Appalling Claims Service from Markerstudy - Sorry its a long one - Arson - AVOID
 

Apologies its a long one but I've held my tongue long enough.

The story starts on the 5th of May when I’m awoken by a copper asking me if I’m the owner of a Scoob and Passat.

Yep I say and I’m greeted with this site ---------- Both my cars written off.

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The scoobs been torched and the Passat’s copped it from the heat.

I phone up my broker and details are taken and I’m advised I’ll get a call from both insurance companies Monday morning.

No calls are forthcoming so I call Markerstudy and rather snottily get told I’m obliged by law to notify them within 24 hours (this Is cobblers as the only legal requirement is if you cannot contact the third party you need to contact the police in 24 hrs).

I advise I’ve already done this and no one had called me.

My details were taken and an interview arranged with a fire investigator in a couple of days, the interview took place with no issues, all the relevant documents sent over to MS and the car collected.

They advised the car was a technical write off, I agreed and stated I wanted to retain the engineer had stated a pre-accident value which I thought was rather low so as par for the course needed to collate documentary evidence.

Evidence is sent on the 21st May with very specific examples and comparisons and even a car that is essentially on a like for like basis.
A week passes I hear nothing so call MS who say there’s nothing in the documentation that would substantiate an increase in the offer, I counter this and note there are 6 examples that would.

They say they will again go back to the engineer – another week passes and nothing so again phone MS and they state they again disagree and this is their final word on it!!!!

I then raise a complaint.

8 days later I again have heard nothing (Under FOS guidelines all complaints have to be acknowledged in writing with 5 working days) I eventually get a letter confirming on the 3rd June.

I then spend the next month chasing the complaints dept for an update, calls are ignored and not returned, I’m advised engineers will contact me to discuss but they never call, I was probably calling every other day but was getting nowhere fast, eventually I get to speak to someone let rip and I’m told I will definitely get a call back the following day – and yep you guessed it no call back.

I then get a letter through on the 9th July stating that this has been referred to a senior engineer and he’s referred to trade guides and they’ve upped the offer by £350 – now why they didn’t do this in the first place is beyond me.

I then set about sorting out picking up the Passat – for me to do this I have to sign a disclaimer which notes.
“Our salvage agent takes great care when collecting and storing vehicles to ensure that no additional damage is caused; however at times his is unavoidable ad as such occasionally his can occur”

Evidentally I wasn't happy about this but signed and sent back (again bad info given firstly was told to post it but called back then was told I could email).
More on this later.

I then await a call from MS to confirm I can collect the car again nothing is forthcoming so numerous calls are made and I’m told yes of course you can pick up the car – however no one had the foresight to call me!!!

I arrange a time go down to Copart and await the car to be brought out
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Now if you recall the disclaimer – “Our salvage agent takes great care when collecting and storing vehicles to ensure that no additional damage is caused”.

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Suffice to say when my car was brought out like this I was a little surprised and tbh ******* annoyed there was no need for this, I jump started the car and drove it home – they could’ve simple driven it the 200 yards from where it was sitting.

I’ve spoken to my mechanic regarding this and he’s suggested there could be damage – It’ll be checked when it goes in for a service and cambelt change.
We then get bollocked by the toothless driver for not wearing hi-viz, would have been nice if we had been told it was a requirement.

We cart the car back home and stash it round a mates as the tax has now run out.

I then get the settlement cheque on the 24th July but no V5 or any original paperwork so call up and request it.

I’m assured it will be sent out promptly.

I sort the car and await the V5 so I can tax the car – took a couple of hours, Bumper £10, Grill £10, Lights £40 and can of matt black £5.(still on winter tyres as its been with MS for ages – Alloys sitting in garage).

So I’ve a car ready to go but no V5 to tax.

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I then do some research and realise that the vehicle requires a VIC test, I call MS and enquire whether anything else is required and is my car insured.

They respond by suggesting I speak to my broker – I counter but you’re my insurance company and they reply we’re just the claims dept we don’t know these things.

The settlement cheque then gets shredded by an overzealous girlfriend so I call MS for duplicate.

I spend the next 3 weeks chasing my V5 doc and Cheque which neither are forthcoming, I call on the 8th August and assured it will be sent out 1st class, I call again on the 13th and I’m told it hasn’t been sent out but will be sent out shortly, I complain further and am then told it will be sent out special delivery.

Not happy I ask to speak to a manager – I’m advised he will call me in 24hrs.

Manager calls back the following day and apologetically states the V5 was infact sent back to the DVLA on the 22nd July!!!!!!!

I go mental and demand to know why I’ve been lied to on so many occasions or whether it was purely down to incompetence, I state I’ve a perfectly functioning car that I cannot drive, He suggests I call the DVLA to request a duplicate, On enquiring whether MS will meet the cost he says they will consider it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I again request this raised as a complaint and to escalate.

I then call the DVLA and speak at length to them – the car is no longer registered in my name and essentially in a state of limbo, I have to write into a specialist dept that will investigate which will probably take up to 5 weeks to resolve.

So at present I –
• Have a car I cannot use due to no tax
• Have a car that’s not registered under my name
• Without settlement cheque
• Without original documentation
• Have been running an old banger that has just died due to head gasket – so no car.
• Have requested they seek a recovery from my Scoobs insurers as that car caused the damage so I can be reimbursed my xs and I only have 1 fault claim listed against me (again bugger all done).
• Have potential damage to the underside of the car due to the way it was returned to me.
• When the car is reregistered back to me there will be an additional owner on the logbook so depreciating the value further.

Tuesday I called 3 complaint handlers and left voicemails on two the third was constantly engaged and no voice mail and yep you’ve guessed it no return call!!.
Had a call returned by one of the above handlers Wednesday advised I was without car and was unable to tax vehicle due to their error and potentially could take 5 weeks, she will refer to supervisor.

Chased again today (Wednesday) as now feeling this is wasn’t been treated without any degree of urgency, complaint handler advised that her supervisor had suggested I simply get tax with the reminder.

I reiterated that the car was no longer in my name and that was the first thing I tried – DO THESE PEOPLE NOT LISTEN!!!!

Requested a call back from supervisor.

Thursday – Surprised to actually get a call back today spoke to a supervisor who said they were investigating my case (my complaint handler was on holiday this week so nothing would have been done just as well I chased them again).

Again I reiterated my lack of transport but was advised that a hire car was not available but they would cover my costs on public transport – my daily commute by car takes 35 mins or so however Caterham to Cobham is a total arse of a journey on public transport Google states 2.15 hours plus the train leaves every hour so realistically you’re looking at a 3 hour journey each way.

At least I suppose they did acknowledge it was their error however I do feel it’s unfair that I should lose 5 hours of my day commuting due to an error made by Markerstudy.
She said she would email me confirmation of this – not surprisingly it hasn’t arrived yet.

Friday – No email still, called the supervisors number it rings 4 times then goes to an engaged tone so not able to leave a voicemail, I call a colleagues number and query – apparently it’s been sent but bounced, she said she’ll get it resent – And I’ve just realised she didn’t re-check it!! Bugger! plus they’ve already sent me emails successfully – how hard is it to send an email?

3 hours have passed no email – I’ve had enough - Emailed CEO and Complaints Dept with this transcript!!!!


I’ve worked in the GI Insurance industry for over 20 years and in my experience have never encountered such a badly run business. I’ve had to chase them every step of the way throughout this claim, I’ve been misinformed, lied to and had to deal with downright incompetence.

We buy insurance not only as a legal requirement but also for peace of mind that in the event of the unthinkable will have a painless journey and will be guided by our insurer.

Markerstudy have made an already really ****ty experience into a living nightmare – pay that little bit more and avoid!!!!

I was just thinking I would rather pay a little bit more and avoid then you put it in at the end.

What can you say to that, really feel for you, I can remember when it happened and was think that I hope all goes well with the insurance.

Are you aware that they are now on here, not to many post but became a member to investigate things such as this, could be worth a pm, looks like you've tried/trying everything else.

Good luck mate, just hope there is a light at the end for you.:thumb:

Just realised that you have already posted on the thread but heres the link anyway https://www.scoobynet.com/scoobynet-...udy-avoid.html

And here's the link to the markerstudy member https://www.scoobynet.com/member.php?u=138106

if a car a cat c the log book goes to the dvla and you have to applie again. them idiot should have know that from day one#

the Passat on the forks is completely out of order , never mind everything else . Total nightmare. Just imagine , if you never bothered with insurance and got caught you'd probably have got a couple hundred pound fine and a few points on your licence . . . . . .

Very sorry to hear all this.
What else could have gone wrong?

Can you refer all this to an insurance industry watch dog? I'm sure the experts will know who to turn to.

And I cannot wait for their representitive on here to post their comments.

This should be interesting.

I think this is one for the Ombudsman. They're really good and very helpful.

They all speak like robots IMO with no customer care

itll be something along the lines of " We're sorry to hear you had a bad experience , please contact me to discuss" :rolleyes:

Or pm me your details and I'll get an advisor to call you back :D

i feel for the op, and after being insured with markerstudy and having almost as a appalling nightmare as the op i would never use them again not even if they insured me for free.

That made me proper LOL, what a joke!

I really feel for you mate, the whole story is an absolute shambles.

I thought that pic was a windup for a sec , like the op had googled funny pics of transporting cars.

You have far more patience than I do. I would have paid them a visit by now and most likely come away with a cheque as a full and final settlement, including any out of pocket costs. Good luck.

Wow. I've had a lot of grief from marker study for a no fault claim and I know exactly what they are like. They do look on here and the complaints dept did contact me. They were helpful but did not uphold my complaint. A lot of the problem I had was their attitude when its them who haven't got the facts . there must be communication problems with the brokers.

I've worked in GI for only 6 years and already know which insurers to avoid. MS is one of them.

It sounds like your complaint wasnt dealt with inside the FCA guidelines, take it to the FOS. Take it the press. Take it to one of the big papers, one that doesnt like insurance companies already.... Daily Mail springs to mind. No company likes bad press :)

I hadn't considered going to the press - may well consider it.

FOS wont investigate until its run its course and gone to chief exec.

Also updated with yesterdays shenanigans.

This is the reason in no longer interested in going for the cheapest quote, some of these insurance companys cant even send you a no claims bonus through the post without 20 phone calls so id hate to think about putting a claim in.

Shocking! You really couldnt make that up.
Thanks for the heads up, I will be asking who underwrites my policy each time I renew in future. I hope you get the result you want and compensation that you deserve. Please don't let these shysters get away with it and pursue it through as many governing bodies as possible.

Original post now updated with Fridays installment - this is getting beyond a joke.

Emailed the CEO with this transcript and copied in the complaints dept - I'm sure he wont read it but it should get the complaints team a kick up the ass.

Didn't some one on here say these are a good company.After seeing this I will stay clear of these.I hope you get everything sorted out :)

After sending the CEO the transcript they immediately contacted me and offered £350 for loss of use of car and apologized for their error, that was 2 weeks ago and now all gone quiet again.

- no documents sent and settlement cheque now 6 weeks waiting.

I'm torn between giving them another rocket of just waiting to see how long it takes them to pull their finger out again.

Personally i would go above their head to regulator mate. If even the CEO isn't playing ball your wasting your time with em

Further update - MS have sent a final response basically saying they ballsed up and £150 further compo.

It took them 8 weeks to come to this conclusion and still haven't addressed, potential underside damage, depreciation of the car,recovery from the scoobs insurance and the fact that from date of incident to me getting the passat back on the road was 5 months.

God knows how long it would take if the claim were complex.

God, this sounds terrible. I'd have gone mad if the Ex had ripped my cheque up! grr. :)

Interesting reading. Do hope you get it all sorted out.

Have been with Markerstudy as some of the Subaru insurance specialists offer them. Will be cautions in the future though.

p.s. I had a car written off years back and I only got a fraction of what it was worth back from the insurers. I also paid to buy it back and when it arrived it was missing half the parts that were on it when it was collected. Presumably thanks to the breakers that was storing the vehicle. I was not best pleased but got nowhere with my insurance company at the time. I eventually had to take it on the chins! :(

I had the same with Aviva mate - the broker weren't the problem, but between the insurer and the "engineer" firm they used to do the damage estimate I had a nightmare.
They put me down as a VAT registered company (I'm not), didn't send the cheques when they said they would to the repairer, and all in all a good friend of mine who did the repairs nearly ended up a few grand out of pocket.
It took nearly 3 months to get it all resolved :(
Totally out of order, and the incompetency is all on their side yet they do **** all to sort it out because 99% of the public just grumble and take it.

If everyone actually kicked up a fuss when they encountered a problem, and ombudsmens fined more heavily, perhaps customer service would be so much better in this country...
Hope you get it sorted quick.

That's the thing. You never know how good your insurance provider really is until you have to make a claim. Yes we all want a good deal on our policy, but if you claim how long will you have to wait until its all sorted.

When I first started driving many years ago, I went with a company that was reasonably priced. Over the course of a year I put in 2 claims, 1 for car stereo as someone had nicked it with front speakers and cd's and 1 month later the car was stolen. All in all, bith claims were paid out at the same time but that was 9 months after the claim for the stereo was put it. I then get a letter saying they wouldn't insure me anymore because of the claims... God did I go in to one when I went in to the brokers in town :D adding that I wouldn't even consider then in future etc