Insurance provider call service seems to have improved significantly since experiencing a fall-off in quality last year, according to some brokers and advisers approached by Health & Protection.
Last year several providers, including Aviva, had come in for complaints from several brokers, but efforts were made across the board to bring back service to pre-pandemic levels.
Aviva came in for criticism last year, leading to Aviva apologising to private medical insurance (PMI) customers as it continued to tackle the issue of long waiting times for its call centres.
Its solution to the issue included includes introducing triage call back services into claims teams, hiring more claims handlers and expanding its digital approval process.
Paul Nugent, CEO of MySante, said: “In my opinion it has significantly improved.”
Although noting that he was not on the frontline “the general consensus is that good service has now resumed at Aviva.
“Last year it was at an all-time low and calls not being answered or horrendously long wait times.”
Charlie Osborne, director of J Osborne Healthcare, said his team also felt that Aviva had got a lot better.
“We are not seeing or hearing many negatives from client about struggling to get through,” Osborne said.
And according to Kristian Breeze, healthcare director at Ascend Health, Aviva service is on track, though he did not have much reason to call them last year when he was in another role.
“Typically, when we call we usually get through, we have our own dedicated account handler for both new and existing business so our calls go straight through and if they don’t then they usually always call us back relatively quickly.
“The claims line can be a little bit longer if we are assisting our clients but this is to be expected when dealing with a corporate of Aviva’s size.”
And that was the case across the board for other providers as well.
“We have had nothing but positive experience with all of them,” Breeze said, noting that the situation was somewhat different before.
“Around 2018 to 2021 things were not as quick as they are now, for that reason I believe insurers have spent significant investment on improving their call services, certainly from a broker perspective.”
But not all feedback was as positive.
For Isaac Feiner, managing director at Lifepoint Healthcare, Aviva call service performance was mixed.
Feiner said that according to members of his team, there were “very quick responses sometimes, and sometimes a long wait. It seems to depend on when you call.”
But one firm that wanted to remain anonymous said: “the feedback from consultants is still negative for Aviva.”
Issues included receiving conflicting information, and being one of the longest providers for turnaround with information and quotes.
Aviva was not the only provider to get negative reviews, as the broker said: “There was also negative feedback from Bupa regarding servicing and claims call centre in particular.”
Meanwhile, at least one provider came out with high praise. The broker said there was “Very positive feedback across the board regarding Freedom Insurance – calls answered under a minute maximum and very good service.”
And Tom Connor, director at Drewberry, noted that call answer times had indeed improved, but suggested that a decrease in usage could be part of the reason for that.
“Call answer times have improved, and although still not great, so has turnaround times to place cover on risk and underwrite.
“A fair few advisers fed back that they’ve not used them as much as normal, primarily due to higher pricing relative to competitors.
“Naturally if this is the same for other brokers then reduced demand could be the cause of improved service.”
Advo too felt that Aviva had improved since last year.
Elle Sultana, employee benefits manager at Advo, said: “Overall we feel the service at member level has improved since their original servicing issues.
“We have had minimal escalations highlighted that we need to get involved in with clients, which indicates less concerns or issues being experienced.
“Aviva were very proactive in communicating with brokers in terms of how they were managing their servicing issues to return to usual high levels of claims support.”
But it was not all top marks as Sultana said: “At broker level, we still feel Aviva are somewhat reactive in their approach. The admin portal online is very helpful to streamline however the manned mailboxes, especially at renewal, are less proactive than others.”
On the topic of other providers, Simon Friday, private clients manager at Advo, said: “Most insurers have committed to providing more call/claim support over the past six to 12 months.”
Providers which Friday said have improved their service include VitalityHealth, Axa and Bupa he said.
“The ‘less traditional’ and ‘smaller’ providers still continue to offer good claims experiences with minimal call wait times, these include WPA, Freedom, PHC, The Exeter and National Friendly.
“These insurers tend to ensure the claims journey is a slick as possible to balance the usual branding challenges they have. Although these insurers tend to have less digital capabilities around claims”