OUTsurance vs. Budget: A lesson in perseverance!
by Fred Roed on 22/12/06 at 10:23 am
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The studio shuts down today. I’m currently sitting with Aubrey and Brad*. Shane and Andrew have left for remote parts of the country to do whatever it is that they do.
It’s a pretty quiet day and I’m doing some admin to end off the year. On my list of tasks was to try and reduce my ridiculously high personal insurance premiums.
In doing so, I learned a lesson in persistence. I’ve been trying to get through to Budget Insurance the past week, with no luck. I saw an advert in the Sunday Times that said that they could insure my new car, a Renault Scenic, for R200 or so, which is half of what OUTsurance, my current provider, is charging. When I phoned their call centre yesterday for the umpteenth time, they informed me that they were experiencing ‘difficulty’ because half of their staff was on leave. I eventually got through this morning, and got a competitive quote. Sure enough, they were half the price.
So I phoned OUTsurance and told them the good news. The person I spoke to went into emergency mode, and put me through to ‘Retentions Dept.’ (which, by the way, is a great name for any department) where a lady called Charmaine was standing by. She got me to email her the competitive quote, reviewed my policy, and promptly lowered my premium. They’re still not as low, but are offering me more benefits.
Anyhow, lesson learned. Here are some thoughts:
- Whether business or personal, never accept the first offer.
- Always keep check of what you’re being charged, especially if its being automatically debited off your account.
- Budget was cheaper, but OUTsurance were prompt and quick to respond to the challenge. I am choosing to stick with them even though they are more expensive.
*Brad is Live Alchemy’s new all-star packaging guy, call-centre operator and lead singer. (Brad does a mean cover of ‘You Raise Me Up’. If you’re bored, phone the studio and ask him to sing a rendition when you phone LA at 021 7021943. Operators are standing by.)
Fred Roed is the marketing guy in the Ideate crew. Fred is the CEO of web marketing company World Wide Creative and the co-founder of online learning portal Heavy Chef. Fred loves writing about people out there doing marketing right. Follow Fred on Twitter here. View more articles by Fred Roed.
Tags: company insurance, insurance companies
