An Insurance Story With A Difference
Everywhere you turn, you see insurance adverts. Half the time you answer your phone, its some poor call centre person trying to sell you an insurance policy. You get it shoved in your face every time you open your eyes its just insurance, insurance, insurance. Well, I have insurance and had to make a claim… oh heck, you say? Surprisingly, not so much… from the insurance company anyway.
So what do you have to do when you make a claim?
First you call the company you are insured with and find out what you need to get. Check. You take copious notes and make sure you get everything down. The full list. Check. You need replacement estimates from a few different places for the stuff that you are claiming for.
Right. Got to the shopping mall and get to the store you bought the thing from, only to find that it is no longer in production. Hmm. Ask for the next best product, found it. Track down a sales man and get him to make out a quote for that specific product, no discounts, nothing extra. This takes at least half an hour because he is never going to get a sale out of it and he knows it. Next item…
And so it goes on until you have the necessary quotes for replacing the damaged goods you are claiming from the insurance company for. Now you need to fill out half a dozen forms to register the claim and maybe get paid out. What are you claiming for? Why are you claiming for it? What happened, in as much detail as you can? When did it happen, day, hour and minute please? And so on and so forth, until you have forms coming out of your ears.
So now you have all the documentation. Next step is to fax it to the insurance company (Where did I put that blasted person’s name and fax number? Ah, found it!). Get the fax machine working and send through the required documents. Great! All done! Yeah, right!
The end is not yet in sight. You now have to keep calling them every day, and do not think that they will call you back, even if they say they will! They have to check the weather and the news to see if your story is plausible and checks out. They have to check the quotes you got are indeed the correct items. Yippee! It all checks out at last!
Now to get paid, were you hoping for cash? Nope you get a voucher for the claim value to go get stuff from a specific store you have never heard of before and have to go hunting for. Oh well, at least you got something for it.
In all seriousness though, it is not that bad to make a claim to an insurance company, provided of course it is a reputable insurance company. Be prepared to run around and chase them for what you want though. You know the saying “If you want something done, do it yourself”? Truer words have never been spoken.
