Swinton Insurance 101 Cathedral Approach, Salford M3 7FB

"Avoid at all costs! Completely incompetent company on every level! Offered us a product that wasn't fit for purpose/legal. Had to cancel policy as a result of under writers confirming this 14 days later yet they still want a cancellation fee!! Complete muppets!!"

"Do not trust this company. They increased my policy by other £1400 at renewal even though all the details were the same as the previous year, they then made it extremely difficult for me to cancel my auto renewal. Avoid at all costs, very very untrustworthy and terrible to do business with!"

"In 23 years of driving this is the worst insurance company I had ever been with. I had the policy on auto renew the same as every other car insurance I have had which always auto renewed after the first year. Got pulled over by police and turns out I had no insurance as Swinton had stopped the auto renewal. I called them and asked why they didn’t let me know, they said they sent me ONE email which I didn’t receive and no trail in email account and they said they tried ringing me twice before end of policy which I can’t find any record of either. No voicemails were left as I check them daily. Then when I phoned them twice to ask for an email trail of them sending the email reminder they just send an attachment of the so called email they sent saying my auto renewal will be cancelled if I don’t get in touch. No actual evidence it was sent in first place. Now I have 6 points, 300 pound fine and a much higher yearly insurance policy. Avoid Swinton like the plague."

"Absolute nightmare, just changed our vehicle 3/4 of the way through our current annual insurance policy. Trying to explain via the phone to their overseas call centre with no joy at all, being cut off & passed from pillar to post and then being told their closing time was imminent, they eventually advised my husband that he would have to go online to do it! He logged on that same night but was in a quandary as to whether to pay the additional premium for the new car till the end of the current policy or cancel & start a brand new one for the new vehicle. So he opted to go no further online & ring the next day to speak to a customer service advisor. Which he did, thankfully spoke to someone in the UK BUT they did try to transfer him to their overseas call centre again in S. Africa, my husband explained he would prefer to speak to someone in the UK as they just couldn't grasp what he was wanting to do, and that the previous evening he had been passed around different departments and also cut off at one point! Thankfully the UK customer representative dealt with the changes to our current policy and allowed my husband to pay the additional premium of £134.18 & assured him that was the going to be the policy for the new car expiring in November & nothing else had gone through regarding a brand new policy and no other payments made. He also lodged a complaint on my husband's behalf, which was upheld as the complaints team listened to the recording of the call, apparently we are to get a £15 voucher?? 2 days ago we had a letter asking why the online application wasn't completed??? My husband rang them again to query the letter, S African call centre answered, they hadn't a clue what he was talking about and said in fact 2 payments were showing up, WHAT THE HECK....my husband asked to speak to someone in UK again, she tried to transfer him but no-one, picked up, so she assured him some one would call him back the following evening at 5pm -5.30pm after he came home from work. (He has attempted several online chats, but even had those deleted while he was still typing, how rude is that!) Continuing on...... The next day we received the updated existing certificate....happy days we thought. But my husband checked our bank account to find we had been debited twice, the extra premium of £134.18 plus £500+ for a second policy! Suffice to say no-one called him back that evening as promised, so he called them again, S Africa answered the call, annoyingly he was still no nearer as the advisor hadn't a clue what to do and he was told they would transfer the call to UK BUT he was cut off again!! THEN Today 3 letters arrived from Swinton, 2 saying we had 2 policies on the same car and to call them to discuss the issue, they would happy to help resolve the problem and a refund MAY be needed, he has been trying for 8 days to just insure our new vehicle nothing else......what a joke this is. He has come off the phone at last to S Africa again, managed to talk to someone who seems to know what they are doing and been assured the £500+ will be refunded & the new 12 month policy cancelled, however he says the connection was terrible. We shall see! Never again with Swinton!"

"sign up via comparison site, send you a letter with 7 days to reply with no claims bonus or they cut you off with a charge of £50 plus any days you have been insured. Other companies just get your no claims for you. Total rip off if you open the letter a few days late."