Will Customer Service Ever Become a Priority in this Service Industry?

With each passing day, I become more and more amazed how insurance companies embrace the status quo (at least publicly), as their customers get abused and disrespected at the hands of some third-party administrators (TPAs). If insurers have not learned by now, let me remind them that any TPA with a conflict cannot serve two masters. Only one master can be served and based on the calls that I field every day, it is not the insurance client that is the master being served.

One day last week, I received a call from a shop manager telling me that his customer had been waiting more than a week for a windshield inspection. The delay had the customer on edge. The customer was confused and extremely upset, and the shop manager could not appease him. I offered him several suggestions. The first was to make sure that he had the signed assignment of proceeds, which he did. The second was to have his customer contact the agent and advise him/her of the situation. The customer’s insurer was clearly not on his side, it seemed. Another suggestion that I had made was to have his customer contact the Department of Insurance and file a formal complaint.

Once again, I find myself challenging the real purpose of the inspection process. From the moment that these “inspections” were introduced, I proposed that inspections had nothing to do with fraud. Rather, I believe the inspection process is a fraud. Inspections are another attempt to steer claims. Why do I argue that the inspection process has nothing to do with fraud? Because all the while the customer is delayed in getting the inspection, he is pursued, in some cases with gimmicks, to have his vehicle serviced at another shop. If this was all about fraud prevention, the policyholder would simply have to wait for the inspection. And how do you justify a lengthy delay for a process that would take five minutes? This is all about making the process inconvenient for the customer, hoping he/she will turn to the insurer/TPA for advice. The bottom line is, if insurance companies were concerned with fraud prevention they would not employ the services of a TPA (aka the competition) to perform the inspection process. Can anyone say “credibility?”

When will insurance companies get it? (I think that they already do). Do they actually think that an arrangement to have a third-party service their customers will serve their best interests? They are so consumed with containing costs that they have allowed customer service to take a back seat. But then again, behind the scenes, are insurers truly happy with how this industry has evolved? Can they possibly be happy with the increase in claims that resulted from a media campaign that boasted “at no cost to you?” (By the way, what happened to those ads? I haven’t seen or heard one in a long time.)

Are insurers satisfied with the fact that everywhere you look, you can read about disgruntled claims or some other controversy? I cannot imagine that they are, but after thinking about it, they cannot go public with their displeasure either. After all, they are the ones that have cultivated this debacle.

On a closing note, I have always argued that the emphasis in this industry needs to focus on the customer. Does anyone remember the customer, the person that we are all in business to serve? It is the customer that is getting short-changed in this process. The customer is confronted with a claims reporting process that takes way too long, in some cases receiving a service from someone who is not qualified, having poor quality glass installed and not receiving the benefit promised in the insurance policy purchased.

Next week, members of the auto glass industry will be coming together in Scottsdale, Ariz., to draft a blueprint for the development of an ANSI technical standard. In my opinion, this will be a major step forward in restoring customer service to a service industry that has neglected the very party that we are all here to serve. Stay tuned; good things are on the horizon.