Here at AJH we are committed to delivering excellent service that meets customer expectations time after time. It is a real world however, things can and will go wrong! One of the things we have started to do in order to measure our effectiveness is to ask our customers a few questions!

This is how we intend to operate:

• Giving customers information that is clear, fair and not misleading.
• With due care, skill, diligence and integrity.
• Dealing with changes, complaints and claims in a timely and efficient manner.

How we deal with problems:

• We have identified possible problems in advance and have taken steps to minimise them.
• Procedures are in place to monitor our performance and obtain feedback.
• If we spot anything going off course we will act immediately to correct matters.

Why we need feedback:

The only way we can tell if customers consider us to have been fair, is to ask them. We also want to check that our clients understand the products or services we have provided. This is why we do ask feedback questions and we do this in the least disruptive way possible for our customers, whilst giving us the opportunity to check that we are performing to our own high standards and also to give clients the opportunity to express any views to us. If we need to change anything, we certainly will. We hope we have though of everything, we have no way of being certain unless we ask!

These are the outcomes that the FSA want for consumers and are also the outcomes we would like to achieve for ourselves as they will contribute greatly to our success as a commercial enterprise. Our policies and procedures are designed to promote these outcomes. Our management information is used to demonstrate that we are meeting these objectives at all times and where we find that customers have been dissatisfied or if we consider we are not meeting these targets completely, we will take immediate steps to rectify the position.

1. Consumers can be confident that they are dealing with firms where the fair treatment of customers is central to the corporate culture.
2. Products and services marketed and sold in the retail market are designed to meet the needs of identified consumer groups and are targeted accordingly.
3. Consumers are provided with clear information and are kept appropriately informed before, during and after the point of sale.
4. Where customers receive advice, the advice is suitable and takes account of their circumstances.
5. Consumers are provided with products that perform as firms have led them to expect, and the associated service is both of an acceptable standard and as they have been led to expect.
6. Consumers do not face unreasonable post-sale barriers imposed by firms to change product, switch provider, submit a claim or make a complaint

There are many things to consider as we go through life. Sometimes the action we take now can make a huge difference to our futures. Consider the victims of a house fire for example. Happily the family were rescued and are unharmed, the house and all their possessions however are trashed, what is their future?

Scenario one – the family had never met an insurance broker
They don’t know what to do or where to go. If they have an insurance policy they can’t find it and they have no idea with whom it might be arranged. They decamp to stay with friends. No one can put all of them up so they are scattered. They can only afford one new outfit each; they wear the same clothes for days and live like nomads. Work and school suffer, the neighbours are complaining about the smell of the wreckage.  Progress is finally made; they ascertain who their insurers are. Things start to look up. They get temporary accommodation sorted out. There is some confusion though over which policy covers what, their buildings and contents are insured with different companies. They don’t have enough cover to replace all of their contents either, it’s amazing how much things cost to replace!  It takes a long time to get back to normal, they find tow years later that they still haven’t replaced everything although their house is fixed, and there is a big hole in their savings, they are still paying off the credit card bills.

Scenario two – clients who deal with an insurance broker like AJH
They make a call to a friendly and familiar office, the wheels go into motion and contact is maintained until everything is on track. They are put up in a hotel whilst suitable rented accommodation is found for the duration of the refurbishment of their home. They receive regular cheques to pay for replacement possessions. Picture happy meetings with a loss adjuster who is reassuring them that everything will be paid for and put back as it was, only new! Then the day comes when they re-enter their shiny new home and their lives haven’t altered much at all, the fire was just a minor blip.

A big reason for using brokers is that they are responsible for the advice they give and they will tell you whether or not you are going to get advice too!

Take mortgages...

When a lender (not offering independent advice) offers a mortgage directly to the client, they simply ensure that the potential customer meets their lending criteria. No account is taken of lifestyle, ambitions or extenuating personal circumstances. Furthermore, there is little choice of product, no bewildering array, the customer has to make a decision based on the facts presented, and there is no comparing and no advice given. The lender might rave about the greatness of their offerings and highlight all the benefits, but they aren’t telling the customer what else is available and if the benefits are actually meaningful for that individual customer.

Contrast that with a mortgage sourced from an independent mortgage broker. A broker offering ‘whole of market’ or a ‘wide range’ of mortgage products. These brokers generally indulge in the quaint practice of ‘getting to know’ their customers, which is now compulsory! Better than that, the quality of their advice, the clarity of their documentation and their commitment to fair treatment of their customers are all enshrined in regulation so that if they fail to perform or their recommendations do not meet expectations, then there is redress at law for the customer! Surely this huge responsibility is worth paying for? These liabilities hanging over the brokers must surely make them the most diligent of professionals.

So, when making the biggest financial commitment that most people ever make in their lifetime, often in excess of £100,000, maybe over three times their annual salary, why ever would anyone not take advice from a mortgage broker?

Exactly the same principles apply to general insurance right down to the common or garden private car policy. All these are the same, right? You have just bought a brand-new car, the car of your dreams. The car is stolen/written off by your partner/vandalised badly within a week of purchase. Would you like:

a) to have a new one of the same model and colour delivered asap?

b) to receive current market value complete with VAT and immediate depreciation?

Would the difference between these two options be comparable to say saving £100 on the premium?

If you had used a broker and the broker recommended the policy and it didn’t replace your car as in a) above, you would have recourse! It is part of a broker’s business to notice ‘new cars’ and policy wordings. If you had trawled the internet to get the best possible price, then you are also responsible for reading the policy wording and checking that it meets your requirements – even the ones you didn’t know you had! No redress here.

So contact us and let us help make your future free of unpleasant surprises!