As the world struggles to survive an economic crisis caused by the greed and incompetence of various senior members of the banking profession, aided and abetted by hopelessly flawed Government policies, I would like to draw attention to the people who inhabit the nether regions of of Financial Services, the staff collectively known as “Admin”.
Whilst I have occasionally had the experience of dealing with Administration employees of banks, insurers and investment companies, those occasions have been spread over many years and so the frustration has been diluted. Over the past few years, however, I have had far more exposure to them as a result of having to manage my mother’s affairs under a power of attorney. Anyone who has been in a similar position will probably understand why I have sometimes been driven to rage by the crass incompetence to which I have been subjected. Some of the incidents may form the subject of future blogs but, this time, I want to recount a recent example which caused some amusement as well as irritation.
Last month, I had a minor accident when reversing my car out of the garage. I have done this thousands of times without mishap but, on this occasion, I clipped the offside front wing causing it to buckle. The damage was such that I decided to make an insurance claim and rang my broker’s Helpline to report the accident, as required under the motor policy. It was only on the fifth attempt that I managed to get through. The Helpline was operated not by the broker but by a company acting as its agent. The person to whom I spoke then noted all relevant details of the policy and the claim. This, I thought, was helpful as it saved me the trouble of having to complete a claim form. At that stage, however, I was transferred to the claims department of the insurers. The claims handler there started asking the same questions that had already been put to me by the broker’s agent. When I asked why this was necessary, I was informed that it was because “We will be paying for the repairs”. As a statement of the bleeding obvious, that could not be faulted but it was not a helpful response. Anyway, I took the view that there was no point in arguing as that would only prolong the process. Unfortunately, the claims handler was far from finished. She obviously had a claim form in front of her and was determined to go through it question by question, even though the application of a little common sense could have saved quite a lot of time. Part of the conversation went something like this:
Claims handler. – What was the purpose of your journey?
Me. – To get out of the garage.
Claims handler. – At what speed were you travelling?
Me. – Very slowly.
Claim handler. – Was anyone injured in the accident?
Me. – Only my pride.
Claims handler. – Were there any witnesses to the accident?
Me. – Unfortunately, yes. My wife.
Claims handler. – Were the police called?
Me. – (Hollow laughter.)
Following these conversations, I received a letter from the broker’s agent acknowledging notification of the incident and, among other things, asking me to ensure that any correspondence received from the “Third Parties” was forwarded to the agent immediately. There was, of course, no third party. The following day, the insurers wrote confirming that they had instructed their recommended repairer to carry out the work to the vehicle. Two days later my broker wrote to inform me that the insurers would be liaising with me regarding the repairs to the vehicle (this having already been done three days earlier) and requesting me to forward any correspondence received from “the third party involved”.
This minor accident involved three different organisations, at least one of which was unnecessary, and none of which covered itself in glory. Still, at least the matter was handled promptly, which is certainly not always the case, and I must say that the repair was carried out immaculately.
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