Admiral Home Insurance

We recently had a major flood in our house due to a burst water pipe. We contacted Admiral, our insurer, and were told that the excess was £800 instead of the expected £300. They now included an additional £500 to the excess amount. Moreover, we were offered a very low price to fix the damage, which would have left us out of pocket by £1500. It would have meant losing our no-claims history.

We were extremely disappointed with their attitude towards their clients and found them to be a very unprofessional and untrustworthy outfit.

We advise others not to use them or consider making a claim with them.

My boiler broke down just before the new year, with water leaking out from behind the water pump. Trying to get this resolved with Admirals Home Emergency Cover has been a nightmare. They subcontract this service to third parties, who subcontract this service to third parties, who subcontract themselves, and so on...

It took me four separate assessments (and over a month of not heating or hot water) to identify and "fix" the boiler. But in the process, they broke the flue, causing gasses to leak into my house once the boiler was finally operational. They refused to attend before I got the gas board to isoate the supply, then refused to come out because their engineers were NOT GAS SAFE REGISTERED and so couldn't turn the gas back on to test for leaks.

Because of the damage caused by their engineers, I have ended up having to buy a new boiler. Combined with other damage caused while the engineers were visiting, and from the incredibly slow resonse times I have experienced, Admiral Home Emergency Cover has actually put me in about £4K of debt.

Compounding all this is their terrible customer complaints procedures. The only way to raise a formal complaint is by letter or email, you cannot speak to a complaint handler directly. It took them fifteen weeks to respond to my initial email (the FCA maximum is twelve), and they are yet to respond (five weeks later) to my almost immediate response highlighting where they had misrepresented the facts of my complaint.

I have been an Admiral customer for many years, but this experience has thoroughly soured my good sentiment towards them. This is not what you expect when you buy insurance. I reccomend you AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

Extensive water damaged to home making it uninhabitable. 3 months on and no work has begun. No communication. Emailed CEO. Complained and called over and over. Very stressful situation. Home is ruined and no one cares.

Lost Eternity Ring

We have been customers of Admiral for sometime for all house, contents and car insurance with minimal claims. In early December my wife lost her engagement ring which we had purchased 32 years ago. We contacted Admiral who were initially quick to respond and to offer recompense based on the value of the ring purchased 32 years ago. I explained that I was not happy with what they were offering and they referred me to a Jewellery assessor to revalue the ring. The ring was reassessed at a value of 3.5 times what we had paid. The jewellery assessor notified Admiral on the 13 December of their revalue and were awaiting a response from Admiral. Having not heard anything from Admiral by mid January January, I contacted Admiral directly, who advised that they were still awaiting the report from the Jewellery Assessor (False). We ourselves had to make them aware that the jewellery assessor had emailed ourselves directly to advise us that the report had been submitted to Admiral on the 13th December. Admiral then advised that as the ring wasn’t a specified piece of jewellery on the policy they would be unable to offer the valuation assessment but would offer the maximum value of £1000 which could be paid into my wife’s account.The agent even advised us to pass on my wife’s bank details at that moment to allow a speedier process, should we decide on the cash reimbursement route. Alternatively we could use vouchers from the Jewellery Assessor to the value of £1000 which could be used at a Jeweller’s of our choice. We said we would consider this but, then discovered that the vouchers could not be used against sale rings. Having found a ring that my wife liked, we contacted Admiral to say that we would prefer the cash to be paid into the bank and for a second time gave our bank details plus,

as requested, an email to verify my wife’s identity. We also asked the agent to clarify that the full amount of £1000 could be paid as a cash settlement, to which

she double checked whilst we were still on the call. This was clarified as yes and she said she would raise the BACS and we could expect the payment would take only 24 hrs, once all my email with evidence of identity had been received . They CLEARLY advised that as the item wasn’t specified on the policy and was worth a larger amount than the £1000 and so also clarified that any excess payment would not need to be deducted. After three days, we contacted Admiral AGAIN to ask why there was a delay of payment and this agent advised us that it was on another team members workload and would transfer us but as this agent wasn’t available, he said he could help us. Yet again, the details of the claim was relayed and he said he didn’t understand what the delay was but would fast action the payment of £1000 immediately to my wife’s account. As payment was still not received 48 hrs later, we contacted Admiral AGAIN, only to be advised by a different agent that the initial report from the assessor had not been received! We then had to repeat everything and said that this was therefore not true! We expressed our dissatisfaction with the whole process as it showed clear evidence of lack of continuity between agents and as a loyal customer, we found the handling of this claim unacceptable. She advised that we could make a formal complaint( as seemingly no supervisor or manager was available) and stated that she would accelerate the BACS payment immediately, as had been promised on TWO previous calls by two DIFFERENT agents.

A call later that same day from Admiral advised us that the delay was due to them not receiving the report from the Jewelry Assessor ( which already stated was not true ) They also said that they would not pay the thousand pounds but a figure of £580 and we were wrongly informed by previous members of staff,(sixth false), who had sought clarification from other staff. Following this call I asked to speak to a manager or their Customer Service Director, only to be told that no one was available and that someone would call me back in 24-48 hrs. We are still waiting!

My elderly mum had a leak in her loft above her bathroom. It caused the ceiling to bow with a water bubble. My husband then phoned admiral insurance and they were great they spoke to him instead of my mum without an issue. Had a plumber call the same day and fixed the leaky pipe. With no charge for this service. This I cannot complain about. They then gave me a number for the building and contents department this is where my issue is. My husband phoned them and asked to speak to them about the ceiling. He told them that he was her son in law and they asked to then speak to my mum for her consent to speak to my husband. The lady on the phone then proceeded to speak to my mum about the claim asking questions about the leak and what it was she wanted. And my mum said can you please speak to my son in law as I’m elderly and get confused. To which she replied I cannot. Then continued to question my mum. Who was then starting to get anxious and confused. After a while the woman on the end of the phone asked what her son in laws name was and his phone number. And said after this claim that her son in law would not be allowed to speak on her behalf ever again. Which I think is a bit off. For what reason this would be I have no idea. My mum then passed the phone to my husband and he tried to speak about the claim and the small lump in the ceiling to which the replied there was an excess fee of nearly £1000 to which my husband replied that a bit much. It’s probably a £100 job at the most. The lady then got even more rude and started ranting on so my husband put the phone down on her.

My mums house insurance just renews every year and my mum pays in full. And has never claimed in all her life.

I will from now on take an interest and check her insurance every year before she purchases it again. And I can say for certain that she will not be using This insurance company again.

What a truly vile company this is. Prior to my home insurance auto renewing on 6 Nov 2021 I wrote to Admiral requesting they substitute one expensive item for another of the same value, after a month I received no acknowledgment or documents. I then wrote to the UK Managing Director, not unexpectedly I didn't get the cutesy of a reply from her either. The documents eventually arrived after Christmas together with a demand for a further £25 for making the substitution - I immediately rang them and spoke to a charming young lady who removed the item in question and cancelled the additional charge together with the auto renew for next year as I obviously won't be using this disgraceful outfit again.

One hour and thirty-five minutes. Let me repeat that again to let it sink in. One hour and thirty-five minutes... on hold with infuriatingly annoying music, only to be told that "no one can take your call, please call back again."

I am now phoning the "emergency" number, because quite frankly, I don't give a damn.

Up to thirty minutes on hold for the twenty-four hour "emergency" number... let's see how long it takes to get through on their "emergency" number.

This is even worse than Barclays.

Considering my time is worth £30ph I have to ask myself the very real question of would I have been better off giving my business to AXA or Aviva? Yes, they were slightly more expensive, but considering that I have been on hold--on this call--for over 2 hours (and that doesn't include the other 5 hours on hold in total over the past 2 weeks regarding the same claim). I feel like I may have saved money by giving my business to AXA.

At the very least Admiral is proving to be twice as expensive as their competitors...

Under no circumstances should you give your business to Admiral. Your call is obviously not important to them, and they will make no attempt to answer it as soon as possible...

TWO HOURS AND FORTY-FIVE MINUTES!!!

I think I'm losing my mind...

I'm going to persevere... pray for me.

three hours and twenty-six minutes and i have lost the will to live... Admiral, my obituary will read "believed that his call was important to them and died of hunger."

I'm giving up. Admiral, you have defeated me!

I took out a home insurance policy for one year which I did not claim on. When I did not renew at the end of the policy they changed me a cancelation fee of £69. I did not want to renew the policy have paid in full at time of purchase . Be very careful of cancelation fees terms and conditions. I will never use this company again.

With the whole industry being told auto renewal is not needed or wanted they take it to a new levels of scummyness. They kept sending me emails (from an email address that doesn't take responses! Nice one ******) saying my renewal was due. I couldn't respond obviously. And the premium had gone up for no reason so I got a better deal for less at a competitor.

So I got a letter today saying I owe them £90 for not renewing. Brilliant. So I spoke to a happless staff member who apologised and said she would get rid of the charge. She promised an email confirming the charge had been cancelled but I still haven't got this. Absolutely disgusting behaviour which is going to the ombudsman when I get time. I did not at any point ask for auto renewal and never would as I hate it. It's also interesting that they have turned off comments and feedback on their Facebook site...check others reviews

Worse insurance I've ever had. After years of stying with them, they sent me an email saying my renewal was up, and yet again, they increased it significantly. After having accepted the increase, I received another email saying that now it had increased by another £80 because I had attempted to submit a claim for £200 (my camera which was insured needed a repair as sand had gone into the lense). When I realised that I had to pay an excess of £100 I decided not to go ahead with it. But because I had sent them an email enquiring about this, they increased my renewal by another £80. I called to complain and they said that there was nothing they were able to do about it. I asked to speak to a manager, and they said that not even the manager could resolve this. Never seen something like it. Please, stay away from these guys.