressed them on it but no way could they do it any cheaper. I went to Insure.ie. and, using the exact same parameters, got a quote for about €300, so I took it.
When the policy arrived, who was the underwriter? You've guessed it, Hibernian!

_Whimsical_

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

The one thing to watch with them though is that their "voluntary excess" (i.e. the bit you have to pay yourself before they'll cough up) is pretty high at €500. He never mentioned this when quoting me for the policy.

You can change that if you get a quote from them online.I think you can keep your quote reference and then give it to them on the phone.That way you know exactly what you're getting.They will give you the policy at the price you got online or less if you mention you've had a cheaper quote elsewhere.

I had €110 knocked off my quote by the guy from 123.ie who rang me. I told him I wanted everything exactly as it had been the year before but I didn't comb over the new policy in fine detail so I don't know if the excess is changed.That's a job for tomorrow:o

jor el

mirwillbeback wrote: »

Went on to their site and put in all the terms again as though it were a brand new policy and the price is almost the same as last year.

Just buy this policy, and don't renew the other one.

Musha

Original renewal quote from 123 €421, got cheaper quote elsewhere for €350, spoke to 123 and they requoted for €360 but dropped the level of cover by 40,000 over the building and contents, and increased the excess (must have thought I would not read or understand the details) tried another quote for the same level of cover that they used and finial bought it for €291, also the excess for 123 was €1000, excess for the new policy throught insure.ie is €125 including accidential damage

Moral of the story "Shop around" anybody know any good companies for PPI

Dannyboy83

I don't recall precisely, but in 2007 iirc, I was quoted by Hibernian on renewal at a charge of 1,400 for third party.
This was a fall of a measley E50, with an extra years no claim's bonus, the removal of 2 penalty points so a clean slate, a 1.6 engine and never made a claim in my life.

Quinn quoted me at 1,050 for fully comprehensive.

I went back to Hibernian and told them I was insulted.
They came back to me with an offer of about 1,250 for third party.
I declined and told them cancel my account.

I told them their business will not last long if their extorting people like this.

The explanation I was given was that my account had been converted from a provisional with the Hiberian Ignition Provisional Drivers certificate to a full license account (even tho I'd gotten my license the previous year)

I had been driving since about 2003 iirc, but I failed my test in 2004 - waited a year for resit, had to do exams in 2005 - letter never arrived, waited another year, and finally in 2006, I managed to sit the test after 3 years on the waiting list and passed it.
It took 2 weeks to sit the ignition test after ordering and passed that.

Now, I had built up a few years experience on my provisional and had the ignition certificate for provisionals.
When I got my full license and renewed, I lost all of my experience points and lost the ignition test certificate.

This meant I effectively was penalised for passing my full driving license.
Its no co-incidence that their systems are designed not to take this into account.

===
Following this I reviewed my bank statements in detail and discovered that they had taken an extra 370Euro over 3 months before year end of my last policy.
When I brought this up, it transpired that since I had split up from my ex-girlfriend who was no longer on my policy, they had retrospectively taxed me on my policy.

To put that in plain English, they had charged me for the cost of insuring me on my own, without my girlfriend, for the previous 9 months and added back in the cost of not having her on my policy, then deducted all that extra money over the course of 3 months before expiry date.

If thats not extortion, I don't know what is.
I was a loyal customer for years but I promised myself that I'll never use Hibernian ever again as long as I have a reasonable alternative.

In the future, If I have to pay 100 over the odds to give someone else other than them my business, I'll glady do it

philcsl

mirwillbeback wrote: »

Hi,

Signed up with 123 last year as they were so cheap in comparison to other providers. Got my premium for this year, up 100 euro.

Went on to their site and put in all the terms again as though it were a brand new policy and the price is almost the same as last year.

Should I ring and complain and maybe look for further discounts or is there any point.

I would imagine there are many people out there who would just renew on the basis of " cheap last time, must be same again ".

F8cking chancers in my opinion.
:eek:

This is 123.ie's standard procedure, they send you a renewal quote of €100 more than last year's, then in the last few weeks before renewal they ring you to say that they have a special offer for 2 weeks only where they can give you a 30% discount which brings it to the same price as you're currently paying.

It has happened me, 2 of my friends and my parents over the past 6 months, exact same process each time.

The silly thing is I still found them the cheapest and was happy with the price but I just thought they were making things much more complicated than they needed to.

Zeppi

On the 9th of December I switched to 123.ie because they were about 15% less than Quinn Direct, so far so good. Today the 8th of March I'm still waiting for the windscreen disc to arrive, I've called them several times to complain that I did not receive the disc but they always come with all sorts of excuses. I've had enough with their customer care.

flatpack

in that case i would check with insurance company am i even insured...

Zeppi wrote: »

On the 9th of December I switched to 123.ie because they were about 15% less than Quinn Direct, so far so good. Today the 8th of March I'm still waiting for the windscreen disc to arrive, I've called them several times to complain that I did not receive the disc but they always come with all sorts of excuses. I've had enough with their customer care.

Zeppi

about two weeks ago I did check and told me that I'm insured it is only clerical things that needs to be sorted out.

Our man in Havana

It should be noted that 123.ie are not really brokers, they are really tied agents for a few insurers. Eg all their house insurance is from Zurich.

So when renewal time comes around they simply requote the zuirch rates instead of searching for a cheaper policy. They really do not deserve their fee for doing nothing.

Flaccus

I switched to 123.ie as well but had a great experience. In fact they went out of their way to keep me covered while my previous insurer messed me around for 2 weeks, waiting for my no claims bonus form.

The process for me was :
1. signup and pay online with 123.ie
2. wait for information pack to arrive advising insurance schedule, excess etc..
3. send in original no claims bonus form and photocopy of drivers license
4. get insruance disc/form in post 2 days after they received my no claims

Is it possible they have no sent the disc yet as they have not received or processed your no claims bonus form ?

Zeppi

for the last two weeks they had every single paper they needed, waiting for the disc to come