Thanks for visiting!
This website has been set up in order to inform the general public about the atrocious experience I had in dealing with Tower Insurance (New Zealand) Limited *, Stream Group (the assessors Tower used), and Asset Managers (the contractors used) following the claim I submitted to Tower as a result of a burglary on 21 June 2011.
I note that barely three hours after I set this website up a piece appeared on TVNZ's FAIR GO program where another claimant was also unhappy with Tower Insurance.
When you arrange a policy of insurance you do so hoping never to need to use it, however if you do need to use it you expect that it will work effectively - and unfortunately the only real time you learn if you have chosen the right insurer is when you need to make a claim.
I have chosen the domain name that I have as my dealings with Tower Insurance and their "service" providers following the claim was failure after failure - much like the BBC program Fawlty Towers.
*I wish to stress that my dealings have been with Tower Insurance New Zealand Limited - a publicly listed company, of which I am also a shareholder. I am aware that there may be other firms with a similar name but who have no association with Tower Insurance and its entities in New Zealand. Tower Insurance is a firm providing Insurance and Financial services. Tower Insurance www.tower.co.nz Phone 0800 808808 22 Fanshawe Street, Auckland
I am presently very busy with my employment and in due course I will upload full details of this claim experience. What follows below however is a summary of how this claim went, in my eyes, terribly wrong.
Summary
I would like to think that I am a rational and normal person. I own and operate a small business. I previously worked in the insurance industry in roles including that of a Claims Handler, an Assessor, and as an Investigator. Firms I was contracted to included Tower Insurance, and it was partly for that reason that, some 15 years ago, I arranged insurances with Tower Insurance.
In June 2011 my Auckland home was broken into while I was away for a 2 night trip to the South Island. I had been gone 1 night. The burglars cut the power, covered razor wire, broke security lights and then forced entry through French doors. The monitored alarm was immediately activated and my security guards discovered the loss when they attended a couple of minutes later.
They called me in Dunedin late at night and I left my motel and drove through the night to catch an expensive flight back from Christchurch to Auckland very early the next morning.
Immediately upon returning to my home I called my insurers Tower Insurance, who I made dwelling and contents claims with...... and it whilst the burglary was one of the most upsetting things I have had to deal with, dealing with Tower Insurance, their assessors and their builder came a close second.
Over the next week or so I will fully update this site and will detail exactly what went wrong and will include various documents, links and photographs.
YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE HOW MUCH OF A FAILURE IN CUSTOMER SERVICE THIS PROCESS WAS - but here is a sample :
- They overlooked the fact that I had house insurance -despite the fact that they had sent someone out and screwed the damaged doors shut, and despite the fact that I lodged contents and dwelling claims during the same phone call to Tower Insurance.
- Tower's claims handler said my house was unoccupied and was thus imposing an additional policy excess on my claim. This decison was reversed when it became very clear that the house was not unoccupied at all.
- There was a delay of a number of months before they resolved the contents claim (late December 2011) and despite my explanation to them that the Police had not attended (only SOCO -Scene of Crime Officers) they were insisting on further documentation from the Police . In the end I had the NZ Police Auckland Area Commander arrange for what they needed to be sent to them - despite the fact that I already had this information (as it was what I had sent to the Police , and had sent a copy to them via their assessor at the same time)
- They wanted to repair a written off door which had been forced open with a screwdriver in three different places , however fortunately later agreed to replace it (although I had advised that I would not accept a repair).
- Asset Managers (www.assetmanagers.co.nz) , a firm sent out to install the new door used internal hinges on a brand new external door - which rusted almost immediately. This was despite the fact that I pointed out that the hinges being used were meant for internal use.
- The same firms painter did not paint the underside or top side of the door, causing it to swell tightly shut when it rained.
- The same painter from Asset Managers used water based paint when he should have (according to the door's manufacturer) used oil based paint. Paint began to lift and large amounts of water leaked through the door.
- This was examined at my property by Stream's National Assessing Manager Jayson Diedricks
http://www.streamgroup.co.nz yet this was still not the end of the problems with thedoor or with Asset Managers.
- Asset Managers then, after a number of months, removed the door and for over a month (despite almost daily pleas from me) my home was left secured simply with ply over the doorway and screwed in with normal screws. And given the burglars used a screw driver to break into my home in the first place it doesnt take too much thought to realise that my home was left essentially insecure.
- And quite what happened to the door after that we will never know. I was told that it was damaged whilst being stripped back for repainting and that the putty would take 3 weeks to dry. Really! Three weeks. I have made various requests to be told exactly what happened to the door however I have not been provided with this information. Even when I made a Privacy Act request for my entire file it was strangely missing this information. In fact Tower Insurance responded to my Privacy Act request however Stream - their assessors, have not. Asset Managers have also not responded to my requests to them relating to the qualifications of their staff
- Over the course of a month I gave Tower and Stream regular calls and emails requesting that my home be secured as I needed to head away for a weekend to attend my sisters wedding. Despite this I ended up having to leave my home essentially insecure (with just the sheets of ply screwed over the external doorway)- and thus had to cut my plans short and headed back to Auckland much earlier than planned.
- In the end I barred the contractors from my property and requested a new firm - Pattersons - who provided a perfect door, which was professionally installed and is watertight.
- Tower Insurance tried to impose a limit for gold sovereigns claimed, maintaining that they were either bullion or cash - yet they are neither. They eventually accepted what I was saying.
- Tower Insurance tried to impose a limit for the total value of jewellery I could claim in addition to a limit per item (which I do accept). They eventually agreed not to impose this total value limit. Daryl Pene , Claims Manager, Tower Insurance 22 December 2011
- Tower Insurance's claims handler (who I have not named at present) accidentally emailed details of my claim settlement and jewellery valuation to an incorrect email address (ergo my privacy was most certainly breached)
- My loss was in June 2011. The claim was finalised and my home finally secured in March 2012. There is no reason why this entire claim could not have been resolved within 2 months at the outside and it certainly did not need to become as drawn out as it did.
And trust me, there is a lot more to follow....
So what does Tom Duke the Chair of Tower's Complaints Committee have to say about the claim and how Tower handled it? "After reviewing the file and the basis of your complaint, I sincerely apologise for the indifferent service you received " 13 March 2012 (ummm Tom, it wasn't indifferent - it was shocking service - or lack of).
