Defaqto Avis 

Over the years I’ve trusted the experience and opinions of others, including slick looking reviewers like Defaqto. On more than one occasion I’ve had very poor experiences with companies rated highly by them.
On one such occasion I contacted them to share my experience and was told that their criteria for judging things are not, I think, what a normal person values.
So, be careful and don’t place much trust in their ratings!

Beware, this isnt a consumer rating, most consumer dont get to contribute to the score. It's nothing like TrustPilot where consumers contribute to the rating. I have asked several time for a link to add my feedback but have never been given one.

Admiral given defacto 5 star. Thought I could rely on this. Cracked windscreen not covered which is hardly class as excellent overall cover.
Defacto won’t state what makes up different levels of cover meaning it’s a general assessment and you still need to check in detail.

Currently my wife trying to resolve a no fault claim. Our insurers LV 5 star defaqto rated, reality, they palm out all claims to a third party claim handler. This experience is one of the worst experiences in over 40 years of driving, still ongoing and not even my wife’s fault (she was T boned) Defaqto meaningless, LV not worth one star. Starting to understand why over 2 million drivers are uninsured, the premiums are a waste of money, I pay LV for a service and have an incompetent third party giving me the runaround.

If you reply do not ask me to phone you, I am not going to sit listening to musak for 30 minutes waiting to be fobbed off!

I have seen lots companies boast that they have a 5* defaqto rating the problem is when you go on the defaqto website there isn't one user review or rating which in my opinion is the only sensible way of judging a company's performance therefore if a company boast of having a 5* defaqto rating you really do need to be careful and check them out on trustpilot to find out what their customers really think of them in many cases not very much nothing like 5* lucky if they get 2 stars

First Central insurance limited took out money from my account without my consent and carried on a policy which was never renewed with them. I noticed their debits and got back in contact with them. They never refunded me my payments which have been taken out of my account and charged me £100 for cancellation fee for me to be able to cancel the policy despite the car insured by another insurer. First Central is one of the worse companies which I have to deal with. They are dishonest, very uncooperative and have a terrible portal which does not even let you log into the account. I will never recommend them to anyone. DISHONEST AND LEAST COOPERATIVE CAR INSURANCE COMPANY!!

SCAM
ALSO AVOID 1ST CENTRAL INSURANCE

I choose insurance taking these ratings in to consideration as how good a product is but if the company behind the product is useless then you suffer. As with the post from Claire I bought Homeprotect( Avanti) house insurance who appointed Graham High group as loss adjusters. They screw every penny out of you and don't sort things properly. Avoid if possible

Defaqto.com don’t deserve even a 1 star rating however it is required to make a review. The reason for this is that, Defaqto is backing GoGirl insurance company to support their scam tactics! They need to look into all these negative feedback from angry customers and understand their frustration with GoGirl insurance! GoGirl is a scam and a fraudulent company operating online only to lure people into buying insurance policies by using big companies as a back up to cover their scam side! Customers be warned don’t be fooled with the star rating from this particular company! Do your research and cover your backs prior to buying any insurance policy. Do not trust star ratings from this company at all!!

This is the biggest con ever ! Do not take any notice of these ratings. I have been selecting insurance providers on these ratings and often paying more due to the higher rating.
I selected Home Protect (avoid like the plaque/COVID) for buildings insurance on a second home. I experienced a burst pipe in October and it is now January and I am still nowhere near having it sorted. I don't even know the process/status and they keep getting things wrong (like not assessing the correct room). I called DEFAQTO as I wanted to feedback on this experience only to find out it is nothing to do with customer - they have criteria and look at what the companies offer/do nothing to do with how they actually execute it.

you know you see Defaqto 5* and think "oh that should be good" well think again here is a little story.
Aviva insured our vehicles 4/5 for last 12 years and proudly charged us healthy sums but then ofc we have Defaqto 5* rated cover. My wife had a no fault collision on the motorway and escaped within a whisker of death with a lot of luck, divine intervention and character. this was 10 days ago. We do not yet know if car is a write off [hit by 40 foot arctic and push along the carriageway] here is the rub NO ONE IS TALKING TO US FROM AVIVA and there is a massive conflict of interest because they insured the driver who is at fault. We have legal cover but only if we use their appointed solicitors who will be the same for the guilty party. My wife now has no car to continue doing her job as a key worker during this pandemic Aviva know this but do not do anything they have called once and that was to ask me to get my wife out of bed to speak to them about giving me authority to discuss the claim [yes i am on the policy as a named driver] DEFAQTO YOU NEED TO REDUCE THE AVIVA STARS AND GET REAL THIS CAR INSURANCE BUSINESS IS BECOMING LEGALISED THEFT

Defaqto rate Mapfre who provide Cosmetic Insurance cover for MINI and BMW as good but they are an absolute joke. They ignore all emails, they do not answer the phone and as you’ve paid upfront they are just hoping you give up with the claim.
Complained to MINI and BMW who sold the insurance and they say it’s nothing to do with them - REALLY????

Have become more interested in the comparison websites that rate service providers, since my so far fruitless attempt to claim on a travel insurance policy with a company rated highly by Defacto and other similar websites.

The insurance company made great play of its 5 star ratings from another company (not Defacto) on its website at the time I decided to purchase the insurance. I felt reassured that it also scored highly with Defacto amongst others.

I subsequently felt obliged to point out to the insurance company that it was fraudulently claiming 5 star rating from the other comparison website when the rating had changed, due no doubt to the raft of complaints made to said website. The insurance company then changed its headline 5 star rating to that given by Defacto

I questioned Defacto on how they decide to grant their ratings to companies. What they do not do is rate the service provided or take into account satisfaction scores from customers of the companies they assess. Therefore from a customer perspective, Defacto is not a useful tool to make decisions on whether a company is demonstrably willing to provide you with the service you want.

A plus however for Defacto was the speed with which it responded to my emails.

I am less likely to use Defacto or other similar sites to help me make decisions about services I may wish to purchase at it seems no more helpful than tossing a coin.

I recently was looking for pet insurance through various comparison sites and found one company that had a 5 star Defaqto review which I thought was good, however when I got a quotation I found it to be more than double that of any other company. I contacted Defaqto and they said they did not base their rating on cost at all, only service. I would therefore not trust ratings from Defaqto as their ratings seem to be somewhat poor as they don't look at a very important feature cost!