Is Your Insurance Agent Still Around? (Part 2)

During our chit-chatting, my wife told me that her colleague (hereinafter called Ms. A) is facing problem with her insurance servicing agent. While my wife has limited knowledge on insurance, Ms. A asked for her advice. Now, could you see the problem? The fact is, around us, there is a large percentage of public do not understand how insurance work. Therefore, it is the servicing agent’s responsibilities to ensure his/her client understand the nature of each and every policy before any commitment. However, how many servicing agents are actually caring their clients? Or are they caring their rice bowl?



I must admit that there are actually good servicing agents around. You must be very lucky if you meet one. This conclusion came from my years of experience. I did try to look for those that I used to believe were good agents. But, each and every time, they failed to achieve. They were either not providing any service or just disappeared in the middle of no way. Worst still, the direct service provided by some well-known insurance companies are almost in the similar nature. All this scenarios are what Ms. A is currently facing.

What can Ms. A does? Well, first of all, she should learn as much as possible those policies she intends to commit. By doing so, she is protecting herself from the “trap” or loophole set by those “irresponsible” insurance agents. As for how to identify those irresponsible agents, my experiences is, based on what you have learned and understand, ask your candidate agents some principal questions on each and every kind of policy. You will be able to get an idea or two about the quality of these agents from their reply. I used this method to test those agents from insurance and unit trust and the result might surprise you. Almost 99.9% of these agents can’t give me satisfactory reply on my questions. Most of them surprise that I actually know more and they claim that they want to learn from me. So, what do you think the quality of these agents? Can they provide you what you need to know and service you well?

After testing and you might find that quality of your agent is in question. Write to the insurance company directly, if possible, with evidence and request to change the insurance agent. However, you may still unsure the quality of the next servicing agent. Well, for this, the last resort is to DIY. That is, contact your insurance company directly for any insurance related matters and this is what I am doing now. I just don’t expect those servicing agents will treat you like your parents and will stay beside you whenever you need them.

So, be prepared, you might need your own effort by the end of the day to get the thing done. Learn to be more independent and your life will be less hassle.