Aviva and NCD - not Treating Customers Fairly

raskazz

How bizarrre. I have in front of me a private motor NCD proof issued by Aviva - it clearly states 7 years.

Upon calling them to validate the proof, I was told "We can only confirm 5 years over the telephone as it is our maximum".

So the total number of years is clearly recorded on their systems but they will not confirm that total to a client's new insurer.

For reference:

TCF outcome 6: Consumers do not face unreasonable post-sale barriers imposed by firms to change product, switch provider, submit a claim or make a complaint.

Is the above an unreasonable post-sale barrier to switching provider? You betcha!

I know Aviva have reps on this forum, any of them care to comment?

dacouch

I predict another Raskazz and Mikey agreement, 2012 looks like it could be a funny year...maybe the Mayans are right

Quentin

Aviva don't usually ask applicants for NCD proof. So how can they confirm anything over the phone regarding an ex policyholders NCD history??

dunstonh

Looks like a slam dunker breach of TCF.

Let hope the aviva rep spots this thread and reports it back. Take it seriously Aviva as there are posters who will report such things to the FSA.

InsideInsurance

It is not uncommon, many insurers only count up to 5 years NCD and many letters will state "5 years or more" or something similar when you get your proof of NCD.

If you look at almost all online quote systems they only capture a finite number of years (eg DL is max 9 years), if they cannot capture the fact you have 11 years they are simply not going to be able to tell you at renewal that you have 12 years.

Most insurers that do accept more than 5 etc years NCD are aware of the challenges of their competitors and have processes in place to deal with it (eg accepting both your current and prior NCD proofs)

raskazz

InsideInsurance wrote: »

It is not uncommon, many insurers only count up to 5 years NCD and many letters will state "5 years or more" or something similar when you get your proof of NCD.

If you look at almost all online quote systems they only capture a finite number of years (eg DL is max 9 years), if they cannot capture the fact you have 11 years they are simply not going to be able to tell you at renewal that you have 12 years.

Most insurers that do accept more than 5 etc years NCD are aware of the challenges of their competitors and have processes in place to deal with it (eg accepting both your current and prior NCD proofs)

Sure, we all know the limitations one encounters with inflexible/legacy systems. But that is not the issue here. Aviva's database clearly shows 7 years in the above case. So why will they only confirm 5 verbally?

Quentin

raskazz wrote: »

Aviva's database clearly shows 7 years in the above case. So why will they only confirm 5 verbally?

As posted, they cannot confirm it as they don't usually get their customers to send them any proof in the first place.

InsideInsurance

The problem I suspect is a training issue and/ or inconsistencies in their systems.

Not talking about Aviva but former client..... website only allowed you to enter up to 5 years, call centre using legacy system could enter up to 9, call centre using new system could enter up to 5

System will show if data was entered using web or call centre but not if it is new or legacy system.

In legacy system it was previously considered acceptable to enter anything 5+ as 5 as all letters to customers state 5+ irrespective of what is entered.

Underlying database only is a single digit for NCD and so maxes out at 9

If someone calls up and asks what their "true" NCD was an operator can look at the legacy system and they can tell them what the "minimum" their NCD was (so in this example 7) but would not be able to say if this is the true NCD is or if it was potentially higher because it may have been entered as 5 when the policy incepted but was higher at that time.

You could argue that the insurer wouldnt want to send out anything else because they are uncertain what the truth is and dont want to open themselves up to complaints however the client in question, unlike Aviva, were sending out letters stating the minimum NCD was X+ years

Evidently you also must remember that you are no longer their customer and so therefore probably not their top priority.

raskazz

Quentin wrote: »

As posted, they cannot confirm it as they don't usually get their customers to send them any proof in the first place.

This is not the point. Whether they validate it when the client had taken out a policy with themselves is not relevant. We don't know whether the individual I was dealing with had been insured with Aviva for 1 year or 7 years. The point is that if their system holds data which confirms 7 years total, why can the advisor not confirm this higher figure to a future insurer?

Quentin

raskazz wrote: »

The point is that if their system holds data which confirms 7 years total, why can the advisor not confirm this higher figure to a future insurer?

The point you are not getting is they do not routinely "confirm" what applicants tell them.

Thus they cannot "confirm" anything to enquirers over the phone!

Their letter would normally be accepted elsewhere.

Why you being suspicious, and want further confirmation?

raskazz

Quentin wrote: »

The point you are not getting is they do not routinely "confirm" what applicants tell them.

I do understand that. But that is not relevant to the point I am making in this thread. For all we know, the client in question could have been with them for the whole 7 years, therefore the absence of previous validation could be irrelevant, and they did not raise this matter when I asked why they could not confirm the 7 years stated in the letter which they confirmed to be genuine.

Quentin wrote: »

Thus they cannot "confirm" anything to enquirers over the phone!

Re-read the thread. They did confirm 5 years earned NCD was held on the client's policy with them when it lapsed. The question I am asking is if they can confirm 5 years, why can they not confirm the full 7 years as per their own data?

Quentin wrote: »

Their letter would normally be accepted elsewhere.

Why you being suspicious, and want further confirmation?

It is prudent to validate NCD in some cases/profiles - i.e. confirm verbally with the insurer - as, believe it or not, there are false NCD letters submitted in the real world.