25/08/2011 Changed my car from a peugeot 406 2ltr car to a kia picante 1.0ltr and they wanted an extra £245 for a policy that expires in 2 months. I'm in my early 40's with max NCB. Had to pay but will certainly not renew under any circumstance.

17/04/2011 Went back to them after having company car for 15 years, as it was a name I felt comfortable and familiar with - what a shock. Underhanded, disingenuous, unprofessional, more interested in squeezing money than providing customer service.

24/09/2010 Tell me about it i have had to sell my bike and they have just charged me £50 to cancel a policy that only cost me £70 in the first place and i am 5 months into the policy at that they have most definately lost a customer in the future that is day light robbery you should be ashamed of yourselves

22/09/2010 I missed a payment with swinton car insurance due to lack of funds in my bank £140,they have now cancelled my policy ok fine!. I have now been sent a bill for £1250 for the whole year is this legal?

16/09/2010 I took out my car insurance with swinton because they offered a £50 cash back deal. my insurance ran for the full year with no cashback even after phone calls and e-mails for the last 5 months since the end of my insurance. it seems they once they have your money they dont want to know. they offered me discount of £70 on this years insurance to make up for the £50 but it was such a high quote it was still cheaper to go elsewhere. i intend to put as many of these blogs out so they loose customers who would otherwise be upped by there sales con.

16/09/2010 Got a surprisingly cheap quote for motorbike insurance from Swinton, but when received documents saw a hidden excess that wasn't on online summary. Phoned to cancel but despite the policy not actually starting for another three weeks, they are trying to charge me a cancellation fee that is more than half the cost of the year's insurance. Waiting for them to phone me back...waiting...waiting.

03/09/2010 swinton are happy to take your money I have never made a claim just paid regularly. After cancelling the policy they still asked for direct debit which incurred charges as I didn't have money in the account. As it was their mistake they ordered a cheque for my bank charges and 3 weeks later still not having received it I went to the shop to be told it was being sent out that night. Now 2 weeks later I called and they say they have decided NOT to pay the bank charges. Can anyone tell me how to get the email address for head office as I can't find it surprise surprise.

18/08/2010 Wow, you work for Swinton but you cannot spell? No wonder they're in a mess.

16/08/2010 we had 2ese pol cars insuered with swinton these polices were cancelled as my husband became ill.was told each car had a 50 pound cancelation fee and so did the breakdown cover Then they took £161.19 from our sons bank account as his visa card was used last to pay as hubby was very ill in hospital for over 6 months.when i rang to ask why was told thisn is money outstsnding as it is basicly a 12 month loan u pay back not monthly insurance payments.i have now been told that further payments will be taken out of 161.19 each month untill oct2010.

12/08/2010 I'm quite perplexed. Last year I did an online quote for my motorbike and Swinton Bikes came up tops with at quote of just under £90 for a 125cc motorbike. I tried to complete the form online and was instructed to call. When I did they told me the quote was incorrect and I ended up paying over £180 for my insurance. Now it's time to renew, I realise that the online quote last year was indeed correct, and I think I've been mis-sold an insurance policy. I'm now trying to figure out if I can claim back on this.

23/05/2010 I've had to claim for a non-fault accident and make a total loss claim with Swinton and I found their service abysmal. Due to an admin error at the branch I've lost 2 years NCD. I chose not to renew and told them this on the phone, they sent me a txt a day later saying thanks for renewing (I was told they had renewed without my instruction prior to the end of the policy, then cancelled when I had called), then they sent a Direct Debit update by post stating they were going to continue taking payments even though I have cancelled the policy! The payment amount they want bears no relation to what I was paying or the renewal quote (it is lower by about £50). I have cancelled the DD. If they try and take payment I will refer them to the FSA

12/05/2010 Swinton are a disgrace and should not have a licence to offer insurance. They canvassed me on the phone yesterday 11/5/2010 telling me they could possibly be better on price regarding my motorcycle insurance. They were a little cheaper so I decided to use them. Unfortunately it transpired, some information I supplied wasn't correct, so I phoned them to correct it, which put their quote totally uncompetitive, even though they were quoting the same insurance company I was already using through another broker. I wished to cancel and they wanted to charge me £50.00. to cancel. All this within one hour of their first canvassing call to me. I have asked for the Managing Directors e-mail in a polite manner and nothing yet!

06/05/2010 Maybe you people should ring through and get quotes rather than doing it online maybe then you can ask all these questions and get the answers instead of jumping into a policy u know nothing about. The staff at swinton are trained to do their job and that's it! You people know nothing about insurance and if you did u would know it's a standard procedure enforced within every insurance company. You people moan when things don't go your way. At then end of the day an insurance policy Is a contact n fees are applied if your in breech!maybe it's time to do your research before u buy just because it's cheap if you don't like it then go elsewhere!..it's simple!!..bet you if any of you had a good experience you wouldn't broadcast it!

29/04/2010 i bought a brand new suzuki motorcycle note this was not a import insured it with aviva through swinton after 1 week i was notified by swinton that the insurer aviva did not regcognise this model deducting 1 weeks insurance which worked out about 1 third of my annual premium and cancelled this policy and then insured me with another insurance company and charged me an amount to change it over that is after i had already lost money

24/04/2010 Had probs. with cancellation fees £50 per policy?! Heres some advice for anyone. 1. Dont go with Swinton in the first place! 2. Write a letter "disputing" any owed money. 3. Advise them you will contact the FSA, Office of fair trading, The Financial Ombudsman. If they do not drop such action. 4. Make letter to the point and get accross the fact that you are NOT paying any money. I have just had 1 fee waivered and am in the process of getting another dropped. Please dont bend over for these people. Advice is out there if you google it!

23/04/2010 Boughta second hand 1.6 Rover just over a month ago, insured with Its4me online which is part of the Swinton Insurance Group. Everything went through fine, there never seemed to be any problems until today 1 month later I have received a letter saying they arent going to insure me anymore as I havent shown proof of my 5 years no claim bonus. I advised them YET AGAIN that I was on a companies insurance. They have now said they will have to look into this and dont know whether I will still be insured with them. They said they can only let me know on Tuesday. This is Friday, I work in the sale and entertainment industry and need my car to get around the UK. This is an absolute disgrace. Anybody had the same?

14/04/2010 These guys should change their name from 'Swinton Insurance' to 'Swindlers Insurance', they rip you off and hit you with charges any opportunity they have - they're the 'RyanAir' of the insurance world...

08/04/2010 Hi I am having the exact same cancellation battles and I had not to my knowledge in that i had not signed anything agreed to insurance. They also had the cheek to set up the DD before I had seen the paperwork. Dreadful company local rep as good as implied I was lying

30/03/2010 Just tried to cancel a Swinton Motorcycle policy over the phone - the policy has less than a month to run, and, although I have taken a new policy out with them online for my new bike they are trying to charge me a £50.00 cancellation fee. Apparently, as I didn't renew over the phone - which happened to be double the price - I've got to pay. Well, they can try - I've just cancelled both policies and they can chase me for it... What's the matter with this company, we're in the middle of a recession and they can afford to lose business like this and attract bad publicity, they deserve all they get...

30/03/2010 hi, i have a real good tale about the rip off by swintons insurance. i cancelled my insurance policy after only 11 days as i no longer had the car and hadn't used it since my policy expired and swinton tried to charge me £176.04 which i disputed...of course i refused to pay......i had also cancelled the direct debit so they could no longer collect payments from my bank.....guess what.....when i set up the policy i paid with my debit card and of course gave them my card number.expiry date and security number off the back which more than 12 months later they used to illegally take money out of my account without my permission. i spoke to my bank who told me the payment was either an internet or phone transaction and they couldn't help

27/03/2010 HI i cancelled a policy as the car was being sold and was told by a member of staff at the sleaford branch that i was being let off lightly with charges of over £90 this company is a total rip off, conning people out of there hard earned cash, if i worked for swinton i would not bragg about it. swinton are rubbish.

19/03/2010 Their staff did not advise when l sold my car then cancelled the policy, they continued taking the monthly premiums and 'so say' accidentally pushed the figurework from £38 p/m to £89+ p/m. I called back to complain about them plucking figures out of thin air. I was told that if l had difficulty paying the premiums for a car l no longer owned, tuff!!! I enquired further and it was their mistake, but there was no apology for the hassel, again they ill advised me. I am approaching the FSA regarding the matter as a policy mis-sell as my car was a grey import and whilst l was driving the car it seems l was barely covered given all their smallprint conditions.

15/03/2010 I don't work for Swinton, but a relative does. I know insurance from the job I have, what is on this forum is complete rubbish. Many of the complaints that you have entered originate from an contract online and then you want to come out of it and they are charging you £50 for the privilege. I'm sorry but if you buy insurance online, you are the broker. You input the information, you take no advice (you would complain at paying £20 for some advice) you are responsible for starting the insurance on the wrong date, putting in the wrong risk details, omitting claims and convictions, only wanting short term cover on a yearly contract. Well I'm sorry but who's fault is that? You have entered into a contract on the info you have put in!

08/03/2010 08/03/10 I didn't like the service i got from swinton,i was due for renewal in dec was too expensive for me so i cancelled my policy with them.But sometimes in march they too £600.35 from my account.I did cancel my direct debit online with my bank,but swinton reintstated it back,they are now refusing to pay my money back,saying that i didn't ask for my policy to be cancelled.I am now on the process of making complaint to financial omusbdam because to me look like they have a habit of ripping costumers money.

08/03/2010 I work for swinton and have for 5 years. I believe that the things people are complaining about are silly because like any company we have a cancellation fee. When we cannot find ammend a policy in the wat you want us to because the insurer won't allow it we take time to find a policy that matches ur needs. Swinton is a very personalised service which allows you to go into branch and speak to someone face to face and get your enquiry sorted as quick as possible. The staff here are very hard working and only advise on the truth. We have a lot if contact with our customers because if we didn't they would accuse us of taking their money and not providing a service!!..most customers stay with us for a long time and very happy with us as a co!

04/03/2010 i had taken an insurance out, the same day fell down some stairs, tried to cancel they were going to charge £96 For 10 days cover, of which i never got to drive anyway, so decided it would be better to keep the insurance rather than lose £100 for nothing, after had signed credit agreement 2 days later a letter came saying they had already put the monthly premium up for no reason, very unhelpful, a rip off, will never choose these again

03/03/2010 Swinton Bikes gave me poor service from start to finish. I was bombarded with calls at renewal time, sometimes up to 15 calls a day! I asked them to stop ringing me and the advisor shouted at me that he has to do this as its her job. I hoped my policy would stop at renewal but as I paid direct debit they claim they have the right to renew it again for another year. Swinton Bikes? well, they have taken me for a ride. Be aware.

06/01/2010 I am completely disgusted with Swinton. I was with them for 6 months and when i first went with them, I came from Kwik Fit (also a very unhelpful company). When i came from Kwik fit, I had 3 years no claims but accidently told Swinton I had 2. I know it's my fault but Swinton never checked it out and when i left them, they still had 2 years on their records, so that got sent to my new insurer. I then asked Kwik Fit to send details of my no claims to Swinto so they could update their records, but Swinton refused to do so. I was then left to pay £120 to my new insurer becuase of lack of customer service. They are a disgrace. They also wanted to charge me £200 more to change my policy to a dif car when i had been quoted a cheaper price online

21/12/2009 Changed from Kia Sedona 2.9 diesel to a Pajero 2.8TD. Swinton said that the original insurer couldn't provide cover so the policy would have to be cancelled and a new policy would have to be taken out at a cost of over £700. With over 6 years no claims I found an increase of over 70% to be insulting. I managed to get a policy with another good insurer for £410. Swinton now have the cheek to add insult by injury by insisting on a cancellation fee even though they can't provide the service that I require.

21/11/2009 Just been told by them that they took my no claims bonus from my car to a van but now I want to go back to a car that I've lost my no claims bonus and will have to start all over again. Nothing mentioned in terms and conditions, not informed while taking out the policy. Just been quoted £2200 for insurance and I am 29 and never had a claim. A complete joke!

16/11/2009 I changed my car from a pejero 2.8 turbo deisal to a 1.6 rover value 500 pounds and they put my premium up by 56 pounds this meant i would be paying 364 pounds for that car.I have never had a claim in my life and i am 65 years old,they would not explain why the premium was so high and got very stroppy when i said i could ill afford to pay that amount.i too will have to pay 50 pounds to them plus an ammount they could not tell me to the insurers.DISGUSTING.

04/11/2009 They have bad customer service, not just in the stores but also at head office (the bloke was Practically shouting at me over the phone). They are only interested in taking your money. The are not reliable, they do not listen and have no interest in there customer. I cannot think of a single think that is good about Swinton Insurance and will not be renewing with them, no doubt they will find a way to swindle some money out of me at re-newel time.

18/09/2009 I have had same issue didn't notice no claims discount protection when arranging insurance online asked 3 days after to add it and they said no can do, i have to cancel policy and do new one and pay an additional deposit and for the 3 days been on risk which is approx 50 quid

15/09/2009 I having the most difficult time with Swinton, I couldn't get clarity between the documents asking for 32% increase and the 12 % the advisor said for the interest on the premiums, asked them to not to proceed and they have taken money from my bank,and want a years worth of insurance. They want 146 pounds Plus threatening to engage debt collectors and a 25 Pound cancellation fee

15/09/2009 Swinton Bikes changed my NCD from 4 years to 3 because the document i sent in was from last year and said 3. When i phoned and explained i didnt have a document saying four years due to changing to them the woman on the phone kept repeating 3 years to me. When i pointed out on their document it said i had owned the bike for 4 years and made no claims she still repeated the 3 years on last years document back to me. Felt like i was headbutting a wall. I then cancelled it, ive sold the bike, and was charged £50. So i was charged a grand total of £83 for less than one months insurance. Almost the amount i had paid for the year. At least it narrows down who to choose for my new bike.

07/09/2009 I got charged £61.09 to cancel an insurance that I had only let run for 5 months....£50.00 cancellation fee, 11.09 part of a discount they had given me, and had to recoup....they said it was in the smallprint, will read it next time....

11/06/2009 totally disagree . I ve got car insurance with swinton . My car had rear end damage ( not my fault ) i called the free phone claim line and very morn they had picked my car up and delivered me a courtesy car till mine got fixed

02/05/2009 they tried to charge me £20 for change of address and they also charge £20 for renewel of policy wont ever use them again (goodbye swinton)

12/03/2009 I had insurance with swintons but i had to cancel(i had to close my shop due to drug dealers moving into the flat up stairs) I had to pay a cancellatin fee which they did not nell me about. Then they ignored the fact i had cancelled and added two installments ... Its at a solicitors now ... [edited by moderator]

10/11/2008 Dont buy insurance from Swinton they tell you a price and when you decide to cancel for whatever reason they make you pay the whole year. I asked for temporary bike cover for a cople of months which they said was fine at the offset and then when I cancelled they charged me around £145 which included cancellation fee. I have reccommended to my friends and amily that they boycot Swinton and their subsiduary companies. I found them quite rude and they also made me out to e a liar saying i had not asked for temporary insurance which I did. Make sure when you take insurance out that they send you confirmation and read the small itsy bitsy print on the bottom. Another friend also had problems with them and she is also telling everyone the same.

07/10/2008 Front page was pretty cluttered but site still usable. They offer a 25% discount if you buy online, which appeals to me as I prefer doing stuff over the internet. Their "get a quote" form was straightforward and fairly standard. Site lets you store quotes and come back to them later. Font size was a bit on the small side. Prices okay, about the same as I was quoted elsewhere, and they didn't seem to have any particular strong points so didn't go for them. Some prices are quoted on the site rather than forcing you to fill in forms just to get an idea of costs, which was handy.

30/06/2008 Site was excellent, quote was quick and really easy. All the bits you had to fill in had extra info if you just hovered over the question mark next to it which was way faster than opening new windows all the time. This also explained why they needed to ask all the questions. It did the usual trick about trying to get info off you about when other policies are due though, and the box which asked about whether it was OK to contact you was small and pre-checked. Also charged quite a bit extra for paying each month instead of all upfront.

30/05/2008 I found this an easy site to navigate and to find information. The main options are clearly labelled. There is no need to search through multiple pages to find, say, motorbike insurance as opposed to car insurance. For some areas of insurance it is not possible to obtain an online quote so I'd probably use someone else in that case purely to avoid having to phone and spend time if all I was doing is looking for a quote.

18/05/2008 Didn't like this one at all. The site is a cheap looking cut and paste job for a start. There seemed to be far more questions to answer for the quote than others I've tried today. And then when you get to the end of it all it is actually just another comparison site. It gave me 3 best prices from top insurers I had never even heard of. Not in the least inspiring, and no confidence in what they were offering.