Combined Insurance Company of America?? Pls advise

rcrow wrote: »

Dear Dunston, as an IFA you will have no access to Combineds products so hardly makes you qualified to advise. FSA Directive "only advise on products you have been trained on". Some history of the company, they were formed in 1919 so to still be trading says a lot. In 2006, they paid in excess of £800,000 in benefits each and every day. Not bad I would say.
There is not anything misleading about the policy as it is called the "Accident Hospital Benefit Plan", therfore covers accidents only, which is how it would of been sold. As the company provides the same cover for sickness it would be pretty pointless to mis-represent.
The policy is one of the few that pays with no waiting period and covers any conceivable accident from stock car racers, motor bikers, rugby, football and the day to day self employed, to which there are not many policies that do infact cover ANY accident with no waiting period.
I have worked for the company for 6and a half years. Along the way I have helped hundreds of people make claims to which they were very gratefull, and in some cases without the benefits paid would of lost everything. I can honestly say that in my time with the Company I have never had a claim turned down by one of my customers, and in some cases we have paid claims that we didnt have to as no more than a goodwill gesture!
I am not interested in people contacting me for cover, I have actually only registered to put right others' short-comings on the question asked.
The most important thing is that the prospective customer can see a need for the policy and can afford it. If the customer is ever unfortunate enough to make a claim, I can assure them they will be well looked after.
Remember, Insurance is only as good as you understand it to be. Therefore, make sure you understand it, and as much as Dunston says to avoid, I am proud to represent the Company and dont like hearing bad things when I have had so many positive experiences with them.

What are they bribing you with, you quote "The policy is one of the few that pays with no waiting period " this is so far from the truth its laugh able. You have obviously never tried to claim through them. I also worked for the company untill recently and yes the product seemed amazing however having undergone an injury myself i can assure you this is not the case. I cant believe that i have been misleading people for so long with the brain washed product. I have been out of work for 70 plus days and still not recieved a payment (5 days turnaround?) yeah right it takes that long for the staff to look at the envelope of your claim let alone open it. And the customer service is non existant. Due to this i will not be returning back with Combined as i refuse to misell a non existant policy.

dunstonh wrote: »

I have never come across a good product from them and have only ever cancelled the policies I have found. Nothing personal rcrow. There are bigger insurance companies that I am more critical of but I dont see that CICA has anything to offer that makes them stand out.

My first post as I joined specifically to respond to dunstonh:

I worked for Combined for 7 years from 2001 until 2008, firstly as a Representative and then as an Area Rep (Area Manager).

There is nothing wrong with the policies sold by Combined, especially the "introductory" accident cover - the last policy I sold for them was called Accident Hospital Cashback Plan and was £10/month for an adult and £5/month for a child (+ 5% Insurance Premium Tax). After 10 years, you will automatically be returned 100% of your premiums paid in, whether or not you have claimed. Minus the IPT of course. It only covers accidents involving hospitalisation or fractures, but DOES pay out for ANY accident involving these - no matter what job, sports or hobbies you do!

The problem is not the products (although the sickness cover is quite expensive) but the people that they employ - I left because I was sick of lying, cheating reps getting away with miss - selling the products time and again.

An honest rep (as I was!) can make very good living selling good policies (as can an IFA selling policies - let's face it, you don't work for nothing!) and I have personal experience of decent claim handling.

My reason for posting is, however, to point out that you as an IFA would much rather your clients were putting their £10, £20, £100/month into a CI, PHI or whatever which earns you money! Right or wrong?

I think you should have a good look at what Combined have to offer policy-wise before generalising like you did earlier - they will cover professional footballers, rugby players, boxers, motocross as well as your normal average punter who does nothing more dangerous than cross the road on the way to work! All for the same £10/month (or whatever it is now).

So as in any business, there are the bad apples (have you ever heard of an IFA steering clients towards a product that suits the IFA more than the client - Endowment Mortgage, anyone?) but generally, Combined have some decent products which DO suit a lot of people.

Anyway, that's my tuppenceworth, I don't work for them anymore (got a real job now!) but do have generally fond memories of my time with them selling the policies and helping customers claim.

Daveylawson.