Balens Reviews 

I have used Balens for many many years and have always had positive experiences. There is a caring family feel with this firm and they always do their best to provide the best value with the best package to suit my business.

I have been with Balens for many years and I did have an experience that was quite stressful, HOWEVER Balens in particular Dawn K - turned it around and has been a pillar of advice and support since. Even when I have needed additional advice to do with export and more complicated branches of cover she has been at hand. I would 100% recommend Balens to give that security but having Dawn K in their team is a huge asset.

Absolutely shocking experience. I applied for my renewed insurance a month ago and it took weeks to hear back from them. It got to an urgent situation where if i didn’t have my updated insurance I would be out of work. I called and emailed and they told me there was nothing they could do. In the end I went with Fitness Industry Service CIC and they sent the correct insurance to me in 15 minutes for less than half the price Balens would charge.

Had a terrible time with them. I asked for a quote in plenty of time prior to my renewal date. After a lot of back and forth I finally got a quote in writing and paid for my policy. 3 weeks on from paying. I still hadn’t received a certificate even though I had been pushing them to send it. Someone finally came back and said they had quoted the wrong figure and wouldn’t allow me to have the certificate until I paid a lot more money on top. After speaking to someone else, A completely different figure was mentioned which I had to pay.

If I hadn’t paid more and continued with them then I wouldn’t have insured for the last 3 weeks of work. Terrible customer service and no one can tell you the same thing. Backtracking on an agreed and paid for quote is very dodgy behaviour. If they had made a mistake they should have to deal with consequences, not myself.

I was told I had £250k legal insurance with Balens. When the time came to call on it, the passed me to another company, who then passed me to another company who told me they would cover my legal fees. After a few more days they said, surprise surprise, they had made a mistake, and in fact, they would not pay my legal fees. SCAM

This company is very slow to respond to emails, and phone calls fail to reach any resolution. I have held a multi therapy policy for some years but since pandemic the service has declined in my view. It seems that they are trading on their previously good name, but new providers are coming to the market all the time. And Balens are looking less attractive. Shame.

I have started my quote a month ago, and I am still in the process. Terebble slowly for up to a week to answer your email. Even if you send all the needed documents, forget it. I can't recommend it!

I was surprised to read the previous reviews as I have been insured with Balens for over a year now for several different therapies. In that time, I have added more therapies and changed from being a student in some to being qualified and have always found them helpful. They can take a little while to reply to emails but nothing out of the ordinary.

I applied to extend my insurance 9th May. I still haven’t heard anything from them. So bad. They were ok before the pandemic. Sorted out the insurance within a couple of days but now their waiting times are ridiculous.

Took months to review my application. Impossible to reach them by phone, and they take weeks to reply to emails -if they do at all.

Only replied with partial updates or answers to my questions.

If that's how they treat a prospective customer, I can't imagine the criminal level of service they provide if you need to file a claim.

I have found the customer service to be quite poor. The staff I have spoken with so far, via email and phone have been abrupt and lacking courtesy/consideration.

They keep you on the line forever with a recorded message. There is no option to leave a message nor an email.
10 minutes after listening to a lot of gibberish I had to hang up the phone as the message started again from the beginning, again with no option to leave a message contrary to what the recorded message said.
I wish I could sue you for wasting my time. What a disgrace of a company.

On the phone very patronizing, i dare saying passive aggressive, unfriendly...and this is when you're trying to pay for a policy. I leave you to imagine what it must be like when you have to make a claim.
In writing, of course, super professional. Slow compared to other providers
Unpleasant experience
it's worthy paying the extra pennies for a better service