NEW DELHI: Thousands of consumers, having spent money on insurance premium, are dissatisfied with the way their claims are serviced, a country-wide study of four insurance sectors — life, health, home and motor insurance — has found.

The study, conducted by Voluntary Organisation in the Interest of Consumer Education (VOICE), covered 3,600 consumers in eight metros and included 12 life insurance and 11 non-life insurance companies. Curiously, none of the companies covered in the survey could boast of a satisfied customer base, the study revealed.

Highlighting the study findings at a press conference here, the VOICE CEO, Bejon Misra, said: "Public sector insurance companies, despite their long-standing presence in the insurance sector, are losing out on their customer base as consumers steadily lose confidence in their service. The main factors affecting their consumer perception include tardy internal redress system, employees' rude behaviour and general apathy to consumer's interests."

The study, supported by the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, has revealed that while health insurance in India has the highest number of "most dissatisfied" customers, home insurance, on the other hand, is a sector neglected by the customers as well as companies. Product differentiation is at its peak in the life insurance sector, with private players providing additional incentives such as allowing maximum grace period for payment of premium, prompt service, and doing away with delays in giving payment receipts. Some players also woo their customers by sending quick reminders.

In motor insurance, most consumers do not even bother to find out who their service provider is as they generally leave the task to their vehicle dealer.

Not surprisingly then, insurance companies spend more time and resources tying up with dealers, rather than investing on providing better service to consumers. As a result, many of the 949 customers interviewed in the motor insurance sector felt that disputes later arose when insurance companies downgraded the claim of the insured by alleviating the estimation of damage.

"Even though private sector players have a smaller market share as compared to the PSUs, all five top positions on the consumer perception index are taken by the private sector entities," Mr. Misra said.

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