Should I write and complain?

[Cherry_Ripe]

Bit of a long story but here goes ...

I had car insurance with M&S. One month before my policy ran out I bought a new car. I had 2 options; either pay a charge and change over the car on my old policy for the month, or take out a new year's policy.

I called M&S and spoke to a really nice guy, he was very helpful and made me feel good about the company, that if I had an accident they would be a good company to have insurance with. I decided to swap my car for one month, it was only £8 charge and it meant when the month ran out I had another whole year of no claims bonus.

The guy I spoke to even gave me a quote (valid for 90 days) of £280 for a full year of insurance, to begin when my one month ran out, for my new car. He even told me that if I take out an M&S card, I would get a further 5% off the quote.

I applied for an M&S card and it all came through no problem.

When my insurance renewal date came closer, the paperwork arrived and the renewal quote was £30 higher than the phone quote: £310. I had got lots of quotes from different companies and this was high in comparison; the average was about £250. So I called M&S and said I wanted to take them up on the £280 quote, since it was valid for 90 days, with the 5% discount. I was more than happy to pay this, despite it being higher than some other quotes I had, because I had such good sevice in the past.

This time the guy on the other end of the phone was horrible. He told me the valid for 90 days quote was not valid, and that £310 was the best they could do. I was not happy with this; I repeated if you honour your quote and give me the 5% discount I will take out the policy right now. If you do not honour the quote I shall leave straight away. He insisted £310 was the best they could do, they could not possibly go lower. I thanked him for his time but advised him I would go elsewhere.

I have taken out exactly the same policy with my bank for £230.

Yesteday I received a letter from M&S urging me to renew my policy for ... yes you've guessed it, £280. Oh how I laughed.

Do you think it's worth writing to M&S? I wanted to tell them how nice their first guy was and how the second guy cost them my business. And how I shall not be using my new M&S card after all ...

[lorri]

we had our buildings and contents renewal from lloyds come through at £320 i phoned round and got quotes for the same level of cover for as low as £108 from other places and so cancelled the lloyds one,  i had a lloyds rep on the phone within days asking why i had cancelled ,so i explained, He then "ran it through the computer again" and came up with £230 as best possible price and asked if i would renew with them at that price which i politely declined and said if that was really the best price they could do it for why as a loyal customer for 5 yrs was i not offered that price in the first place, strangely He could not answer me . i think most insurance companies try it on so it may be worth sending a letter and expressing your dissapointment with the continuity of service, you may get a m&s gift voucher as a token gesture

[smurfboy]

It's definitely worth complaining Cherry. M and S are generally known for their good customer service so I think you could very well get a result.

[Cherry_Ripe]

Good point about the voucher lorri, it's got to be worth a go hasn't it?

[smurfboy]

Definitely - or they may stick some extra 'And More' points on your card.

[goldencup]

Definitely complain. 

[wjp666]

it's always worth whining - you'll probably get some free vouchers out of it at least.

[oldspice]

Definitely complain - not only might you get some freebies but it will make them train their staff better.

[loulou]

I like a good complain.

[goldencup]

I like a good complain.

 So do I!  I've been having lots of practice lately with AOL and PC World.