Albany ASSistance -

[SuzukiNess]

Accident Date: Mid September 2010
Expected pay out date: Mid September 2020

:smt021

My 658th email to Albany ASSistance - should I add anthing to it?

Please can you confirm that the cheque has actually left the building? I'm flabbergasted that it could take two weeks as first class mail to be delivered to me.. I'm sure it would take less time to cut down a tree, put it thru the mill, make some paper and then ship it to the end of the world than it does trying to get a cheque out of albany assistance.. have you any idea the situation the i find myself in thanks to this horrific process i have had to endure.. banked the cheque and in good faith took out a loan ... thinking i can pay it back because i have £500 in the bank waiting to clear.. surprise surprise .. the cheque is returned to me and i'm told a new cheque has been issued.. 2 weeks later... (yes, believe it or not tomorrow is Friday and that would make it two weeks since the email below) i still am no closer to paying back the loan i took out and have now incurred £100 worth of charges against this loan. how is that your problem?? clearly its not BUT please, i ask you with tears in my green eyes, when am i going to receive this cheque ... its in the mail?? it is amazing that in the space of 8 hours you managed to CANCEL the previous cheque... but it takes more than 336 hours to print one out, sign it and get it in the post.. the royal mail xmas rush is over... there is clearly NO blaiming royal mail.. So please tell me what I am supposed to do now? tell you i havent received the cheque and within 8 hours the cheque is cancelled again and then i have to wait another 2 weeks before i send you yet another email bout the cheque i have yet to receive... I requested the funds due to me be transferred by BACS into my account. As a company, and the technology available today, you are unable to transfer funds??

:smt021

[Bluefish]

Far too polite, good luck.

[The Idle Biker]

Suggest you start with .....if you don't recieve funds within xx days you shall instruct your solicitor to deal with the matter through the courts etc. Might make the jobsworths take note. Jobsworths don't do humour, irony or sarcasm.

If they don't deal quick, let everyone on the org know the claim number and we can fill up their switchboard with calls to the Directors on your behalf.

Power to the People!!

[EssexDave]

Insurance claim?

simples, stick the words "I feel I have been treated unfairly" and "if the issue(s) are not resolved within 7 working days, I shall contact the Financial Ombudsman Service"

These phrases normally means its gets passed to a dedicated complaints handler or a manager, rather than just the numpty on customer services or wherever it may be.

[TamSV]

Insurance claim?

simples, stick the words "I feel I have been treated unfairly" and "if the issue(s) are not resolved within 7 working days, I shall contact the Financial Ombudsman Service"

These phrases normally means its gets passed to a dedicated complaints handler or a manager, rather than just the numpty on customer services or wherever it may be.

+1 - Head it up as COMPLAINT and put in the first line "Please treat this e-mail as a formal complaint". Otherwise they likely won't realise that your e-mail is actually a complaint. :mad:

Although it does depend on the type of product you've had from them. If it relates to an insurance product then they're regulated by the FSA and have to deal with complaints in a certain way.

If it's the accident management side of the business you're dealing with, they're mainly answerable to Satan.

[orose]

The only thing I'd add to it would be a piece of paper to print it on and a special delivery envelope, to be sent to the chief exec of the company, and maybe some notes about getting the relevant ombudsman involved if it doesn't get corrected at the first reasonable opportunity.

[davepreston]

ness im dealing with 2 atm
accident date sep 07, still unresolved ,liability proven in court 2 years ago
accident date may 08, still unresolved , liability admitted at scene

and im not holding my breath been let down to many times by the shisters

[SoulKiss]

i still am no closer to paying back the loan i took out and have now incurred £100 worth of charges against this loan. how is that your problem?? clearly its not BUT please, i ask you with tears in my green eyes, when am i going to receive this cheque

*NOTE - just reread what is below and think it may come across as harsh, please dont take it personally, I am mostly playing devils advocate. If they are cancelling cheques then it implies, to me, that they are in some kind of cash-flow problem, and they may well be looking at all correspondence in a "what can we do to stall people till it sorts itself out" way, meaning that emails such as yours, when taken next to one that is written less "chattily" may be shuffled to the back of the queue. Thanks*

You blow it with this section specifically, but the whole tone of the email doesnt help you at all. You are asking them to help you, you say please do this, please do that, you ask, instead of demand.

If they did not tell you to take out a loan, then its YOUR issue, not theirs and mentioning it in the email does nothing.

If you are hoping that some nice person at Albany will see that and add £100 then you are going about it the wrong way.

You need to state that you have incurred costs due to them and that you will be looking to recover these from them if that is the case.

Also bear in mind that uncleared funds in an account mean nothing legally, all you have proof of is them acting in bad faith and cancelling cheques.

As for the "tears in my green eyes" well that just blows your credibility out of the water completely.

As does any sarcasm, or attempts at humour.

There are two ways of dealing with things like that.

Its ok to be chatty etc at the initial stages, when arranging the details of how things are going to be sorted out.

When it gets to the point that a stated course of action has not been fulfilled, then its off with the friendly hat and down to pure statements of fact.

Stop writing to them as if they were a person and deal with them as a company, in a professional manner.

[yorkie_chris]

+1 and follow what essexdave and tamSV recommend.

[Specialone]

That sucks big time.

No if no buts, threaten them with ombudsman today, give them a couple of working days to resolve it then contact the ombudsman and send them all the important emails spanning the time this has been going on.

I have had to threaten the insurance companies twice in my adult life and both times they sorted the problem within a couple of days.
Adrian flux was one btw was only about £100 but it's the principle.

Other one was my insurance companies 3rd party accident handlers gave me a hire van after my van was hit while parked.
After the other parties insurance questioned the hire van cost, they wanted to know my financial status, bank statements etc to prove I couldn't have hired it myself, i told them to feck off and sort it otherwise I would involve the ombudsman. Haven't heard off them since.

Good luck.

[Ed]

Whenever I complain about ridiculous 'process' I always say:

Let me tell you something. In 1969 a man walked on the moon. And you're telling me that 42 years later you can't send me a BACS transfer or issue a simple cheque?

[SuzukiNess]

*NOTE - just reread what is below and think it may come across as harsh, please dont take it personally, I am mostly playing devils advocate. If they are cancelling cheques then it implies, to me, that they are in some kind of cash-flow problem, and they may well be looking at all correspondence in a "what can we do to stall people till it sorts itself out" way, meaning that emails such as yours, when taken next to one that is written less "chattily" may be shuffled to the back of the queue. Thanks*

you work for albany? :scratch: Clearly the +-300 other "business like" emails/calls to them fell on deaf ears/eyes.. funnily enough, i send them the email above and i now have the funds in my account, transferred this morning?? I do know how to conduct myself in a professional way when dealing with professionals, idiots need idiotic emails to get results... It was the last straw for me.. each to their own.

[Bluefish]

you work for albany? :scratch: Clearly the +-300 other "business like" emails/calls to them fell on deaf ears/eyes.. funnily enough, i send them the email above and i now have the funds in my account, transferred this morning?? I do know how to conduct myself in a professional way when dealing with professionals, idiots need idiotic emails to get results... It was the last straw for me.. each to their own.

Result, but as said, most would have gone to the ombudsman long befor it got to this stage.

[Juju]

Albany Assistance are an uninsured loss recovery agent.

They are not a motor insurer. If they are acting for you, against another insurer, then despite Albany being imho total c**tpieces, its not a cheque from them you are waiting for,, but simply one from another insurer to be passed on to you via them as your agents.

What was the nature of your claim?