Budget Direct Home & Contents Insurance Questions & Answers

Good morning. I'm sorry to hear this information has not been provided in detail as you require. I can see your complaint has been escalated and further information will be provided to you once it is reviewed. Take care. *Eve

Good morning. I have responded to your previous feedback post. We can investigate this further for you if you can email us your information to social@budgetdirect.com.au We are not able to confirm any other email addresses for this to be sent and look forward to hearing from you. *Eve

Hello Eve, on the 18 October 2024, I forwarded a lot of details to social@budgetdirect.com.au as requested, so please explain why you are again requesting the same information when you have not bothered to address the information provided previously, i.e. on the 18 October 2024? Is supplication the requirement in order to get Budget Direct to do what the General Insurance Code of Practice, and the Objectives and the Scope of the Code requires Budget Direct to do? Will you please confirm that you will forward my correspondence of 18 October 2024 to the Board of Directors as per my request of that correspondence? Peed Off.

Hello Eve, I confirm that I have had a response from Skye although she did not address the information that I provided in my email. I have not had correspondence from you until today. Also, I confirm that I have supplied sufficient information for Budget direct to address the matter, therefore, I don't understand why you would again request the same information? Platitudes are wonderful and I thank you for them, however, what I have requested is fair, just and honest resolution of the matters that I have brought to the attention of Budget Direct. With Thanks. Peed Off.

Good afternoon. Thank you for responding I have now received your email and responded with further details for you. Please let me know if I can help with anything else in the meantime. Take care. *Eve

Good afternoon. Thank you for posting on our feedback site. I'm sorry you have been disappointed with the fee. This is required when cancelling the cover prior to the 12 month contract ending though as you have advised you have sold the property I would be happy to look into this for you. Please email me at social@budgetdirect.com.au with your policy number, full name as on policy, your date of birth, address including postcode, and any further details you feel we need. I look forward to hearing from you. *Eve

Thanks Eve will do... and now can you point me in the direction of a product disclosure statement for home contents insurance that advises of this early cancellation fee.

Good morning. You are able to view our PDS here: external link . You are able to find the information regarding the cancellation fee on page 71 under: Cancelling the Policy. Take care, *Skye.

Thanks Skye.... the information is as such " We may charge an early cancellation fee of $40.00 (GST inclusive)." . It seems that this is an automatic fee for cancelling a policy before it expires and is actually an exit fee and the word "may" really means "will". What is the justification for this fee ?

Hi. This states 'May', as a cancellation fee does not apply when you cancel during the cooling off period or as of your renewal. *Skye.

Good afternoon. I'm sorry you are having trouble updating your feedback. This is not blocked with us therefore, if you are still having trouble please feel free to reach out via email with any further feedback you may have. Our email address is social@budgetdirect.com.au please include your policy number and details. Take care. *Eve

I have not suggested that there is a block, I suspect that the difficulty may be my ability to understand how to update the posting. I remain dissatisfied with the attitude and responses from Budget to date hence my notice of termination of the remaining Policies that we have with Budget Direct. Money Magazine and Canstar awards aside, whilst you may offer cheaper insurances, it should not be a license for Budget Direct to attempt to defraud us. By it's actions thus far, it is my opinion that Budget Direct is not prepared to abide by the General Insurance Code of Practice, adhere to the Objectives of the code and the Scope of the code. As such, it appears to me that Budget Direct is functioning very much like a duct tape and a smoke and mirrors insurer.

Good afternoon, Valerie. I am so sorry to hear of your loss. I will certainly be able to assist you with this. To protect your privacy, please email me your policy details (including your date of birth and full address) to social@budgetdirect.com.au. I will then be able to view your policy and help you out today. I look forward to hearing from you shortly. Take care, *Ryan.

Hi Kathy, thanks for contacting us. We value all feedback and appreciate you taking the time to post this review. When you quote online and receive a basic quote amount after answering a few questions, the price calculated is subject to change due to underwriting factors/changes you make through the set up process. This can be due to any changes you make to the quote further into the sale including, but not limited to: the excess amount selected, any optional extras that are included such as our accidental damage benefit, underwriting such as the claims history. We do allow our customers to tailor their policies to suit their individual needs. Having the option to remove and select the coverage important to them not only leads to savings for some but peace of mind for others. We’d like the opportunity to review your quotes with you, to make sure we have offered the best premium available. If you’d like us to review your quotes please chat with us online. Have a great day! *Ruby

All I can say is, I have $89000 damage to my home, Budget offered me $8900 many Months with AFCA i am still waiting? Why would anyone?

Your saying your damage is 89000 and they have offered you 8900 can I ask you how much did you have your house insured for ,they have to pay the damage to your home in what has been quoted by the repairer ,i hope you have reported them

insured 650000 They have tried to get engineer to write their words, they have said engineer said 10% of damage due to water Yet i spoke to this engineer who said he never said this, Said impossible to put % on it I engaged 2nd Engineer who reports 100% of damage caused by escape of liquid which i am covered for. I am 80 live on my own the stress this company is putting me is unaustralian

Have reported to AFCA many months ago Still waiting

That's pathetic go to insurance council of Australia put in a complaint ,then see a lawyer,about the stress there putting you under,there not untouchable,they take your money and they should pay up,also another insurance wouldnt pay up so my friend took it to the paper 2 days later he received a answer ,he was affected by the floods as well ,dont let them bully you

Hi Brian, we have responded to your Product Review post on 19 January 2023, however we have received no response from you. As advised in our previous response, we are more than happy to investigate this for you as a matter of urgency. To protect your details we cannot confirm your personal information in a public forum. Please email us at social@budgetdirect.com.au with your policy number, date of birth and the address (including postcode) noted on the policy. Once this information is received we can forward your details to the relevant team for urgent follow up. We look forward to hearing from you. *Ruby

Good morning Melissa. Thank you for contacting us regarding this matter. We are happy to check your policy and confirm all details for you as cover would begin from your commencement date even if payment has not been deducted as yet. So we can do this for you please forward a private message via Facebook or email us with your policy number and further details such as full name, date of birth and address to social@budgetdirect.com.au We look forward to hearing from you. *Eve

Hi Eve Your reply has come to late !!! so don’t bother thank you.

Good morning Melissa. Sorry for the delay with our response. As this feedback service is not monitored all day or on weekends it can take some time for a response. Should you have any urgent queries we are happy to help further via our Live Chat facility online from our website. Have a great day. *Eve

Hi Sare B, thanks for reaching out. We do provide cover for Air Conditioners as per our insured events policy, the value must be included in the Home sum insured. Please note only air conditioners/evaporative coolers permanently attached to the home will be covered under Home building insurance. Portable air conditioners/evaporative coolers should be included under Contents cover. Please read our Product Disclosure Statement here external link  for any limits or exclusions that may apply. Have a great day! *Ruby

If with BD virtually nothing. They will deny all claims and stall for over 6 months and then you need to go to AFCA which are funded by the insurance industry so on their side. You are better to get insurance with a better company

Hi John, thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding your Contents insurance. Page 24 of our Product Disclosure Statement outlines to inclusions and exclusions for Contents cover. This can be accessed here external link . If you have any questions regarding the coverage, please feel free to chat with us via the online chat service available on our website. *Cameron

Good afternoon, thank you for taking the time to reach out. All of our legitimate claims have been paid out within the industry standard of 3 months. I hope you have a great day! *Cameron

I can help you with that. My property was a full loss due to a fire. It was so comprehensive damage that there was nothing to salvage. I made a claim. Here I should mention, I (by mistake) had over insured and was paying premiums regularly. I end up getting about 30% of the insured amount after 6 or so months. There were so many deductions due to the technical wordings in the contract. I hope this helps you. -- Sam

Interestingly, there is no answer from Budget to the question below from Ann, posted 7 months ago !!!!!

Unfortunately this is my experience. Over ten years of paying. Possums have ripped up my aircon ducting and I'm referred to page 63 of the original PDS booklet that excludes vermin damage. It seems the exclusions are so great I'm wondering what I'm insured for.

Spot on mate. Yes getting in and starting the $$$ churning is easy. It's get difficult when one makes a claim.

Hi Leo. Thank you for taking the time to contact us. Please feel free to email us at social@budgetdirect.com.au, and we will be happy to provide further clarity on any questions you have. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Kind regards, Budget Direct.

I just went to budget direct.com.au and clicked the get a quote button and filled in the required information and a quote is emailed to you simple as that .

Hi Rosemary. Thank you for taking the time to contact us. Please feel free to email us at social@budgetdirect.com.au, and we will be happy to provide further clarity on any questions you have. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Kind regards, Budget Direct.

Hi, thank you for reaching out. Our policies provide cover for insured events. All this information is located in our Product Disclosure Statement on the website at external link . If you need any assistance please feel free to chat with us when you are online and we will be happy to assist. Cheers, Budget Direct.

Hi Laura. Thank you for contacting us. Please email us at social@budgetdirect.com.au if you would like us to look into this for you as all claims are based o their own merits. Please supply in the email your full name, date of birth and the address on your policy. Alternatively, chat with us here external link . We look forward to hearing from you soon. Regards, Budget Direct.

Yes that’s a good point - I didn’t know you could check these things. Do you know what the payout ratio is on home and contents with Budget direct ?

13 approved 25 rejected . I changed after refusal for legit claim to Australian Seniors 15 approved 1 refused as an example. See figures bottom right corner under each review

I also changes to another insurer after they rejected our legitimate claim. We are still fighting our claim. We had requested they produce reports and photos that where taken from their own contractors but they refused to send them to us. Now they have been forced to produce these reports and its like we assumed, they are in our favor and they deliberately left these out when making there decision to reject our claim.

Well done Chris let’s call out the shonky dealers like Budget Direct

Good morning Bill, thank you for taking time to leave your feedback and share this with us. I am sorry to see that this was your experience, please contact us on social@budgetdirect.com.au and we will have one of our specialists look into this matter for you. Regards, Budget Direct.

Bill Don't bother. They said the same thing to me. Contact them on this email and someone will look into it. But Surprise, Surprise, nobody ever gets back to you.

Hi all, how do you tell what the payout ratio is for different providers? Thank you

Look in bottom right corner of review page. Budget Direct are the worst offenders.

It's not just approval ratios. It's also what they replace with. They say new for old but once you claim it's like a dictatorship. You get the 1 thing they offer and should be grateful you are offered something. Even if it's not the same brand or energy rating or colour etc. That's how they treat you.

These guys need to be exposed,I'm going getting out of this shonky insurance

Good afternoon. Thank you for taking the time to contact us. Please feel free to email us at social@budgetdirect.com.au, and we will be happy to provide further clarity on any questions you have. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Kind regards, Budget Direct.

Tantangra. They do not respond to claims at all. In fact they will do whatever it takes not to pay you out. In our case they deliberately hid builders report that where in our favor. Its quite funny how all the 5 star ratings on this site is for cheap upfront insurance. There are no 5 star rating when it comes to claims being paid out. Go through all the 1 star reviews and have a look at how they handle claims. Save yourself the trouble and choose another insurer.

Good afternoon Tantangra. Thank you for taking the time to contact us. Please feel free to email us at social@budgetdirect.com.au, and we will be happy to provide further clarity on any questions you have. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Kind regards, Budget Direct.

Tantangra. They do not respond to claims at all. In fact they will do whatever it takes not to pay you out. In our case they deliberately hid builders report that where in our favor. Its quite funny how all the 5 star ratings on this site is for cheap upfront insurance. There are no 5 star rating when it comes to claims being paid out. Go through all the 1 star reviews and have a look at how they handle claims. Save yourself the trouble and choose another insurer.

What insurer have you had good claims experiences with?

I have had friends with NRMA, that have put in claims for over 20K and had them payed out. They where fair, they didn't try and hide anything. Budget Direct deliberately hid information, this was against my parents who both are pensioners, Haven't made any claims in over 40years. All we asked for was a fair go, for them to actually inspect the damage to come up with a conclusion. But they didn't. They relied on a photo on google maps from over a year ago. They sent out an engineer who did not even inspect the roof. They had sent a builder who had written a report and also taken photos, that they did not take into account as it didn't it didn't fit their Agenda. We asked numerous times for these reports and photo's but where ignored. All this to loyal pensioners that had never made a claim in their lives. There roof had collapsed during a major storm in February. They had no problems leaving a pair of pensioners without anywhere to live especially during this pandemic. If they took care of there customers a little more than those stupid and annoying TV Commercials, they might have a little more credibility.

Hi John, thanks for reaching out to us. Auto & General Services administers policies on behalf of Budget Direct. Auto & General Insurance Company Ltd underwrites the policies administered by Auto & General Services. Kind regards, Budget Direct.