Some interesting results from Defaqto when it comes to travel claims processing; over a month to process a claim when the industry has a plethora of online portals, platforms, bespoke software etc at its disposal doesn’t really deliver on the policy promise;
Analysis of more than 12,000 insurance customers’ experience has found that there is efficiency in the travel insurance claims process but more work still needs to be done on resolving complaints, following the latest Ombudsman figures which reported a large spike in unsatisfied consumers.
According to Defaqto’s new customer insight tool powered by the lived experience of over 12,000 people, more than one in ten (13%) find that the time taken to deal with a claim is unreasonable. The same number (one in ten) also felt they weren’t kept informed adequately during the claims process.
However, in many cases, the overall experience is a positive one particularly when it comes to how efficiently a claim is processed. Almost a quarter (23%) said their claim was resolved within three days, and a further 56 percent had claims answered within two weeks.
Anna-Marie Duthie, travel insurance expert at Defaqto, said: “We’ve conducted significant research specifically into customer experience and levels of service at varying points of the customer lifecycle. The holistic view of the industry is a positive one however it does show gaps where improvements can be made. For example, seven percent of consumers said their claim took more than a month to be dealt with, which equates to hundreds of disgruntled customers.”
At a time when the FOS says complaints relating to travel insurance are at a ten-year high, the data from Defaqto’s portal reveals that customers’ experience of having a complaint dealt with is less positive than the claims process.
ANY COMPLAINTS?
Nearly a third (30%) of complaints are resolved within one week, and a similar proportion (29%) were resolved in as little as three days. However, one in five (20%) believe the time it took for their complaint to be resolved was unreasonable.
According to the FOS, the number of travel insurance cases brought to them has increased by 19 percent in the past year. Bar the year impacted by Covid, complaints are now at their highest level within the last decade, with 4,466 complaints about the sector in the last financial year (2023/24).
GI Customer Experience Insights found that almost half of respondents (43%) who felt their claim was not resolved to their satisfaction sent it onto the FOS.
Anna-Marie Duthie said: “Escalation to the regulator does appear to have become more commonplace, with many willing to progress a complaint if it wasn’t resolved to their satisfaction at insurer level, and this is reflected in the numbers reported by the FOS. This could be a result of the pandemic when the travel industry was hit very hard and there was a big increase in consumer advice and education on what options there are available to escalate an issue.”
The research of 12,000 UK insurance customers focused on experience and service was also used in combination with other Defaqto analysis to rank the UK’s current leading providers across the four key personal lines. Virgin Money was awarded the winner for travel insurance whilst Coverwise and AllClear came highly commended.
Currently available as a report or via an interactive portal with enhanced features for data scrutiny, the extensive customer research findings will feature in Matrix 360, Defaqto’s next generation intelligence tool for insurers.
For more information visit https://www.defaqto.com/gi-cxi
Be the first to comment