VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne supervised conference of insurance industry about disasters

The Union of Assurance Consultants (“UNAC”), the Netherlands Antilles Association of Insurers (“NAVV”), and Cunningham Lindsey held a mini-conference in August by the title: “Tomas, lessons learned: improving service to the customer”. The conference was supervised by Frank Kunneman and Mayesi Hammoud of law firm VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne. Two customers, Ben Hoijtink of Laundry Korsow and John Moron, who both suffered substantially from the consequences of the tropical storm Tomas, had been invited to share their experiences with the invitees. The attendance and participation of insurers and brokers was “overwhelming” to them.

Later, those attending worked in groups on drawing up an action plan to improve the service to customers before, during and after a catastrophe. One suggestion is to better prepare for a catastrophe as insurance industry by drawing up a contingency plan together with all stakeholders. The insurance industry also emphasized the importance of concrete and clear information to the customer. Brokers then get a better understanding of the risks of their customers, who in turn can get a better and more complete idea of the insurance possibilities. In addition, the customer will be able to understand the coverage and restrictions of the insurance they bought better. Preparing a contact list of contractors and cleaning companies was also discussed.

During a catastrophe, the service can be improved by deploying a central telephone number and Facebook to obtain practical information and to give advice and recommendations to affected customers. After the disaster, the service can be improved by clearly and quickly notifying the customer of what does and does not fall under the insurance and who handles the claim, and by more transparency in the claim handling process.

Source: Amigoe
Wednesday 7 September 2011