Insights for participants
Through our EA+ process we learned more about Ling’s complaint and what it would take to resolve matters for her. The broker self-identified the complaint as suitable for EA+ and quickly offered more than Ling wanted to resolve the complaint bringing the matter to a swift conclusion.
What happened?
Ling had arranged insurance with the same insurance broker for 10 years and believed they understood that, although Ling wanted insurance for her rental properties, she preferred to self-insure the contents of her rental properties. When her policies came up for renewal, Ling queried with her broker why she was paying for contents insurance for her rental properties.
The broker said they were unaware that Ling preferred to self-insure and referred her to the renewal documents that clearly referred to the contents insurance. Ling remained disappointed with her broker’s service and instructed them to cancel all her policies.
Ling complained to us, and we referred the complaint to the broker’s internal complaints process. The broker confirmed there was nothing more they could do to resolve the complaint and asked if we could help with our EA+ process.
Our EA+ process
We called Ling and asked her to explain the complaint from her perspective. Ling remained disappointed that her broker did not know her preference to self-insure her contents but accepted that she should have noticed contents insurance was included in the renewal documents. Ling said her complaint was really that the broker had taken 42 days to cancel her insurance, causing her to pay for insurance for longer than necessary.
To resolve the complaint, Ling wanted the broker to refund the premiums for the 42 days between the date Ling asked her broker to cancel the policies and the date the policies were cancelled.
We put this resolution to the broker who said that the cost of Ling’s insurance for the 42 days was $35, but as a gesture of goodwill they would offer her $500. Ling accepted the $500, resolving the complaint. We considered this outcome was more than fair, covering her financial loss and a generous allowance for her disappointment with the service she received.
