Services? Really? Do I pay to be pissed off?

mart2929Fri 15/02/08 17:57

Today, I found that some vandal had smashed my front windscreen. It looked like a drunken rampage because another car lost a window completely.

Anyway, it would have cost me £134+VAT to have it fixed. But the insurance company covered it (without any such statement in its key facts documents - Financial Service Authority, take note?). The insurer would have charged an excess of only £70.

A good deal?

Bollocks.

Here is an email that I have drafted to the insurer. What are your thoughts?

What a classic comment about the so-called "professionalism" of modern British society. Is there any part of "customer service" that the British actually understand?

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Thank you for the blank claim form.

I have provided the incremental details requested by the form. You already have most of them: i) they have been on the policy; ii) you asked all of these questions over the telephone. There is no reason for me to tell you this information again.

I would comment on the feedback form, but the URL supplied in your email fails (page not found). Please copy the contents of this email onto the feedback form and submit to your feedback department.

I am satisfied with the outcome, but am somewhat stressed by the process. It has wasted over 2 hours of my time today, time that I should be working for my employer, not my service providers!

The day was as follows.

Upon discovery of the smashed windscreen (at 7.30am), I checked your the policy documents and found no mention of windscreens as a potential claim.

Accordingly, I arranged a windscreen replacement. I contacted Fixer1 first (they provide roadside cover to me amongst their other services) and found that they couldn't deliver until Tuesday 19 February. I contacted Fixer2 second. They booked delivery between 11am and 2pm today.

At ~1.30pm, a friend mentioned that the insurance companies generally offer windscreen cover as standard. Why was this not in the key facts summary of the policy documents? I telephoned Insurer to discover that windscreens are indeed covered (and do not affect the no-claims bonus). So I raised the claim, only to find that Insurer has two preferred providers and insisted that I use them instead of Fixer2.

Neither provider could deliver today; both offered delivery on Tuesday 19 February. The first of the providers was Fixer1. Déjà vu. I said at the time that Fixer1 couldn't deliver, but, no, I had to waste my time with calling them again. The second of the providers was Fixer3. They did well to short-circuit their own procedures to find a delivery date quickly, but the date itself was still Tuesday 19 February. They didn't have the component in stock.

By 3pm, Insurer had agreed to cover Fixer2 and by 3.30pm, the job was complete.

I must emphasise that I had to do all of the running around. I had to relay the same information to four different people. Whilst Insurer's call handling processes succeeded in handing the case between its own staff fluently, the process stopped short when dealing with its preferred providers. My phone bill is going to be significant this month.

On reflection, I wonder whether the claim was actually worth it. Fixer2's own price was £134+VAT; Insurer's excess of £70. By involving Insurer, I saved only £87.45 cash, but my working day has more-or-less been shot to pieces. The opportunity cost was way more than £87.45.

Why should my working life to stop when I have a service provider (an insurer)? Why should the customer manage the service provider's preferred suppliers (Fixer1 and Fixer3)? They're Insurer's suppliers: Insurer can manage them!

The icing on the cake - perhaps the bit that embitters me most of all - was a claim form whose content I had already delivered to Insurer verbally at 2pm. The claim form is blank and, apparently, I need to type it into Insurer's systems myself.

This is GROTESQUELY UNACCEPTABLE. It's your bloody form and you have the data already. TYPE IT UP YOURSELVES, YOU LAZY PEOPLE!! I am paying Insurer to provide cover and the service to go with it, all of the calls are recorded and yet it seems to be down to the customer to replicate the call handler's job in typing stuff up into a computer. I heard keyboard clicks when on the telephone to them; what were they doing? Recorded verbal evidence completely removes the need for a web-form and a paper form. If a web-form is acceptable, then even the necessity of a signature on the paper form is questionable. The form is a pointless formality in this claim: bureaucratic, irrelevant and wasteful.

At the very least, Insurer could have pre-populated the form. There is no excuse to have thrown a blank form to a customer, basically saying that it's the customer's problem. I have a two-word answer for that. This will influence my decision to renew with Insurer in May 2008.

To think, had I just paid £134+VAT and completely excluded Insurer from the process, then the disruption of an undriveable car would have made NO MATERIAL DIFFERENCE to my working day. Only when I get a 'service provider' involved do things go wrong. Why did I bother?

Have a good weekend.

Kind regards

ajwoodyFri 15/02/08 18:11

i think you had it lucky - to have a windscreen broken and fixed on the same day and covered on your insurance. It's not always standard and the running around could have been a lot worse.

Think yourself lucky that it was only two hours and that you have a job that allows you to afford a car.

toberodiFri 15/02/08 18:17

I couldn't read all of that, but I agree that car insurers are very good at collecting premiums, and rubbish when you need their help. Over recent years I've had to deal with them in two separate incidents, where both times I had to organise every stage of the claim myself! It was very stressful.

I'd happily pay a little more than the going rate to insure my car with a company that really did sort it all out for you when an accident happens. It's a shame that all these price comparison websites don't compare the actual (not promised) level of service provided!

richard18Fri 15/02/08 18:29

quoting > "Why should my working life to stop when I have a service provider (an insurer)? Why should the customer manage the service provider's preferred suppliers (Fixer1 and Fixer3)? They're Insurer's suppliers: Insurer can manage them!"

Whilst I agree that you shouldn't be forced to do so much chasing around for the insurers suppliers, I can see the logic in asking that you contact them yourselves, after all, the supplier has to turn up to fix your windscreen when you are available, and you are the best person to arrange that with. If it was the insurance company that negotiated with them, they would book the repairer and tell you what time they were coming, if it was inconvenient that then becomes your problem as the insurer would have fulfilled its obligations by making the appointment.

I only know this from where I work. We ask our customers to make engineers appointments directly with the engineer because it is much simpler and quicker for the customer.

ellisoneFri 15/02/08 18:31

i'm about to become mr unpopular as i working for an insurance company and spending my day answering this and other such questions....

the are a couple of things i shall say...

one, did you read all your documents and small print? it will state what your covered for, did you check your policy booklets and everything they sent you when your cover started, it doesn't have to be in the policy documents believe it or not.

two, they have preferred window replacement as it is usually cheaper to use them... one of the reasons for that is it won't guarantee when it will be done, not all insurance companies will allow you to use non preferred as it cost more. and this money can not be reclaimed as it doesn't affect your no claims.

as for them want you to write it down... it will be for verification as insurance fraud is rife believe it or not.

finally where people get confused with the term customer service is that they assume that you get what you want and get it all done for you, this is not the case, you get told what you can expect realistically, and you get help with it where applicable. however its the customers responsibility to show evidence (if needed) for what ever you what .