Dear Sir,
I am a 70-year-old man, not quite in my dotage and still active enough to regularly fly to California to see my grandchildren. I have been doing this twice a year for 14 years. For the last 5 years or more, I have travelled under the umbrella of your travel insurance confident that, as it is tailored made for older folk if I needed to make a claim, then the procedure would be straightforward and sympathetic to my years.
Unfortunately my recent experience has proved that this is not the case.
On November the 4th I arrived in Bristol bus station from the U.S.A. very tired after 15 hours of travelling, eager to meet my wife and get home, out of the awful weather that the U.K. had laid on for my arrival. I was trying to juggle two large suitcases and a small case that contained my computer. Stupidly, I balanced my computer case on top of the others while I searched for my phone. (You have a tendency to do stupid things when you are 70 and very tired!) Of course, it fell off! It was not until I got home and unpacked that I realised that my 1-year-old laptop was damaged.
“Never mind” says my wife, you are insured with SAGA a simple phone call and they will sort it.
The “they and simple bit” is where she was very wrong.
I contacted your company explaining that I was not sure on which insurance to claim on, house or travel. They said travel and sent me a form (4 Pages long!)
When the form arrived and I read it I realised that this was not going to be “Simple” I detailed the accident, which was relatively straight forward then I came to the bit where I was asked for:
(a)“Proof of Insurance”
Huh! I thought that you might know whom I was insured with!
(b) Obtain repair estimate or confirmation of damage beyond repair
Have you any idea how difficult and expensive this is? First you have to find a company that will do this, and then you have to deliver the item to that company. (In my case a round trip of 60 miles!)
They wanted to keep the computer and charge me a minimum of £30 for a “Cause of damage report” Which I had to collect in 10 days!!!! Another journey.
I succeeded in getting a “Proforma Cost” by post from another HP company, which I sent, together with a verbal quote from a Company called “The laptop hut”
© Evidence of trip
Fortunately I still had this.
(d) Receipts
Fortunately I still had this.
I then gave a full account of the incident and sent the report with all relevant documents.
I was told that the claim would be dealt with in 8 to 10 days.
10 days later I rang and enquired as to the progress of the claim. I was told they had the documents would be dealt with in 8 to 10 days of receipt.
I was then contacted and told I would be interviewed on the phone by a loss adjuster. WHY? What more information was there to give.
The loss adjuster was polite and helpful but she wanted a “Cause of damage report”
Again this meant a 60 mile round trip. P.C. World. They were less than helpful. Yes, they would provide a report for £30; this would take up to two weeks. I had to collect the report. I said “If I left the laptop and the claim was agreed, could I ring them and if I had to have a repair could I authorise this over the phone”. They said no as they could not take payments by phone even though it was a debit card.
At this point I said ………………………!! Picked up the laptop and left.
I finally found another company, who were helpful after another 50 mile round trip! They provided me with the necessary document and said they would only charge if I did not use them to replace or repair. They would also check it for any other damage. If the laptop were to be sent to another company, they would remove any sensitive information etc.
To date, if the claim runs it’s course taking into consideration all the charges I will and have incurred, petrol, time, paperwork, initial £? on the claim and probable increase in premium. I may have well saved myself all this hassle and bought another computer. The only thing that is stopping me doing this is that it was a gift from my son in America.
Today, unaware by me, my wife rang SAGA. She was concerned that the stress of this whole business was having a detrimental effect on me as I had had a heart previous attack. She spoke to someone who said they would look into it and ring back.
I looked up SAGA Group on the Internet and I think you have lost your way. This was your founder’s ethos: I have underlined what you are not doing.
The Saga Group has it origins in the 1950s, when the late Sidney De Haan OBE identified three critical factors for the company's future success, which continue to underpin our operations today.
These involve concentrating exclusively on older customers, marketing to them 'direct' and offering value-for-money.
Our ongoing commitment to trust, quality, dependability and value is the foundation on which our reputation rests for looking after the needs and interests of older people.
Today we remain fully focused on understanding and responding to the changing demands of our older target market, the fastest growing demographic group in the UK that is forecast to increase from 19m to 25m by 2015.
I have seven policies with you, as I thought you would be sympathetic to the older persons needs, sadly I was very wrong.
Disappointed
Roger Bignell
I am a 70-year-old man, not quite in my dotage and still active enough to regularly fly to California to see my grandchildren. I have been doing this twice a year for 14 years. For the last 5 years or more, I have travelled under the umbrella of your travel insurance confident that, as it is tailored made for older folk if I needed to make a claim, then the procedure would be straightforward and sympathetic to my years.
Unfortunately my recent experience has proved that this is not the case.
On November the 4th I arrived in Bristol bus station from the U.S.A. very tired after 15 hours of travelling, eager to meet my wife and get home, out of the awful weather that the U.K. had laid on for my arrival. I was trying to juggle two large suitcases and a small case that contained my computer. Stupidly, I balanced my computer case on top of the others while I searched for my phone. (You have a tendency to do stupid things when you are 70 and very tired!) Of course, it fell off! It was not until I got home and unpacked that I realised that my 1-year-old laptop was damaged.
“Never mind” says my wife, you are insured with SAGA a simple phone call and they will sort it.
The “they and simple bit” is where she was very wrong.
I contacted your company explaining that I was not sure on which insurance to claim on, house or travel. They said travel and sent me a form (4 Pages long!)
When the form arrived and I read it I realised that this was not going to be “Simple” I detailed the accident, which was relatively straight forward then I came to the bit where I was asked for:
(a)“Proof of Insurance”
Huh! I thought that you might know whom I was insured with!
(b) Obtain repair estimate or confirmation of damage beyond repair
Have you any idea how difficult and expensive this is? First you have to find a company that will do this, and then you have to deliver the item to that company. (In my case a round trip of 60 miles!)
They wanted to keep the computer and charge me a minimum of £30 for a “Cause of damage report” Which I had to collect in 10 days!!!! Another journey.
I succeeded in getting a “Proforma Cost” by post from another HP company, which I sent, together with a verbal quote from a Company called “The laptop hut”
© Evidence of trip
Fortunately I still had this.
(d) Receipts
Fortunately I still had this.
I then gave a full account of the incident and sent the report with all relevant documents.
I was told that the claim would be dealt with in 8 to 10 days.
10 days later I rang and enquired as to the progress of the claim. I was told they had the documents would be dealt with in 8 to 10 days of receipt.
I was then contacted and told I would be interviewed on the phone by a loss adjuster. WHY? What more information was there to give.
The loss adjuster was polite and helpful but she wanted a “Cause of damage report”
Again this meant a 60 mile round trip. P.C. World. They were less than helpful. Yes, they would provide a report for £30; this would take up to two weeks. I had to collect the report. I said “If I left the laptop and the claim was agreed, could I ring them and if I had to have a repair could I authorise this over the phone”. They said no as they could not take payments by phone even though it was a debit card.
At this point I said ………………………!! Picked up the laptop and left.
I finally found another company, who were helpful after another 50 mile round trip! They provided me with the necessary document and said they would only charge if I did not use them to replace or repair. They would also check it for any other damage. If the laptop were to be sent to another company, they would remove any sensitive information etc.
To date, if the claim runs it’s course taking into consideration all the charges I will and have incurred, petrol, time, paperwork, initial £? on the claim and probable increase in premium. I may have well saved myself all this hassle and bought another computer. The only thing that is stopping me doing this is that it was a gift from my son in America.
Today, unaware by me, my wife rang SAGA. She was concerned that the stress of this whole business was having a detrimental effect on me as I had had a heart previous attack. She spoke to someone who said they would look into it and ring back.
I looked up SAGA Group on the Internet and I think you have lost your way. This was your founder’s ethos: I have underlined what you are not doing.
The Saga Group has it origins in the 1950s, when the late Sidney De Haan OBE identified three critical factors for the company's future success, which continue to underpin our operations today.
These involve concentrating exclusively on older customers, marketing to them 'direct' and offering value-for-money.
Our ongoing commitment to trust, quality, dependability and value is the foundation on which our reputation rests for looking after the needs and interests of older people.
Today we remain fully focused on understanding and responding to the changing demands of our older target market, the fastest growing demographic group in the UK that is forecast to increase from 19m to 25m by 2015.
I have seven policies with you, as I thought you would be sympathetic to the older persons needs, sadly I was very wrong.
Disappointed
Roger Bignell
Labels: The Saga Saga
posted by Roger at 7:02 AM
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