Discussion
ThreadKiller said:
Trying to speak to someone at Bennets. Shortest wait time according to their automated voice messages has been 25mins so far. If my request was for a new policy I would have given up. As it is, I need to change an existing policy so will need to persevere. Terrible service IMHO.
I had to change my Bennetts policy to another bike last weekend. I was standing in the sellers drive for just over an hour waiting to get through before spending 5 mins sorting it out. It was a bit embarrassing and boring to be honest.I've stayed with them for a couple of years now, but in this day and age, surely changes of reg, vehicle etc can be done online? I can do it with my car insurance, and they don't even charge me to do so, Bennetts charged me £35 for the privilege of waiting for so long??
It looks like at long last they’ve acknowledged that there is a problem; I’ve just received this email from them, I still have one remaining policy with them, they lost the R1 policies to Bemoto because they just couldn’t answer the phone.
The problem must be really bad if they’re having to send stuff like this out.
I hope they can get it sorted, I’ve always been very happy with their prices, cover and quality of customer service until this phone debacle.
The problem must be really bad if they’re having to send stuff like this out.
I hope they can get it sorted, I’ve always been very happy with their prices, cover and quality of customer service until this phone debacle.
Bennetts said:
Hi Dog Star,
I need to draw your attention to some challenges we are having servicing our customers over the phone. When you contact us about your Bennetts insurance policy or BikeSocial membership you rightly expect to receive our high level of service, and this is what we always strive to deliver. Unfortunately, you may find call wait times are much longer than normal, and I sincerely apologise for any delay there may be in answering your call.
Unfortunately, we don’t have the capacity to meet the current volume of calls to provide the quality of service we always want to provide you with.
I need to draw your attention to some challenges we are having servicing our customers over the phone. When you contact us about your Bennetts insurance policy or BikeSocial membership you rightly expect to receive our high level of service, and this is what we always strive to deliver. Unfortunately, you may find call wait times are much longer than normal, and I sincerely apologise for any delay there may be in answering your call.
Unfortunately, we don’t have the capacity to meet the current volume of calls to provide the quality of service we always want to provide you with.
Dog Star said:
It looks like at long last they’ve acknowledged that there is a problem; I’ve just received this email from them, I still have one remaining policy with them, they lost the R1 policies to Bemoto because they just couldn’t answer the phone.
The problem must be really bad if they’re having to send stuff like this out.
I hope they can get it sorted, I’ve always been very happy with their prices, cover and quality of customer service until this phone debacle.
That email from Bennets is just an excuse for poor service in advance, note they do not say they are going to increase capacity so they can provide a better quality of service.The problem must be really bad if they’re having to send stuff like this out.
I hope they can get it sorted, I’ve always been very happy with their prices, cover and quality of customer service until this phone debacle.
Bennetts said:
Hi Dog Star,
I need to draw your attention to some challenges we are having servicing our customers over the phone. When you contact us about your Bennetts insurance policy or BikeSocial membership you rightly expect to receive our high level of service, and this is what we always strive to deliver. Unfortunately, you may find call wait times are much longer than normal, and I sincerely apologise for any delay there may be in answering your call.
Unfortunately, we don’t have the capacity to meet the current volume of calls to provide the quality of service we always want to provide you with.
I need to draw your attention to some challenges we are having servicing our customers over the phone. When you contact us about your Bennetts insurance policy or BikeSocial membership you rightly expect to receive our high level of service, and this is what we always strive to deliver. Unfortunately, you may find call wait times are much longer than normal, and I sincerely apologise for any delay there may be in answering your call.
Unfortunately, we don’t have the capacity to meet the current volume of calls to provide the quality of service we always want to provide you with.
This will be my last year with them, the price has always been good for me and I pay less than £100 fully comp but they really p#ssed me off this year. They sent my renewal and I paid it, job done I thought. Three weeks after my renewal date I received another letter from them saying my insurance had not been paid and if I did not pay within 3 days my insurance would be invalid.
40 minutes waiting in the phone queue , and I ask what is going on. Lady on phone tells me it's a mistake and I could ignore it, when I tell her that it is not an option as when I login to my account on their website it says the same as the letter. She then tells me she can see I have paid but it wil not show on my account for another 14 days. Trying to stay polite I ask why when I paid 3 weeks ago the account says I have not paid and will take another two weeks for it to show as paid , she then says that's how long it will take to update my account. Told her that was utter nonsense and they had 24 hours to update my account as having been paid in full and on time or they could refund me the full cost and I would go else where. Amazingly 2 hours later I receive a text saying my account has been updated. Bloody bunch of idiots, their customer service has gone really gone downhill in the last 5 years.
And just to finish off my rant why are they still using snailmail and not email for renewals, they send me updates/news by email so someone there knows how to use a computer.
Edited by Onelastattempt on Saturday 25th June 14:03
Onelastattempt said:
That email from Bennets is just an excuse for poor service in advance, note they do not say they are going to increase capacity so they can provide a better quality of service.
They are evidently recruiting heavily, however that was in the other half of the email. I was just quoting where they’d acknowledged the severity of their problem. Dog Star said:
Onelastattempt said:
That email from Bennets is just an excuse for poor service in advance, note they do not say they are going to increase capacity so they can provide a better quality of service.
They are evidently recruiting heavily, however that was in the other half of the email. I was just quoting where they’d acknowledged the severity of their problem. They should have done this years ago, as I said I will not use them again, poor service loses customers.
This is the second motorcycle insurer I will not give money to again, the other being Carole Nash who wanted me to pay another £25 because I was a named driver on my wife's car insurance when she had a minor bump in her car, which caused me to switch to Bennets as they said that it did not affect my motorcycle premium,.
At least I did not get insured with MCE, I will be running out of options soon !
You must feel sorry for them if they can’t get staff. The same way we can’t get baggage handlers.
I thought there were millions on the dole
What about students. Surely there (for most courses) is some capacity to work outside the 1 day per week for 30 weeks of the year they are required to attend
I thought there were millions on the dole
What about students. Surely there (for most courses) is some capacity to work outside the 1 day per week for 30 weeks of the year they are required to attend
I had the very unfortunate pleasure of having to ring them twice within a couple of weeks. First to change my bike model, which after 55 mins, took all of 8 mins to sort out, £35 charge for that. Then after some little s
t in London cloned the number plate, changed the plate over, this one took 1hr 20 mins to get through, for literally 2 mins on the phone, the lady very 'kindly' waived the admin fee this time.
that sort of stuff should absolutely be able to be done online these days. I know my Aviva car insurance allows me to do pretty much everything.
And whilst they're having the issues, they should NOT be charging the admin fees for changes etc, as it's disgraceful service.
t in London cloned the number plate, changed the plate over, this one took 1hr 20 mins to get through, for literally 2 mins on the phone, the lady very 'kindly' waived the admin fee this time. that sort of stuff should absolutely be able to be done online these days. I know my Aviva car insurance allows me to do pretty much everything.
And whilst they're having the issues, they should NOT be charging the admin fees for changes etc, as it's disgraceful service.
My premium with Bennetts had gone up substantially from the previous year. However, when I checked on one of the comparison sites they were still competitive so I renewed with them.
I’m sure they’ll sort out their issues over the next few months.
What do others think of the Free Bike Social Membership that comes with the policy.
I’m sure they’ll sort out their issues over the next few months.
What do others think of the Free Bike Social Membership that comes with the policy.
I was with Bennetts for years, always had a competitive premium for multibike and cover most mods as standard. But the experience trying to change two bikes over this year was horrendous and the renewal premium was ridiculous. Couldn't be bothered to phone them to dicuss given the huge wait times, so ended up switching to a new multibike policy with Principal who've been an absolute pleasure to deal with.
I was with Bikesure and the policy price looked okay, however I wanted to check out a clause on the policy before renewing.
Tried twice both times on for almost an hour.
So did an online with MCN and went with Carol Nash, phone answered quick and policy was over £50 cheaper with less excess.
Sent an email to Bikesure and three days later, the day it was due, they replied saying they would match the price but still no apology or explanation as to why.
We the public are mugs, we have allowed since Covid the excuse of being busy to be accepted and become the norm. It is in every business where they have spent millions on websites that do not work, they have bots which never work so I like companies who have humans.
Amazon, by contrast have an excellent web site but twice I needed to contact them. You request a call back and within minutes they do exactly what they say, call back. There is no wonder they are growing in all areas
Tried twice both times on for almost an hour.
So did an online with MCN and went with Carol Nash, phone answered quick and policy was over £50 cheaper with less excess.
Sent an email to Bikesure and three days later, the day it was due, they replied saying they would match the price but still no apology or explanation as to why.
We the public are mugs, we have allowed since Covid the excuse of being busy to be accepted and become the norm. It is in every business where they have spent millions on websites that do not work, they have bots which never work so I like companies who have humans.
Amazon, by contrast have an excellent web site but twice I needed to contact them. You request a call back and within minutes they do exactly what they say, call back. There is no wonder they are growing in all areas
spaximus said:
We the public are mugs, we have allowed since Covid the excuse of being busy to be accepted and become the norm.
Well said.The most worrying one is the NHS
My fairly recent experiences with Bennets were as mentioned already, 45mins waiting to get through to a human, couldn't be done online.
Sorry to hear about the bad experiences for some. I’ve been with Bennetts for 2 years now and have just renewed for a third.
The renewal price they had sent was £60 more than previous year, but I did a search around the web and then found it £100 cheaper elsewhere. I ended up on the phone with Bennetts after a 25-minute wait, they ended up matching the price and adding a pillion passenger for no additional cost.
So fair play to them, the phone lines do have long wait times and it seems to be the same for a few companies now trying to recover after covid.
I find most of the time on forums you only really hear about bad experiences and I thought I would just post my good result.
The renewal price they had sent was £60 more than previous year, but I did a search around the web and then found it £100 cheaper elsewhere. I ended up on the phone with Bennetts after a 25-minute wait, they ended up matching the price and adding a pillion passenger for no additional cost.
So fair play to them, the phone lines do have long wait times and it seems to be the same for a few companies now trying to recover after covid.
I find most of the time on forums you only really hear about bad experiences and I thought I would just post my good result.
I've been with Bennetts off and on over the years, but this year's renewal is £33 less than last years (already have 7 yrs NCD).
My car renewal was cheaper too (elsewhere). Now that discounting new customers is no longer permitted, it's been my experience to stay put for the first time in many years.
My car renewal was cheaper too (elsewhere). Now that discounting new customers is no longer permitted, it's been my experience to stay put for the first time in many years.
Despite wasting [lots of] time on hold with Bennetts, I've stayed. As they recognise a well constructed shed as a garage, that makes my premium a load cheaper. Enough to go on hold on the phone a while.
I just plan for it and set my phone up to be on a bluetooth speaker whilst doing other stuff. It would be good if there was more of the regular admin available online. After all, if a comparison site can poll loads of insurers (including Bennetts IIRC) and get prices, then their own systems should be able to go to the underwriters for a change to circumstances.
I just plan for it and set my phone up to be on a bluetooth speaker whilst doing other stuff. It would be good if there was more of the regular admin available online. After all, if a comparison site can poll loads of insurers (including Bennetts IIRC) and get prices, then their own systems should be able to go to the underwriters for a change to circumstances.
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