"Smoke and Mirrors" Response from Southern Response

“We really wanted this to signal positive and real progress but it doesn’t.”

That from Southern No Response (SNR) co-organiser Ali Jones after Southern Response CEO Peter Rose responded to claimant’s deadlines yesterday.

“We want to be pleased, excited and celebrate with people so they can move forward positively,” she says. “Unfortunately, the response from Mr Rose yesterday is a clear indication that Southern Response doesn’t actually understand what the problems are, let alone how to sort them out.”

Included in an email from the insurer yesterday were figures that “just don’t add up” as far as the number of claimants who presented him with a written explanation last December at the first of two protests in the Southern Response and Arrow International car park in Addington.

“We were told last year by SR that around 149 claimants presented information (99 on the day and 50 during the extended deadline), and yet there appear to be about 40 unaccounted for in their update yesterday,” says Jones who will be following this up with the database of Southern No Response members. 

The group is concerned that additional mediation services through the Insurance and Savings Ombudsman (ISO) and other measures involving the ISO are making up a significant part of Southern Response’s plan to improve the speed of resolution and client satisfaction.

“This is just smoke and mirrors. The facts speak for themselves - at the end of 2013 only 291 homes had been repaired and rebuilt – that’s from the SR website. Things are slow and processes are poor. The overall approach by SR remains flawed and now they are setting up mediation services instead of examining why they have so many disputes in the first place and putting it right. It’s nonsensical,” says Jones.

“The ISO is in Wellington, a letter of deadlock is required to access their services which insurers can and do refuse to give and there is a perception that the ISO is not independent as it is funded by the insurers themselves,” she says. “The ISO is one of the tools but it is not the solution for SR three years on with people facing yet another winter in broken homes,” says Ali Jones.  “SR just don’t seem to get it.”

So where to next? On the 11th February 2014 at the Westpac Hub, Southern No Response will begin the first of a series of educational and informative meetings for claimants of both SR (as a priority) and other insurance company claimants, should there be space.  A legal group action against Southern Response and Arrow International is currently being explored and will be discussed at the Feb 11 meeting.

SNR Co-organiser Melanie Tobeck says gathering and sharing information has made a phenomenal difference to people being able to stand their ground and confidently demand what they are entitled to under their policy.

“With almost 250 Southern Response claimants already having booked a seat, the meeting on the 11th is nearly full so we may have to look at a new venue to accommodate the demand,” Tobeck says.

Next month’s meeting will address issues including what does “as new” really mean, what happens if you cash settle, what quality you should expect, how long is reasonable to wait for a claim to be resolved? Law firm Lane Neave’s insurance specialist Dr Duncan Webb will present on Feb 11, along with a number of other well-qualified technical experts.  The full list of speakers will be made public in the coming days.

ENDS
For more information please contact Ali Jones on 0272473112. For info about and tickets to the February 11th meeting, go to www.eventbrite.co.nz and search for Southern No Response. Entry is by gold coin donation, tickets are free but must be booked on line.