Rip-Off Britain, alive & well !


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Other day got the house contents insurance reminder come through the post. After Mrs Catfan lifted me off the floor I decided to have a look around on the net for a few comparison quotes.

Most of em were a lot cheaper than my existing insurer (Llyoyds TSB). Eventually chose Saga, better cover as well.

Lloyds TSB £223.96.

Saga £88.68.

Strangely enough when I checked online with Lloyds TSB I could have the same cover for £96. 87 !

Now looking at these figures it doesn't need a degree in maths to see that this is a blatant rip off.

Just come off the phone with Lloyds TSB, them making all sorts of promises if I renew with them again. After their blatant, greedy behaviour they can go & whistle.

Funny thing is though my AA renewal came through few months ago, one phone call got it reduced by 50%, also car insurance, one phone call got 15% reduction.

I have reached the conclusion that insurance companies are hoping for customers who don't bother to check around for a cheaper quote at renewal time.

Do shop around at renewal time, don't let em rob you blind.

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I've had exactly the same experiences. Last year my car insurance with Saga came up with a surprisingly high automatic renewal figure, so I got a few on-line quotes which were much smaller. Then I rang Saga, told them about the other quotes, and they immediately matched the lowest quote without even bothering to check that I was telling the truth!

Now this year I've just had house & contents renewal from Prudential. Didn't seem too bad, but I got an on-line quote from Saga and they were about half the Pru figure!

Like catfan says, they work on the assumption that you will let the automatic renewal (in small print) go through, and you won't bother querying it.

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Change of topic now: Mr. Chips, Inverness £1.80 for the smallest portion - and I MEAN smallest, meanest ration you ever saw! I looked at them and said "You have to be joking?!" Turned and left the shop leaving him with unsold goods. Bloody cheek!

Called at Mrs Monster's in Helmsdale on the way home: £5.50 for double haddock and large chips! That's more like it. :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just got car insurance reminder for this next year, gone up from £104 to £187, phoned up. reason given "it's because you only have one car, to get that policy again you have to insure more than one car" ? , was offered £15 off then when I said no cancel it, don't renew this grating voiced TOWIE type woman said the police would be informed! gave her something worthy of a police report! The Meercats have found me one at £122, still looking, are Winsons? on Cranmer Street still going? lol

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  • 2 months later...

Has anyone been to Greggs lately?up until last week Steak bakes were 99p for two, this week £1.15 each how can that happen?

Rog

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Grain harvests worldwide were disastrous last year...this is going to push food prices up no matter whether grain based or the animals themselves that are fed grain.

For once price rises are understandable,what we have to watch out for is that if grain prices drop this year the speculators don't take advantage and keep them artificially high....And my God they'll try to.

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Not just the uk. exactly the same in oz ! standard proceedure now when renewal comes in, ring around or cruise the web and up to half the premium.

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Travel insurance renewal, (Off to Spain again soon to visit with Mr and Mrs Chris Ashley, who's officially retired again by the way) last year it cost me £11.49p for 4 of us , via money supermarket.com (Good cover too) this year to renew with the same people it was £32.56p!!! nearly a 3 fold increase !!!!! I could understand if we'd made a claim .

I shopped around and eventually managed to get it down to 12 and a half quid, for the same standard of cover. Go figure !

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LV last month:

1500CC Clio turbo diesel.

Full no claims, no courtesy car.

Two drivers.

social, domestic and pleasure plus business use.

Fully comprehensive = £146

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Just had my renewal quote today from LV

1600 Ford C Max diesel, fully comp, full no claims, two drivers, social domestic and pleasure, less than 5000 annual milage. £252. 41p I think I've got a courtesy car on mine though.

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Latest renewal (few months ago) from LV : Citroen Xsara 2.0HDi - £199. (Car's a bit long in the tooth now, and we did comparative quotes with a number of companies with a view to reducing cover to Third Party Fire and Theft - the saving was so little that it wasn't worth doing.)

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I've messed around on all the sites this afternoon and LV were the best I could get, although it was 4 quid cheaper 'online' than their renewal via the mail. I got into one of those chat online things with them asking why it was 4 pounds cheaper and got a told i could have it at for £248 ! I then told them a little white lie and said that I'd been also been quoted £221.42 , and guess what ? Yup "Just one moment sir...............I can just beat that" and he then quoted me £221.22p. It also transpires that that is cheaper than last year !!!

Incidentally how old are your cars, mine is 5 this September

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Ours is nearly 12 years old. Had it from new, and as it still drives fine and returns around 55mpg I'll hang on to it for a bit longer. We've spent a bit on it in the last couple of years - but nowhere near what we would have spent replacing it. I regard it now as a totally depreciated asset - financially worth nowt. So whatever we get for it when we do decide to change will be a bonus.

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Just remember that insurance is only "good coverage" when you make a claim - and they pay quickly! I know of folks who have purchased cheap insurance only to have to wait weeks for a claim to be resolved!

We use "Progressive" over here for both motorcycle and RV insurance. Fair rates, but not the cheapest. We had to make a claim on the RV insurance back in August (It was broken into in the storage lot). Adjuster came the next day and we had a check in our hand for the full replacement and repair amount in four days!

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It's ok boys and girls it's just someone ( AKA Mr thinks he knows it all but really knows nothing) trying to have a go at me again. no2

I've been with LV for a long time and never had a problem either.

I have the house and contents insurance with them too (You get an extra discount if you have them all with them .) And it's just dawned on me that these were the people that replaced my camera and lens (Over 2 grands worth) in less than a week a couple of years back (Broken n the Sunday new ones with me by Friday !!!, they even sent a courier at exactly the time as they said he'd be with me to collect the damaged bits for examination too !

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Wow - you know somebody who knows nothing?

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