FINAL WORD -- At the coalface

ABREAST OF THE SITUATION
YEARS AGO, I visited a client who had two small children – one of whom was a newborn.
During the meeting, we [the husband, wife and I] sat out on the balcony for fresh air and the wife was nursing the newborn.
After about 30 minutes and without any warning she starts breastfeeding her child in front of me.
Nothing different is said by anyone. It was all done as if she was pouring me a glass of water. Consciously I am thinking, ‘just look at the client’s eyes, just look at their eyes and don’t get my calculations wrong’.
I am saying to myself, ‘there is no way I am leaving here without their signatures for the pre-approval’. They did sign.
Today, I have been their broker for nearly three years.
STEPHEN
THE PERFECT STORM
A FEW years ago I was a life agent and general insurance agent with IFMA.
My husband has a plumbing contracting business and, as such, was called out to do a repair on a leaking pipe at a new client’s home.
They were duly sent the account, and did not pay. So we took them to the court as a small claims issue. Whilst waiting outside the court room, I started chatting with the lady of the house, not letting her know that I was the one taking her to court.  
We started chatting about insurances as she was making a claim on her insurance for this job.
In court she was ordered to pay the plumbing account, which she did in full.
Within a week, she called me to get insurance for her home, farm property and new café she was starting up. I did so; she was happy with all this and took the business.
Then, about six months later, she called me on a Sunday morning asking me to get some insurance on a boat they were buying on the Monday. This is where the fun starts.
She told me that she and her husband were going to buy the boat first thing on Monday morning. I asked all the appropriate questions, and wrote the answers down.
Age, type, construction, type of motor, is the boat under survey, do you have photos etc. I also told her that a full survey would be required with photos taken by the surveyor, and no cover could be placed until this was done. This she promised to provide.
At 8.30am Monday morning, I called the insurer with what details I had, and they confirmed that a full survey would be required.  Then I called the client to advise the situation, and told her I would be in town to take photos of the boat for her.
As I was driving, the news came on. During the night a timber fishing boat had motored out of the harbour, and when it reached the outer waters, it broke up and the owner had to be rescued with a total loss of the boat.
Guess whose boat this was.
I then received another call from the wife, at about 9.30am on Monday morning  asking if I had placed the insurance on their new boat as yet. My answer was no, as the survey had not been done.  She got a bit stroppy and said she would see me in court for not carrying out her instructions.
Within a week I received a letter of demand from her solicitor holding me responsible for the loss of her uninsured boat.
Of course it was not a claim. But I had to go through the process with my solicitors.
Then, to top all this off, a few years later, she called to get insurance on another business and asked if I was able to arrange finance for the purchase of this new business.
RUTH MORTON

Written by Staff Reporter

Last Updated: 11 March 2022

Published: 11 April 2012