Following heavy rain (3 months’ worth in several hours), large volumes of claims were being registered within minutes of the downpour finishing.
Emergency response on a large scale was required to help policy holders. Emergency response in these scenarios isn’t just about presence, although that is incredibly important. One of the key requirements is to communicate with policy holders, listen to and manage their expectations then match them.
When large numbers of streets flooded in Pimlico, Westminster and central London, our ability to do the above and coordinate all our resources to this area effectively was incredibly important. Our emergency technicians were hauling out wet carpet, our removal teams were pulling contents from harm’s way and our project managers were attending to the claims and building a platform to implement emergency works and manage expectations.
Back in the office, our team were working overtime ensuring policy holders were kept up to speed with real time attendance updates. Immediately when a surge situation starts, we install a team member as ‘the communication champion’. It is their job to maintain chains of communication with policy holder, adjuster and technicians ensuring everyone is fully informed.
Within 4 hours we work out when our own saturation point will potentially arrive so that we can inform loss adjusters or insurers that capacity will shortly become critical at that time. This saturation point is then re-assessed every two hours and real time information provided to insurers and adjusters.
It is the commitment to communication and expectation management that we believe enables us to deliver a higher quality service, even under incredibly strained scenarios.
Our technicians are not only trained to remove moisture and apply methodology to the job we do. Our technicians are trained to work with people and communicate effectively with the policy holder, the adjuster, our office and insurer.
