Bennetts Insurance - Robbing B'sss

Bennetts Insurance always promote themselves as a biker friendly, quality service but beware of their excessive charges and bullying ways.

As a member of the Armed Forces I was posted overseas in Oct 07. I contacted Bennetts and informed them of the move and cancelled my policy as it was only just half way through. I even gave them an address to send the premium return to. Nothing was mentioned at the time of charges etc. A little while later a bill came through from Bennets for £21.00. Due to their extorionate rates of policy refund all I was due back for the 5 complete months of policy was £9.00, but I was also liable for a £30 cancellation charge. As I was now working overseas this letter had been slightly delayed and it was quickly followed by a threatening letter from a debt collection service. I contacted Bennetts by phone and was told that this was normal policy, to which I replied, OK then I will just see the policy through to the end. "Oh no sir, you have cancelled it now and must pay the £30 fee". I replied by saying that I was not going to pay for something I was giving up so the unhelpfull/bombastic assistant then gave me the details of the complaints deptartment, to who I wrote a letter of complaint. Whilst waiting for ther reply I received several threatening letters and phonecalls from the debt collection service, threatening to come to my house (interesting as it was now several thousand miles away) and to issueing a court summons.

Eventually Bennetts replied and dropped the claim for the £21 stating that it was company policy not to pursue the admin charge if it is over the policy refund. Strange how non of the company employees I dealt with seemed to know this?

In short do not expect anything except for a bill if you cancel a bike policy with Bennetts irrespective of how long you have had the policy. This was completely opposite to the service I received from Churchills for my van and car insurance who very quickly returned cheques for my unused policy on a virtual pro-rata basis. They even sent my proof of NCB as requested, something I am still waiting for from Bennetts.

Bennetts

I have just had a similar experience with Bennetts. You are right they do list all their charges in their documentation but a consumers are also entitled to a reasonable treatment. I am awaiting a cancellation charge of GBP30 for a GBP110 policy which I cancelled with 2 1/2 months to run. The company with whom I insure my car don't have a cancellation charge; I don't understand why Bennetts are not able to apply a little sensible discretion instead of insisting on payment.

The overall experience in dealing with them is not good, I would be interested to know how helpful they are if you have to make a clai.

Bennetts backing customers into a corner!

Its comforting to know that its not just me that has been badly treated by Bennetts (sorry guys). I took out insurance last October for my bike, me on a provisional licence and my husband on a full. I checked that i was insured to ride, which i was with certain conditions that i was happy about. I asked "would i be due a rebate" when i obtained my full licence. I received a very sharp and quick NO! But the advisor didnt tell me the full details, they just asked me to ring and let them know when i had passed.......My orignal policy was £311. When i passed, i thought i would do the right thing and update the records by telling Bennetts. It was only then that they informed me there was a further £109.00 to pay because i had now passed!!! I was so annoyed that i hadnt been informed of this before, i rang around other companys to see if this price was fair. I managed to get a fresh quote for a further 12 months from ebike for £334. There were also cheaper quotes with less well known insurers. Obviously Bennetts price had proven to be extortionate. I rang them back to tell them i wished to cancel on principal and if i had been correctly advised from the start that my policy was actually £420 and not £311, they wouldnt have got my business. They said that was fine but there would be a cancellation charge for the pleasure. They are now pursuing me for a £84.57 cancellation fee and are threating to send me to a debt collecting agency. Ive written to them on 5th March stating that they expect their customers to pay up or shut up which is wrong....i still await their response. In the meantime, the computer generated threats still keep coming. How unfair???

Bennetts - Avoid at all costs

I am shocked to google the problem I have just had with Bennetts Insurance, to find so many others whio have had a similar experience. I made a genuine mistake on the online quote/ purchase system, realising this, I called Bennetts to check my error.

The reponse was "I warn you you are not insured, and it may take up to 4 weeks to resolve" ("but you have my money, I said, surely 4 weeks is a bit excessive?")

I was then (on my first phonecall to them as one of their customers) threatened, as 'Smasherbike' was, that if I cancelled my Credit card payment, a debt collection company would come round to my home. I was really concerned for my family, so I asked for a refund.

Absolutely unacceptable Bennetts. You have my £30 cancellation fee (which I will continue to pursue), but by god, I will put what happened to me on every forum I can find.

Perhaps the management will invest in some Customer Service Training for themselves and their staff.