Liars
by Disappointed / hurt on May 8, 2024
2 out of 5 stars
Waiting time is too long to get in contact with an agent, just to cancel my policy.
Agents keep redirecting me to different people to solve the same problem.
My family has been with BelairDirect, also under Intact Insurance for many years. I was involved in a hit and run accident in 2018 at 0645 am and filed a collision report and report it to insurance. Because there were no witnesses or dash cams, the company was unable to determine which driver was at fault even if the person who caused the crash failed to stop after an accident. With the license plate number and the description of the car in hand, I was still unable to prove that I was not at fault. The police investigation was poorly done where a call was made to the driver's company (the vehicle was part of a company fleet insurance policy) and the driver had denied the hit, claimed that I had hit him. Intact was only able to offer me a 50/50 claim, my car wasn't worth fixing as it is an older model, it would not have benefitted me to claim anything to fix the vehicle at that point. The rep who handled my claim was unwilling to help me investigate further and come to terms with the other party's insurance policy. Simply told me there is no way around it. The claims representative failed to document the many phone calls exchanged between the times I had called in to inquire, and also left me voicemails to say that I had not been able to be reached within 2 months when I have called to their company during working hours to no response. Then the case was closed because "they were unable to contact me". Fast forward 1 year later, I had switched insurance companies and am with a new policy. The new company was able to offer me a competitive rate since the claim on my file was at 0% fault. I was just notified by my new company that BelairDirect had gone back, a year later and made changes to my claim, making it my fault for what had previously happened. Now the new company needs to increase my rate to +$130 a month because of this. I had called back to Belair to inquire about this new "change" and they claimed nothing was changed. Beware of this company, they are not looking to help you with your claim. The reps are misleading and want you to take the route that will benefit the company. On top of that, after I had sent my vehicle to Assured Collision for a quote on the repair, the rep had gone MIA and pretended that she has not received the report.
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I too had been with Belair for several years and was shocked when I received my renewal which was more than $200 a year more than what I had paid the previous year, in spite of having had no accidents and no claims. The agent explained that this had nothing to do with the calculation of my new premium. I found this absurd and was told that the price hike was due to increased costs and inflation, blah blah blah. I decided to go with a group insurer here in Québec that offered me a similar plan at a much lower price with warm, intelligent people providing the service. The sleaziest bit was a month after I cancelled, 122$ was debited out of my account because of the ''valeur à neuf'' insurance I had agreed to when getting my plan. The agent told me I could cancel it at any time. He didn't tell me that by cancelling early I would be forced to pay the remaining amount on the contract. I had no idea it was a contract. I thought it was just part of my insurance policy. I am a very understanding person, but this company pissed me off.
After 15 years with the same insurance company, Belair sends me out an application form, says I did not fill it out properly with all the information they have on file (to determine my coverage/deductible/rates) and terminates my vehicle insurance. No, they did not phone me when they received my application to discuss anything, they just sent a termination letter! This has to go on record as the worst customer experience department service ever.
I have had good experiences with BelairDirect in the past when I got into my first accident. Recently, however, my opinion of them changed drastically. I had changed bank accounts where payments were coming out of & let them know of it. For some reason, they could not take the $ out of the new account. After talking to an agent at BelairDirect & trying to figure out if it was something on their end, I had to call my bank. The bank had stated there were no blocks etc on my account. Funny enough I have other pre-authorized payments come out of the same account. I call Belair Direct back to confirm that the bank found nothing wrong with my account. In the end, BelairDirect decided to cancel my policy even though I had updated my information with them. After paying BelairDirect x amount of $ to bring my balance to zero, I had to then look for another insurance company. Here is where it gets stranger. With the crash proof policy, I was under the assumption that it would not affect my insurance in any way. Was so very wrong. Between that, a silly winter ticket ($85 fine) & their inability to take $ out of the new account I had to be classified as a "high risk" driver & find a policy which reflects that. I was screwed over at least twice. Even though I had facts on my side, no one wanted to listen. Avoid BelairDirect like the plague.
So I'm going to be frank here, hoping someone would learn from my experience. I signed up after shopping around, and they offered the best price, so I'll give them that, they offered a great deal! Annually I got quoted for 1560, since I paid the entire amount, I actually paid 1540! GREAT! Now here is when the trouble starts. 1) the person who set me up made a mistake, apparently. He included a loyalty discount because I was with my previous company for 3 years. I informed him I was with RBC for 3 years, then moved to TD for the past year - he informed me, "No worries, I'll consider the higher years" - WOW, AWESOME, or so I thought. (April 10) 2) April 13, I get a call with the following: "Oh, so sorry, we can't include the discount since the more recent company is only 1 year" - I argue, well, your agent, he'll consider the 3 years. But meh, 5% increase, 100$, WHATEVER! 3) I get another call, "Oh, we discovered your mom is also a co-owner, we require to show her proof of insurance, and your letter of experience, if you can prove that your mom has her own insurance, it won't impact your rate". FANTASTIC! Both documents provided. 4) On April 17, I receive an email, "We made multiple attempts to contact you, please call Belair", on Apr 17, Belair successfully reached me, and requested a letter of experience to prove that the 2 claims are under my mom and not myself - that was provided. 5) On May 22, I receive a letter, "You owe us 755$ because we backdated your insurance to include your mom since she is a co-owner, and we felt that she is a high risk". I wasn't even aware that my policy was changed or updated. 6) Talked to a supervisor, who ensured that if I get my mom out of my ownership, then it'll be easier to start a new policy with only my name. So on May 27, went to service Ontario, got the ownership updated, had to replace my tires, do safety test, total of 600$ expense to get her out of my ownership. Jun 4 I get a new ownership, provide it to Belair, and started talking about new policy. The new policy was 300$ more expensive than the original policy, because the system generates new numbers and now I don't qualify for even 1 year loyalty, because my previous policy was only for 1 month... I decided to cancel. Only at that point did customer service decide to get everything resolved. I talked to her for good 3 hours, and I got nowhere! So, on April 17, they sent me "We were trying to reach you", and they reached me, but apparently it was a different department who reached me, customer service vs agent, and I was supposed to still call Belairdirect even though they were able to call me and request the letter of experience which was provided. They also sent me an email requesting to be contacted on Apr 17, and I responded to their agent. The agent failed to check and see that they need to inform me about the backdating. So from April 17 - May 22 there was no contact, and I was under the assumption that I'm paying 1540, and not aware they increased my policy because my mom (co-owner) was included in my policy, and they decided to increase the price without communication. Even though multiple agents confirmed "If mom has her own insurance, it will NOT impact yours". So let's do some math: I paid 1540/ 12 months= 128.33$ a month. New rate (wasn't aware of, nor approved, nor agreed too) was set up on April 13, and I communicated with Belair on Apr 17, and they "forgot" to mention the increase because it's a different department (advice: ask if the call comes, if the person is customer service, or agent, and continue calling to ensure that your policy hasn't changed, and they didn't backdate your policy and overwrote what YOU agreed too), back to math: (1540+755)/2 = 190, so when I canceled, they charged me the 190 + 5$ since the month is 31 day and not 30 days. So I paid them extra 70$ because they added 755 without my knowledge. On top of that, I paid 600$ to get mom out of my ownership, and they gave me a higher rate 1 month after. I should have stuck with 1540+755 with mom on policy, would have been cheaper. My experience with customer service was good - the people tried their best to resolve the issue, BUT the underwriting department doesn't know what the heck they are doing, each person makes their own rules, and each person gives you a different answer, you qualify for 5% royalty, no, you don't , your mom won't impact you if she has her own insurance, no, it will increase your rate by 755. We will communicate with you to inform you about any update, oops, the person forgot to mention this detail. Belair department don't communicate with each other, so if someone calls, you should call again and again and again to make sure all the departments are satisfied. Best part was when customer service agent asked me to log in to my customer service profile online, and I was never aware I had a profile to check. From my wonderful experience detailed above, I will NEVER ever recommend this company to my worst enemy, I swear I've had panic attacks just dealing with them, and update all the documentations that they requested.
I was insured with Belairdirect for 13 years with multiple vehicles and home insurance. The last few years with (4) vehicles so they were pulling some good coin from me every month; My son slid into the ditch Jan 28, 2013 from an ice storm and had a small fender-bender in a mall parking lot in 2015. So they cancelled my insurance - well THANK YOU !
Their "rules" are (2) "at fault" claims and you're OUT ! regardless of the circumstances and I kinda get that. BUT from a dollar-value I was worth it and still am with (4) vehicles & Home Ins. So I cancelled my home insurance with them Sept 28 2016 and have new auto insurance. THAT'S CHEAPER ! so THANK YOU BELAIRDIRECT for cancelling my insurance you are saving me money...who knew :). If my son had (2) "chargeable" at-fault accidents I would get that a little more.
they are cheap insurance and i now see why.
they determined me at fault for a no visibility due to weather accident.
they then said i could appeal up to a year from being found at fault.
then i tried to appeal it they said you can either have insurance or not.
i now(5 months later) get a call notifying me my policy will not be renewed,
thanks ass hats.
you really have insurance until you need it.
careful the second you use it you will pay for it in everyday possible.
you get what you pay for.
highly not recommended.
I had just recently got a criminal record and to my surprise Belair decided they can't insure me because "people with criminal records have a higher risk of making claims". That is the most disgusting superficial thing I've ever heard. My criminal record has NOTHING to do with driving and they still decide not to insure me. Anyways stay away they're to expensive and have pretty dumb policies...it's more of a circus then a business
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I called to pay my NSF, was told my policy was canceled due to none payments. I paid my NSF, was told I could open another policy. They wanted full amount over $2000 I had only 1 cancelation. I've been a good driver for 30yrs, no tickets. The agent told me I had 2 cancelation after he put his company in which I paid amount owing $215. I was canceled for literally $215 didn't give me a chance to explain. He stated I won't find anyone cheaper or do monthly, he was wrong. I found another company cheaper & did monthly. This Company are liars.