Really bad website

  • redbumperman's Avatar
    Just looking
    I have been directed to this community because I want to write some feedback. It's not really intended for the community; it's for someone in Tesco insurance who might be interested in making sense of their website.


    Please imagine you are a customer trying to add a driver to his car policy. Pretend you have never used this website before. You will find that it is a seemingly endless labyrinth of bad turns, dead-ends and circuits to which there is no conclusion.

    Your first encounter will be a request for your login details. These will be rejected several times (there is no facility for revealing your password) until you realise that, despite having searched for insurance, you are trying to enter Tesco Bank, and this is a different login to Tesco Insurance. (You will find out later that there is another login box that refuses you access because this one is for 'Community' and requires a different set of credentials).

    When you realise there's an almost identical login box if you scroll down, you enter your user name. This will take you to a page headed 'Tesco Bank', with the obvious opportunity for misunderstanding there. The only relevant choices here are a menu with 'Help' and 'Contact Us' and buttons to 'View Policy' and 'Get a new car quote'. Viewing the policy and its submenus is fruitless. 'Quote for a new car' (or is it a new quote for a car?) does not have information about a quote for a new car driver.

    'Help' takes you to a page that appears at first to be all about online banking again, and asks you to 'Log in to Community' with a dialogue box saying 'All'. This is baffling for a while until you realise after a few visits that scrolling down several pages will take you through 34 boxes of mostly banking-related questions, the 12th of which concerns car insurance (by the way, should we know what 'box insurance' is?). Scrolling down 15 boxes brings you to 'Can other people drive my car under my policy?' This article tells you that you can add a driver by logging into Your Insurance Account. Following this link takes you to a page which invites you to 'Log Out of Your Insurance Account?' with a choice of 'Continue' (continue with your quest, or continue to log out?) or 'Back', which does nothing. Now you have lost your thread completely, and if you're like me you will hand the whole job to someone else to see what they can make of the situation.

    In my case, I watched the someone else follow exactly the same path as I had, and land up frustrated in the same pit of despair.

    Together we found another 'FAQ' (box 16 of the 34) which told us to go back to the account to 'View Policy', then click on the menu where we would find a 'Make Change' option. Although we had already explored this route, we tried it again. Unsurprisingly, this option was still not there. Thinking we had made a mistake we repeated this fruitless exercise, then finally gave up the ghost.

    I wonder if you had the same experience.

    You will next be asked to provide some feedback regarding your use of the website. You will be referred to a log-in page. When you try to log in you will be refused entry, and only after being warned that you will be excluded after further false attempts you will realise that you have been here before...

    If this feedback has actually made its way to a human being, and has not just been an exercise in catharsis, I would very much appreciate that person contacting me as I hope that, as well as being a way of venting my frustration, the information might be useful in future revisions of the website.

    Tony Latimer

    ps: When I tried to submit this text the action was refused because I had been logged out. After logging back in I stumbled my way back to a blank feedback screen and tried to restore the autosaved text, but only the first paragraph appeared. Luckily I had made a copy.
    Last edited by redbumperman; 22-05-22 at 18:25. Reason: minor corrections
  • 11 Replies

  • RobbieT's Avatar
    Your Community Expert
    Hi @redbumperman, I'm sorry to hear about this. I've passed your post as feedback to the relevant team today. We value all customer feedback as we use this to help make decisions and changes to our products and services in future. Have you since been able to add an additional driver to your policy?
  • redbumperman's Avatar
    Just looking
    @RobbieT
    Hi Robbie. Thank you for replying so promptly. Forgive me for saying so, but you look as if you need to see a doctor urgently.
    In reply to tour question, no I didn't get my problem sorted because the moment slipped by when I needed the service, in an afternoon of looking frustratedly at a screen and writing an email to a Community.

    I wonder if you followed my suggestion and checked out the website? Your verification of the problem would mean a lot to me because you might be able to confirm my findings and add a bit of weight to the points I made.

    Best wishes, and don't forget to get some cream for that face.

    Tony Latimer.

    Do you think I should Go Advanced? Does anyone know what that means? I might try it when I've got another afternoon to spare. For now I'll make do with just Submitting Reply, thank you.
    Last edited by redbumperman; 27-05-22 at 12:51. Reason: missed a comma
  • ralybest's Avatar
    Fresh Eyes
    I am having exactly the same problems when trying to set up a balance transfer
  • redbumperman's Avatar
    Just looking
    @ralybest
    Hello Ralybest! Maybe it's just you and me then. Good job we're in The Community, otherwise it would have taken them even longer than a month and a half to send me notification of your message.

    Anyway, I hope you got your balance transfer in the end.

    Best wishes,
    Tony...


    Submit Reply, or Go Advanced? Is that like stick or twist? Naah, Going Advanced could be an all-night job.

    - - - Updated - - -
    @redbumperman

    Robbie T, are you there?
    Did you pass my valuable feedback to the relevant team? If so, did they think it was as valuable as you did? Keep up the great work.

    Do you think I should Go Advanced?
  • Vanwin's Avatar
    Fresh Eyes
    • CAR RETURNED TO SELLER AS FAULTY, only had it 2-3 days. This is a hopeless website. I told you car returned to seller, yet you imagine I still have insurance. No policy exists. You were told clearly on phone I DO NOT OWN A CAR. Does anybody read these comments??? It is doomed to failure, hopeless, NO CUSTOMER SERVICE, DREADFUL.

    Last edited by Vanwin; 25-07-22 at 22:26. Reason: Because this is a VERY STUPID WEBSITE
  • redbumperman's Avatar
    Just looking
    Aah, Vanwin...

    Welcome to the community.
    I was hoping it might be Robbie T. with another little morsel. I wish I could help you, but you have fallen into this long dark passageway too. Did you bring a torch by any chance? I think we should keep walking in the hope that we bump into Robbie T. If we see Robbie I'm sure he will have the relevant team right there with him, so don't worry. By the way, have you tried Going Advanced yet?
  • RossM's Avatar
    Former Community Manager
    • CAR RETURNED TO SELLER AS FAULTY, only had it 2-3 days. This is a hopeless website. I told you car returned to seller, yet you imagine I still have insurance. No policy exists. You were told clearly on phone I DO NOT OWN A CAR. Does anybody read these comments??? It is doomed to failure, hopeless, NO CUSTOMER SERVICE, DREADFUL.



    Hey, can I ask how you told us you no longer had a vehicle? Usually we would just cancel the policy during your contact as it isn't in anyone interest to keep a policy going with no vehicle.
  • RossM's Avatar
    Former Community Manager
    @redbumperman Hey, the "Go Advanced" adds a couple of extra options to the text editor including HTML options. I can see that Robbie has passed on your comments to the General Insurance team. The customer journey for Your Insurance Account is being reviewed so you should see some improvements in the coming months. When we are ready to share these improvements we will do so on the Community.
  • redbumperman's Avatar
    Just looking
    Good morning Ross M!

    Just wondering if you've seen Robbie T? Perhaps you are from the Relevant Team. Have a go at making your way through the website. It would be great if you could let us know what you think of it, and whether you consider altering it to make it navigable.
    Best wishes,
    Tony L