Hastings Direct Smart Miles Reviews

Name: Hastings Direct Smart Miles
Rating: 3.30

3.3 Rating 1,998 Reviews

56 %

of reviewers recommend Hastings Direct Smart Miles

3.3

Based on 1,998 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Courier
On-time Delivery	Greater than 72%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour

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Hastings Direct Smart Miles 1 star review on 12th July 2024

James

Hastings Direct Smart Miles 5 star review on 29th September 2023

Jason Major

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Sort by: Most Recent Most Recent Highest Rated Filter: None None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“I placed a review 6 days ago with another review site, which described how poor this Company is. In the review I made particular mention about the shortcomings of the Smartmiles black box and Hastings' poor customer service. I cancelled my daughter's policy (after only 14 days) and was told that there was a £175 cancellation charge. I said that I was prepared to pay for the two weeks cover, but owing to the fact that I was given misleading information by Hastings, I requested a full refund of the cancellation charge. I was told that this was not possible and after much complaining and many phone calls, was only given a partial refund. I was advised that the matter would be passed to the Complaints Department, who would decide if I could have a full refund as requested. I read their response to my review with utter amazement. It says " Box scores will update after every journey" and " I am happy to hear that we have now resolved the situation". Both of these statements are completely untrue. Let me make it absolutely clear to anybody reading this: 1. Box scores will not update after every journey - no matter what device you are using. 2. My complaint is far from being resolved. In fact, Hastings Smartmiles' Complaints Department, have sent me a standard response letter saying that they are still investigating the matter and it may take EIGHT WEEKS for them to respond with their findings. I phoned Hastings yesterday to make them aware of the inaccuracy of their response to my review. I was told that they would look into it and amend it. Today it remains unaltered. The Company is a complete disgrace and I would urge anybody who is considering taking insurance with a black box, to look for a far more reputable and trustworthy company, even if it may cost a little more. I have now moved my daughter's policy to another company, who have provided her with a black box that does update after every journey and has staff who can be relied upon to give accurate information about the policy. y ”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Good value and good customer service when phoning.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“easy to communicate with, everything explained clearly, hassle free.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Good communication, reliable insurance as well as price, very happy !”

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Posted 6 years ago

“I was served by someone called Hannah, they were brilliant! She helped me through the process of renewing my insurance. But also managed to make it a lot cheaper for me. Hannah was kind, descriptive, and listened to what I needed. She also helped me with another matter which I believe went beyond the call of duty. She deserves a Christmas present (or maybe some extra time off over the Holiday period at least!) She represented Smartmiles very well, a lot better then some previous calls Ive had to make.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Very helpfull”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Hastings Direct Smartmiles are a lovely insurance company to go with. They really helped me when I needed advice. When going onto my second year of insurance I was able to change the bank details they had for the account as well as being very helpful and answering my questions.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Helpful service, worth the money”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Charged me ?25 to update my change of address. And the curfew is stupid as it destroys my social life and driving between 10pm and 5am is safer than rush hour.”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hello, I'm appreciate the frustration the fee and the measuring variable concerning the time would have caused. Hastings Smart miles do their utmost to disclose all fees and the measuring variable before the policy is purchased as they appreciate that the policy may not be suited for all drivers. I do apologise if you missed this information-Theo

Posted 5 years ago

“A really helpful organisation, lots of advice.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Cheap insurance for first time drivers and second year is even better”

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Posted 6 years ago

“I recently had a very negative experience when trying to renew my policy. Over a few days, I spent many hours of my time trying to get in contact with a member of the customer service team regarding my car insurance renewal and repeatedly being put on hold. I received verbal confirmation of a quote, just to have it change due to my occupation without any explanation. Hastings attempted to charge me ?250 on top of my agreed policy quote to change my occupation from a student to full time employment. Then additional ?200 to pay in monthly instalments. Which resulted in the quote for my second year of car insurance to be the same as the first - after having a 90/100 driver score rating on my black box. This is not the agreement which I signed when I chose to take out my insurance with them, a good drivers score will result in discounts for the following years insurance. Also, I was charged ?1,916.63 to my bank account, which has took me into my overdraft. I did not receive any notifications from Smart Miles of this payment and only found out my contacting my bank directly. This money is the sum of two car insurance quotes, yet I had verbal confirmation that neither would be taken out of my bank and did not give my consent for this payment to be deducted. When I asked the Smart Miles customer service team why I had received these charges, the only reason they gave is that they were 'unsure'. I am 18 years old and have just got my first job - it is unacceptable to assume I have this amount of money spare. In addition to this, I spend a further 3 hours of my time at work trying to call the customer service team and resolve the issue - and was repeatedly put on hold. I was informed by the manager that if I requested by refund on that day, it would take 5 working days to come into my account. I also would not be eligible to be covered for 14 days 'cooling off period', without explanation. This left me without any money in my bank account, but had to find an alternative car insurance by the next morning as I have commitments. He did not care to help me find an alternative insurance plan. This service is disgusting and I will make sure to avoid Hastings Smart Miles in the future.”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hello Shayda, I'm very sorry to hear about the poor experience you've had and I hope that the the refund has since returned to you. It's disheartening to hear that you didn't receive the level of customer service you deserve and reading through I believe that you do have grounds to make a formal complaint. If you wish to do so regarding your message, please contact the smart miles customer service team at: contact@hastingsdirectsmartmiles.com. This matter would be investigated before they offer what is hopefully a satisfactory resolution-Theo

Posted 5 years ago

“Good service and didn't overcharge on my next premium like other insurers have for an accident that I didn't even claim and wasn't my fault First year cost 1100 which is average and this halbed to 550 second year. Only complaint is the curfew, this shouldn't exist”

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Posted 6 years ago

“I had only been insurance a day when they sent me an email saying, ' we are cancelling your policy because your black box is not installed '. Their instructions say you have 14 days to install the box from your day of purchase of the policy so I've deduced not from the START of cover but from the day you paid for it ! BE AFRAID VERY AFRAID.”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, I do apologise that the terms and conditions were not made clear to you when you took the policy out, and hope that the policy is now running smoothly. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“SmartMiles has been a pleasure to be with I highly recommended them for other drivers!”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Fairly seemless”

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Posted 6 years ago

“The worst black box insurance I have been with. The scores did not work at the beginning and although tirelessly contacting them about this matter, there were no improvements. The scores starting at 0 meant that you could not improve them, allowing this company to threaten to revoke your insurance and apply extra charges, even if you did not drive dangerously. Completely unfair and rude during contact.”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,Thank you for your feedback. I'm sorry to see you have had such a negative experience with our SmartMiles policy. We do try to offer the help and support you need to improve your scores and have a dedicated team to assist with this. When the box first measures your scores, roughly after the first 70-90 miles, your average score will be shown. If your braking or acceleration over this period was late or a bit eager, your first scores will show as being very low. If you do require further assistance, please call the First Response team on 0800 048 2955.~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“Excellent service. Helpful people and very easy to work with”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Train all of your employees with the knowledge of what a black box can do. My car was stolen and several people under your employment weren't able to track my car to find its location. It was left to the police and I was without a car for 4 weeks when the car could have been pin pointed the day it was stolen which could have prevented the damage to my car.”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,Thank you for your review. I'm so sorry to read that you have had your car stolen, this must have been a terrible experience and one that we should have been able to help with. We do use the services of a company that can locate the vehicle, however, this doesn't necessarily mean we can recover it immediately. I do hope that the rest of the claim goes smoothly and that you come to a swift conclusion.~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“Absolute con for an insurance company. Literally was left not wanting to drive. Unrealistic driving expected! Lost 6 month no claims! Waste of time! Do not insure with this group impossible to get and maintain a score over 30!”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, I'm sorry to read you have had such a negative experience with our insurance. We do offer help and support for all policy holders who's scores drop below 40/100 so if you didn't receive this help I apologise sincerely. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

Hastings Direct Smart Miles is rated 3.3 based on 1,998 reviews