NRMA Insurance Claims
OK, so the wife has a prang: no biggie – shit happens. She gets some details from the chick who ran into her, limps home, and lodges a claim. They ask her to get me to phone them to let them know that it’s OK by me for her to do so. I speak to Kim.
Kim rings me back – the policy is invalid. She checks the vehicle details, which I confirm. She goes away
Kim rings me back again – there is no policy against a car with this rego: only the car we sold in May 2008. My closing words to Kim were “This is the first time I have dealt with your section and I have to say that I am not impressed. I will go home, I will get the policy details, and I will call you tomorrow”. I heard he saying something platitudinous as I pressed the end-button on the mobile.
This morning, I get Monica. She also says there insurance policy is not valid. I ask for her supervisor. She reiterates her stance, as do I. She said the supervisor will ring me back.
I am ticked. I am at work, supposedly doing a job, and so pissed off I would not doubt that I have made some blues. After some time I ring their main number 132132, and get Tracey. (sp? Sorry if it’s the wrong version – I really need to know correct details when pimping someone, as well as panning). She confirmed that my insurance was current and – uh, oh … looks like their records on my comprehensive policy haven’t been updated from the original normal-NSW plates which I transferred in June / July 1998. She fixed that, and went to put me through to Claims again.
I expressed my outright dissatisfaction with her claims section, how they were happy to make me run around instead of checking the details themselves. I work in customer service too, and the very last thing I do is, when I need information, to call the client. You have records, you have people to contact – get the information you need from them before you harass an already stressed person.
Tracey puts me through to Julie in Claims, and with her introduction tells her of my attitude. Julie looks at all the policies in front of her (to which Kim and Monica also had access). She saw the problem, fixed it, and suggested that I lodge a new claim. OK fine, I said, but I don’t have the claim details as I am at work and I wasn’t involved. She took this to a manager, who was able to fix it so the claim stayed the same with all the correct details and the same claim number. I praised Julie as the best person working in Claims!
Kim, Monica – give up your day jobs, or go and work for Ostrich Insurance where your kind belong! As for your supervisor … well, OK, she rang, but didn’t leave a message on my voice-mail, and didn’t call back when I could take the call. Maybe you should go and work for Happy Joe, too! I would really hate to think how you would treat someone who had not been with your company for many years and had no idea of the workings of customer service!! Would they still be waiting for you to get back to them?!
pgg 25Jan11
Phoned them today to sort out a few details: how much is the excess, and are we covered for rental/courtesy car?
ReplyDeleteMelissa on 132132 confirmed a $600 excess. That's fine coz that's what the smash-repairer said it would be. She then put me through to the section that looks after booking cars as rentals for replacement vehicles when the policy-car is being repaired. Note that she didn’t introduce me, as any call-centre operator who transfers a call internally should do. 20min later, I speak to someone who has to read me a script about what they will or won't cover, and she puts me onto Hertz.
Hertz tell me that my policy covers me for $50/day, which gets us a Corolla or similar. Plus if I pay $27.50 a day I don't have to pay a $3500 excess in case of an accident. But Hertz doesn't have an office in Blacktown - only Castle Hill, Granville, and Penrith. I thank them and hang up.
We have a Camry. And a small boy. How are we going to fit everything we need to fit in a car into a Corolla? We bought a Camry for that exact reason! So how does the policy on a Camry cover for a Corolla? And what do you do for the Lexus owner, or Commodore or Falcon? Do you force them into a Corolla as well? This is the kind of insurance crap you hear about when people try to claim for flood-damage only to learn that they’re not covered!
The woman at the smash repairs said that, when speaking with NRMA, I should ask that they arrange the car through Thrifty (who have an office there in Blacktown). My bad – I should have asked the script woman to look after that. But after 5min I decided that the script woman and the Hertz woman told me all I need to know and that I wouldn’t continue – we already have the use of a Corolla (hopefully) which won’t be costing us $30/day for 14 days. So we’ll ask about that tomorrow.
The other interesting thing is this – a rental car is not a hire car. Insurance people should change their contracts to this end. If I held them to that term, I would have a chauffeured limousine for the term of the repairs. *That* is a hire car.
Put the car in for repairs today. The fam-in-law came to the party by providing the Commodore for the term of the repairs, so no faffing around with rental* cars.
ReplyDeleteHere's what happened:
1. arrived just before 10:00 and emptied the car of stuff we'll need
2. went to the office
3. a guy comes in, I explain what's happening
4. he said, no worries, shook my hand, took the keys
THAT'S un-worrying!!!
Got a letter from them, too, today, confirming the excess, the rego, and extra-costs ($63.52 to cover for a hire-car*). :rolls eyes:
*A Rental Car is one that you get from Hertz, or Thrifty, or Avis. A Hire Car is one you get with a chauffeur and HC-plates.