ADVISORY COLUMN: INSURANCE HELPLINE
Only one of the many persons who contacted me last week is a regular Sunday Gleaner reader.
However, all shared bad experiences with their insurance companies and brokers. Their stories are relevant to the regulator’s new rules on market conduct. Some of its rules were the subject of last week’s article.
One insurer-claimant encounter stood out like a sore thumb. It involved a third-party who described himself as a teacher. He alleged that his parked car and a building he owns were hit by a truck on April 9, 2018. The driver admitted he was at fault.
Many months later, the claimant posted two videos on social media. The person who sent them to me felt they could be used as content for an article.
The 19-minute videos offer a narrative about the interactions between the teacher and an insurance company. He was reportedly escorted from its offices by armed security guards. He ‘raised his voice’ during a visit after waiting months without any explanation for the long delay in the settlement of his claim.
The company, through its employees, treated him like a thief. The claim was partially settled. Payment for the loss of two computers that were in the car at the time of the accident and for the building repairs was excluded for reasons that seemed debatable.
This case is important in the context of the insurance regulator’s new market conduct rules. It shows the many difficulties that some insurers, intermediaries and claimants will continue to face.
Leave A Comment