Customer Service is the Priority—Maybe in Other Industries

Has anyone given much thought to how the CEOs of insurance companies would react if they knew how their policyholders were being treated at the hands of some third-party administrators (TPA)? As a former employee of a glass shop, I witnessed some extremely poor treatment of customers at the hands of the customer service representatives. In a service industry, I would expect such treatment would be unacceptable at any link in the customer service chain. I would find it hard to believe that insurers would tolerate such treatment of their policyholders to save $20 on a glass claim. However, in the auto glass repair and replacement industry, the poor treatment of consumers at the hands of some third-party administrators is the rule and not the exception.

For starters, I remember being placed on hold, sometimes in excess of twenty minutes, while the customer service representative “educated” the customer on why they should not bring their car to our shop. The treatment was especially harsh when the customer was reporting the first notice of loss in our shop’s lobby. These calls always ended with a bewildered look and, in many cases, just plain anger. Fortunately, with the in-shop calls, we always retained the customer.

So we shall return to the question at hand. Why would CEOs of insurance companies allow their customers to be subjected to such abuse? Is it truly that they do not care? I doubt it. But I have not had the opportunity to ask them. It has always been my understanding that securing a new policyholder is costly. It has always been my understanding that an insurer must also retain that insured for a period of years to make that policy profitable. So again, assuming that this is true, why would insurance companies place the retention of a policyholder at risk for a few dollars?

In this industry, customer service should be priority number one. But it is not. The point of contact between the shop’s customer and the TPA is not the only point of contention. With the introduction of the “windshield bullies” nonsense (which I maintain that in and of itself a fraud) and the call by some insurers for inspections of windshields, the opportunity for consumers to get their automobiles properly and timely serviced has become even more problematic. More and more, I am taking calls that tell me that the inspections are taking an inordinate amount of time. The service that all of us provide to the consumer should be made as convenient as possible from the reporting of the claim to, at a minimum, the point where the consumer has been serviced and on their way.

Will there be any improvements in this industry in the area of customer service, especially as it appears that more and more, the insurers are dancing to the tunes of the TPAs and not vice versa? Recently, the Independent Glass Association announced the initiative to develop technology standards in the industry to improve customer service. It is believed that through the integration of state-of-the-art technology into the insurance claims process, customer service will be restored to the priority that it well deserves. After all, this is a service industry. Hopefully this should alleviate any concerns by consumers that the shop of choice is the culprit in the process. From experience, I know that many times the shop at which I was employed was viewed by the consumer as the weak link in the chain because, after all, our customers believed that all of the time, they were communicating directly with their insurance companies.