I finally got my insurance money from the robbery. I was robbed on November 24th, I reported it to GIO on the 25th. 2 days later I had the assessor out and was assured it would all be fine.
Dealing with GIO was a nightmare. I made my claim, gave receipts, photos of me wearing my items, had bank statements, the police report and other evidence to prove what I owned, what got stolen and was assured I would be getting paid out.
After a couple of weeks it went to investigations, who rang to confirm some things then said I would know by mid the following week if it was approved or not, but it looks to be fine.
Wednesday came and I had heard nothing, so I rang. It went straight to voicemail so I left a message including the claim number and my number to call me back on. By Friday I still had not heard so rang and left another message. On Monday, still nothing so I rang the regular GIO number instead of the investigations department. They tried to get through to investigations and also only got the answering machine.
I was not impressed. I had been assured at the start it would be fine. When I had claimed on 2 at fault car accidents before (I wasn’t the driver for these accidents, but was named on the policy), it went so smoothly and quickly. Not a problem.
This time it was so stressful, my calls were never returned and they kept telling me “It will be sorted in the next 2 days.”
Finally, investigations called to inform me they had approved it except for a few items, which I was able to provide more proof for and get them included. So my claim was now back with the claims department and they would let me know soon what was happening.
A couple of days passed and I heard nothing, so I called them. “Oh, yes, we are looking into it now. We will let you know within 5 days how much we are going to pay you and how.”
Great. It was right on Christmas and I was not getting my money any time soon. Even if they approved it, it was unlikely to get to me until after New Years.
Finally, I got the call 3 days later informing me that I would be getting a certain amount of money on a prepaid card which would be sent to me sometime in the next 2 weeks.
On January 4th that card finally came. In the mean time my parents had lent me money since I had nothing, had just moved and used my savings to do so. I am so blessed with my family.
I am not impressed with how GIO sent the card. It was preloaded with my entire insurance payout, which is not a small sum. All you needed to know to activate it was my date of birth! It was not sent via registered mail, just regular mail and easily could have been intercepted. You could feel there was a card in there. Once activated you select your own pin. This is the most unsecure way I can think of an insurance company handing out insurance payments. I understand why they use a prepaid card, so people don’t make false claims just to get cash. But in this instance, throughout the whole process I feel GIO have been very unprofessional and I have moved ALL my insurance from them.
Have you had issues with insurance companies?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
That is the most crazy thing I have heard of in a long time. I’m glad the card made it to you safely in the end, but on with luck by the sound of it. Not a great way to do business all round.
That is truly crazy to send a loaded card that size in the mail. I’m shocked enough when one arrives by regular mail worth under $500!
You’re lucky you were able to prove ownership of everything, I hear they get silly demanding photo catalogues and what not – things I just don’t have.
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It is absolutely appalling that there is such a lack of care with their money. I wonder how much they have lost throughout the years with this process> By the way, it was wonderful to read that you moved! How do you feel? Is it a little closer to the city center?
That is shocking! Especially to do that to a family around Christmas. As a lawyer who deals with insurance companies on a daily basis, I’m not particularly impressed with their competence, any of them really. You sort of have to have a crystal ball and think of every possible bad thing that could happen when taking out insurance policies. And photograph everything as you purchase it and keep every receipt, then make copies to keep off site in case of fire! Crazy! Insurance companies will look for any loophole to get out of paying. “Yes we do cover for floods, but the water can’t be wet”! Ha!
Ugh useless.
Thanks everyone. Yes, I was so shocked by the whole process, but particularly by how the card came to me. Definitely not a company I want to deal with again.
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