Unrequited Love – Motor Insurance
I invested in a lop-sided relationship, and alas I got nothing of equal measure in return. Where is the love, where is the loyalty?
I am Ahimaa (pronounced a: hi: maa), a 54-year-old young woman who has experienced unrequited love from my insurance company.
I will describe myself as a car girl; quite uncharacteristic of most XX genotypes, I am a car enthusiast and ensure my cars get all the TLC I can muster. My cars are serviced on time and fixed whenever there is a challenge at the dealership, even after the warranties have expired.
Falling In Love
The relationship commenced five years ago.
Representatives of the insurance company smooth-talked me into signing up, giving me a utopic picture of the benefits of doing business with them. During the said period the relationship thrived and nothing eventful occurred to rock the boat. I dutifully played my role as a partner by contributing to the success of the relationship.
I was smitten by their honey-coated words, and before long I had four comprehensively insured cars, three educational policies, one life insurance policy and two funeral policies, including viable referrals of family and friends who are currently clients with various policies. I always paid all my premiums on time to avoid the situation where the unforeseen may occur and I will have to haggle to get a better claim. Not once did I seek a payment plan nor did they offer one, and these premiums were quite steep.
Falling Out of Love
It so happens that I took a trip to my village for a funeral, and on my way back my windscreen suffered a crack by a stone from a truck loaded with gravel driving at breakneck speed. On inspecting the windscreen, I realized it was a tiny crack that could be fixed by the windscreen repairer at my dealership, thus the needful was done. I took another trip out of town with the same car and the windscreen suffered another hit at the same spot, which aggravated the earlier crack. This time, the crack had spread from the top of the windscreen right through to the bottom. Salvaging the crack further would mar the aesthetics of the car in relation to its pedigree including the safety of the driver and passengers; thus, it meant changing the windscreen.
It seemed the universe was working to my benefit by testing the relationship, as with every relationship there must be that litmus test to determine the reciprocity of the undying love.
I never had a motor accident or a robbery that required a claim, hence the windscreen claim was the test to determine my value as a customer to my beloved insurers.
To avoid the typical back and forth of pursuing a claim of that magnitude, I visited my insurers with a quote from my dealership, rather than call to explain. I was asked for the value of the car which I dutifully estimated and based the payment for comprehensive insurance premiums on said value. I was surprised though, as I was expecting the information to be in their database.
To my angst and bewilderment, I was informed that the dealership’s invoice was too expensive and was directed to a wayside garage they use for such situations for the replacement. I explained to them how and why my cars are fixed and serviced at the dealership and presented invoices as empirical evidence. It seemed all my efforts were in futility as the officer handling my case seemed obstinate in his stance claiming that was the request from the head office. Realizing the officer was not in a position to deal with my challenge, I demanded to speak to his manager.
To my chagrin, the manager was even worse than the officer, he spoke with such nonchalance it felt as though he was doing me a favor. I could not believe the words coming out of his mouth. Considering the number and value of policies I have with both their General and Life Insurance business; it was literally broad daylight thievery. I gave him a week’s ultimatum to ruminate on the situation and revert, otherwise, they lose me as a client.
And that was no empty threat.
I fervently waited for their call which did not materialize so I called two days into the week, the manager had no feedback for me, however, he requested for another week to revert with feedback, and the said extra week turned into a month. Their response was that my car was overvalued based on the year of manufacture therefore the claim could not be honored. I wondered why I had to wait a month for no new news, the pun very much intended. Most importantly, if the car is overvalued as they claim, will they refund the difference in premiums I have paid over the years? and why did they collect those premiums in the first instance?
If this is not unrequited love, then what is it?
I am currently shopping around for a new love; An insurance company that will give me the needed value as a partner, and not a money-making venture.
And guess what? Two months later, their Life Business notified me that premiums for my other policies were outstanding. As indicated earlier my threat was not empty and they ain’t seen nothing yet (SMDH).
REFLECTIONS – Customer Experience Management (CXM) as a Business Transformation Tool
• #customersegmentation is good, however, categorizing #customerspersonas within a segment enables #customerprioritization for improved #customermanagement and reduced #customerchurn.
• Knowing why your customers do business with you gives a better comprehension of #successfulcustomeroutcomes. Guided by this knowledge you can curate #meaningfulexperiences that create value for your customers and improve #customerlifetimevalue.
• Value creation is a 2-way street, not a one-way traffic.
What CXM gaps did you identify?…. LET’S DIALOGUE CX #cxdialogue
For more on how to create value from Customer Experience Interventions contact me on [email protected]
©AhimaatheCXstoryteller. 2023
