“I hired a dominatrix”
A dominatrix took centre stage recently when a Hiscox customer hired her to help solve the mystery of a missing camcorder.
The London-based customer was furious after discovering his camcorder had gone missing from a repair shop that had gone into receivership. In a bid to recover his prized possession, he contacted the administrators, a large, respected London-based accountancy firm, who told him the camera may have been stolen around the time the repair shop closed down.
But despite putting in an insurance claim, the customer remained sceptical about the story he had been given. Careful inquiries eventually led him to discover that the administrators were in possession of the camera after all.
So when he asked for his camera back and they refused, he took the matter into his own hands.
“I hired a dominatrix to deal with them on my behalf,” he says. “An afternoon of her speaking to them on the telephone and the possibility that she might turn up in their lobby to meet them ‘dressed for work’ meant they were prepared to be much more helpful. It was £40 well spent, I thought!”
The camera was immediately returned and the customer informed Hiscox that he could withdraw his claim.
Joanne Saddington, property claims underwriter at Hiscox, says: “It’s certainly not your average claims story. After receiving his letter saying he wanted to withdraw his claim, we thought the very least we could do was to send him £40 for his troubles and to cover the cost of the dominatrix.”
News in brief
Hiscox products top of the table
In June the mid-net-worth 506 home insurance product was again awarded five stars by independent research company Defaqto. The company also found that Hiscox 606, the high-net-worth product, is at the top of its league. The 606, which suits people with home contents and fine art valued at more than £150,000, saw off contenders including Chubb’s Masterpiece product and AXA’s Ultra Portfolio. Brokers can be confident in recommending it to their clients, knowing it offers them the most comprehensive cover currently available.
Most customers are satisfied with their claims experience
The majority of personal lines policyholders believe they are being treated fairly by their insurance company, according
to the General Insurance Market Research Association. Consumers identified three key elements of fairness: paying out claims and treating them with understanding, providing a good deal and clear cover, and delivering good-quality service. Specifically, 75 per cent were ‘satisfied’ with the fairness of their claims handling experience, but one in four said that claims was the area that most needed improvement.
Art, wine and classic cars – the new pensions?
Faced with uncertainty surrounding pension provisions, Britons are increasingly using alternative investment vehicles. Research from Aon Consulting shows that
70 per cent of people would consider non-traditional investments to supplement their retirement. Some of the things they’d consider are property (58 per cent), art and antiques (38 per cent), vintage wine and whisky
(31 per cent) and, believe it or not, celebrity memorabilia (29 per cent).
Dear Editor,
In the spring 2006 issue of Hiscox News, you asked what we believed would be the impact of contract certainty on brokers, underwriters and clients.
Nobody can really have any objections to the basic principle of contract certainty, which is that the policyholder knows exactly what he is buying before he buys it. In crude terms, what you see is what you get.
This is a concept that Hiscox has supported for many years by their use of Plain English Policy Forms. We are all under pressure to achieve the targets set by the regulator, the FSA, and I believe both brokers and insurers have made great strides in improving their respective procedures to make it all possible.
However, the process does also rely on clients to play their part. If a broker offers renewal terms two weeks before the expiry date, but the client does not provide instructions to proceed until 4.30pm on the last day (despite constant reminders), it can make it difficult to achieve contract certainty.
Clients (who are not regulated by the FSA) do need to be educated and ‘persuaded’ to fulfil their role, including providing any extra information required by insurers in a timely manner.
Nick Pauley
Senior Wright Indemnity Ltd
• The editor says: The question to ask now is how do we educate clients about the importance of playing their part? Congratulations, Nick – you’ve won a Canon digital camera