Some very enterprising b@6&tards decided to steal our caravan last week. We had owned this caravan for over seven years and it was a place of many great family memories. To lose it was more than a financial issue, but it’s gone and now we need to claim insurance.
After a period of throwing my toys out of the cot, I had to get down to the job of listing all the contents and finding out the value of the caravan and send off all the paperwork to the insurance company.
We have a long standing relationship with Wanganui Insurance Brokers and when things like this happen, it’s nice to know we aren’t alone. One phone call and the claim form turned up. No waiting for a computerized phone system. Once completed, we sent the claim form back to them and someone who understands claims checked the information before sending it off to the insurance company. Guess what – in two days time they will also be chasing up the insurance company for a response.
I compare this to trying to move our internet. Kris and I have recently shifted, so thought we’d just transfer the original internet provider. This provider is a large, long standing company but I found myself arguing with a foreign call centre employee, who really didn’t understand what was going on for me. After two weeks of frustration, and hours of time on a phone, we couldn’t get anyone to help and we moved to a local internet provider. Suddenly we had people who showed up, and life became simple, with an outcome that worked.
The lesson in all this – people are important. It’s great to be able to pick up the phone and talk to a real person. That has always been part of our New Zealand culture and if it means dealing locally, with local people, then I’m all for it.
John Barber