Not all insurance companies treat claimants the same. This article is about what happens when an insurance company settles a claim for a break-in, the methods they use to reduce claims, and the daft things they do afterwards.

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“Someone’s breaking in across the road”

A man is up later than he should be. He hears a loud bang, and peers out his front room window. He sees that there are some shadowy figures and torchlight inside the office premises across the road. Stopping himself from rushing across the road, he calls the police instead. He took the sensible option. By the time he finishes the call to the police the burglers are gone. It’s a classic commercial theft. Kick the doors in and take whatever isn’t nailed down and can be sold for cash.

The police contact the owners and the premises are secured, which is difficult to do when a UPVC door has been ripped from it’s hinges! Yet it’s a temporary measure, a more permanent fix can be worked out later. Computers, monitors and petty cash have been taken.

Insurers step up… then down again

The client contacts us in the morning and we make the report to their insurer, who won’t do anything until the crime reference number is allocated by the police. Armed with this, we make a detailed report explaining what items have been stolen and what damage has been caused. The people handling the claim seem amiable. A few hours later we receive the email acknowledgement, yet they start as they mean to go on requesting why my client kept so much petty cash. The irony.

It’s this sort of nit picking that really annoys people. They didn’t ask how much petty cash they had before the break in. Indeed, they even make a generous allowance for it as a policy benefit. Yet they use it as a tactic to delay making a payment. It wasn’t the only tactic, they argued about the broken door too.

Settlement achieved

It took a few days to resolve, yet the experience left a sour taste with the client. “How will they behave if we have a major loss?” I reassured them that this company was better in the big losses, which is why we had chosen them. It’s just that you need to have experience in order to push the small ones through, because this company uses smaller claims to train their staff. They don’t tell you that in their literature before you buy from them – we have the inside track.

Once the client has his full payment he asks me to look for alternative insurance providers, which is understandable! Who wants to be contractually tied to someone that makes it difficult together what the contract is supposed to provide? Especially when it’s before a problem with the terms and conditions. A “can-do” attitude means a lot to those who want their businesses to run smoothly. They avoid suppliers that make their life difficult after advertising that they would make it easy. Insurers could take note, but they won’t. This insurer said they would be happy to lose this client because it was “petty cash” that made them attractive to thieves. Poppycock.

Wrap Up: There are hundreds of reasons why insurers are slow to pay out, some are procedural, others personality based. As Forrest Gump said, claims departments are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get… unless you have opened them before.

Top Tip

Make sure your adviser has handled similar outcomes to those that you’re worried about if you really want the reassurance that insurance allied to service can provide.