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“Insurance rip off”

written by Wrightwf421 on 27/07/2015

My bike was insured through my home contents insurance and I was forced to deal with Wheelies when it was stolen. Unfortunately my bike was worth around £700 but only insured up to the value of £350, so naturally I wanted a cash settlement to put towards a second hand bike of a similar quality.

When I told Wheelies this they gave me the run around, telling me I needed to call my insurer and let them know, even though I already had. My insurer then told me they were waiting for validation of the claim from Wheelies in order to process my cash settlement. Two days later I had another call from Wheelies asking me if I'd decided what I'd like to do (!). I repeated that I was waiting for a cash settlement. They then told me that they were going to take 15% of my cash settlement because I wasn't getting a replacement bike through them!! Obviously I wasn't getting a replacement bike through them because they couldn't offer me a direct replacement – why should I be penalised for this? They told me they'd speak to my insurer and call me back, but they never did.

I then called my insurer myself and they confirmed that the 15% should NOT have been taken from my cash settlement. Wheelies said it was 'a mistake' but I'm sure they were trying to take me for a ride. They are a bunch of rip off merchants and I'm disappointed that my otherwise reliable insurer have forced me to be involved with them.