Tuesday, December 11, 2007

My Insurance

RE:NEW PREMIUM AND EXCESS EFFECTIVE 1 JANUARY 2008

I am quite sure that this little letter won't make the slightest difference. I am well aware of the fact that my one little policy probably doesn't affect your gigantic company at all and should I move it won't make any difference to you at all. But you do realise that Word of mouth is the best way to get either negative or positive publicity.......in this case you can be certain that it will in fact be very very negative. I don't even know if anybody will actually read this here letter, and if you do, you'll probably be wondering what this stupid silly girl could possibly wish to accomplish. The fact of the matter is that if I don't do something about the fact that I'm unhappy, I have no right to complain about it later. But I'm getting way ahead of myself....let's start at the beginning.

Yesterday I received a letter from you, my insurance company. I have been your client since the beginning of 2006 when I bought my new car. Thus far your service has been excellent, I haven't had one single complaint. Damn, I'm getting ahead of myself again. Anyway, so I received the letter that you sent me stating that my premium will be increasing from the first of January 2008. This I found quite acceptable, as it is the date of commencement of my policy and my annual increases usually take place on this date. The increase was slightly steep, but I wasn't quite worried yet.

My heart attack of the day only came when I turned the page over to take a look at my new "Policy excesses schedule" DAMN!!!!!!! My normal excess had increased with over R5000????what??? this is a mistake right? or so I thought at the time anyway. I mean seriously...how can my excess be almost R7000? I might as well not have any insurance at all.

I contacted the customer service department immediately, this had to be sorted out. She ever so sweetly informed me that it was not a mistake and that the amount in my letter was in fact right. I remained calm...at first anyway. Her reply on my series of questions and statements ranging from "why?", "its ridiculous" and "how the hell do you rationalize an increase of over R5 000 in my excess" was simply that because of the high interest rate, inflation and the fact that the petrol price has increased so much have caused panel beater fees to increase and that is why I have a large increase....but seriously over R5000? You have got to be kidding me!!! It's not as if I am a high risk customer or anything!

I've only claimed from you guys once! and that's when I had a little bumper bashing in July. The costs weren't that high and you were able to recover all the costs from the other dude's insurance. So please tell me.....WTF??????

This letter is merely my means of letting you know how upset I am. How betrayed I feel and to let you know that I am already making plans to move insurance companies. My broker is already obtaining quotes on my behalf. And be sure that under no circumstances will I ever advise anyone to buy their insurance policy from you.

Regards

Ruby

12 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm with you on this one. Change your policy.

The sad thing is that few people actually take the time to read their policy docs properly. Most people probably won't even notice the increase until it's too late.

BTW - Did u get my email? Hope it helped.

Ruby said...

I'm so grateful that my dad drummed it into my head to always read official documents properly and to ask if i'm not entirely sure what they mean. Sadly enough i think they are catching a couple of people with this latest scheme...it's daylight robbery I tell you!

oh, and yes, I got your mail...thanx:-)

Unknown said...

How does the insurance work in SA then? Here, it is compulsory that everyone has insurance and insurance prices go down rather then up providing you have "no claims." But never goes up the longer you are with a company. What a joke!

KaB said...

Ooh..what's the name of the company...go on...throw some name while you're at it?!?

Mine only increased by like R30...no, seriously!

That whopper R7 000 is HUGE! I'd have thrown my toys out of my cot!

Sneaky puff adders!

Ruby said...

nats - sadly it doesn't work like that in this country....it increases every year, regardless of whether you claimed or not..:-(

KaB - I did! In my really lady like ruby manner anyway;-) The broker i phoned today nearly had a heart attack when I told him that even though my premium didn't increase all that much my excess seem to have skyrocketed.........it's serious stuff hey

Vimbai said...

Talk about taking the piss! I am livid on your behalf.

I too believe in reading the fine print after incurred almost R2000 in charges from a gym all becoz i didnt tell them i was not renewing my yearly contract.

Unknown said...

I have tagged you in my latest post! hee hee

Ruby said...

I'll go have a peek...thanx dollface;-)

Patchwork said...

What happened to my comment? I left one yesterday! WHO ARE THEY?

Name and Shame!

Ruby said...

bridge - you left a comment yesterday?? thats odd....i swear it never got here. I didn't receive a notification e-mail and it definitely never made it to my blog....i think blogger is going crazy!
You're the second person to ask me which insurance company it is......for the time being though I think I'll keep it quite....sorry guys

AngelConradie said...

ggrrr... i would be steamed too!

hhhhmmm, come to think of it, i have just received a letter from my insurance people...

Ruby said...

maybe you should read it with a microscope to ensure they don't try and cheat you too