More Complaints to the Ombudsman

Few people envy the life of an ombudsman. Although insurers and brokers should resolve insurance problems, many land up as complaints to the Ombudsman.

In 2016 the ombudsman received more complaints than ever.

There are quite a few requirements for complaining to the Ombudsman, namely

• Policy numbers.
• Your insurance company’s details.
• A factual summary of your complaint.

In turn, the Ombudsman will send you a letter of acknowledgement advising you about the action he intends taking.

Long-term insurance ombudsman, Ron McClaren said that with the release of their annual report for 2015, the Ombudsman received 9,815 complaints. The figure is 6% more than the previous year. Small wonder there are now independent, free services to policyholders and others to deal with all these complaints arising from long-term insurance policies.

Complaints to the Ombudsman – Funeral Policies the Worst

Long-term insurance products disgruntled consumers the most, and they were always complaining about funeral cover policies, making up 35% of complaints. There were plenty of complaints about poor or no communication. The office of the Ombudsman has already recovered about R184.4m for consumers from long-term insurance companies, and this was just for 2015.

The complainants received over  R577 000 in compensation because of shoddy services. When the annual report for 2015 was released, ombudsman  McLaren went on to say that of all these thousands of complaints received, 5 018 were chargeable claims, and that they finalised 3 491.

McLaren believes that if customers were to get fairer treatment, then there would be fewer problems.

Complaints to the Ombudsman – There Will ALWAYS Be Whiners

Of course, in all areas of life, there are just plain ordinary unreasonable people. These people complain just because they can. McLaren has seen an increase in this kind of unreasonable complainant. Some claimants demand justice, possibly because they are dealing with other unrelated issues in their life. They want to get even by taking it out wherever they can. They give illogical arguments and don’t want to co-operate. Nonetheless, McClaren said that their offices resolved 29‚8% for complainants.

Complaints to the Ombudsman – Efficiency Guaranteed

McLaren said it was too early to comment on the Financial Sector Regulation Bill, 2015. This bill makes provision for changes in the regulation of financial ombudsman schemes and also provides for the establishment of an Ombud Regulatory Council. The Ombudsman office was established in 1985 and is accountable to the Long-term Ombudsman Council. The measure is to ensure that they provide efficient services for the policyholder in dealing with all those disputes that arise.

Always read and understand your funeral cover policy first. That way you’ll know what to expect and save yourself and the Ombudsmen a lot of trouble.  If you’ve got a legitimate complaint, the Ombudsman is there to help solve your problem.

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All info was correct at time of publishing