I am currently going through a claim with GIO and things are not going as well as one would hope, in fact its just appalling.


Just wondering about others experience with insurance companies and in particular GIO, thanks

sn

Thank you for your comments, my claim is as a Land Lord so tenant type insurance.

Storm / building insurance

Many years ago.
Storm lasted a few days, damage to building while being built.
Insurance guy called to site and was told that part of damage was last night, rest was the night before.He thinks for a second, and then states that because the damage was on two separate occasions we needed to pay for two separate clams.So instead of a $500 excess we had to pay $1000 What a scam, what a pr….k the insurance guy was (not like it was his money I was claiming)

My car was written off 2 months ago, It clearly wasnt my fault. I had very good service from a big name company and money in my account in less than 8 business days later. I'll wont be changing insurance providers.

It's simple.
Read you policy document. If you dont have it, download it.
It states exactly what u can expect. dont let them give you anything less.

As a previous landlord my experience was terrible. Lucky we weren't up for too much but I can only wonder how bad it is for others less fortunate than we were.

To give you an idea I rang the Rent Tribunal as the landlord and was basicly told that as most landlords rip the tenant off that was how we would be judged. I then rang up later posing as the tenant and was told how and what to say so that the landlord would have to prove we were lying.

It was a quick lesson in now the agreements are geared so we got out.

Best of luck.

It is what I do for work, as an external loss adjsuter to several insurance companies.

One of the major insurers, can't mention names, did some training with us, and part of it was an exercise, where the internal claims manager came up with an odd scenario, and went round and asked all his claims staff, about 20 different people. Can't remember exact figures, but 6 or 7 said it would be approve, 6 or 7 said it was a decline, 1 or 2 said unsure and they would refer it on to their team leader, and a couple fluffed around and said a partial acceptance/partial decline.

Unfortunately, it can depend on who you get/who your case manager is, even down to what mood they are in!!! (believe it!)

Insurance companies are just a bunch of mostly average people, who would mostly prefer to be doing something else, who have to interpret a confusing PDS, and want to refer difficult claims onto someone else..... Most days at 5.01pm dont stand near the door!

And going back to that training day, the claims manager with that company, quite high up, said to us to do WHATEVER we could to get the claim thru, AWAYS give the customer the benefit of the doubt, believe whatever the customer says........

I have seen things generally change for the better in the industry, even over the last 5 years. Insurers have worked out that once you lose a customer, you can really never get them back. Also a happy customer that has had a good claims experience, is a good ambassador and will tell their friends.

Also, another thing the public don't realize, and I can divulge here as it is general knowledge, for something to go to Financial ombudsman (FOS). Actually costs the insurer, not you. If you lodge a claim with FOS, FOS immediately send a rather large invoice straight to the insurer.......so if the claim is under about 5K........most companies will roll over.

Keep pushing, be nice about it, never yell at the poor 20 something on the phone, and politely ask how he or she came to that decision, say you disagree and want the claim reviewed.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice and I have mostly followed it but I admit I spat the dummy once but it was the only way I could get their attention and escalate my claim.

To me it seems the claims team is over coached with standard lines of reply and as such they do not seem to always be listening to the customer.

Based on advice yesterday all should proceed to my satisfaction, time will tell.

4 yrs ago I had an issue with some unruly teens in my neighbourhood, I had a little chat , with them . 2 days later when I went fishing I found that my boat fuel tank had been filled with several litres of water. the prick's had repaid me. reported what happened to the noddy's, they came around , not alot they could do without evidence. They were evicted soon after I notified the owner of the house
Was insured with SGIO , they covered every thing except the service of the motor, complete new fuel injection system at just over 5k', no complaint's from me , great service.
Good luck with your issue!

And that is another thing with the code of practice, they cannot change their mind from an acceptance to a decline.

Once they have told you or indicated the claim is accepted, they MUST follow thru and accept the liability, and cannot change their mind.

Obviously they CAN change their mind the other way.....decline and then decide to accept.....

Chris6791 said..

warwickl said..

Hi Supersonic27

How/where do I find this code of practice?

Google/Bing/Yahoo is your friend, assuming this is what Supersonic is referring to I just searched 'Insurance Code of Practice'

http://www.codeofpractice.com.au/Portals/0/Code%20of%20Practice%202012%20-%20FINAL%20l.pdf

Sorry folk, I went to bed, but yes that is where you will find it. Love google!

Oh, and I agree with previous posters. ALWAYS stay calm and respectful.

Thanks again Guys for helping keep me on track.

I am now back to where things were a week ago, ie approved again to fix the problem. Now approved 4 times.

Next week will prove if this is fact.

I have also reviewed the Code of Practice which is also a link on GIO web site and I can not find one part where they have complied with the performance of a claim in my situation.

The Code of Practice also requires an insurance company to report their failure to FOC, mmmm.

choco said..

Never had a problem with any insurance claims, I even have my windsurfing gear insured under farm package and last year got a nice cheque for $1,100 to replace my carbon mast which broke when I had a crash

Interesting, all accidental damage policies I've seen don't cover the item if you are using it. Or did you leave that 'lil details out?

We had house and car with GIO. After the hail storm trashed both GIO was fantastic. My wife was about 7 months pregnant. The ceiling in the baby room fell in after the skylight broke. She rang up and told them the story - straight to the top of the queue, fully repaired in weeks. Car was dented but drove fine. They offered me a right off plus an option to buy it back. I took the option to buy back and the difference got us an upgrade to the wife's car. Happy customer!