The email – which looks to have been sent to a fair few Hasting Direct customers – says that customers have been “overcharged” on their latest car insurance deal
Hasting Direct customers have been left confused after receiving an email telling them they are eligible for a refund on their insurance deal.
The email – which looks to have been sent to a fair few Hasting Direct customers – says that customers have been “overcharged” on their latest car insurance deal. In the email seen by the Mirror, it said: ” Unfortunately, you were charged a higher price than you should have been.”
The email then went on to say that the customer would be refunded “everything” they were owed, so they were “paying the amount you should have done originally.” It said: “As you paid a higher price when you renewed your policy, it is being refunded to you. We’re really sorry for any inconvenience and here’s what we’re doing to put things right as quickly as possible.”
However, confusion arose as some people had not taken out an insurance deal with the firm. One person posted to X: “@HastingsDirect Hi, I just got an email saying sorry I was overcharged and I’m getting a refund, I cancelled my policy in October 2024 as the renewal quote was ridiculous so is it a refund from my previous insurance? I’m very confused at the moment.”
A second shared: “@HastingsDirect looking forward to my refund although I’m not a Hastings customer? Never had car insurance with you?.” Another said that they were worried it was a scam, so they didnt click on the link to the help centre: “I also had an email from @HastingsDirect saying I was overcharged for my car insurance, but I don’t have car insurance with you, so is this a scam?”
Some customers who were confused wanted to get to the bottom of it, however, found the firm’s website, phoneline, and app had all gone down. One X user said: “Just had an e-mail informing me of a partial refund of my car insurance premium, and your phone lines seem to have fallen over so I can’t get through. What’s going on?” A second added: “I can’t get onto the website or app! At least it’s not just me.”
A third posted: “Looks like they’ve got some serious system issues at the moment. Website has fallen over, can’t get through on the phone, not responding to any messages..” According to the website Down Detector, there have been 361 reports of outages with Hastings Direct, with issues looking to have started around 12pm. Reports of the emails began around then also.
Hastings Direct soon responded to the reports on social media, confirming that the email was a mistake and that refunds were not being issued. Hastings Direct responded to a concerned customer, saying: “We are aware of this being sent out to customers, and we can confirm this has been sent out in error. We’re really sorry that you’ve received this and it’s caused some confusion.”
A follow-up email seems to have been sent to customers who received the initial one, confirming that it had been sent out “in error”. The email said: “You may have received an email telling you that we are partly refunding you for your renewal. Unfortunately, this was sent to you by mistake – so please disregard it.”
One person who shared the image of the email they had received said: “@HastingsDirect don’t play with my emotions like that. Felt like I had won the lottery for an hour and seventeen minutes” A second said: “I got an email from Hastings Direct as well. They’ve just emailed again, saying it’s a mistake. Damn! I was getting excited there.” A third added: “Sould have known an email promising money was too good to be true! Cheers @HastingsDirect Never mind, not long til renewal!” The Mirror has approached Hasting Direct for comment.