Your consumer queries
Headaches over Axa's no-claims form certainly not a bonus: JOHN MAHER had what sounds like a very trying time dealing with Axa Insurance, who he says refused to reissue a copy of his daughter’s no-claims bonus.
Her insurance was due for renewal, so they shopped around for the best deal and found Liberty was the cheapest. They contacted Axa to say they were changing companies and asked for proof of the no-claims bonus she had.
“However, we never received it, and when I rang to request a copy I was told a €15 admin fee would have to be paid. I decided to call into the office in Cork to speak to them in person and they agreed to waive the admin charge after a brief discussion, but then they informed me that there was €136 outstanding.”
He said this couldn’t be correct as his employers have an agreement with Axa for a salary deduction that comes out of his wages every week.
Maher checked with his employers and the bill had been paid in full, yet Axa still refused to give the proof of the no-claims bonus.
“I informed Liberty of what was happening and they informed me that it is illegal for them to withhold the proof of bonus, even if there is an item outstanding.
“Liberty then said that they would accept a ‘verbal’ confirmation as proof. But Axa again refused this. After several phone calls to both Liberty and Axa, we called into [Axa’s] Cork office to sort it out.”
He was shown the breakdown of the payments and indeed there was €136 missing, but that was because his daughter had passed her driving test and got a refund of €136, “but they still would not issue the no-claims bonus cert.
“Eventually, after threatening legal action, they rang Liberty and informed them they had the cert, and the story ended.”
Seems like a whole lot of unnecessary messing to us.
Fluffybutton service hits the spot with a cosy feeling
KARINA O’NEILL reads so many tales of customer-service woe in the Pricewatch pages (we’re sorry!) that she thought she should let us know about “an occasion of quite brilliant customer service from fluffybutton.com”.
Apparently the company’s website has been having some issues with its hosting and it was finally back online last week, says O’Neill.
“I ordered four of its ‘Irish Citizenship’ (right) posters and sent them an email to congratulate them on being back online. I received an email to thank me for my patience”, and with it came an offer to deliver the goods straight away, to refund €10 in postage and give her two free posters.
She says that as a result she will “obviously go out of my way to use them in future (those Irish Christmas cards look great) and congratulate them on being customer-savvy and nice people”.
Good to hear.
Be alert to dongle data limits
