Many years ago I owned a jewellery store on the central coast of New South Wales. For the majority of that time, I was insured; that was until 2001 when my store was the target of a brutal armed robbery.
Two men burst into the store with sawn-off shot guns, smashing glass cabinets and store fittings that stood in their way. They jumped over the counters shouting demands and swearing at myself, my 15 year-old son Gavin and two workshop jewellers.
The robbers threatened to shoot us. One of them aimed a gun at my son while the other ransacked the safe, and then they escaped with diamond jewellery and cash worth around $55,000.
It was extremely traumatic for all involved. One of our jewellers resigned the next day and another went on three weeks' stress leave. To make matters worse, the police never caught the robbers.
Worse, we felt that the insurance company treated us and our customers more like criminals than victims. Two days after the attack, an assessor from our (then) insurance company paid us a visit. He was unhelpful, cold and generally unsympathetic. He was also very suspicious when assessing our claim, saying things like: "I don't know you from a bar of soap, so I don't know whether you're honest or not."
During questioning, the assessor asked what I thought my labour was worth per hour. I conservatively replied, saying: "$75."
"We think you are worth $25," he countered immediately with a sarcastic tone. I scoffed at the ridiculousness of his assumption. You couldn't even pay the rent for that! It became clear here he was fishing to get the lowest price possible and we that were supposed to compromise. This is despite paying premiums of around $3,000 per year.
Worse, there was no urgency on the part of the insurer to settle our claim at all. Asking one day how long he thought the claim would take, I was met with the retort, "How long is a piece of string?"
I soon learned that that piece of string was five months long, plus it took a lot of negotiation to get the replacement value settled. In the end, we were paid $16,000 - nothing close to the $55,000 we had stolen! Sadly, however, the costs continued.
Not only did we lose our money, we also lost some of our customers. During the negotiation period, the assessor upset many of my clients who had their goods stolen during the incident. He phoned them personally and was quite rude, repeatedly undercutting what they thought their piece was worth. If one said a brooch was worth $400, the assessor would immediately suggest it might be replaced for $200 for example.
We had clients ringing us in tears at their treatment, and others so disillusioned that they swore they'd never return to us.
In a laughable final slap in the face, our assessor then informed me that our premium would now rise to double what we had paid previously. I didn't even complete the form when it arrived because there was simply no way I could afford it - it would have taken most of my profit, especially when I was only supposed to be making $25 an hour! Thus, I was left uninsured.
The entire ordeal left me very angry and very hurt. In the jewellery trade, you must be honest. I have always been honest because I'm continually dealing with customers' jobs and their trust is paramount to my business. I do the right thing, and I expect the right thing in return; in this case, I didn't get it.
If you fall victim to robbery in your store and the insurance assessor gives you a hard time, don't tolerate it. The more we stand-up and protest as a united industry, the less chance this will happen again. Telephone the insurance company and voice your concerns. Get them to appoint a different assessor to handle your claim and hopefully they'll take care of it for you.
My advice is to insurance companies: stop treating the victims like the criminals or you'll lose many valuable customers.
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Name: Robert Hain
Business: Darjé
Position: Director
Qualifications: Master Jeweller
Years in industry: 35