The Customer Is Not Always Right Forum

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

You've heard it said that the customer is always right. We know that is far from true. I've been in the insurance business since 1995, and what it seems like to me is that the customer is more picky and pedantic than ever before.

Example, I saved a couple we've known for many years about $1,600 on their auto insurance. And, it's like, I'm still hearing from these people weekly.

I fully understand people hate insurance, even though it's required. And, if I can save you that much money - which, believe me is rare, very rare, because despite what the lizard and Flo may tell you, every company will check your MVR and hit you for underage drivers - shouldn't you be satisfied?

Anyway, just wanted to vent a little in an open forum because...well, because the customer is always right, I can't really vent to them.

[Stix]

Just curious... You're obviously on the underwriting side, are you with an agency or a company?

I worked in insurance IT for over 20 years, for software vendors, MGAs, and companies. I've been working in the collections business IT for the last 6 - boy do I miss insurance.

[Censored by Laurie]

Off-football season hits a new low with car insurance talk.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Just curious... You're obviously on the underwriting side, are you with an agency or a company?

I worked in insurance IT for over 20 years, for software vendors, MGAs, and companies. I've been working in the collections business IT for the last 6 - boy do I miss insurance.

No, we have an independent agency. I started out on the company side with Commercial Union a few months after I graduated from UNT back in 1995.

Commercial Union merged with General Accident in 1997 to become CGU, then Warren Buffet bought their American book in 1999. The book was then split into separate personal (America First) and commercial (OneBeacon) companies.

If I recall correctly, Buffet sold the America First outfit to Liberty Mutual. I'm not sure if he still owns a stake in OneBeacon. I do know that, ever the tax hypocrite, he parked them both offshore for awhile. I think OneBeacon still remains offshore.

Buffet, Mr. The Rich Aren't Paying Enough Taxes, puts nearly every insurance interest he touches offshore. That's why I roll my eyes every time he starts flapping him gums about taxes. But, I digress.

I joined up with my dad after he left Upshaw, bought his book of business back from them, and bought the P&C book of a group benefits house who were tired of dealing with P&C customers. Having doubled the size of his book, he asked me to join him on the retail agency side.

And, so here I am a decade later - saving people money and being flailed for it. It's actually not that bad. But, this is certainly a business where you don't expect a whole lot of praise from anyone.

Insurance is what it is - necessary, required, and annoying. Believe me, I probably hate the companies as much as the consumers now that I'm an agent.

It's like I tell people when things get sticky - The Companies are gods. They do what they do. And, for the most part, the courts side with them (and, after reading many cases, I think it's because judges don't have much more of an idea about how to read an insurance policy than the general public, so they just do the easy thing and say, "It's a contract, do what the contract says.").

Being an independent agent is like nothing you could imagine. On one side, you've got to keep the client happy (the price low). On the other, you've got to keep your contracted carriers happy (writing new business and renewing the old). It's a true balancing act.

Edited February 17, 2012 by The Fake Lonnie Finch

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Off-football season hits a new low with car insurance talk.

Hey...I kept it off the conference realignment boards.

[KRAM1]

hey, Lonnie...I share your pain...and think how RV must feel. Every fan and every donor....you know the drill. If you deal with the public in a business sense you know how this goes, and if you want to be successful you just have to deal with all the folks who darn sure KNOW they know more about your business and what you can and cannot do than you do than you in spite of your 20+ years experience and in my case my 30+ years in banking before "retiring" to work as CFO for a non-profit. It's a fact of life...I am sure you sit down in your office each Monday morning and try to figure out how you can mess something up that day....or how you can "cheat" some client..or how you can refuse to write insurance for some new possible client or deny a claim. Yep, I woke up every Monday, went to work, called all my loan officers to a meeting and sat around and discussed how we could NOT approve loan applications and how we could run off business that week. Tough to learn the art of turning a loan down yet retaining the clients other banking business. That's what we all do, right? That's what RV does with his staff every Monday morning, right...try to find ways to run clients off? That makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? But, to hear some folks, they must think that's exactly what happens.

Good grief...while you must try to let the client "know best" you must do the best if you want to be successful whatever that may be. Every client should be treated with respect...even if they do not show respect to you, but you must take care of business professionally and competently under established guidelines and regulations. Both insurance and banking are HIGHY regulated industries...and that definitely plays a role in what we both could and could not do.

My bank had lots of clients who thought they were "god's gift to the finance world"...and we did our best to let them think that...all the while they were pretty misguided and ill informed. Welcome to dealing with the public.

Some of the people who think they know everything about YOUR business have never had to deal with the public at all. It's a new day every day...and a fun one...when you must deal with the public. Don't believe me? Ask a waiter, ask a retail clerk, as a banker or an insurance guy...or someone that works in a college/university's athletic department for that matter.

Good luck to them all.....

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Good post, KRAM. People have no idea how highly regulated insurance is.

The problem is, as with any large corporation, when they make a decision, someone is going to be affected...and, unhappy.

For instance, I've got a friend who owns a restaurant in Austin. We had his package written at about $3,500 last year, with his Work Comp and Hired and Non-Owned Automobile in the same same.

Upon renewal, the carrier calls me and says they're raising the rate on that class of business 40%, regardless of claims and billing history of the account.

Well, here's client with no claims, no late payments, and the company says, "Thanks, give us 40% more next year."

Now, fortunately, as an independent, I was able to move him to another equally strong carrier. But, he still doesn't understand fully why the original carrier raised his rate.

I just tell them all, it's not personal. The company just made a decision and you were caught up in it. We got you out.

So, he's rattling my cage on one side about rates, while the carrier - despite their raise in rates - will still be rattling my cage to write business with them, even though I know they're at a higher rate now...and, with the threat of pulling their contract if our numbers don't meet their requirements for keeping a contract.

The ebb and flow of the insurance market just caught up to me this morning. It's sometimes a beating. And, the guy this morning, I'd saved him money, so I had a hard time keeping silent while he still complained to me.

That's adulthood, though.