Hastings Essential Anmeldelser 

Please read this to the end so you too don't become a good laugh for Hastings Essential. I had a car accident in March (my fault) and logged a claim. Everything was logged correctly yet March went, April went and finally at the end of may I got an appointment for someone to assess the damage. They advised against driving the vehicle so I left it with them and asked for a hire vehicle to which their laughable reply was 'there is a global shortage of hire vehicles'. I stated I could get one from Enterprise or Thrifty delivered within one hour but they said they wouldn't cover the cost if I got one myself. So basically I had paid upfront when I took out my policy for a hire car but wouldn't be given one because the perfect useless lie was in place and it would save them an absolute fortune by not providing unfortunate mugs with vehicles they had paid for. Even one of the phone operatives went quiet when I said 'you know its not true about hire vehicles'. PLEASE DON'T GO CHEAP, its ok until you have an accident but then you regret it just like I have.

After getting my Home insurance quotes from Hastings Essential and then reading the reviews.
I'll not be buying.

Home insurance claims are outsourced so don't expect any help at all from Hastings. I phoned and played roulette with my keypad before being peremptorily being disconnected!

The Hastings Home insurance isn't with Hastings it is with Lloyds Bank. In turn Lloyds use a claims handler which is part of the Davies Group. ( see their reviews!)

Don't expect a quick response. After phoning to report a loss ( a hearing aid) it took 2 days for them to ask me send various proofs of loss etc ( I expected to have to do this) . I emailed the info the following day. I then phoned them the following day and were told it would take 4 days for their Admin team to "append my email to my records" and only then could they give me the go-ahead to buy a replacement hearing aid.

I asked to speak to a supervisor. It would take up to 2 days for a manager to (perhaps) ring me back ( I'm still waiting).

I found an email address for "Customercare" - still waiting for a response.

Not sure when or if I will be able to get my reimbursement ( about £1000) for buying the replacement aid.

The Hasting quote is priced for inconvenience and not service. I shall go elsewhere upon renewal.

The most stupid thing about Hastings Insurance is their on-line account management system designed no doubt by a complete nincompoop. So if you have two policies with the same email address one policy will be fine to manage on-line but the other will be locked out and cannot be managed. I have to wonder what fool designed that bit of technology for them - It does not work so change it. This affects the customer so badly that I am cancelling two policies with them.

Where to start. Well took my deposit straight away. Told me to download the app, sorted. Then couple weeks after sent an email stating they need more info. Said to wait for further email stating what info they needed, thought fare enough so waited. O then waited some more, then waited further. Finally thought il just get in contact with them. Rang, number not connected, rang again, number not connected. Continued for next few days with same outcome. No other way to contact as hastings general dont opperate hastings essential. Well that is until they just decide to cancel on you. Then hasting get involved. Took my deposit, then took my monthly installment on the 6th of the month. Then decided cancel my insurance on the 7th charging me a cancellation fee in the process without me even knowing it. To further the blow they didnt contact me until the 8th to let me no i wasnt insured. What a company well done. Not only have you extorted your customer but also made them break the law due to me not realising i had no insurance.
Absolute shambles pathetic and extortion to the fulliest level

Considering buying home and contents insurance, however after reading the reviews I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole
Thank you to everyone who put on their experiences with this not fit for purpose outfit

I wouldn't even give them a star. Please don't use this company. They use Integra for home insurance who have terrible reviews. I called and basically they said its up to Integra as in my policy it states they use Integra. Look at Integra reviews - two star , customer service terrible. Meanwhile I have water flooding my house and has been like this since late December. So far I have spoken to 5 companies involved and no one cares or communicates with each other. Don't use Hastings (Essentials or and Hastings company) , they are just a front. Classic example of taking my money but not delivering & passing the buck

After a very scary experience of burst water pipes on the 16th December ( 12 days ago) which caused me to have no electric, heating or water I tried to contact home emergency. Unfortunately I was unable to speak to anyone but instead was sent a form via text to fill out. Was told to except a call back. After numerous attempts to speak to someone has still not heard regarding a claim, guidance or how we go about fixing our issue. Would definitely not recommend this company. This is not the level of care I would expect in this very worrying and stressful situation

Told me they’d change some details on my policy which was fine, so I called up and paid the outstanding amount. (Which took about 30 mins of waiting on the phone). They then have sent me a email threatening to cancel my policy if I don’t contact?? Now I’ve been going in circles on the phone with the same 2 questions about policy number and DOB. And the deadline given to me is 30th or they’ll cancel my policy. don’t use Hastings

AVOID!! CON ! 6 months (4440 hours) to repair 2 bumpers! no courtesy car as contracted. car returned with same warning light on dash, extra scratches & a dent. Quality of refit questionable, panels ill fitting, bonnet closing higher on one side. Also closed my case in their "Repair Hub" 1 month before the car was returned. Extremely bad comms. i had to chase them. Despite being polite & professional about the issue. I'm now being "ghosted"/ignored by customer services, not even a chat or visit to check. To get them to repair the repair & scratches is going to cost me. I have a disability and car cannot be used. had to buy a cheaper car to get around. PLEASE AVOID THIS "CON"PANY... they may reply to this so use your own judgement whether the reply is good enough if this was you. No idea where all the good reviews have come from ???? 27/11/22 Still no action, no calls, just an email to say sorry. Formal and legal escalation a real possibility. 3/12/22 Still nothing. 8/12/22 Finally got an email response :) but.... Disingenious info, false statements and "legalese" tefflon answers based on opinions. oh and £50 compensation (v £1,000 plus repairs?) 20/12/22 still no calls or reponse. 23/12/2022 another email asking for details... but ... 05\1\2023 still no action... bet hasting staff had a great xmas.

If I had the option for no stars I would do it.

Once again Hastings has messed my direct debit. After changing my car, one normal dd amount was taking. For 3 months they took £3 then my bank contacted to say they had changed Sept to £240. Called and was told it was an error on there system but my payments would now be back to £68.
Checked my Hastings account and low and behold the dd for this month says -£127 and my bank shows £3 again.
Sort your self out Hastings. I will be cancelling my policy when it ends.

After taking out an insurance policy and filling in the details accurately, Hastings proceeded to try charge me an extra £250 due a data issue at their end. Really poor customer service.

I was about to get this insurance but no way ... they have to improve the service when they get paid ....
thank you for sharing your experience! I would not buy this !

Thank you for saving me guys, I was about to purchase this Insurance which was lowest with Compare the Market. I wouldn't proceed further.

Sent a letter asking for proof of my no claims bonus 3 weeks before my car insurance policy with them begins and of course before my last insurer has sent me the proof! Emailed them and had no reply. Sent another letter stating if I haven't uploaded this information and my driving licence (they have the number so no idea why they need a photo too) I will be charged extra. Again no response. Once the policy has started I email my driving licence and proof of NCD they reply saying they can't open the document. I ask which one, they don't respond. I send them again then get an email saying I don't have to do anything. Look at my credit card balance that I used to pay the insurance with and they've taken out £409.59 - which is nearly the same price as the original policy! When I look online on my account this is due to having 0 NCD. What an absolute disgrace! I have been driving for 14 years and have NEVER dealt with anything like this before including with Hastings direct - but never been with essential before - AVOID - I have complained to them and will complain to the financial ombudsman if I am not quickly refunded and compensated. I suggest others do the same.

UPDATE - eventually got through to them today and they said whoever sent the email confirming they had received proof of my NCD hadn't bothered to revert the extra charges! It will take 3-5 working days to be refunded. I asked for compensation was told no, persisted - he spoke to the team leader and they will send me £30. 14 days later...I got the refund for the overpayment back but not the £30. Will be complaining through the financial ombudsman afterall in another 6 weeks!

These are a bunch of thieves and robbers who should not be in any kind of business. i purchased a car insurance with them a few days ago and then i decided to cancel the insurance after seeing these bad reiews and they have decided to take £20 off the annual pemium i paid yet the insurance hasnt even started. Please do not buy insurance with this company

Damaged my vehicle 6 months ago and still not repaired
Customer service very poor
I would say extremely poor would highly recomend not to get insured through Hastings

I have been with Hastings Essentials for many many years I’m looking at getting a new car,smaller engine capacity newer model car my policy expires end of June this year so I compared the Meerkat I was amazed at such low prices I found but out a sense of loyalty I decided to see what Hastings could do for me… Raised the price over £17 per month I advised that I must be covered until my next payment is due but I was told I would have to pay £60 odd pound which includes a £45 cancellation fee.
In this day and age when they make you do all the inputting of information yourself I am staggered at what I was told !!!.
I will never even consider Hastings again as they just make a blatant money grab at any attempt to leave them in todays financial crisis I took this new car option to reduce monthly outgoings obviously Hastings have no concept of customer value.

Thanks for the advice folks I was going take the policy for the price but will avoid seeing these reviews

Unbelievable ratings!
I'm rewarding five stars for the cost, they've renewed my policy for the third term and each time lowering the cost.
It is now £100 lower than the first time that I took a policy out.
I just hope that I don't have to claim as it looks a right nightmare from reading the reviews.
It's cheap for a reason...There's evidently no aftercare!