Insurance co's are dumb!

[justsomeguy]

Sorry to hear all this girlie......

Standard practice for the bloody insurance companies - they hate paying out!!!

WINJA (that stupid shit-eating maggot ) and lovely Crashe all make great points....

Isn't the support one gets from KB great

[myvice]

State are a bunch of slimey underhanded wankers and should all be shot!
Thay have been pissing us about for over a YEAR after a prat in a 4wd mistook my wife's Subaru for a car park!
You just dont want to know, but I dont think using bamboo under fingernails is unreasonable when dealing with them.
When you/Sam get the bike back go over it with a fine tooth comb.
Any little thing, call them...
If you treat them with any thing other than total contempt thay will see it as a weekness.
End of rant, Thank you for your time.

[Pixie]

My technique for dealing with corporate morons is as follows:
Don't get angry,abusive or raise your voice to the menial.They are likely to "forget" to process your request.
Give them a maximum of two cock ups,then insist on talking to a superior.Don't accept "that won't be necessary".If they won't get you a superior,hang up, and get the receptionist to put you though to one.Remember,many automated phone systems will connect you to a receptionist if you punch "0",even if it isn't listed as an option.
If you have other policies with the company,tell the you will take all your business elsewhere.I once threatened to arrange for my entire extended family's to be taken from state Insurance.

[placidfemme]

Thanks all. I have now got the claims form... going to full it out and give it back... hopefully there shouldn't be any more problems... If there are I'll throw a tantrum and sulk lol... no really... I have the supervisors name and stuff... along with all the names of the idiots I've spoken to during the whole process... I won't be putting up with any more shit...

[Jonty]

Thanks all. I have now got the claims form... going to full it out and give it back... hopefully there shouldn't be any more problems... If there are I'll throw a tantrum and sulk lol... no really... I have the supervisors name and stuff... along with all the names of the idiots I've spoken to during the whole process... I won't be putting up with any more shit...

Good work Remember also that there is the insurance ombudsman you can contact - as soon as insurance companies hear that word you find things moving along a lot quicker

[ManDownUnder]

Thanks all. I have now got the claims form... going to full it out and give it back... hopefully there shouldn't be any more problems... If there are I'll throw a tantrum and sulk lol... no really... I have the supervisors name and stuff... along with all the names of the idiots I've spoken to during the whole process... I won't be putting up with any more shit...

Good on ya and good luck.

Don't get abusive though... tempting thought IT REALLY IS... just spell out the facts, get a confirmation of how long processing the claim is going to take, and have the bike shop ring you if there are any delays.

Feel free to conference in the Insurance person at that point - have them both chat about it and get you dates for pay out, and completed repair. Ask the bike shop if there is any reason they can't start the repairs while waiting on the insurance company to pay out (I mean... they have the money right?!?)

Good luck PF!
MDU

[ManDownUnder]

State are a bunch of slimey underhanded wankers and should all be shot!
Thay have been pissing us about for over a YEAR after a prat in a 4wd mistook my wife's Subaru for a car park!
You just dont want to know, but I dont think using bamboo under fingernails is unreasonable when dealing with them.
When you/Sam get the bike back go over it with a fine tooth comb.
Any little thing, call them...
If you treat them with any thing other than total contempt thay will see it as a weekness.
End of rant, Thank you for your time.

Try this if you need to
http://www.iombudsman.org.nz/

Write to the Ombudsman and put the CEO of State Insurance on cc so they can see what is going to happen, and why.

There is no reason at all to be mucked around by any service organisation - NONE. I'm not picking on Insurance Companies here, I personally see them as doing a lot of good, like tax. You have to pay it, but there is a good reason you do.

That being said, I'm not a porponent of handing over the money and walking away...

MDU

[Lias]

FWIW, Never had bike insurance (too pricey) with them but for contents insurance NZI are actually freaking fantastic to deal with on claims.

When I binned I claimed my jacket/helmet/etc on insurance. Rang NZI up, talked to the lady, we agreed on a value for the items with depreciation and stuff, cheque arrived 2 days later.

A few years ago we went away for a week or two for xmas, and my missus decided to turn the stove off at the wall before we left.. Only problem was the chest freezer was plugged into the socket on the side of the stove wasnt it.. VERY smelly soggy mess when got back.. Talked to insurance co, made a list of what was in the fridge, went to supermarket and priced everything, faxed to insurance company, cheque arrived a few days later.

Nothing but good things to say about NZI.

State and Protecta however can both suck my nuts :-P

[placidfemme]

Try this if you need to
http://www.iombudsman.org.nz/

Write to the Ombudsman and put the CEO of State Insurance on cc so they can see what is going to happen, and why.

There is no reason at all to be mucked around by any service organisation - NONE. I'm not picking on Insurance Companies here, I personally see them as doing a lot of good, like tax. You have to pay it, but there is a good reason you do.

That being said, I'm not a porponent of handing over the money and walking away...

MDU

thank you, I've saved that to my favourites and I'll use it if I have any more issues with these people...

I see the good in having insurance (I wouldn't want to be forking out $611 right now), but they should be a lot more "customer" focused, and the different insurance co's should be a lot more willing to sort things out between each other instead of having the client (us) call back and forth... exspecially if they are owned by the same mother company (like State and Swann Ins )

But for now it looks like smooth sailing

[ManDownUnder]

thank you, I've saved that to my favourites and I'll use it if I have any more issues with these people...

I see the good in having insurance (I wouldn't want to be forking out $611 right now), but they should be a lot more "customer" focused, and the different insurance co's should be a lot more willing to sort things out between each other instead of having the client (us) call back and forth... exspecially if they are owned by the same mother company (like State and Swann Ins )

But for now it looks like smooth sailing

The funny/strange part is that they're all very aware that insurance is mainly bought on price in NZ, and they're falling over themselves to put practices in place to STREAMLINE customer service etc.

Failures and glitches like this fly in the face of those policies, but of course the people causing the problems are not those making the rules.

Sometimes the rule makers need to be included in those conversations (just to get their feet back on the ground - even if only for a few minutes)

MDU

[surfchick]

Well some dude from my Ins Co just called me... Told me my policy had expired... It's gonna take a while to get the bike fixed... say 3 days for the claim form to get to me... 3 days for it to get back to them... and who knows how long until it's processed and the funds given to the bike shop... then proberly another week or longer if they need to order any parts... so all up over 2 weeks before we get the bike back... Sam's gonna be upset... you should have heard her moaning on Saturday about going for a ride

ARRRRGGGHHHHHH and ARRRGHHHHHHH aRRRAGHHHHH i think insurance companies are asleep most of the time. my car got stolen out of the driveway. went missing for months. i got paid out. then got a call from the police who had found the car. i rang state they said they'd collect it as it was technically theirs. for weeks after the police were calling me saying the car is still there...AARAGHRGGGG me soooo maaaaad. now my no claims is so high i can't insure the car but 3rd party. not that it matters. that truck has had more hits than elvis.

[unhingedlizard]

My missus is a claims officer with a insurance company and this is what she reckons:

Swann Ins will repair your bike in the first instance. That is what you pay your premiums for. Depending on their claims process you may have to pay your excess ... Swann should then recover all the repair costs (including your excess) from State and will refund your excess to you. If State admit liability to Swann straight away Swann may be able to waive your excess. Keep phoning Swann as they need to get the damage assessed and repairs underway.

If you keep having problems look round for a good insurance broker as they will deal with claims for you and you only have to deal with the broker who is working for you.

[placidfemme]

My missus is a claims officer with a insurance company and this is what she reckons:

Swann Ins will repair your bike in the first instance. That is what you pay your premiums for. Depending on their claims process you may have to pay your excess ... Swann should then recover all the repair costs (including your excess) from State and will refund your excess to you. If State admit liability to Swann straight away Swann may be able to waive your excess. Keep phoning Swann as they need to get the damage assessed and repairs underway.

If you keep having problems look round for a good insurance broker as they will deal with claims for you and you only have to deal with the broker who is working for you.

I will be seriously pissed off if they make me pay my excess... if they make me pay the excess (thats if I had the money to) then I might as well pay for the repairs myself as the repairs are only $100 more than my excess...

[unhingedlizard]

depends on your policy. Check the contract.

[ManDownUnder]

I will be seriously pissed off if they make me pay my excess... if they make me pay the excess (thats if I had the money to) then I might as well pay for the repairs myself as the repairs are only $100 more than my excess...

Quick calculation time...

If you will only get a payout of $100, find out how much you lose in your no claims bonus (get them to tell you how much per year, as well as the total amount until the point where your no claims bonus level gets back to where it was...)

It sounds like it MIGHT be cheaper to just pay for it...?!?

I haven't gone back over the thread in detail, but I'm fundamentally curious about why the person that hit Sam isn't paying all this stuff...!?? You shouldn't be losing ANYTHING!

Also - Look up the policy, and remind the insurance co if they provide cash for a loan vehicles while Sam is unable to use her bike. She might get a cage to use in the meantime...

MDU