Direct Group Limited Avis 

Made a claim with sunlife insurers , was contacted 3 weeks ago by direct group as they are the paying out the money . Was told would receive money 3 working days well 17 working days later still no money . Have phoned numerous times to be told sane thing , problems with finance team , problems have been raised. Have decorators waiting to start work , not very professional

I've been chasing payments under an income protection policy from Direct Group for over 2 months. I was initially told that their Finance Team had swapped to a new payments system and were experiencing problems with it that would be resolved in time for my next payment. That wasn't the case and I'm now chasing a third late payment from them. This time they insisted I provide bank statements to prove I haven't received the payment! Each time I call I'm given a new deadline and assured that I will receive the payment on/by that date. This has turned out to be inaccurate every time. I've raised 3 formal complaints with them but discovered that only one of them was passed on to their customer services team. Two members of staff have said they would call me back with definitive payment dates. Neither of them did.

DO NOT DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY Made an enquiry as to the cover for a leaking roof. I was told to do this I would have to make a claim. I did so but in the end decided to withdraw it as the cost of repair was only slightly more than the policy excess. I never did find out if it was covered but was told that because I had made a claim I would have to declare this to any future insurance company when getting a quote for household insurance. That's just a scam to make us pay inflated prices for future insurance policies. DO NOT DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY EVER.

Took out holiday insurance with gadget cover lost phone when abroad new phone deliverd 15 days later easy to claim and helpful staff on telephones

They don't pay out when they say they will!
My claim for a racing bike £1000 has been going on since May 2019. The claim was accepted 23/6 and they said it would be on my account within 5 days. By 2/7 i had not heard or received anything. I called and they said their accounting system is down and had been down for a few weeks, i would be added to a manual list however they have a backlog.
11/7 called again as still no payment, again same excuse that the systems are down!! How can an insurance company's accounts systems be down for over a month!! it's utter nonsense.
Not once was i informed or any apology.
Now i have placed a complaint, not that it would help.
I will contact the ombudsmen to report them.
Completely incompetent and don't care about their customers.
I need this bike to get to work and i can't buy a new one without the payout. Will never use this company again. Beware.

Process are too cumbersome, delivery support by third party is rubbish, process to cancel and refund takes 7-days when waiting for email instead of phoning for confirmation. It's a system that should not be offered to customers, this process is broken and we will never use again

The response from Direct Group indicates that they are unprepared to give any service to customers. I am on the 4th loop of an annoying noise that some might consider music. I have spoken to 4 different individuals each of whom say that they will put me through to the department involved. Each time I am given a 2 min spiel protecting Direct Group of any responsibility whilst they may want extensive details about me. They might have taken the trouble to ask me what assistance they can provide me before giving me the spiel. It is now 24 minutes into the process and all I have received is noisy music.
I shall be responding to SAGA the policy holder and putting in a very strongly worded complaint.

I took key cover protection, an additional product that i purchased when renewing my car insurance with Hastings Direct. I made a claim few weeks back & was informed that my claim was accepted & payment should go into my account within 5 working days, its been over 15 working days & still i haven't been paid. Each time i rang them they would use the same excuse that they are processing payment & as of last week they are now claiming that they have paid into my account which is not true, i have provided bank statements to confirm what i am saying is true.

You never get an email reply or response from them rregarding the status of the claim.

Their customer service is appalling & the handling of my claim has been terrible. They take ages to pick up the call & when they eventually pick up, they put you on hold for ages to give another story to delay the payment. I have gone back to Hastings Direct to make a complaint as i trusted them to take out this additional product & they need to be made aware of Direct Groups terrible service of handling of my claim.

My advice would be to avoid them at all costs, they seem to be fraudsters in my opinion. I have made a formal complaint to Direct Group also, i hope they take this matter serious & settle my claim properly.

Are they going bankrupt ?.
Don't ever use these insurers, I was promised a settlement payment on my claim on 15th May 2019, after damage caused by the storm in April. When I receive the money I can have the work done. They promised payment within 4 days, no payment came, chased again on 30th May, told I would get payment by 6th June, no payment came. Chased again on 13th June, advised money would be paid by Friday 14th June. No payment received again, rang today 18th June, told I can't speak to anyone about it, the payment will be made in due course.
I think they don't have the funds to pay claims, so they make up excuses about problems with the banking system. Meanwhile no payment received still.
Complete waste of time.
Meanwhile my damage is getting worse every time it rains, but the can't tell me when I will be paid out.
No complaints escalation process, so just get to speak to Jake Hilton, a useless claims handler who just fobbed me off again. Sarah Ponferit (allegedly a Manager) promised to follow up my complaint and ring me back, still heard nothing.
I work with most major insurers in my job, and these are clearly the worst I have ever dealt with, and Hastings should also be made aware as they are damaging the Hastings brand as well due to their poor service and lack of funds.

Worst insurance company i have ever dealt with. I should received refund for my stolen bike in 7 working days. It's been 3 weeks and i am still waiting. I am tired of they excuses. Bunch of incompetent people. Highly not recommended company.

absolute rubbish insurance company, sending me again and again faulty replacements. i dont know how even they are doing business.

Had caravan insurance. Towergate made it virtually impossible to make a claim.However,I persevered and had my claim accepted. Towergate agreed to pay some time ago but I have received nothing.When I call I am given different excuses as to why I have not been paid.
They are a shameful and dishonourable company. Avoid at all costs and go elsewhere.

Made my first gadget claim ever and was worried as a lot of reviews of this insurer are really bad here. Made my claim three days ago and was asked to provide ownership and loss report which I did. Didn’t hear back so called this morning and was referred to (directgroup) who provides insurance payouts. I spoke with Hayley and she was great and efficient she processed my claim on the phone and took £75 excess insurance. My watch was only covered for £400 when the new watch was going to cost £429 so they gave me a £400 voucher from curry’s and advised me to buy it by paying extra £30 myself which was fine. I received my voucher after 30 mins and I am happy. Thanks for sorting out very quickly. I would recommend them for gadget cover.

Received my phone back today, everything has been great, phone looks like new, £100 x/s isnt ideal but apart from that ive had decent service.

This company is a total joke they take your money every month but when it comes to a claim they just don’t accept it no matter what u do .... my wife has a treadmill that has went faulty got a guy out to check it over and the Motor is over heating so it has been written off and that’s what I was told to get I had to pay £30 for the inspection and was told I would get that money back and now there saying I can’t get t back the company is a total joke so don’t be fooled by them there attitude on the phone also is shocking I have been trying to do this claim for 2 months got a report on the treadmill and it’s still not good enough

Had an accidental damage claim considered by them which they refused, trying to tell me it was wear and tear or vandalism.I wrote to Direct Group disputing this and no reply received - so no service at all. The damage to a wall had clearly been caused by a vehicle, but they did everything to say otherwise.
I will cancel my insurance with Towergate and quite happily pay more elsewhere.

Appalling attitude throughout the whole company. No empathy or understanding of customers needs.
Complete lack of urgency on reporting a fire damaged house. Thankfully I had contents insurance with another provider who have been amazing and sorted out temporary accommodation.
3 weeks since the fire and still no questions answered about timescales or recovering uninsured losses/excesses paid from the third party and when work will be completed.
Save yourself a headache and get cover from a reputable company. You only find out how good an insurance company is when you make a claim.
Unfortunately for myself and plenty of other customers, this company fails to meet its obligations towards it's customers.

Reserving final judgement but after water damage to bathroom and hall cupboard progress on remedial work is abysmal. After original contact from customer service and great promises the silence now deafening . Living conditions at home currently disgraceful and communications for updates from them nonexistent.
I worked in marine industry all my life and had my employer delivered
such poor customer service we would have been bankrupt in a year.
Glasgow Housing Association who compel residents to be with this company should hang their head in shame but in reality they probably deserve each other . Jamie Webster MBE

In November I chased a £300 payment owed to me from Towergate as directed by the Ombudsman. A cheque had been sent to me when I was abroad and it was expired. Scott Boyle informed me that it would take 3 months. I wasn't happy with this but waited patiently. I have had to repeatedly chase this and have held on the phone for over 20mns at a time and he or anyone in charge refuse to come on the phone. It seems that nothing has been done!

I cannot believe in this age of companies at least trying to deliver some degree of customer service, how the Direct Group get away with such awful service and they don't seem the slightest bit bothered about it.
I started a claim back in October and 5 months later I have not even spoken to a loss adjuster, nevertheless seen one.
They refuse to call you back. You cannot ever speak to a Manager to escalate your complaint. They say the service standard to get a call-back from a Manager is 48 hours - they fail every time.
It is interesting to see other people are also rather disgruntled. It does not surprise me in the least that they do not encourage customers to sign up to Trust Pilot !!