Quake insurance issues ‘complex’
Canterbury earthquake complaints made up more than a fifth of housing insurance investigations by the Insurance and Financial Services Ombudsman (IFSO) in the past year.
Complaints to the scheme were the highest in nearly 20 years, ombudsman Karen Stevens said.
The IFSO Scheme Annual Report, released this week, revealed 3227 complaints were received, and 314 investigated in the year ended June 30, 2017.
Of the investigated complaints, 27 per cent were for house insurance issues, and more than a fifth of those were related to the Canterbury earthquakes.
‘‘Since 2010, we have resolved 198 Canterbury-earthquake complaints and responded to 2060 complaint enquiries,’’ Stevens said.
She said the IFSO was involved with ‘‘more complex Canterbury complaints’’ and would deal with Kaikoura earthquake complaints.
Stevens said about 75 per cent of all investigations were not upheld in favour of the customer.
However ‘‘a reasonable proportion’’ were settled.
In many cases, insurers were applying policy correctly but the Ombudsman found they could have gone about things in a better way.
The insurer and customer often agrees some settlement was ’’right and proper’’ in those cases, Stevens said. There was a higher proportion of settled cases in Canterbury.
Vehicle and travel insurance complaints made up 13 per cent of investigations each, and 10 per cent of investigations were for health insurance.
No single issue had driven up the number of complaints, but the aftermath of recent natural disasters – earthquakes, storms and floods – would likely keep the IFSO Scheme busy with future enquiries and complaints, a press release said.
Stevens said many complaints could be avoided if people read and understood their policies and contracts.
‘‘Over the 22 years we have been resolving complaints, we’ve heard from thousands of consumers who simply did not know what they were signing up to.
‘‘Our advice to consumers is get hold of the documents, read them, and ask questions until they fully understand.’’