Norwich Union (NU) Direct seems to be a company that chooses to ignore all forms of third party correspondence and makes it as difficult as possible if one has the audacity or should I say the patience to attempt to inquire about the position of a claim.
Today was a typical example. Having been through the process of writing, faxing and the perceived illogical suggested resubmission of claim details to its scanning unit, we were forced to inquire about five separate claims, some of which we had already received a verbal acceptance of liability on.
A very pleasant voice requests we hang on and the call will be "answered shortly". After 30 minutes we are becoming somewhat annoyed but we continued to hold.
Our persistence is eventually rewarded and the call is answered. However, when we attempt to explain our plight, we are told in no uncertain terms that we can only inquire about two claims at once and then go through the process again.
Needless to say we were not well pleased and having taken up the permitted time requested to speak to a manager. We were informed that the relevant person was not available, but were given the name of a complaints supervisor that would call us back without fail before the close of play that day. Needless to say, we are still waiting.
We did indeed go through the whole process again but this time we were mysteriously cut off and placed back in the system to listen again to the promise of an early answer to our call.
Why, did we bother? For the critics of claims management companies, there are some of us committed to providing our clients with a top quality service.
Regretfully, this can only be achieved with the likes of NU Direct and regretfully others, if we have the resilience and persistence to secure an equitable settlement.
Paul Moran
Integrity Claims Management
