written by Ndizi on 21/12/2022
The agent was evasive and just kept telling me that I needed a solicitor, I continued with the call and got every last drop of the information that she was prepared to give me. It was a very difficult conversation and at times I felt uncomfortable and out of my depth. I cant understand what happened as usually this first step of the process is easier that the rest of it. Hopefully I wont have to ring again!!!!
written by zaib1000 on 20/12/2022
Next renewal for "Home and Car… Next renewal for "Home and Car insurance is definitely not going to be with AXA insurance. They promoted an incompetent Legal cover by the name of "ARC Legal Group" who have completely disregarded all my claims and closed them, without informing me. I had put a claim in due to my neighbour who built a Carport Canopy that had "trespassed over my boundary line and into my property". I then phoned ARC legal group for help, they advised me to write a letter to the neighbour for a "14 Day Notice, Notice Before Action" I sent that letter on 17/09/2022 to my neighbour and in return, my Neighbour Insurance team rings me and asking "Who wrote that letter, I said, I did, on hearing this they said, "WHY ARE YOU WRITING THIS LETTER, IT SHOULD BE YOUR LEGAL TEAM," which just shows that my neighbours Home Insurance legal Team are caring and supportive for their clients, however my so called Legal team so called ARC Legal Group, were not interested and they had closed my file without writing to me. Not a single letter of support was written by ARC legal to my neighbours. The so called advise that I got from the ARC Legal Group "14 Day Notice, Notice Before Action" was a had no value, because nothing followed through from ARC Legal "JUST EMPTY WORDS AND NO ACTIONS " Yesterday, my very neighbour had workers round to their driveway, they dug out and removed all my hardcore cement blocks boundary line that was keeping my drive way intact and level, decorative driveway which cost me thousands of pounds has all of the hardcore concrete boundary removed by my neighbour without any consultation, now because that hardcore concrete boundary has been removed the layers of sharp sand and grit which is beneath my decorative ground is now seeping out my sharp sand and this will result in my driveway ground becoming un-level. All this has happened because I had no support at all from ARC Legal, ARC Legal had proven to be Lazy, incompetent and support for their clients, they had closed all the claims making me feel frustrated and angry, I also blame AXA Insurance for promoting a Legal team that is unfit for purpose. Only, if ARC Legal could had sent one letter on my behalf to my neighbour, would had make the reality on the ground different, the neighbours could had taken things seriously, but no, your incompetence, are your so called advise of "14 DAYS NOTICE" did not follow through, which is an absolute disgrace, total failure. Date of experience: 20 December 2022
written by willken on 16/12/2022
negligent solicitors .appointed by arc legal ,shut 2 good cases down after running down the clock ,time frame. I have concrete evidence that the solicitors were negligent , go back to arc legal stating less than 51% then arc shut the case with no chance to go back to the solicitors refuse to answer questions regarding there mistakes , Do not use arc legal
written by RippOffmerchants on 25/02/2022
This company are out to make money and possibly lose you your case with the stalling tactics I have now spoken with 3 people in claims and 1 in customer service and each of them have contradicted the other and a way of putting you off they have now had everything a month and still no further on avoid this company I have written to my insurance for a explanation as to why this company is used I havd also reported to the FCA and thd ICO they are delibertly stalling customers rights for monetary gain
written by NeilLong287 on 17/12/2021
REMEMBER - THE INSURANCE COMPANIES ARE ACTUALLY ARC LEGALS CLIENTS - IT'S NOT YOU! The first question anyone should ask when buying insurance is "do you outsource you legal claims process to arc legal?" If the answer is "yes" then just put the phone down and go somewhere else until you get a "we don't work with arc legal". It's just not worth the stress of trying to deal with arc legal. Delay, delay, delay... this is the tactic that arc legal use on other companies clients - YOU. They will be obtuse, continually stall, ignore, misinterpret information, misinform.... it goes on and on. They are a total shambles. They even subject you to a five day turn around response time policy and hide behind the ridiculously patronising mantra of "treating customers fairly" as the reason for this nonsense. And I will explain why..... They hide behind T&C's and create smoke and mirrors for you to navigate and all when you are likely under very high duress due to a situation you are unfortunately in and are, therefore, extremely vulnerable. The reason they do all this is because according to their T&C's you are still paying all the solicitors fees being amassed in whatever situation you are in because they have not yet "accepted" your claim as valid. This is why every claim submitted is rejected as a default policy. Just to delay you for another month or so. So obviously your situation continues to grow and still requires a solicitors time irrespective of arc legals opinion so every delay or obstruction that they can throw in front of you means that you are still picking up the bill with the solicitor for all that time. It's the typical war of attrition tactics you would expect from an insurance outfit really. What everyone needs to consider is that they are actually not arc legals clients. You are a client of John Lewis or RSA etc etc and in reality John Lewis & RSA are actually the client of arc legal... so arc legal will loose their contract with John Lewis or RSA if they don't hit the targets they are set for denying or considerably delaying claims that RSA would have to pay out on. It's entirely the wrong way round morally speaking and certainly in no way shape or form treats any client of John Lewis or RSA fairly. It does, however, treat the clients of arc legal very fairly because they are actually all the big boy insurance companies not little old you I'm afraid. What bothers me about all this is why upstanding companies like John Lewis with reputations built solely on customer service and quality associate themselves with an outfit like arc legal? We all understand that John Lewis can benefit massively from selling their client base to the likes of RSA so they can peddle them insurance products and give John Lewis a cut in return but for John Lewis to willingly let RSA subject their loyal clients to the abhorrent treatment dished out by arc legal pretending to be a professional insurance business is a big mistake. John Lewis have sold their soul I'm afraid. As I said previously: The first question anyone should ask when buying insurance is "do you outsource you legal claims process to arc legal?" If the answer is "yes" then just put the phone down and go somewhere else until you get a no. It's just not worth the stress of trying to deal with the deliberately obtuse shambles that is arc legal. In my experience if you are stuck with arc legal then just go direct to the Exec Team of the insurer who sold you the insurance policy and demand to deal with them directly on your claim. This cuts our arc legal completely. You can find all the CEO direct contact details online if you look hard enough. Furthermore, once this approach reaches critic mass then arc legal will lose their contracts as they are a ultimately a massive reputational risk for any self respecting insurance company to put in front of their clients and have to crawl back into the muddy puddle that they unfortunately managed to slither out of.
written by Louis765 on 13/11/2021
I put in a claim for legal aid on a boundary issue with a neighbour and they just go to every length to make sure the claim cant be made. Do not trust this group. Go and purchase legal cover else where if need be. I bought mine as a side package with Aviva. I think they provide legal cover for LV is well. When you do buy these "add on packages" do your research before purchase.
written by Landinl358 on 06/11/2020
Submitted a claim under my house insurance to get legal assistance for an employment matter.Despite being informed by myself and ACAS the company's name, they have some how managed to get it wrong in correspondence. Not even a spelling error, the totally wrong employer. Getting the employers name right is hugely important as it can see your claim knocked out before it even starts at the tribunal. Totally incompetent.
Written on: 10/11/2020
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review. We apologise that you experienced issues when dealing with us at Arc Legal, we would be happy to investigate this further for you if you contact customerservice.
Kind regards,
Arc Legal
written by wjBeebe153 on 02/09/2020
I made the mistake of thinking the legal assistance on my LV policy would be precisely that. ARC decided to decline to help on because they held the problem existed before my insurance started which was incorrect. They then wasted so much time on so called appeals and investigations that I hired my own solicitor and got it sorted a month before their so called investigations finished with a refusal to act. About as much use as woodworm in a pirates peg leg.
Written on: 04/11/2020
Thank you for leaving us a review. We apologise that you didn't have a great experience with us, if you would like us to look into this further please contact us.
Kind regards, Arc Legal.
Written on: 24/08/2021
Please contact us regarding your experience with Arc.
Written on: 24/08/2021
Please contact us regarding your experience with Arc.
written by Benwimal on 03/06/2020
right about the arc legal conjunction with insurance company provided legal cover. I had three litigation cases with full evidence but arc legal and their solicitors rejected by giving irrelevant grounds and out of the policy wording by bending their expectations to reject. Only option is now to escalate ombudsman and my insurance about act legal to SUE them for professional misleading, professional negligence or may be qualify for mis-sold item. Also don’t forget to leave a review Online of ARC legal processes.
Written on: 04/11/2020
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review. We are sorry to hear that you are not satisfied with your experience with Arc Legal. Please contact us if you would like this to be looked into further.
Kind regards, Arc Legal.
Written on: 24/08/2021
Please contact us regarding your experience with Arc.
written by Hullkv53 on 26/02/2020
I made my claim with ARC and got accepted. Once accepted they send you to one of their panel solicitors to examine your case. The job of Irwin Mitchell and others is purely to prevent the claim. ARC say that the solicitor will stop working once they have worked up to the value of the claim since it makes you better off than before if the firm proceeds further. With this mentality, everybody wins except the insured. ARC keep their cash, solicitors get their fee and the defendant gets off possibly without facing a judge. It's a shame ARC tries to hide the consumer's rights because ARC know that the FCA would shut them down if this went to them.
written by Fernandezwz103 on 12/01/2020
I have devastating experience with Arc Legal Assistance and their partner Irwin Mitchell. It seems to me that they have theirs owns rules of conduct.
written by justiceandintegrity on 14/12/2019
Our experience is beyond understanding. Others have reported similar experiences about ARC on this website, and on other reviews sites, but ARC is using the rules of these websites to enable it to have these very serious and disturbing reviews taken down. The inability of consumers to give their honest accounts of the actions of ARC, on these websites, is, in itself, extremely worrying; any attempts we consumers are making to open communication channels with other 'victims' are being buried by ARC and this is being facilitated by the sites hosting these reviews (who in our opinion have a moral duty to report such reports to the police instead of deleting them). We are a group of people who have come together to share experiences about the actions of ARC and this group is increasing by the day. We encourage you to contact us at the address we will list below (please note we cannot write the address normally and have to write it in a particular way on this site to enable this form to submit): Please submit your crime report to the Serious Fraud office. It is certain that this post will, like the others, will be removed by ARC but we will continue to post on this site, every time our review is taken down.
written by cassius999 on 20/10/2019
Arc legal were our Insurers and gave us an awful Law firm called Irwin Mitchell to take on our case. Arc legal have believed everything Irwin Mitchell have told them about the defendant without checking any of the information provided. Please avoid them as this company has caused us nothing but stress, shameful.
Written on: 23/12/2019
We are a group of people who are in possession of mounting evidence that legal expense claim management companies, including Arc, are employing solicitors who are masquerading as acting for policy holders interests but are really acting to protect the pockets of the insurers.
The experiences we have are all extremely similar and include actions against us such as:
the missing of court deadlines; withdrawal of insurance cover; delays; abuse of the complaint process; low settlement offers; psychological mind games and devious and dishonest tactics undertaken in the hope of forcing the policy holder to drop his/her claim and abandoning the action, therefore, saving the insurer money.
You can email us or you can contact the Serious Fraud Office to make a crime report.
Please make your complaint to the Serious Fraud Office for the attention of 'F Wilson' and write 'INSURANCE FRAUD' in the subject line of your email or letter.
Written on: 21/11/2020
How can we contact you ?
Written on: 22/11/2020
What is your email address?
written by tcDalrymple311 on 02/08/2019
Nothing new to say and agree with all other comments. i have had the same experience. They just like to engage in endless email communication, place unrealistic expectations, obtain assessments from their own legal team who contradict other proper qualified solicitors. Their complaint process is equally poor. It would be interesting to know if they actually uphold any complaints.
Written on: 12/08/2019
Dear tcDalrymple311
Thank you for taking the time to highlight your experience.
We deal with over 20,000 claims each year and have a complaints ratio of less than 2%. We are confident that the vast majority of customers have a positive experience of our service.
Due to the anonymity of your username we are unable to identify your claim. However, from your comments it appears that you have exhausted our complaints process. If that is the case you can escalate your concerns to the Financial Ombudsman Service (if you are within six months of the provision of the final response letter).
If you have not raised a complaint, please contact us and we will look into your concerns.
written by Cabaker on 27/02/2019
We needed their legal help after a dispute with our neighbours. After saying they would not help initially we provided more evidence and they said they would. 3yrs later we are left with a legal bill that they won’t contribute a penny too because of the ‘terms and conditions’ we were made to sign otherwise they would not help. Little did we know they were not going to help anyway. On a separate matter they tried to get out of paying, until we showed them an email as part of the complaints process stating they would pay up to a set amount they then decided to pay it as a ‘goodwill gesture’. What an insult. Do not go anywhere near this company.
Written on: 06/03/2019
We are sorry to hear of your dissatisfaction with your legal expenses claims.
Due to the anonymity of this website, we are unable to identify whether you have been through our complaints process,
The comments you have provided above appear to differ from the process that we follow.
As such we would welcome your contact with details of the issues you have experienced, so we can investigate your concerns.
Contact details are available on our website.
Written on: 06/03/2019
We have been through your complaints procedure as stated in the review. This only heightened our dissatisfaction hence the review. It was only a matter of going through the processes from your side. If someone has legal cover on their policy gets taken to court through no fault of their own, wins the case and still ends up paying whilst the insurance pays nothing because ‘they would have paid if we’d lost’ Little comfort in that.
Written on: 11/09/2020
How is your company still in business.Why aren't your owners in prison
Probably using Lyons-Davidson to keep them out.
written by Jolieo55 on 25/04/2018
From initial contact to completion, the entire approval process is slow and designed to encourage the customer to use their sub-standard panel of lawyers. I deliberately use the word lawyer as if you use their panel, you will typically be represented by a lawyer (a legal professional) who has not necessarily qualified as solicitor. I was not prepared to do this and appointed my own local solicitor with whom I could have face to face contact with as opposed to a call center ‘lawyer’. Their call centre operators make promises they cannot honour and their complaints process is a farce.
Written on: 04/05/2018
We are disappointed to hear about your dissatisfaction.
Unfortunately, by its nature the legal expenses clams process can be a long one and we appreciate that customers can have a wish for a swift resolution.
The legal advisors on the legal helpline are legally trained, and are only able to provide general legal advice.
In relation to panel solicitors, you may wish to view the Financial Ombudsman Service website which provides their view on the use of panel solicitors.
We deal with over 20,000 claims each year and have a complaints ratio of less than 2%. We are confident that the vast majority of customers have a positive experience of our service.
However, we welcome the opportunity to address any concerns that customers have about our service.
If you would like to discuss the matter, please contact us directly. Alternatively, you are able to refer a complaint via the Financial Ombudsman Service. Details on how to do this are available online.
Written on: 08/05/2018
"We welcome the opportunity to address any concerns that customers have about our service". No you don't. Your complaint process is a farce. I had to email 3 times to get acknowledgement that you were in fact investigating.
Interesting that you refer to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). I actually escalated the complaint with the FOS.
After a 12 month process, they upheld my complaint and ruled against Arc. I should however note that the FOS are about as useless as Arc Legal (take a look at the FOS reviews!!!). The FOS advised that Arc had taken an unreasonable amount of time in assessing my claim and awarded compensation.
written by McCabe207 on 18/04/2018
Tried to claim for a dispute with neighbours over blocked shared right of way. Didn't want to know, claiming the problem was there before I bought the house??? It was built in the 1920's ??? I will not be renewing and buying a more suitable product after research.
Written on: 19/04/2018
We are disappointed to hear about your dissatisfaction. We deal with over 20,000 claims each year and have a complaints ratio of less than 2%. We are confident that the vast majority of customers have a positive experience of our service.
However, we welcome the opportunity to address any concerns that customers have about our service.
If you would like to discuss the matter, please contact us directly. Alternatively, you are able to refer a complaint via the Financial Ombudsman Service. Details on how to do this are available online.
written by JazmynMarshall44 on 20/02/2018
I've been fobbed off with erroneous legal advice and eventually sent an online claim form which doesn't get past the submit button. On enquiry was told it doesn't support my Safari browser! Have also tried other browsers with no success.
Written on: 21/02/2018
We are sorry to hear that you are experiencing issues with logging an online claim.
We would like to be able to investigate this issue for you. As we are unable to provide contact details on this website, please refer to your policy booklet for contact details and we will attempt to resolve your issue.
written by GunnerMooney on 30/01/2018
I am trained in law concerning civil obligations and evidence, and have had two claims referred to Arc Legal via my insurer Axa. On both occasions, the paralegals who were assigned to my cases rejected the claims after some enquiry. It is unfortunate that the regulator has not yet clamped down on this arrangement being run by insurer and legal insurance providers such as Arc Legal. If you stand back, you can clearly see why having a panel solicitor arrangement organised by insurer can never be a fair way of looking at claims. They take the most strict view of any case they review - effectively you receive something like a judgment against you drafted by a paralegal. They never write what is strong and arguable about your case. Neither do they explain the balancing exercise they carried out in determining that a claim has less than 50% chances of success. In summary, they leave the policy holder with an impression that they have a hopeless position. They boast about the low number of Financial Ombudsman complaints that are lodged against them. I reckon the number of claims they actually support beyond the stage of initial review are even lower. Not surprisingly they do not disclose it. Most people do not take Arc Legal to the Financial Ombudsman because it is an even higher hurdle to establish that Arc Legal were wrong in denying support, than it is to win one's bloody case. You don't want another enemy when you are already in dispute with someone else. It is high time the regulator stopped this malpractice on the citizens of this country and allowed the policy holder to approach any particular law firm of their choosing to determine the merit of the claim.
Written on: 08/02/2018
Totally agree!
However, I must point out that my experience is similar. For over 7 years we have been with Saga with a case completely proven against Harlow Council where their tree roots had damaged & displaced our boundary/garden wall and are threatening our home. WE have had 4 solicitors. The first negligent. The second lied - we were moved by the AA, and the solicitor was still paid from our indemnity. The AA allowed us to move to another firm of solicitors off their panel. I chose one that had a conflict of interest - they did not provide us with a letter of engagement - which I had to chase for. When it arrived, it was inaccurate. In short, the AA realised that this firm had issue with their conduct and had breached a number of the Saga terms and conditions of contract. But, still the AA paid them. When the AA stopped dealing with legal expenses, they were taken over by Arc Legal Assistance. In 2016 Arc Legal promised in writing to review our previous solicitors, advising that files had been retrieved, etc. They did no review. From 2013 onwards Saga, and then Acromas, advised that they would pass my claim to their Third Party Supplier Team to monitor the claim - there was no monitoring and I doubt whether this team even exists. In 2016 we had our final firm of solicitors who was not a senior solicitor as promised but an Assistant, who had no experience in property law, who did NOT offer legal advise but an opinion - which was basically to do nothing. That was at the start of the case in June 2016. He then offered conflicting advise, that he did not follow up on and breached Solicitors Regulation Authority and Civil Procedure Rules - and even got a structural engineer to do the same. Far more details than can say here - will need to do a web site if not resolved. But, left us uninsurable and caused my eczema, sepsis and heart attack.
Everything I say, and more, is fully supported with documentary evidence.
Now various bodies looking into this, and this is just the start! Others are being cheated I have seen on another review site. This has to be stopped. I wish you luck!
Written on: 21/02/2018
Having suffered a similar type of experience, I totally understand the stress and upset that results.
I too have a well-evidenced and documented case which I have been pursuing for some time. I believe we are the tip of an iceberg and it's high time the Legal Expenses racket was called to account.
I am very happy for review centre to pass on my email address to you or anyone else who would like to compare experiences with the aim of achieving some traction in challenging this atrocious conduct.
Written on: 25/03/2018
I agree. As a retired litigation solicitor, my view is that Arc Legal are getting money for old rope. What they provide in return for our premiums is simply a referral to a no win/no fee solicitor who will only take on the case if they are sure that they can make money from it. I was told by Irwin Mitchell, their panel solicitors, that, as my case was potentially worth less than £10,000, they wouldn’t be taking it on.
Written on: 22/02/2018
We are sorry to hear of your dissatisfaction with your legal expenses claims.
As part of our claims handling process, we take the reasonable and fair approach of offering challenge options when the legal assessment is unsupportive.
Due to the anonymity of this website we are unable to identify your claims. However, I would like to invite you to contact us to discuss your claims or any concerns you have with them.
Written on: 27/02/2018
I am sorry there is nothing reasonable or fair about your review process either having been through it. Let’s not forget that a lawyer can argue a case either way depending on whose interest they are representing. Sadly I think you do not act as a Customers representative rather the insurers whose clear objective is to not have to pay the claim.
Written on: 28/02/2018
In my own experience, the Arc 'review process' a) takes months, and b) ignores all points of complaint. In my case, I smelt a rat very early on in the claim process without the benefit of the files. If Arc had provided all the background documents, as I was informed they would, then the extremely favourable counsel opinion hidden away in the files would have come to light without me having to drag it out of their panel solicitor's clutches.
Interestingly, as the FOS noted, when it suited Arc they argued that I was a client of the solicitors concerned, and when it didn't they argued the reverse. The FOS considered the solicitors to be an agent of Arc.
Perhaps Arc's own publicity material is relevant? In describing their 'unique' business model, to quote: "Our business model starts with delivery of legal advice by the experts, ie the law firms. Our partner firms will also take on a much larger proportion of the claims process than they do with traditional providers. This leads to a highly streamlined and efficient service to policyholders."
So there we have it, the solicitors acting for Arc both assess your legal case and process the claim while providing impartial advice to the insured and making it all very efficient.
I can certainly vouch for the fact that once they actually got around to it, they were very efficient in declining my claim without good reason in no time at all. Despite paying the premium and being left run my own legal case, at least those involved in falsely declining my claim were able to present invoices amounting to some £3,000 to Arc who appeared not to apply the same level of resistance that this unfortunate policyholder experienced.
I am quite sure there is a rational explanation for my experience, I wish I could elaborate but for reasons I fail to understand those involved, and you all know who you are, lapse into silence when asked to account for their conduct.
Written on: 20/02/2018
Your story chimes with my own unfortunate experience of encountering this organisation through John Lewis Insurance. When they refused a valid claim without good reason, I set about uncovering the truth. What an eye-opener that turned out to be! Once I dragged the documents out of their clutches I discovered that despite their panel solicitor telling me nothing had been done on my case, they had in fact instructed counsel, in my name, to give a merits opinion. Counsel responded by stating my case to be well founded and summarised that “the state of the evidence is such, that such a claim is likely to succeed". Nevertheless, they refused my claim. When I complained and asked them to explain the reasons, they failed to do so and neglected to disclose the counsel opinion.
You are absolutely spot on in your observations about the FOS. The only reason I was able to get the FOS to find in my favour was because I insisted on seeing all the documents. Otherwise the FOS would have taken the usual line that the insurer is entitled to rely on the opinion of their 'professional' advisers. Conveniently overlooking, of course, that the adviser is in essence acting as agent of the insurer.
In my opinion, the Legal Expenses 'industry' is long overdue for serious investigation and reform.
I have been working on this for some time and welcome feedback from others about their experience.
Written on: 01/10/2018
I just read your review and having trouble with the panel solicitors appointed by arc. Are you still out their?
written by CiaraBuckley1988 on 12/01/2018
Have taken a Legal Expenses Policy with RentGuard as part of my buildings insurance. Having dealt with them a few times they are awful! Instead of heling their clinets they cause more stress! PLEASE AVIOD!!! Rentguard themselves ar enot good either..
Written on: 30/01/2018
We are disappointed to hear about your dissatisfaction. As a business we deal with over 20,000 claims each year and have a complaints ratio of less than 1%.
We are confident that the vast majority of customers have a positive experience of our service. Nevertheless, we always welcome the opportunity to address any concerns that customers have about our service.
If you would like to discuss the matter, please contact us directly. Alternatively, you are able to refer a complaint via the Financial Ombudsman Service. Details on how to do this are available online
Once we've checked over your question we will put it live on the site and our strong community of experts will hopefully give you some great answers that you find useful.
We will email you when the question is on the site
Once we've checked over your answer we will put it live on the site so others can gain from your experience. We rely on members like you to sustain our vibrant community so thanks again, we couldn't do it without you.
We will email your when your answer is on the site
As rated by our community of reviewers
Annamax's Comment
Written on: 23/01/2023
I am going through this with Arc Legal, they are on another line, or in a training session, or at lunch, or not well, or maternity leave, the list is endless. Never, never again. This is costing me!!
Capitanosplendito's Comment
Written on: 23/01/2023
The other trick they use is to obtain an opinion from their legals partners which it simply riddled with errors, untruths and lies. They then write off your claim on the basis of this advice. The problem with this is that when the Financial Ombusdman eventually (after months and months) review your complaint about arc legal they then inform you that you have to go through the whole process again with the body that regulates the legal profession! They know full well that this will take you another year of your life and all the effort, time and cost that it takes!