Hastings Direct - Bexhill-on-Sea

Tony D.

My father in law who has been with Hastings for a while & is 87 this year having had a clean licence with no claims or points for his entire driving life was quoted over £1000 to renew this year! I looked around & managed to get better cover with a well known insurer for £721, £300 pounds less. When he called Hastings to cancel they said they would match it!!! Just shows how they try to rip off pensioners with inflated quotes when they can actually do it for less. Absolutely disgusting. Father in law obviously cancelled his policy with them & will never use them again

Tomas K.

Pretty terrible service - my insurance for one year was fine without my need to ever use it. However, without any clear notification my policy was renewed at worse price to competitors. When I called to cancell renewal on the day when I recieved email that my renewal automatically happened, I was charged £20 cancellation fee, hiding in the fine print of the original insurance contract. Obviously would not use this service in future as I can only imagine how they would try to scam their way out of any actual policy claim.

REBECCA S.

I took out an insurance policy with this company on a new car I purchased that day. The next day the car incurred some errors that meant I returned it to the garage to be repaired under warranty. As the garage don’t know how long it will take to repair the car, I called to cancel my insurance policy (with the intention of perhaps looking at starting a new policy when/if I drive the car again. It just didn’t make sense to pay to insure a car I have no idea when il next drive)
I was told I am not entitled to a refund of the monthly instalment already paid as it’s against their policy.. not only that but I also owe them £2 and they will send this to a debt recovery agency if I refuse to pay. Whilst that’s probably the most hilarious threat I’ve ever heard, it’s also frustrating that I spent over an hour on the phone, on hold, on the phone and on hold again (repeat x5) whilst they tried to tell me that their policy is apparently more important than the consumer rights act that means I CAN cancel within 14 days and be reimbursed. I got nowhere, told them to put it all in an email and that i would take it up with my bank as they are mistaken if they think their policy trumps the law! How can they hire such incompetent “customer service” agents that don’t understand the basics of customer service. It didn’t matter how many times I explained this isn’t just something I’ve plucked out of thin air, it’s something they do have to honour.. “unfortunately our policy states we do not refund”. Beyond ridiculous

Victoria F.

Called up to ask about amending my car insurance policy. I was told they would not help me and I could only do this myself online. Went online, admin fee of £20 to change a minor detail. Won’t be renewing.

13/11/24 - customer reply following Hastings Direct comment. I do all the work online for an alteration that costs less than £2 and you want to charge me £20 for YOUR time? I’m doing all the work! Such a nonsensical reply. NEVER AGAIN. I will go elsewhere when I renew.

melissa S.

I have been with hastings for 11 months and have finally left the insurance policy. It was always very difficult to get in contact with the company about issues and not knowing who i need to speak to, very long wait times. I was always having to worry about my driving which then made me a worse driver due to accelerating, breaking and cornering would effect my score so much, i may be nearly in a serious incident where i am needing to do “harsh” breaking and it would make my score go right down. or i may slightly put my foot down on the break of accelerator and my score would go down and if that maintained my policy would have been cancelled. I was always worrying about this and would go out in my car late at night just to improve my score so that this wouldn’t happen. The amount of anxiety it gave me was insane. I wouldn’t wish it on anybody due to how sensitive it was. I have just been on the phone to cancel my policy as i have found a cheaper and more efficient provider and they wasn’t happy over the phone and was being very rude and agressive with their tone of voice which made me feel very pressured and they told me i am making a mistake. The custumor service was disgusting, i should be able to just say that im sure i dont want to be with this company anymore and not be made to feel silly and guilty about it for a further ten minutes.. i just wanted to cancel my policy.

Mateusz L.

Shocking customer service and inflated prices on renewal. Been send a quote being £100 more than previous year insurance. I have called them and after 30 seconds conversation I have been offered way cheaper price but asked to pay £20 admin fee to cancel previous policy. Absolutely disgusting company.

Guy S.

Called to report a change of address as not possible to do online. Their call answering service did not function properly with my iPhone, resulting in me being connected with the wrong department. To make it worse, I was then put through to another wrong department. 15 minutes of my life wasted, so that Hastings Direct can save a quid. I’ve not needed to claim, and renewal has always been straight forward, and competitive, but this incident is not encouraging.

Adam B.

Awful service, cancelled policy due to apparent issue taking payment. Also charged more every month than what was stated and when brought up as a complaint suddenly decided to charge the correct amount. Don’t bother with their complaints department as they simply do not email or ring you back. Shocking service