Opportunist insurance
by Rosie on Jul 27, 2018
1 out of 5 stars
BMW was stolen, had cancelled insurance but it was still valid till the end of the month and they refused to pay up! Unbelievable.
Bank made a mistake and accidentally NSFed my payment. Gave Belair a letter from bank acknowledging the error and that the payment was made. Week 3 of the saga and they are still refusing to credit the missed payment to my account and demanding double payment to resume coverage. One portion of this double payment is for the month already paid as documented by my bank who owned up to their mistake. They are demanding to be paid twice for the same month already paid and accounted for. Charged me 2 $40 NSF fees (in addition to the bank ones) for the error. Apparently, my bank should reimburse me for these when I shouldn’t have to pay them to begin with. Total monthly cost $199 for full auto coverage. Currently paid in full and up to date but still they are demanding $475 from me to resume my coverage when it shouldn’t have been interrupted at all. The accounting team claims they can’t talk to my bank about my account and that money is missing for the bank's error month. Someone explain why I am expected to pay twice when it was my bank that messed up and not me? Thank god this happened on my renewal month so I can give them the biggest farewell that they have ever received. I hope these crooks get sued and I hope it’s for enough money to bankrupt their little extortion racket. Lousy service! No accountability! Run as fast and as far away as you can from these slimy crooks! You’ll be better off anywhere else but here! Don’t become another of their submissive underlings who just lay back and take their abuse.
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So I'm going to be frank here, hoping someone would learn from my experience. I signed up after shopping around, and they offered the best price, so I'll give them that, they offered a great deal! Annually I got quoted for 1560, since I paid the entire amount, I actually paid 1540! GREAT! Now here is when the trouble starts. 1) the person who set me up made a mistake, apparently. He included a loyalty discount because I was with my previous company for 3 years. I informed him I was with RBC for 3 years, then moved to TD for the past year - he informed me, "No worries, I'll consider the higher years" - WOW, AWESOME, or so I thought. (April 10) 2) April 13, I get a call with the following: "Oh, so sorry, we can't include the discount since the more recent company is only 1 year" - I argue, well, your agent, he'll consider the 3 years. But meh, 5% increase, 100$, WHATEVER! 3) I get another call, "Oh, we discovered your mom is also a co-owner, we require to show her proof of insurance, and your letter of experience, if you can prove that your mom has her own insurance, it won't impact your rate". FANTASTIC! Both documents provided. 4) On April 17, I receive an email, "We made multiple attempts to contact you, please call Belair", on Apr 17, Belair successfully reached me, and requested a letter of experience to prove that the 2 claims are under my mom and not myself - that was provided. 5) On May 22, I receive a letter, "You owe us 755$ because we backdated your insurance to include your mom since she is a co-owner, and we felt that she is a high risk". I wasn't even aware that my policy was changed or updated. 6) Talked to a supervisor, who ensured that if I get my mom out of my ownership, then it'll be easier to start a new policy with only my name. So on May 27, went to service Ontario, got the ownership updated, had to replace my tires, do safety test, total of 600$ expense to get her out of my ownership. Jun 4 I get a new ownership, provide it to Belair, and started talking about new policy. The new policy was 300$ more expensive than the original policy, because the system generates new numbers and now I don't qualify for even 1 year loyalty, because my previous policy was only for 1 month... I decided to cancel. Only at that point did customer service decide to get everything resolved. I talked to her for good 3 hours, and I got nowhere! So, on April 17, they sent me "We were trying to reach you", and they reached me, but apparently it was a different department who reached me, customer service vs agent, and I was supposed to still call Belairdirect even though they were able to call me and request the letter of experience which was provided. They also sent me an email requesting to be contacted on Apr 17, and I responded to their agent. The agent failed to check and see that they need to inform me about the backdating. So from April 17 - May 22 there was no contact, and I was under the assumption that I'm paying 1540, and not aware they increased my policy because my mom (co-owner) was included in my policy, and they decided to increase the price without communication. Even though multiple agents confirmed "If mom has her own insurance, it will NOT impact yours". So let's do some math: I paid 1540/ 12 months= 128.33$ a month. New rate (wasn't aware of, nor approved, nor agreed too) was set up on April 13, and I communicated with Belair on Apr 17, and they "forgot" to mention the increase because it's a different department (advice: ask if the call comes, if the person is customer service, or agent, and continue calling to ensure that your policy hasn't changed, and they didn't backdate your policy and overwrote what YOU agreed too), back to math: (1540+755)/2 = 190, so when I canceled, they charged me the 190 + 5$ since the month is 31 day and not 30 days. So I paid them extra 70$ because they added 755 without my knowledge. On top of that, I paid 600$ to get mom out of my ownership, and they gave me a higher rate 1 month after. I should have stuck with 1540+755 with mom on policy, would have been cheaper. My experience with customer service was good - the people tried their best to resolve the issue, BUT the underwriting department doesn't know what the heck they are doing, each person makes their own rules, and each person gives you a different answer, you qualify for 5% royalty, no, you don't , your mom won't impact you if she has her own insurance, no, it will increase your rate by 755. We will communicate with you to inform you about any update, oops, the person forgot to mention this detail. Belair department don't communicate with each other, so if someone calls, you should call again and again and again to make sure all the departments are satisfied. Best part was when customer service agent asked me to log in to my customer service profile online, and I was never aware I had a profile to check. From my wonderful experience detailed above, I will NEVER ever recommend this company to my worst enemy, I swear I've had panic attacks just dealing with them, and update all the documentations that they requested.
For the past 2 years I have had a home & auto policy with Belairdirect. My premiums are coming due in July. I recently got a letter from them stating that my policy's will have to be paid in full upon renewal. I have never missed a payment and have had no claims. So I called and spoke to some "well-trained customer service person" that kept telling me that we didn't meet the criteria for the monthly payments. I asked what the criteria was. He just kept saying that we didn't meet the current criteria. So I asked to speak with his supervisor. He told me that someone would contact me later that day. I'm still waiting. So I called the next day and got some other "well-trained customer service person" on the phone. Each time that I asked him a question, he kept going back to his script saying that the company was changing its policy. He couldn't tell me why we were not allowed to pay monthly anymore. After speaking to him for 30 minutes and getting nowhere, I demanded to speak with a supervisor. He said that someone would call me back, to which I replied "not on your life am I hanging up until I speak with someone". So I waited on hold for another 10 minutes. A supervisor came on the line. I asked him the same question. Why are we not allowed to make monthly payments anymore and just what criteria did we not meet. He told me that in Alberta they have had many delinquent accounts, cancelled policies, and basically (my words) deadbeats. He said that the company was moving toward a full payment for their policies. He couldn't or wouldn't tell me if this was for everyone or just select customers. At no time would he tell me why we're going to be asked to make a full payment in order to renew our policy. It was like being in the Twilight Zone. You could ask any question you wanted, but they only had one answer and they kept repeating it over and over. So that was an hour of my life that I will never get back. Needless to say, we are searching for a new insurance provider. If I had read some of these reviews, I'm sure that I would not be adding my own frustrating experience for your reading pleasure.
Worst customer service. Worst Management, worst company I ever see in Canada. Please take a movement to read and know more about this company if you want to avoid high Blood pressure and save your money. DON’T believe and don’t trust those people. I had been more than six years with CDI. Unfortunately, one day they switched me to Belairdirect. They promised that everything will be the same. But that never happened. The same day they raised up the price 20% for two auto policies. When I called, they said everyone rose up. The second year the same happened: they raised them again another 20% although I never had any claim or any tickets. I walked in and discussed with one of their agent. I asked why you raise up the price without any reasons?? She answered: "We had so many claims this year and the company paid too much money to cover them". I asked: "But I didn’t get any claims or tickets. I have been with CDI. The price never rose up. On the contrary, they used to give me yearly 10% discount because I never had any accidents or tickets. Plus they gave me a lot of benefits such as: Family Protection Endorsement Comprehensive Cover - Limited Glass Accident Forgiveness (Accident rating waiver endorsement) PLUS PAC - OPTION B: Loss of Use, Legal Liability for Damage to Non-Owned Automobiles and Emergency Service Expense endorsements". She tried to push me to accept some reduction of my coverage to try to reduce the price. It is a fake way to rise up the price. After pressure, I did accept. This year is the fourth. Again. The same stupid conversation. Same question. Why you raised up the price again?? The agent answered: "We had a lot of claims, cost the company too much. And all the clients are in the same pool". I asked: "Is it fair to take money from me and give it to careless drivers and the bad drivers?" He answered: "If you need to fix a pumper, it will cost more than what you pay". I told him "this is the nature of your business like so many other insurance companies. You don’t do special things. If your owners of this company are not happy with this business, they have to shut it down". Anyway. I am so sorry if my notes big. But I wouldn’t give any quarter star but unfortunately, the minimum is one. I am looking now for another company and will leave it soon.
I went with Belair because my parents were currently with them. Once I was set up, I was quoted at $115. I then received an e-mail informing me of a policy change to $165. I called them to ask about it and was told that they do not need to have my permission or a discussion with me to increase my rates. By the time I received the paperwork in the mail, it was over $200. The paperwork also informed me of the interest on monthly payments that I was told did not exist when I asked. I contacted them to verify that the first payment was taken out okay and received confirmation by 2 different employees that it had been. I then got a call that it was not taken out because my banking information was wrong even though it was all correct. They wanted me to pay by credit card. When I cancelled, they disputed that they were an unorganized company and tried to make me pay by credit card again. I told them to send something in the mail that I can pay with online banking and that will be it. They continued to charge me for 2 months, even though I was only with them a week plus an inconvenience fee because they could not remove the payment . They said I was lying about the two emails confirming it was paid. Happy just to pay them the amount so they never get another penny from me.
Trying to cancel because I'm done being ripped off is a nightmare. Can't get an amount or even an answer as to when I am covered until without making another payment, without every single piece of identification they can get short of asking for my SIN. Customer service when you're purchasing or updating is fantastic hence why they got a 2 star. Monthly payments for what you get are absolutely ridiculous. Much better/more reasonable companies around. Do your research! Don't give this company your hard earned money! (been with them over 5 years now and been ripped off since day 1. Live and learn right?)
They talk like the sweetest person when you are buying a plan but when you say you are cancelling, even if you show them you get much better rates at Johnson they treat you bad. I paid a full year premium, but when I called in to cancel my policy upon expiry, the rudest customer service agent I ever faced said that I need to pay cancellation fees. I said I am not on monthly plan but paid a full year amount, she was still insisting on paying the cancellation fees. I haven't paid the fees and I will never pay those fees. Belairdirect is by far the worst insurance company I have known in the past 20 years. BEWARE, DON'T GO TO THEM
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Very expensive. 1 way 300$ month. I've left them because other insurances are charging me $300 full with $1million covered. I'm so happy I've left them.
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If I could give a zero, I would! These people are a scam. Whatever they tell you on the first call is different on the second one. ***PLEASE PLEASE AVOID THIS INSURANCE COMPANY AT ALL COSTS!!*** They charge you twice on the first month and when you cancel your contract, they're gonna charge you more than your monthly fees! In the end, you're gonna pay even more than what you're supposed to! I didn't even use my insurance for a month and I paid almost $800! Unbelievable! Even their automerit app is not good. One hard break and you lose your 25% discount. AND take note, it's HARD to increase your discount once you lose it! I am using TD insurance now and the app they let you use is more fair than automerit. **NEVER BUY INSURANCE FROM THIS COMPANY**