For respect fo elsewhere
by Mme Cormier on Jun 17, 2014
2.5 out of 5 stars
I was with Belair as my first insurer, it took the better part of a month and multiple calls to customer service to perform a simple address change, which despite entering into their online system (which only works so many times before it forces an update over the phone), still managed to get mis-entered multiple times when they re-issued the policy. Dealing with what seems to be a call center for insurance for a direct writer prompted me to move to a broker on renewal and not look back.
My family has been with BelairDirect, also under Intact Insurance for many years. I was involved in a hit and run accident in 2018 at 0645 am and filed a collision report and report it to insurance. Because there were no witnesses or dash cams, the company was unable to determine which driver was at fault even if the person who caused the crash failed to stop after an accident. With the license plate number and the description of the car in hand, I was still unable to prove that I was not at fault. The police investigation was poorly done where a call was made to the driver's company (the vehicle was part of a company fleet insurance policy) and the driver had denied the hit, claimed that I had hit him. Intact was only able to offer me a 50/50 claim, my car wasn't worth fixing as it is an older model, it would not have benefitted me to claim anything to fix the vehicle at that point. The rep who handled my claim was unwilling to help me investigate further and come to terms with the other party's insurance policy. Simply told me there is no way around it. The claims representative failed to document the many phone calls exchanged between the times I had called in to inquire, and also left me voicemails to say that I had not been able to be reached within 2 months when I have called to their company during working hours to no response. Then the case was closed because "they were unable to contact me". Fast forward 1 year later, I had switched insurance companies and am with a new policy. The new company was able to offer me a competitive rate since the claim on my file was at 0% fault. I was just notified by my new company that BelairDirect had gone back, a year later and made changes to my claim, making it my fault for what had previously happened. Now the new company needs to increase my rate to +$130 a month because of this. I had called back to Belair to inquire about this new "change" and they claimed nothing was changed. Beware of this company, they are not looking to help you with your claim. The reps are misleading and want you to take the route that will benefit the company. On top of that, after I had sent my vehicle to Assured Collision for a quote on the repair, the rep had gone MIA and pretended that she has not received the report.
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I received two letters dated the same day from Belairdirect. One letter informed me that "given the age of the vehicle, we would like".. "you send us photos of your vehicle, taken from all sides, within 30 days." The other letter informed me that "after careful review of the policy", which I have been holding for more than 20 years, "and based on new information"..." your collision and comprehensive deductibles have been increased to $1000". That means more than double. The agent on the phone was not able to clarify what "new information" it was referring to. Is it common to have the deductible raised abruptly once the car is 20 years old? There was no inquiry about any technical or mechanical data or maintenance etc. It seems to me that this company is making decisions arbitrarily trying to appear as objective and reasonable as possible. As numerous posts mentioned already, this is not a reliable alternative to the only (mandatory) ICBC. Drivers in BC have little freedom of choice.
I was involved in an accident where I was evidently not at fault. Sent them photos to prove it as well. Not only they condemned me to being partially at fault and destroyed my clean driving records, but after 10 years of being their royal costumer, they totally disregarded their "no premium change after first at fault accident" and increased my premium by 2.5 times.
I was involved in an accident where I was evidently not at fault. Sent them photos to prove it as well. Not only they condemned me to being partially at fault and destroyed my clean driving records, but after 10 years of being their royal costumer, they totally disregarded their "no premium change after first at fault accident" and increased my premium by 2.5 times.
I had my 2007 Mazdaspeed 6 insured with Belair, I loved that car. A small parking lot fender bender and they decided it wasn't economical to repair. Ok, I can deal with that, I'm a grown man, time for a change! Just had to deal with the claim... Called and started it off fine, arranged to get it towed the next day but no one showed up... After I finally got in contact with the towing company, two weeks later, it came to light that Belair had given them the wrong phone number for me, but also the wrong address by about 500km! The people working the phones in about 6 how call centers were very helpful as they bounced my call to the closest one to me. They got my car towed away the same day. A month and a half after the accident I finally got paid off for the car and could start looking for something new to drive. I never knew that dealing with insurance would be such a stressor and pain. If I ever come back to Belair, it will have been my last choice.
After 15 years with the same insurance company, Belair sends me out an application form, says I did not fill it out properly with all the information they have on file (to determine my coverage/deductible/rates) and terminates my vehicle insurance. No, they did not phone me when they received my application to discuss anything, they just sent a termination letter! This has to go on record as the worst customer experience department service ever.
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.
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Anyone thinking of obtaining their policies from this company should really shop around. I use Clicassure on line. They operate with multiple insurance companies. Once you filled out your online forms, you will receive a minimum of three quotes.
I did this and discovered that for exactly the same coverage for my car and house, I was saving 1 000$ a year. I was with Belair Direct for 25 years. That means that I gave them 25,000$ of my hard earned money.
Plus when I told them that I was cancelling my policies with them, they told me that there was a service charge for doing this.
NEVER AGAIN. I told my wife that there was reason for their constant TV advertising. If a company does good business, their advertising is done by word of mouth.....
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They sale supplementary product with bold face lie and false information, not informing you of your own obligation, had a complaint going with them for over 2 weeks never heard back from them, the person in charge of my file was never available and never returned calls. I went to settle the claim side and warned them if they charged me of the extra bogus protection I would cancel my home insurance with them and go elsewhere, and surprise surprise they did charge me for it so I cancelled my home insurance went with Desjardins better protection at a better price, and a more courteous service.
Speaking of which Belairdirect as ZERO respect for the LGBT community, total disrespect, misgendering and dissmisiveness by their staff, really not impressed, not doing business with them in the future that's for sure.