How to win disputes with your insurance company

 

Insurance policies are purchased based on trust and are accompanied by a piece of paper with fine print and technical jargon most ordinary citizens can’t fully comprehend.

As the insured and policy owners, we pay premiums every year in exchange for some promises that, in the event of death, our life insurance coverage would pay a certain insured amount to our beneficiaries.

Likewise, the medical insurance policy is supposed to provide coverage for treatment that is spelt out in the medical policy.

The tragedy happens when, in our old age, we find that the policy had lapsed due to reasons beyond our control.

For example, the insurance company can cancel a policy that you have been paying for the past 20 years because for one reason or another you have failed to continue paying.

Letters sent to your official address may not necessarily have reached you, or you were overseas when the notices arrived. In some instances, the letters could have gone missing or been destroyed by a heavy downpour.

Steps to take

The first thing I would do is to check my own conscience - knowing that if I were in the wrong, I had to accept the consequences.

But If I knew I was in the right, I would remain persistent – and no amount of persuasion could deter me from pursuing my rights as an insurance policyholder.

I would write officially to the insurance company to allow them an opportunity to respond. Without the written correspondence, it is hard for you to show Bank Negara that you have done your best.

Rarely, I would find the customer service staff of an insurance company responding positively but I may be wrong. However, I would keep all the correspondences in place as they would come in handy when I need them later.

However, not every email I sent to the insurance company would receive an acknowledgement from the company. They will later deny they ever received your email.

At some stage, when discussions with the insurance company are not going in the right direction, I would copy Bank Negara Telelink in the correspondence. This is just to keep them in the loop.

However, do not expect emails or letters copied to any government agency to be acted upon until you write to them directly.

It sometimes helps if you are able to speak to the insurance company’s senior manager, but this is often not possible. For example, in the case of my insurance company, their website had stopped providing a general line that I could call their senior management.

This is odd, as senior management of most companies would want to know the grievances of their clients unless the organisation is not out to serve them.

If all things failed, it is time to bring the dispute to Bank Negara Telelink. If you have built up your case, you may want to present it logically to the staff at Telelink.

In a number of instances, I have found the officers to be very sympathetic and they will assist the complainants in any way they can, provided you have the evidence to show you have been ignored by the insurance company.

After all, if the central bank cannot protect the individuals, who else would be able to solve these issues?

Company agents

After I solved my issue, an insurance agent called to ask for my advice to give to his client, who had paid over RM100,000 worth of premiums, only to discover the previous agent had absconded with the money.

When the victim contacted the insurance company, he was told the agent could no longer be contacted.

What I learnt from Certified Financial Planning classes is that the insurance company is responsible for the agent it appoints.

Therefore, by merely saying the company could not contact the agent, it cannot absolve itself. The company is still fully responsible.

Under such circumstances, a police report is necessary. This is clearly a breach of trust, and the agent could be charged in court for breach of trust.

The next thing is to lodge a complaint with Bank Negara’s Telelink and seek the advice of the central bank on the next course of action.

It is the central bank’s job to regulate the industry as a whole. Let us help the central bank by informing them of the nature of our complaints. The tragic thing is when such cases go unreported.

More information about Bank Negara’s Telelink can be obtained here. Their phone contact: 1-300-88-5465 (when overseas: +603-2174-1717). - Mkini

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen who believes that everyone, including the insured, has rights that must be protected.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.