Insurance companies are gits.

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SD1

Guest
Not sure you should have written that.
Should have read if my house burnt down...if!!
 
Floods :sad: Just before Christmas.
Still not finished. I'm doing the majority myself. Updating the house instead of using insurance contractors.
I've seen some of the work done by some of the companies and folk are having problems now with work not done properly.
Also walls are only just drying out properly. I have 19th C house.
 

srw

It's a bit more complicated than that...
[QUOTE 3758385, member: 45"]Wellwouldyoubelieveit....

Having considered your excellent comment about not disclosing security devices I did a quick gocompare without the chain that I use being added to the details and there was very little variance in the costs. I thought I'd ditch the Post Office given the jobsworth last week, but I rang the number to give them another chance first. I told the operator that I wanted to remove the lock from my details and add the Datatag while I was there. She said that the policy only has the Honda HISS immobiliser down on the security list anyway, and she added the datatag. She then said that there was no charge for the amendment. So I'm a happy bunny.[/QUOTE]
So what you mean isn't "Insurance companies are gits", but "There are insurance companies with inconsistent pricing methodologies and poor telephone-handling skills, but some are OK."
 

srw

It's a bit more complicated than that...
[QUOTE 3760177, member: 45"]Not really. What I mean is "insurance companies are gits because they have terms and conditions that are unreasonable, and their better staff have to chance their arm by working around them to give better customer service".[/QUOTE]
If Ts and Cs are unreasonable, complain about them to the company, not the internet. I wish more people would, because it would give the better companies with more reasonable Ts and Cs an edge.
 

Dan B

Disengaged member
So what you mean isn't "Insurance companies are gits"
I think that "insurance companies are gits" in the same way that "landlords are bastards": some of them may try harder than others to provide the service you want, but the system is by and large set up to work against the immediate interests of its customers. When you've suffered a major loss, the last thing you need is for your insurer (the people you're paying to help you out) either to assume that you're lying to them or to weasel out of their commitment to you, but that's exactly what the economic incentives push them to do.
 

Dan B

Disengaged member
Actually I would love to see an insurance comparison site that showed claims data (time to pay out, customer satisfaction etc) along with the premium, because there's no point complaining that customers buy only on price when they have no data on any other aspect of the service to make a decision with
 

srw

It's a bit more complicated than that...
I think that "insurance companies are gits" in the same way that "landlords are bastards": some of them may try harder than others to provide the service you want, but the system is by and large set up to work against the immediate interests of its customers. When you've suffered a major loss, the last thing you need is for your insurer (the people you're paying to help you out) either to assume that you're lying to them or to weasel out of their commitment to you, but that's exactly what the economic incentives push them to do.
...which is why strong - and good quality - regulation is an essential part of financial services in a mature economy.

(Although I suspect I'd disagree with you on the economic incentives. It's more cost-effective to have good fraud trapping and then assume that everyone else is honest.)

Actually I would love to see an insurance comparison site that showed claims data (time to pay out, customer satisfaction etc) along with the premium, because there's no point complaining that customers buy only on price when they have no data on any other aspect of the service to make a decision with

Like this?
http://www.insuranceage.co.uk/insur...y-reveals-record-levels-customer-satisfaction

Being a pedant I'd point out that "time to pay out" is a very crude metric that doesn't necessarily reflect good - or bad - customer service. The more innovative, customer-focussed insurance companies are looking at more intelligent metrics that reflect what customers actually want.
 

PK99

Legendary Member
Location
SW19
I'm always puzzled by these sorts of discussions.

So may people seem to buy insurance on the basis of lowest price and then are puzzled when, having paid for a ford fiesta it does not perform like a honda civic.

i hear many folks complain about holiday insurance - having gone for the cheapest

My experience of a major claim was my wife's skiing accident over Xmas a few years ago in France. (Fortunately relatively minor fractures of pelvis, shoulder and thumb)

Our travel insurance is part of a First Direct linked bank account not the cheapest way to have holiday insurance but....- A single phone call and exemplary service kicked in, they contacted hotel and authorized free stay for me and the kids for as long as necessary. Daily taxi rides (£100) to hospital paid for without argument. Teenage kids actually went home as scheduled but i stayed on cost free for nearly a week. We were then collected from the hospital by private ambulance without having to do anything, wheel chair waiting at airport, business class seats on flight home, wheel chair then private ambulance waiting at Heathrow for transport to NHS hospital. ALL bills except taxi settled direct by insurance company.

Why such good service? Their economic driver was to keep our banking business.
Why poor service from "cheapest quote" companies? They have had your money and will get no more, their economic driver is to minimize the amount they pay on your claim.

I've had similar good experiences on house insurance claims (4 bikes stolen from garage - no quibble replacement, Bike written off in accident - no quibble replacement, New kitchen ceiling because of water leak - no quibble replacement. New kitchen floor because of (different) leak - no quibble replacement.

You get what you pay for.
 

Dan B

Disengaged member

That article tells me 86% of those surveyed are happy with their insurer, but as a purchaser it offers no advice to me on how to make sure I'm not in the other 14%. I have readier access to comparison information buying £20 consumer durables from Amazon than £500 car insurance from any of the major comparison sites.

Being a pedant I'd point out that "time to pay out" is a very crude metric that doesn't necessarily reflect good - or bad - customer service. The more innovative, customer-focussed insurance companies are looking at more intelligent metrics that reflect what customers actually want.
Pedantry accepted. I'm sure there are many better metrics, but any performance metric at all would be better than googling "companyname +complaints" and hoping similar numbers of ranty people have been exposed to each insurer on the shortlist.
 

SD1

Guest
Actually I would love to see an insurance comparison site that showed claims data (time to pay out, customer satisfaction etc) along with the premium, because there's no point complaining that customers buy only on price when they have no data on any other aspect of the service to make a decision with
You could probably find this info if you looked, that's what googles for!
You don't really need to be to specific, all you need to know is the one with the worse score. They obviously are the slowest to pay out. A start point is always money saving expert.
 

SD1

Guest
but that's exactly what the economic incentives push them to do.
That's because people are always looking for the cheapest insurance. Common sence says the cheapest insurer gets you the worst service. The ones that are slowest to pay out and the worse T&C are going to be the cheapest.
PS it is illegal to have an unfair contract, I assume bad T&C would be defined as unfair contract?
 
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