In writing this post I realise I am adding to a bumper collection of stories about how insurance companies have frustrated their customers. However, in order to get this off my chest, yet at the risk of being terribly hypocritical, this is my story:
- Earlier this year my car was damaged when the car behind me failed to stop at a set of traffic lights.
- When I picked my car up from the repairer I was told there was bad news – one of the panel beaters had dropped a soldering iron on my back seat, burning a hold through the fabric into the foam.
- The repairs were covered by my insurance so I promptly informed the insurance agency (AAMI) who began the search to find a replacement seat or fabric.
- As it turns out, my car isn’t very common, and a replacement seat could not be found, nor is the fabric still available to patch the hole.
- I was offered cash settlement, in lieu of repairs to my rear seat.
- I wanted to be sure that the cash settlement would actually meet any repairs costs that I now needed to arrange, so I visited an upholsterer who thought he could fix the damage and I left my seat with him. The estimated repair cost was likely to be less than the cash settlement, but this was beside the point given that a) AAMI had failed to address the problem after a number of months, b) the cash settlement had been offered, and c) I was on my own to fix the damage that I hadn’t caused.
- I received a follow-up call from the insurance company that afternoon, and I told them that I was taking care of this now. They asked which upholsterer I was using, and out of courtesy I told them.
- The next day (yesterday) I received a phone call from the manager at the local insurance branch. She informed me that because they were getting the seat fixed, I was no longer able to receive the cash settlement.
I couldn’t believe it. This was difficult to swallow for a number of reasons:
- It was I (or rather my Dad) who had searched the Yellow Pages and found an upholsterer.
- It was I who had taken my car in my own time to the upholsterer to repair the damage.
- It was I, who out of courtesy informed the insurance agency about the course of action I was taking, yet they made the claim that they were getting the repairs done.
- At no point was I told that the offer of cash settlement could be or would be revoked.
What made me even more angry, was when I called the upholsterer late yesterday afternoon for an update on the cost of the repairs I was told AAMI had called him and said that they would be paying for the repairs. At no point did I give my consent to the insurance agency to call the upholsterer or act on my behalf, or to pay for the repairs.
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