I have insured my property with esure for some years. Each year it sends a renewal reminder, but the date passed without a word this year. Then, two weeks later, I received a bizarre email effectively dumping me due to “an upgrade of our internal system”.
At first I thought it was a scam. It didn’t include any personal details, or my policy number. I called and, after listening to the hold music – “Nobody Does It Better” – spoke to a woman who appeared to know nothing about it. To add insult to injury the email ended “we hope you’ll choose us again in the future”.
PG, Bradford
I was inclined to think the email was a scam, too, because of its airy manner and poor writing. “What does this mean for me?” asks the anonymous writer at the end of a paragraph referring repeatedly to “you”.
Amazingly, it is legitimate. “As part of our large-scale transformation programme, we are developing a new digital platform which means we have been temporarily unable to offer renewals to some customers,” esure says. “We understand customers’ frustration and apologise for the inconvenience this has caused.”
Its website advises prospective customers that it can’t provide quotes because “we’re working on something new”, and tells them to apply via price comparison websites.
What is this transformation programme? No less than an “evolution towards a claims ecosystem future as part of fixing insurance for good”, according to a company report written by someone with the same literary skills as the email author.
The goal is to create “seamless customer journeys”. It certainly gave you, and presumably others, a seamless boot out the back door.
If you’re going to ditch long-standing customers, at least do it gracefully and with a hint of regret.
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