RACV insurance direct debit bungle

RACV direct debit bungle results in ‘reverse lottery’ for customer. The insurer has stated it is aware of the issue and has taken steps to rectify the problem.

Do you have any stories about tech errors causing finance chaos? Let us know in the comments below.

7 Likes

The cashless society will be great. Really it will. :wink:

7 Likes

RACV Insurance has experienced direct debit problems for at least the last 10-12 years. This is not new and it seems to keep happening. My experience of this (and others will have had it happen to them) was that a member’s monthly premium would be taken twice or even three times due to the same data being sent to the bank two or three days in a row.

4 Likes

I HAVE BEEN WITH THE RACV SINCE 1989, INSURING UP TO 4 CARS EACH YEAR AND OUR HOME AND CONTENTS. THIS YEAR I TRIED TO CHANGE THE HOME INSURANCE TO A MONTHLY PAYMENT. I RECEIVED A NEW RENEWAL AND PHONED ON SEPTEMEBR 29 TO PROCEED WITH THE MONTHLY DEBIT. RACV GEORGE SAID ALL WAS OK. NOTHING HAPPENED. I PHONED AGAIN OCTOBER 7 RACV LOGAN SAID ALL WOULD BE FIXED. NOTHING HAPPENED. I PHONED AGAIN OCTOBER 14 RACV SARAS INVESTIGATED AND SAID ALL WOULD BE OK JUST WAIT. CHECKED BANK AGAIN…NO DEBIT. PHONED OCTOBER 19 RACV ANONYMOUS CHECKED SAID HE COULD SEE ALL PREVIOUS CONTACTS AND ALL WAS OK WAIT 2 DAYS.![ TWO DAYS LATER I RECEIVED EMAIL NOTICE FROM RACV NICOLE ADVISING POLICY TERMINATION DUE TO NON PAYMENT. I TRIED TO PAY 5 TIMES AND AFTER 31 YEARS OF LOYALTY I AM JUST DISMISSED. JUST THOUGHT YOU SHOULD ALL KNOW THAT IF RACV SAYS ALL IS OK…IT PROBABLY IS NOT. TAKE CAREemphasized text

7 Likes

Welcome to the forum @leem,

That is a shocker, and I moved your post into this older topic about the same issues, although with a different flavour.

@Phloesmum anecdotally noted in 2018 that RACV has problems doing direct debits and it seems they have not gotten any better, and possibly even worse as your experience shows.

I recommend you lodge a formal written (real mail or email) complaint to RACV in a dispassionate factual manner and see how they respond. You will need to start by ringing them on 13 72 28 and asking for the appropriate email or postal address to start, and do not accept being fobbed off. As you discovered talking to RACV by phone is nothing but idle chit chat while written correspondence can be evidence.

In my experience RACV has been a fail in responding to queries, where they summarily ignore that which they are not interested in responding to. Following on from approaching RACV you can also contact AFCA with your complaint.

Since RACV is highlighted from time to time, please let us know how you proceed and any outcome.

4 Likes

RACV Home & Contents Insurance has absolutely disgraceful reviews on Product Review as does RACV Car Insurance.

Caveat Emptor indeed.

4 Likes

That’s not the only problem they have,
according to my recent experience.

After receiving a late payment notice last year because of a postal mishap,
I switched to online billing, but did not have much joy this year with that either:

  1. could not log on and was asked to change my password.

  2. logged on but couldn’t get past ‘method of payment’.

  3. tried Chat which came up with this brilliant response: ‘looks like you’re having a problem logging in’.

  4. thought of doing a BPay but had no customer reference number from the online notice of payment.

  5. finally, I called and settled the payment.
    When I asked about not being able to move through the online payment site, was told it was probably a problem at their end.

Should anyone have to go through so much time and effort just to pay a bill?
(Rhetorical question :wink:)

5 Likes

While RACV (like any large organisation) could do better with customer contact and service it’s worth noting that most insurers have terrible reviews on ProductReview.com.au. It’s not just RACV.

From around 2002 to 2009 (my actual lived experience) RACV had an excellent insurance customer complaints department under the General Manager of that time. I cannot say that this is the case now as there are new executives (CEO and GM).

I believe RACV has now separated home and motor vehicle insurance into two different departments which seems counter intuitive to me. But then, a new CEO likes to make their mark and will often reorganise things.

5 Likes

An RACV insured driver hit my vehicle in 2016. For reasons not germane I claimed on his policy not mine. The RACV claims representative was a bit better than ordinary although I had to do my share of chasing up. In the end I was nether impressed nor unimpressed with the claims experience, but the ‘RACV approved’ repairer they steered me to left much to be desired with a complete lack of preparedness necessitating a multi-weeks delay because they had not foreseen ordering in parts, followed by workmanship issues that never got completely resolved. As the last one was minor I decided to live with it; the repairer ‘wore me down’ and all RACV was happy to do was refer me back to the repairer to correct what they could not do in the first, second, or sometimes third instance.

Considering RACV always gives me quotes on the higher middle to high side I have not been enticed to want to do business with them beyond road service, which they have done OK with for me.

4 Likes

Is it viable to insure with another organisation? You might have a look at Car insurance reviews from almost 2yrs ago

2 Likes

Sorry for the delay in getting the car insurance comparison up. We’re re-assessing how we present the insurance reviews and publication of car insurance has been held up by this process.

If you’re a magazine subscriber, the October mag had the latest car insurance review.

4 Likes

A post was merged into an existing topic: Issues with AGL’s billing, meter reading, & customer service

One of the problems that RACV has is that their claims are handled by a completely different organisation - Insurance Manufacturers of Australia (IMA). Policies are underwritten by IMA and this company is owned half by RACV and half by NRMA. RACV simply sells these policies so if you call RACV about a claim you will end up talking to someone at IMA - they do not have the same customer service ethic as RACV does (think of how RACV handles roadside assistance requests).