The latest survey from independent not-for-profit, Consumer NZ, has found customer satisfaction with life insurance companies is low.
Overall, 39 percent of Consumer NZ members in the 2018 survey said they were very satisfied with the service they were getting from their insurer.
Consumer NZ Head of Research, Jessica Wilson, said the industry’s satisfaction score hasn’t changed significantly since Consumer NZ’s last survey in 2016, which found 36 percent of customers were happy with their provider.
In the 2016 survey, customers showed strong support for simplified policy summaries and clearer renewal notices:
- 91% of the 7549 members who participated said they wanted simplified policy summaries
- 84% said they’d find it useful if renewal notices contained the previous year’s premiums
“There was also strong support for industry dispute schemes to publish details of complaints and name the insurers involved,” said Wilson, with 88 percent of Consumer NZ members believing this information should be publicly available.
The December 2018 survey included responses from 2426 Consumer NZ members and customers of more than 20 insurers.
Consumer NZ is currently undertaking additional analysis of the other questions in the survey, relating to problems experienced by consumers and how to fix them and will be publishing the results in due course.
Referring to the Financial Markets Authority and Reserve Bank’s review of life insurers’ conduct and culture, Consumer NZ Chief Executive, Sue Chetwin, recently said major changes were needed in the industry to improve consumer protection, including stronger supervision of insurers and a shake-up of complaints schemes for the industry.