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Consumer NZ faces backlash for insurance survey

Author
Newstalk ZB, NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Thu, 23 Jan 2020, 9:00PM
Consumer NZ claimed that consumers are less satisfied when they use a broker or bank to buy insurance. (Photo / 123RF)

Consumer NZ faces backlash for insurance survey

Author
Newstalk ZB, NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Thu, 23 Jan 2020, 9:00PM

There's a battle brewing between Consumer New Zealand and the group representing insurance brokers.

This week, Consumer NZ released a survey that found that people who buy insurance through their bank or broker are much less likely to be a satisfied customer.

Just 47 per cent who bought house insurance from a bank and 51 per cent who bought from a broker thought they were getting good service.

In comparison, 57 per cent who bought direct from the insurer were happy with the service they received, an annual survey by the Consumer advocacy group found.

The difference in satisfaction was even larger with life insurance.

Only 28 per cent buying life insurance from a bank and 32 per cent buying from a broker rated the service they received highly.

That compared with 47 per cent who bought their cover direct from the insurer.

Sue Chetwin, Consumer New Zealand chief executive, said that while customer satisfaction across the insurance industry wasn't high the survey showed banks and brokers were performing the worst.

Chetwin said sales incentives and commissions paid to bank staff and insurance brokers were likely to be a major factor behind the difference.

However, Katrina Shanks, Chief Executive of Financial Advice New Zealand, has hit back at the research.

She told Heather du Plessis-Allan that there are a lot of misleading statements in their press release. 

"When you look at the questions, they talk about product satisfaction, not service satisfaction, in their survey." 

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