Horror Story of the Month.

Well I don’t know whether this should be called horror story of the month, but it certainly got me worried and seriously upset, and I really don’t know what to make of it. 

I got a typical letter at home you know the half A4 size, white no identifying markers. I assumed just another enveloped flyer and was just about to throw it away when curiosity got the better of me.

It was from a mail order company and about 4 lines in, ‘please call’………as soon as possible. This is because information we have received suggests that your name/personal identification details may have been used by another person to impersonate me.  

Well I went stone cold, I called them up and they were very matter of fact about it having confirmed who I was. I was told in short that someone had looked to steal my identity, and that it was so easy.

If we are on the electoral roll then our basic details are already registered freely with the local authority and if someone wants credit today they only need to give an address and against that address will be a credit score.

Since the letter I now know that if I want any credit I will be called by the company I applied to and have go through a telephone interview.  For sure that may be more time consuming but it’s a hell of a lot better than finding out there’s someone securing credit in my name. I have to tell you it spooked me all day when I found out and I still feel upset. 

For those who want to know what the fraudsters were trying to buy t was just over £500 of Lacoste clothes, under the guise of the separate internet orders which they didn’t want delivered to my home address (obviously) but to a store!!.

Fortunately the mail order company smelt a rat and didn’t make the delivery but it really raises as serious issue that we all hear about and then think it wont be us until it is. 

Can you insure against identity theft and the answer on credit cards mostly yes but just think of all the occasions where someone is slowly using your name and address maybe even setting up a bank account in your name and so it goes on. Home insurance should cover the potential damage but you need to check with your Insurer.

We think we are all secure and believe me I am pretty anal on security, but then this happens and I feel massively deflated. All I can say is that was told to check what is shown on either Experian  0844 481 8000 or www.experian.co.uk or Equifax 0844 335 0550  www.equifax.co.uk or Callcredit Ltd.  0870 060 1414 www.callcredit.co.uk and go through everything they have on me. I believe there is a charge but I don’t have any choice nor would you. 

The killer is, this really is a massive problem, and I was the 15th person the lady had spoken to that day, and we all need to protect ourselves as best we can.

I’ve written in the past that insurance plays on fear just as the stock market plays on greed. I also think you can be taken in and buy a lot of policies that you don’t need. But the point is that whilst insurance can be costly and we don’t see the point of it. There are going to be times when we kid ourselves that it won’t happen to us and it may, so please don’t ignore insurance can help.     

SCAM ALERT!

For the last 6 months Trident Insurance has been piloting a social media marketing campaign aimed at carving out a reputation for honest upfront advice and cover that counts within a specific niche audience.

Mainly focused on Facebook, with some support from Twitter, banner adverts and blogs, to date the campaign has proved to give Trident a platform to engage with people about stuff that is a little more sexy than insurance.

The reason for this blog post is, that for the last six months one individual in particular has been niggling away at our social media staff, with a view to trying to catch us out and deliver a quick win for themselves…

Obviously we cant name the person responsible, but I’ve been advised to post this blog by the agency managing our marketing to get the facts out in the open and reinforce our open and honest approach to our business.

Our Facebook competition encourages folk to upload pictures of their interior design and other folk to vote for the one they like the  best.

The project kicked off in September 2011. We were relying heavily on the viral nature of Facebook to promote the competition (i.e. someone posts, others see, others follow, they post and so on). 

We have now built up some solid momentum on the campaign with interior designers, DIY enthusiasts and Joe public uploading and engaging. Initially the competition was due to end in March. We all decided (Trident, our partners and our agency) that it would not only be best for Trident but also give more people more chance to win, if we extended the competition until April.

The response to our extension was positive across the board. I decided we should invest a little more in the promotion of the completion to give it the best chance of success (I bought more banners, encouraged more blog posts etc. – and we recently took half a dozen expert interior bloggers out for a dinner in Soho, great fun and great contacts)…. Before kicking in the extra spend, we awarded the submission with the most votes at that stage with £250 Ikea vouchers.

It now appears, after continual questioning, that my agency has been able to bring our troublesome follower to a head. At this point the person informed us they were a lawyer, were going to take us to court and offered us the ability to settle immediately if we sent them a £7,000 cheque.

We are not going to pay out, cave in to bullying or blackmail or shut down a fantastic competition with an opportunity for more people to win and get involved.

I have spent ten years building this business and our reputation as open, honest and upfront. And this blog post is about nipping this in the bud, being honest and standing up for what I believe in.

Coverage is Key

We all believe that transparency is of benefit to everyone until of course we don’t want to be so transparent, as some things may be inconveniently embarrassing. 

Insurance companies are no saints but the one thing they are up against more than anything is fraud, from the point of questions being answered when someone is seeking cover to when a claim comes through.

When you think of all that insurance covers, the incoming numbers are huge but so are the outgoing payments and the net difference although big is nowhere near making the insurance industry show a fabulously rich industry. 

Accepting insurance may be a sector heading there are so many different categories within, and for the huge help and support the Insurance companies can provide they also as I’ve pointed out before have an uncanny knack of shooting themselves in the foot.

As a country we seem to love to knock anything and anyone as a national pastime. But insurance for all its sins does serve a purpose, and will help if you think about what you need.

With many policies crossing over with some cover, it’s pretty stupid to secure the same cover with another standalone policy because you can’t have dual cover to claim twice for the same thing. So you need to decide what really suits best and dump what doesn’t. 

We are seeing new capital rich but cash poor clients all wondering what they should be doing about insurance, and it’s just quite bizarre they have had to look away from their present broker to get the information they need.          

At Trident I will say it over and over we want to make sure you know what you’re paying for and tell you how it is. 

Being predominantly telephone based the need to dress smartly just seems a waste of time. My view is so long as the guys here do a good job, does it matter what they wear, maybe you would like to comment on that if so please let me know. But I have seen little to justify that wearing a suit delivers better service or prices.

We are all customers and here at Trident we have all kinds calling in, but in times like we’re in now everyone whatever scale of the ladder they’re on needs to save money and that’s we’re we come in, with a far wider panel on Insurance companies than the AA. 

We want you to like what we do and let us know if you’re not happy, we want you to come back at the point of renewals and introduce your friends because you like the way we do things here.

We don’t as a company supply life insurance or pensions, you need a separate licence for that but we can put you on to various companies if you wanted.

We’re also going to have photo’s  the members of staff, who aren’t camera shy, shown on our website so you can put a face to the voice.

And whilst March is still some time away….. but not that much, given January seemed to fly by. We will be at the Business 2012 exhibition at the o2 main arena from Sunday 18th – Tuesday 20^th. 

It’s the UK’s biggest business show for Start Ups,  SME’s, and Mid Market companies with guest speakers Lord Alan Sugar and Sir Richard Branson contributing their thoughts on events so you can come and meet us if you’re in town. It should be interesting and for business clients very helpful, and whilst not on the main stage I will be holding some seminars about insurance if you want to come and listen in. 

        

Horror Story of the Month.

We have a professional Client who has been with us for some years and recently bought a £7,000 watch.

That all sounds pretty good BUT he didn’t add it to his contents policy in place by informing us so we would relay the addition to the Insurance company and they may either keep the premium the same or add a bit on to cover the extra risk.

As you know a contents policy will usually ask what value of contents you would be taking out of the home on a regular basis.  Over and above clothes and shoes it might be rings, a bracelet, a watch and necklace or chain with adornments.

That list needs to be declared fully at the policy’s commencement where valuable items are concerned  to ensure protection when being worn outside the home and you guessed it……. he went to the driving range, put his watch down, and never saw it again. We never knew about it until he called and the poor guy’s £7k watch is now a very expensive memory.

All I can say is that it’s a salutary reminder by not making that phone call to add your new gift or purchase to the policy us it really can be an expensive error.