Carriers & Service - All Time Low

[MrGolf]

Don't post much any more but needed to get this off my chest somewhere... Carriers and underwriting service are at an all time low. The bar has been reduced so much that even getting a return call is a miracle. I get it, the market has collapsed and everyone is scrambling and there is more work than can be handled; but still. It is pitiful. And it has been trending this way for a while. Some examples I have had recently:

1) 68 days to get a quote from Arch in the E&S market on a petroleum hauler. Full apps, full supplements, MVR's, the whole works provided at time of original submission. 68 days to get a quote. Crazy.

2) An MGA program that I have a fair amount of business with and can't even get a return email for two weeks. During this time I send them multiple bind requests on renewals or new business. Two weeks and I still can't get an answer on if they will be quoting something that I sent them on February 22; it's a 4/27 renewal.

I could go on and on. But it has become unbearable on agents as underwriters have just shown no initiative to provide decent service whatsoever. And then you get non-stop emails from certain carriers (Travelers, in particular; and also Liberty Mutual) begging you to sign up for webinars. Why in the heck would I take 30 minutes to watch a webinar when I can't even get an underwriter to respond? And in the case of personal lines the underwriting guidelines have become so tight that even pristine risks are declined for homeowners coverage (in Kentucky), but they want us to watch a webinar on quoting auto??

I feel like I'm living in crazy land right now.

 

[marindependent]

Why in the heck would I take 30 minutes to watch a webinar when I can't even get an underwriter to respond?

Let alone Bind it.

I feel like I'm living in crazy land right now.

You are and you are not alone.

68 days to get a quote from Arch in the E&S market

And I would set these 'new' expectations with the clients.

I still can't get an answer on if they will be quoting something that I sent them on February 22; it's a 4/27 renewal.

I have this problem in spades right now.

Insurer Group: "We dont accept quote requets more than 60 days out"
Me: "Yep, but it takes you that long for you to Quote a Policy"

The CA Fair plan is a classic example - Could take 10 days or 10 weeks to get a quote back. Sometimes the quote come back in 12 days when I was expecting a 30 day turn around and the quote is only good for 30 days, not far out enough for when they need it. :-)

Frankly - I look at it as the new normal and I am setting these expectations with the clients. Best of Luck and thanks for the rant.

 

[Al3x Lee]

Glad to hear we're all having the same experience.

*Edit: Not glad in the sense that I'm glad that it's happening, more glad in the sense that we at least get to have each other for comradery.

 

[MIGA1626]

OMG THIS THANK GOD. I don't even know where to start this post is great. I am so sick of Nationwide sending me feel good emails about community. THEY DONT CARE ABOUT COMMUNITY STFU. They destroyed my entire book (I still have it all I moved it) and act like they care. At least just admit you had to ruin peoples policies. Quit sending out these fake community emails. I HATE THIS STUFF.

I tried to call American Modern to get help with something simple that was not obvious. The guy on the phone was super rude with me and after ever sentence said "please access our training". THE REASON I CALLED FOR YOU TO HELP ME. Agents ESPECIALLY agency principals have absolutely no time for training. We need action and immediate results. They are so delusional.

Oh yea... and EZLYNX SUCKS. I told them to take me to court I'm not paying their bill.

I can go on and on and will go on and on about these parasites. They do nothing to help us write business. When I buy out a carrier one day I will fire all of these people. All they want is to do as little as possible as often as they can. There is no other country where you can survive and be this lazy. People complain about the average working man and so on, and I'm sure they have a point but in my experience it seems like everybody in society wants to have a disgusting entitled attitude like everyone owes them something. They have no idea how hard it is to ACTUALLY work hard and smart and grow your own business. If you have this attitude in another country you would starve and/or be heavily judged for it. (This doesn't include people who can't help it - different subject). I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK.

Also, BTW the reason we are in this mess isn't inflation. Inflation just revealed the problem. Insurance carriers have had fancy mathematics and "AI" over the past 7-8 years. They thought their IQ was way higher than it actually was and thought they could use fancy mathematics to optimize insurance pricing which NEVER WORKS. Now they are using AI and fancy mathematics to do the opposite and blow up the rates because they are scared. It is the carriers fault we are in this mess because someone in a board room thought they were smart because they use math. I study mathematics and know that you can't use math in business like this.

When this market softens don't ask for my business back. Not going to happen.

 

[RickyG]

Oh yea... and EZLYNX SUCKS. I told them to take me to court I'm not paying their bill.

I can concur with this in spades. EzLynx is a insultingly greedy organization. Yes, I know a greedy software company, shocker but they are next level. 90% is to get you in door, then they lock it and you are stuck unless you want to hire someone to do data entry for months to move your book to another provider.

 

[Reed M Rhoden CIC]

I am a wholesale broker, and can confirm that 90%+ of the submissions I receive are incomplete. Being that I am not a mind reader, a complete submission is the bare minimum I expect to be able to work on the account. We have the same number of hours in a day as a retail agent does, and like I said with things like incomplete submissions, most(not all) retail agents will waste our time if we let them. Submission volume ebbs and flows, and when its lighter, I may be able to go the extra step and follow up for VERY BASIC information that was left off the submission, but when submission flow is average or above average, I work on complete submissions. Unless you are just working with the wrong carriers, programs, underwriters etc... they will take as good a care of you, as you take of them. My book generates close to $2m of annual revenue, and I have agents that love our turnaround time, and some that complain about it. Everyone of them that complains about turnaround, I can go back into files and show them MULTIPLE times that I asked for mandatory information and they are either slow to answer or completely non-responsive. The ones who love us, send a complete submission on the first try, because they understand the risk and what is needed to quote it. I don't have to ask them for any information. Obviously there are some below average folks in our industry, and if you have this problem with one particular facility, its of course possible that they just suck. If you are having the same problem with multiple different facilities, you should probably review your procedures to figure out what's causing them to be non responsive.

 

[marindependent]

Submission volume ebbs and flows, and when its lighter, I may be able to go the extra step and follow up for VERY BASIC information that was left off the submission, but when submission flow is average or above average,

This is great feedback. Thanks

 

[Al3x Lee]

Being that I am not a mind reader, a complete submission is the bare minimum I expect to be able to work on the account.

Rough. I am a mind reader so it makes my job a lot easier.

I kid of course, welcome to the forums!