First Call GB Ltd

Difficult to communicate with them as unable to contact via phone and have to chat online, imagine being stuck at the side of the road with no internet! Unhelpful staff. Were not able to insure our brand new car and no refund on existing policy, so went elsewhere.
Feb 16th, 2023

Untrustworthy First Call will use any excuse to put the onus of paying their contractors onto their customers which essentially defeats the object of taking out a policy with them. I hit a pothole whilst driving on a Friday afternoon. I spoke with call handler at First Call immediately, and they advised that they would send a mechanic after asking if my car had a spare wheel I advised that I had one as I was very confident of this (although not 100% certain I did look in my boot and it looked to me that there was a wheel/relevant equipment there). They said this would take 60 - 90 minutes and I asked them to treat my situation as urgent as I'm heavily pregnant. After one hour, the mechanic arrived from their contractor. He assessed my car, looked for a spare wheel, and advised that I didn't have one. I was very taken aback and asked if he was certain. He said he was and then offered to check the damage to the tyre and wheel. He advised that damage had been sustained the tyre, wheel, and wheel alignment so we would need to arrange recovery as roadside repair was not possible. He advised his employers and soon after First Call called me and advised that my policy was invalid in this instance due to the fact that I didnt have a spare wheel. I advised the roadside mechanic that I would be paying his employers directly for the call-outs and subsequent recovery (a total cost of over 150). I then had a phone call from my midwife, and while I was on the call, missed a call from the contractor, requesting payment. When I returned their call, I was surprised when they advised that they would not arrange the recovery vehicle until I paid their fee. This seemed unfair as I had already advised that I would pay the full balance directly. I was given another number to call to make the payment, which I did immediately. The contractor refused to give an ETA for the recovery vehicle, despite knowing that I had already been by the roadside for an hour and a half, heavily pregnant. 45 minutes later, the mechanic arrived with the recovery vehicle and recovered my vehicle to a local mechanic that I had identified. A few days later I received a call from the mechanics where my car had been taken for repair. They advised that the car does, in fact, have a spare wheel, located under the boot! There were also instructions on how to change the spare wheel under the mat inside the boot. So, as a result of this error by the contractor, I had spent several hours by the road, heavily pregnant when, in fact, the issue could have been resolved much faster, and many of these issues could have been avoided entirely, if everything had been done correctly in the first instance. I had also paid over 150 for something which I was made to believe was my error, but was in fact, not even an issue. Of course, these issues occurred because of mistakes made by the contractors. I contacted First Call and they refused to issue a refund for the fee because I should have known where my spare wheel was this despite being heavily pregnant and unable to physically search for the wheel myself, and being told by a FULLY QUALIFIED mechanic that the spare wheel simply was not there!
Dec 22nd, 2021

Blow out whilst driving on the dual carriageway away A5 in Staffordshire at 60-70mph. Scary stuff. Managed to get to a lay-by. Phone First Call Motor Breakdown and they helped identify my exact location, called a local breakdown company and quoted me an approximate call-out time of 60-90 mins. They arrived in 30 mins. I had a spare tire and they changed it for me in under 10 minutes. Brilliant service, brilliant call handler and professional from beginning to end. Couldn't ask for more at rush hour in horrendous weather.
May 17th, 2021

Positive: Professionalism, Responsiveness
Apr 16th, 2021

Oct 23rd, 2020