Review of Direct Line Buildings & Contents Insurance

In my opinion, when calling Direct Line's call centre to cancel a policy you should:

a) Confirm that the call is being recorded

b) Ask for written confirmation that your instructions have been carried out.

In my opinion you should also cancel the Direct Debit Instruction with your own bank. In my opinion if after such a call you still receive an Automatic Renewal Notice letter you should question it further and not accept at face value the call centre operative's explanation that it is a computer generated letter/error that they have no control over.

In my opinion, when calling Direct Line's call centre to question the automatic renewal notice you should not allow the call centre operative to raise their voice to you when you question Direct Line's ability to carry out simple instructions.

In my opinion, if your own phone records clearly show that you did indeed call a certain call centre at a certain date and time and for a certain length, you should not accept at face value the call centre operative's explanation that they have no record of your call.

In my opinion, if the call centre operative make personal remarks and hangs up on you, you should call back to ensure that the 3rd person you speak to does indeed carry out the instruction that the previous 2 people have been incapable of or unwilling to.

In my opinion, when you call to cancel a Direct Line Policy because, after 14 years as a customer, you have found a more competitive quote you should not accept the new, suddenly, but not previously, available lower premiums, but take your business elsewhere.

In my opinion if you experience such a level of customer service you should sever all links with Direct Line and any company associated with them - RBS, Tesco Finance etc.

For the record I work in a call centre and would have lost my job if I had acted in the manner described above.