About Virgin Money Insurance
Virgin Money Insurance is part of the Virgin Group of companies that is headed up by Richard Branson. Launched in 2006, Virgin Money South Africa was designed to offer easy to understand financial services to the public. Though Virgin Money is a complete financial services provider, they later launched Virgin Insurance to provide short term insurance options. In South Africa, Virgin Money is part of the Telesure group of companies, which also holds many other insurance companies such as 1st for Women, Dial Direct, Budget Insurance, Auto and General and Unity Insurance. Vinay Padaychee is the current head of Virgin Money in South Africa.
Virgin Money Contact Details
Virgin Insurance can be found (along with many other Telesure Group companies) at Auto and General Park, 1 Telesure Lane, Riverglen, Dainfern 2191. You can also contact the company regarding home insurance policies by phone on 0860 10 45 30. Unfortunately, the company website (found at www.virginmoneyins.co.za) does not list an email address for contact, though there is a form that you can fill in with your phone number and a representative will get back to you.
Which Services Do Virgin Money Insurance Provide?
Virgin Money Insurance cover a wide range of insurance needs including: vehicle, buildings, business, portable possessions, life and funeral options as well as household insurance.
Home Contents Insurance with Virgin Money
A Virgin Money home insurance policy covers personal property inside your home from damage caused by fire, explosions, trees, flooding, storms, power surges, geysers, malicious damage (such as vandalism), break ins and theft. Important features of the policy are :
- Coverage includes food (such as that spoiled in a freezer during a power outage), garden furniture and washing on a washing line;
- Property belonging to guests in your home is also covered;
- Money, personal documents, coins and stamps are covered as are credit and debit cards (the Virgin Money website states that fraudulent use of cards is covered, meaning that they will pay a certain amount should someone unauthorised use your cards);
- Locks and keys are covered;
- Property belonging to domestic staff is covered (though there must be damage to show proof that a break in has occurred);
- Vet expenses (in case a pet is injured) and medical expenses (in case someone is injured because of a defect in your home) are both covered;
- Televisions, mirrors and glass are covered as long as they are broken accidentally;
- Possessions in a removal truck are covered;
- There is coverage for the death of either you or your partner should death occur due to a fire or break in;
- You will be entitled to claim rent to live in other accommodation if you cannot stay in your home due to an insured event;
- The cost of calling out the fire brigade is covered;
- You will have coverage for homeowners liability and tenants liability.
Additionally, the Virgin Money Insurance website specifically lists several things that are not covered in your policy. These include items stolen from garages and out buildings (unless there's proof of a break in), swimming pool equipment, fire in a thatched roof building, animals, possessions used for business purposes, and items that are specifically insured (such as valuable jewellery that has its own insurance policy).
How Are Customer Reviews for Virgin Money Insurance?
Hellopeter, the website that lets consumers review service providers, lists 514 reviews of Virgin Insurance from the past year. Of these, 283 are compliments, giving Virgin Money Insurance a 55% positive rating. This is fairly high compared to other insurance companies that we've reviewed. Given that people are more likely to complain than to compliment these results are encouraging for potential customers, though reviews are about all of Virgin's insurance policies, not just about home insurance. Positive reviews seem to centre mostly around great customer service, whilst negative reviews speak about slow claims processing, claim denial or increased premiums. All in all, consumers seem to rate Virgin Money Insurance relatively highly.
How User Friendly is the Virgin Money Insurance Website?
On the whole, the Virgin Money Insurance website was a hassle free user experience. The website is easy to navigate and finding what we needed was simple. We particularly liked that as well as a brief overview of policies, the Virgin Website also provided a clearly marked link on every page to the company's policy brochure so we could easily get more detailed information. The only small complaint that we have is that the home page text is a little small and difficult to read since it's placed on top of a photograph. However, Virgin do a great job of explaining their policies in easy to understand language.
Virgin Money Insurance in Conclusion
Virgin Money Insurance offer a comprehensive household insurance policy, explained on a well designed, easy to understand website. Plus, consumer reviews for the company are encouraging too. However, it is important that you don't base your insurance decisions solely on the experience of others. We always recommend getting as many quotes as possible to ensure that you get the policy that fits your needs at the price that's right for you.
Main subject: Virgin Money Insurance
