Swinton Insurance / Swinton Group
Reviews and Complaints

There's no reason they can't phone you... unless you specifically contact them and ask them not to phone you. If they can't get through to you due to a fault with the phones then its fair for them to call you.

A ringing phone hardly constitutes harassment unless you've asked them not to call, or unless they are expressly attempting to harass you...

This is an insurance company, they are not harassing you, your phone or their phone is just not working right, don't be so sensitive.

I had many problems with Swinton. After an accident that was not my fault, they completely mismanaged the claim, did not provide any hire car and in the end I had to go to the insurer. As if this was not bad enough, while the claim was being dealt with they called me 5 times to ask if I wanted to renew my policy, even though the car was eventually written off. AFter the car was written off they renewed my policy anyway even though I told them categorically that I did not want to renew if the car was written off as there was no point. Even after complaining Swinto denied that I ever told them I did not want to renew and said they acted appropriately by renewing my insurance for a car I did not even have at that point (because it was written off). I also never received the excess so they, or the insurer (AXA) stole it. Then Swinton and AXA both claimed that it was the responsibility of the other, or nobody. Bunch of crooks. AXA are just as bad since they failed to determine liability, so decided they could keep the excess, depite me having a witness to vouch for my innocence. Avoid Swinton and AXA

My parents are pensioners and were due to collect a new car. They rang Swinton and told them they needed to transfer their insurance and wanted a quote for the new car. Swinton, knowing the date they were due to collect the new car, said they’d ring them back. Three days later Swinton hadn’t rang them back. So I had to quickly get them insurance for their new car over the internet (which was probably a lot cheaper anyway).

We didn’t hear anything from Swinton until a month later when they wrote demanding a cancellation fee of 50 Pounds. They now refuse to even tell us on what date they cancelled the insurance. I suspect it would have run out by then anyway and this is just a way of obtaining £50 from us as they lost the business because they couldn’t be bothered returning a phone call.

I will be complaining to their head office, then FSA and possibly asking Age Concern to help, the customer service is non-existent, they are very aggressive in demanding money and refuse to answer basic queries. They certainly shouldn’t behave in this manner towards pensioners.

"honest, heartfelt, extremely annoyed"

After looking on comparison websites, Swinton came up with the cheapest offer of car insurance. So I duly applied for the cover required, all going ok, but was then asked for proof of ncd. I contacted Zurich and advised them I was to leave them for another provider, and had been asked for proof of ncd. They advised that their policy was to release this information on last day of their cover, and would be with me in the post appx 7 days later, or, Swinton could telephone them to ask for details.
I e-mailed Swinton to advise of this.
A few days later, I received a letter from Swinton to say that as they had not yet received proof of ncd, policy would be cancelled.I telephoned on 2nd November (policy to begin on 9th)and was immediately harangued by a female, who would not allow me to get a 'word in edge ways', she was rude to the nth degree, and berated me for the duration of the telephone call. I was intending to explain what I had e-mailed, as she clearly was not in full possession of all the facts.I was disgusted by her attitude and customer service skills were obviously lacking.Later in the afternoon, I telephoned again to try once more to explain, only to be met with the exact same female, and a repeat performance of the morning call. Following this, I e-mailed Swinton Head Office to make a complaint and to cancel my because of the manner in which I had been treated.(I also cancelled my direct debit to them) I then went on to give my business to another provider, who was helpful and courteous. There was no contact made from Swinton acknowledging my complaint, or indeed the cancellation confirmed, until a letter arrived just before Christmas saying I owed £ 96.40, and if I did'nt pay a.s.a.p. they would consider action to recover. I was fuming, and it did not help the festive season very much, goodwill to all men etc. Early in January, I received yet another letter advising me that Swinton would take the amount from my account on 7th, which indeed they did, leaving me very short of money for the rest of the month (having been off sick from work since September) I feel I did'nt have time to consult a legal professional, and am left feeling very ANGRY, at the whole experience with this dreadful unprofessional arrogant company. Who now have my bank details on their data base ! I am intending to consult someone who can advise me of any recourse, of which I very much doubt is available. But I would wish to warn others to stay away from, in my opinion, this bunch of ignorant, money grabbing cowboys.
The female mentioned is at the Parkstone branch, surname of a bird seed.

Last year Swintons staff tried tripling my insurance premium for no other reason but their own; therefore; I was forced to complain to head-office and eventually Swintons come back with a quote –about a third of the original price. A few months went by and a member of Swintons staff tried ‘scamming me’ over my home address / business address in an attempt to take a lot, LOT more money out of me (I’m 56 with a clean history).
I threatened the above ‘scammer’ that was working for Swintons that I’d involve the Law if they forced me to declare that I was keeping my vehicle at a different address than to where it was actually kept each night (my home address where the vehicle is never kept is a much higher rating – vehicle is kept at business always).
Today I contacted my local office about new business and they totally denied having any current business with me (this office used to be good under the old manageress, and now its incompetent, dis-honest, and to be avoided at all costs – I only go there because its where Swintons head office choose to keep my paperwork for my business – and head office didn’t know anything about my business either lol).
After £30 worth of calls around the UK, a loss of half a day’s wages, loads of stress and anger, total denial and covert ridicule by various staff at Swintons; finally at the aforementioned branch they admitted I had a policy in that office, but only after I presented them with all the facts and return to my office and pulled all the paperwork.
Swintons claim that they could not find the policy because someone had changed my contact details and listed everything down to my business address.
Personally, I feel that Swintons is a [censored] business and really should be avoided at all costs – I’m only with them still at the moment because I have not the time to change things at this moment in time.
Two return phone calls from a Manager, and customer services, and one email threatening Swintons with court action have not been acknowledged as of yet!

My parents are pensioners and were due to collect a new car. They rang Swinton and told them they needed to transfer their insurance and wanted a quote for the new car. Swinton, knowing the date they were due to collect the new car, said they’d ring them back. Three days later Swinton hadn’t rang them back. So I had to quickly get them insurance for their new car over the internet (which was probably a lot cheaper anyway).

We didn’t hear anything from Swinton until a month later when they wrote demanding a cancellation fee of 50 Pounds. They now refuse to even tell us on what date they cancelled the insurance. I suspect it would have run out by then anyway and this is just a way of obtaining £50 from us as they lost the business because they couldn’t be bothered returning a phone call.

I will be complaining to their head office, then FSA and possibly asking Age Concern to help, the customer service is non-existent, they are very aggressive in demanding money and refuse to answer basic queries. They certainly shouldn’t behave in this manner towards pensioners.

Funny enough, we have just had exactly the same problem with Swintons about not wanting to renew our policy- it ended up with them telling us that the insurance policy had been cancelled by them. So we got new insurance elsewhere (and disclosed that they had cancelled the previous policy) only to find out that it hadn't been cancelled at all. The abusive woman in the local branch would not give any details of who to complain to, so we phoned Head Office, who told us that our previous call had been listened to, we were in the wrong and the policy cancelled. This is when we got another elsewhere. When we were advised that actually Swintons hadn't cancelled the policy, we recalled to check- they said it hadn't been cancelled after all, and the call had not been listened to either, and that to cancel the policy would cost us nearly £50. But it's boo sucks to them in the end, the company I work for were looking at taking out PI insurance through Swintons with an annual policy charge of about £15k- guess who won't be getting the business now! And all because we phoned up to get a quote.

Yes, we're cancelling our insurance with Swinton, due to poor customer service from their Cardiff branch (Albany road) . They only use 2nd class stamps too, are unable to email any letters/ policies etc, and there customer SERVERS have a 48 hour time delay, depending on which day of the week it is. The staffs motto is "the customer is always wrong" with staff being forced to buy coffees all day for not saying the motto right. AVOID, rude, unhelpful, unprofessional, found another company now that uses 21st century technology, Poor, Avoid.

Swinton, KINGSTANDING Branch: I have noticed dd's going from a/c for breakdown, (never requested) personal accident (never requested) payments for another customers policy! (dont know customer) Bandits once they have your account details they have control...

I used a broker with whom I had excellent service for 25 years who sold out to Swintons. Then the trouble began. Although I had recieved a renewal notice from the previous broker Swintons rang to say they needed my bank details for direct debits. This I provided. The call was on the last day of buiness before Xmas giving me no chance to make alternative arrangements.However when the paperwork arrived the numbers were all different and the interest rates and charges were very high. I made it clear that i did not wish to preceed with the installments and in fairness they took no money over and above the cash cost. I was alarmed at the list of threatened penalty payments which was included with their documents which appeared to be outrageous.
I have since moved my insurance business to another company where I have obtained better service at far lower cost. However when the last policy came up for renewal I recieved paper work from Swintons indicating a) that they had renewed the policy and b) that they were going to direct debit my account with the usurous interest rates and charges that I had made clear to them previously I did not want. c) when i checked my account I found that they had taken a small sum already for a breakdown policy I had not to my knowledge taken out and certainly had never authorised ny payments. I do recall an unsolicted call about 10 months previously when a very insitant young man from Swintons tried to give me a free policy for something and was after my bank details but he was told finally and fiercly to go away. There were several silent calls from a Yorkshire number recently which I discovered to be related to Swintons. I am promised a refund by cheque, they cannot refund my account directly. I await the payment with no great expectation of it arriving, but will live in hope. The main policy I am assured is cancelled and no payments will be taken. It was more than twice the price of the cover I obtained through the Co op when all their charges were included. Do not have any truck with this companyt

Swinton motorcycle insurance complaint - Lured into the Swinton scam by a low price 70 pound quote for online motorcycle insurance, I became trapped in the Swinton spiral of excessive fees and charges... As I wasn´t able to produce proof of no claims because I have current policy on another motorcycle (you can only use NCD on one motorcycle at a time - is that because you might try to ride both at the same time and therefore increase risk?). I rang to say that the policy would have to be modified to zero no claims, to be told there would be a 25 pound charge plus around 340 pounds annual premium (whilst only 177 pounds online with zero no claims) . I said I could accept the online price but not the uncompetitively high phone price. I was informed that cancellation would be 50 pounds plus around 7 pounds from the insurer plus 5 pounds credit card fee (Total: 61 pounds). In the end I accepted paying a total of 68 pounds for 10 days cover. I am relieved to have escaped as I am sure in the longer term in would have cost me more. Also Swinton send out a lot of paper and are constantly phoning. Its amazing that a company like Swinton is allowed to operate in the UK (someone should tell Jeremy Clarkson about this!) I now have cover for 125 pounds (a third of the Swinton price) through www.justmotorcycleinsurance.co.uk (JMI) with AVIVA. I´ll be checking my accounts to make sure Swinton they don´t try to rip me off for anything else. I wouldn´t be surprised if the Directors en up in prison within a few years. Avoid Swinton, sooner or later they´ll sting you with some silly charge. Avoid the Swinton insurance scam.