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This is the second article contributed by a reader, Matt, who used to be the owner of an
SME.
As many of us probably have whole life insurance policies, Matt's recent experience is of interest to us. Well, it is definitely of interest to me since I have one policy from AIA and one from Prudential. The former was bought some 16 years ago while the latter was bought some 25 years ago. There will come a day when I will have to surrender them.
As Matt did not reveal the names of the two companies, we can only wonder at their true identities. Go ahead and read about his experience and, perhaps, try guessing which two companies he visited.
Recently, I terminated two Whole Life Insurance policies
after having paid the premiums for 20 years. As is the same for most of us, the
original agent who serviced me then was no longer in the business and it was
practically left to me to speak and deal directly with the companies. That was
when the level of customer service I received was a revelation. Let’s just name
the companies A and B.
Company A
I called up the agent who was listed as the agent servicing
me to enquire how I should go about terminating the policy. The disinterest was
felt from the way the answers were given. Of course she probably did not
receive any commission from my policy after 20 years but to her credit, she sent
the form to me a week later. I asked whether I should send the forms back to
her and she encouraged me to go to the office directly so as to get the money
faster.
Fine, I did that and submitted the form with the original
policy at the concierge counter. A lady at the counter took the form and
original policy from me after looking through. I enquired how long it would take
to process the documents. "Oh, we will call you" was all that she answered. I thought, "They are an MNC. Surely, they will call
me."
Ten days later, there was still no phone call from the company and
I thought it was strange to take so long to process the documents. So I went
back to the company and asked for an update. I was given a queue number and
directed to see a CSO. She checked my IC and told me that I had missed out
submitting a form. She printed the letter and showed it to me.
The letter was
dated one day after I submitted the document. I told her I did not receive the
letter. The initial response was, maybe, it was the postal service’s mistake. She
promptly printed another set of forms and got me to sign them.
My
signature was compared to the one I had used in the original policy. She told
me that there was a slight difference in my signatures. Of course there was,
signatures could have changed in 20 years, whaaat (Singlish)!
She asked me to try and
sign as similarly to the original as possible or else the auditors might question
them on the discrepancy. Huh? Anyway, not wanting to give her a hard time, I tried
my best to reproduce my signature used 20 years ago.
Then, I was told that the cheque should be ready the next day. Not
wanting to take a second chance of not receiving the cheque, I told her that I
will personally collect the cheque two days later. The very next day, lo and
behold, the letter which was supposedly sent to me was in my mailbox, a full 2
weeks from the date it was supposed to have been sent.
Not wanting to jump to conclusion, when I went to collect
the cheque, I took the letter and asked the CSO who served me earlier and asked
her whether she initiated the sending of the letter after I told her I had not
received the letter. She said that she did not. So it was not the postal
service’s fault after all!
This episode set me thinking on the deficiencies of the
customer service in this company :
- When forms are handed in, no acknowledgement or reference number was given to confirm that documents were received. I did not think of this earlier but after going back home after submitting the documents, my wife asked me whether I had asked them for an acknowledgement. I told her that they are a MNC and should have a system. She looked at me incredulously and told me that I should always ask for an acknowledgement, MNC or SME, especially when handing over original documents.
- Why did the letter that I was supposed to received the next day after handing over the documents reach me 2 weeks later? Compounding the effect was the fact that the agent did not send me the form and the concierge did not spot it as well when she checked my documents at the point of submission. Come to think of it, their premium due notices also reached me after the due date. I told the CSO that there must be something wrong with the way and timing of the company’s letters being sent out.
- Only the cheque was given without any other documentation such as a copy of the termination submission form.
Company B
On the day I went to seek an update on the status of
the termination at company A, I also went to company B to submit a termination
notice. I was all prepared to demand that they handle my submission properly
and promptly as well. What a surprise and a refreshing reception I received
when I was at the front desk.
Within 2 minutes, I was sitting in front of a CSO who went
through the details with me and explained what the process entails. She filled
up my forms and got me to sign the documents. I asked her whether my signature
is different from the original policy. Her answer was that it did not matter.
She had prepared a form for me to sign that declares that my signature is as
the current one.
Next, she offered to deposit the cheque for me into my bank
account so that it would be banked in as soon as the cheque was issued that
afternoon. All I had to do was just to sign a form confirming my bank and
account number.
She also offered to send me a copy of the documents once the
cheque was out. That afternoon, the cheque was deposited into my bank account
and the very next day, I received a mailed copy of the documents as well as a
copy of the cheque and deposit slip!
Two days later when I went to collect the cheque from
company A, my wife came along and we went over to company B to enquire on her
policy. The front staff checked her IC and told her on the spot what the
surrender value was without having to even see a CSO and it took less than 1
minute. My wife was impressed, especially after the service I had received at
company A.
Was it a coincidence that company B’s policy performed a lot
better than company A, monetarily wise, at least as far as my policies were
concerned? I am comparing apple to apple here since both policies had the same
insurance coverage face value and were bought within one month of each other
twenty years ago.
Needless to say, I filled up a customer service form and
gave the CSO an excellent rating. I normally would decline to fill up such forms.
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