Taylor, I am sorry to read that you have such a negative view toward this discussion. Unfortunately I rarely have the chance to be a part of these discussions because I do have such a busy life. I took today off because we got home late after attending a Stevie Wonder concert last night so, I had the time today to read part of the IJ.
I had hoped to find out more information about the IJ article. I had assumed that Allstate had been doing online billing for quite some time. We have had two very pro-Allstate comments in this discussion but, I still have not read what is difference about what Allstate has been doing and what this new program will add. Can you enlighten us? I’ll just ask some Allstate agents that I know through our local chamber of commerce if you don’t know.
From a professional standpoint, these discussions convey what else is going on in our industry. As an agent that writes with many carriers I sometimes obtain valuable information from these discussions. I find it easier to use examples to convey ideas.
Yes, Allstate has had a lot of bad press the past couple of years – some it may have deserved and much of it was not. Allstate may think it is doing a better job than the rest of the industry. That is the attitude you should have if you are associated with Allstate. Those of us that represent other carriers may feel just as strongly about what our carrier(s) are doing to be the best. The insurance industry as a whole gets a lot of bad press it does not deserve and little praise for the good it does.
Most of the preferred carriers are already accepting online payment. However, Allstate wasn’t able to accommodate due to poor system and the procedure. Now, they think it’s big deal. wow…
I did not realize that they were so far behind on billing innovations. Most companaies have had this feature for several years. Onr problem when you have online billing is not knowing when a customer has moved or changed zip codes. Because the insured just keeps paying their bill online, they could live anywhere and the insurance company would not know until notified. At least snail mail gives returned mail at some point, which notifies the company that the customer no longer lives at there.
You are both wrong! Allstate has had online bill payment for several years…one of the leaders in this field. If you read the “entire” article you will note that the Fiserv deal allows the bills to go directly to the insured’s bank or other payment institution for tighter control etc.
I read the entire article and understand what Allstate has improved on. I think that is great. However, some other carriers have been doing this for several years.
It has brought about some problems with customers not informing us of moving. Example: I had a customer move from Dallas to Houston last summer. She does online paying – bill sent directly to her bank, paid directly by her bank and a copy emailed to her so, she’ll know about any changes in her bill. She can also access the bill through her online banking account. Both her car and apartment were burglarized in September – two days apart. The auto claim wasn’t a problem as it didn’t matter where the car was when it was damaged. However, her renters policy was still on her former residence in Dallas rather than on her new residence in Houston because she never notified us of the move. The off premises coverage was not enough to cover the loss. Luckily, she and her family had been with us for a long time so, the claims adjuster allowed me to correct the address and rating information on her new apartment but, it delayed processing of the claim by a couple of days.
Even though the monthly bill that she accessed on-line has a notice / request to please report any address changes, she failed to do so. If she had done so then, I would have been sent an email to contact her about updating the information on her policy. Auto and renters rates are more in Houston than Dallas so, the carrier was not collecting the correct premium for several months. In the case I am describing, underwriting didn’t make us back date the address change to last summer but, rather processed it effective the day before the loss. They could have back dated the change to the actual move date and billed the insured for the additional premium. As we know, that may have prompted the insured to shop for coverage with another carrier rather than pay what she owes to her current carrier.
Point is that this is not something new but, I am happy to see that as a leader in the insurance industry that Allstate is helping improve things. I hope that this article in the IJ is a notice to some of the smaller carriers that they need to improve.
I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT THESE SOAP OPERA LOSERS..; WHO HAVE NO LIFE HAVE THE TIME TO RESPOND TO THIS NEWS ARTICLE.
IN FACT, ALLSTATE, LOVE THEM OR NOT,(AND IF YOU LIKE MONEY, YES LOOK AT THEIR EXCELLENT TRACK-RECORD) HAS INDEED HAD THIS PAY METHOD FOR SOME TIME AS BOB SO POINTEDLY INDICATED. DO YOU GET THE FEELING THAT WHENEVER “20/20” OR “60 MINUTES” OR MR. “WHY SO LATE” EVER WANT TO POUND A CARRIER, IT’S ALWAYS ALLSTATE ? (HE SHOULD HOPE HIS GIRLFRIEND ISN’T LATE THIS MONTH)
-EVEN THO ALLSTATE IS; LIKE HALF STATE FARMS’ SIZE..WELL, IT’S BECAUSE ALLSTATE IS THE MOST POPULAR PERSONAL LINES CARRIER IN THE USA..WITH NO GIMMICKS; REPTILES, NEANDERTHALS, CARTOONS, OR WASHED-UP “CELEBRITIES” TO TOUT THEIR BEING
THEY’VE ALWAYS DONE THEIR BEST FOR THE AMERICAN PUBLIC WHETHER IT WAS IN THAT SEARS-ROEBUCK STORE DECADES AGO, OF AT THE AGENTS OFFICE TODAY
(THE CAPS ARE SO I CAN SEE THE WORDS..)
HAVE A GREAT DAY
Stat Guy, I understand what the improvements to Allstate’s billing system. The IJ article simply doesn’t tell us what this adds to their previous billing system. At least I didn’t see it in the article.
I’ve experienced most of my smaller carriers make substantial upgrades to their systems this past year but, they still fall far short of what is provided by Allstate and Farmers – I am not familiar with State Farm or Nationwide’s billing systems. I’ve noticed that any upgrades to systems by the major carriers at least gets the smaller ones to keep trying to upgrade. They may be behind the curve but, they do understand the importance of staying in the game.
I agree with Justin in regards to relationships with customers. Everyone in my office uses any contact with customers to cross sell. Anytime you allow a customer to bypass their agent this opportunity to cross sell is lost. My primary carrier is Farmers and I’ve had a lot of customers start using their ebill system when it started several years ago. Most are my younger customers that I want to have more contact with to cross sell. Ebilling system reduces that valuable contact with these customers. However, some of these customers may think about moving to another carrier to get ebilling features. It works both ways!
I understood the difference. Our company allows online payments but I have to do it from my account on my own. However, I for one would not want to find my insurance bill waiting for me when I log on to my checking account. This is a unique service but not one I would choose.
Some valid points have been made in this discussion. Coming from a smaller, regional carrier I find that our customers ask for the same services. Their perception is that all insurance companies have the same resources to deliver the same types of services such as these billing options in order to stay competitive with one another. It just isn’t the case. Smaller companies do not have the resources to deliver these costly services, at least right away once introduced to the market. It could be years before a smaller, regional carrier can offer this type of service. What’s important is that smaller carriers LISTEN to their customers and constantly collect their feedback and ideas.
Finally, the question that I pose is does a service like this really build a stronger relationship with the customer?
Kent, I appreciate your comments; this is exactly one of the issues my company has wrestled with, that younger insurance consumers prefer to use the internet and NOT rely on personal contact. That may be good news for direct writers but for the agent, it can reduce income. My viewpoint was from a consumer standpoint, I am older and not as likely to rely on the internet to do my insurance business. In fact, my agent happens to be a friend of my wife so doing business with my agent is a chance to catch up on things. But I am aware that my carrier has bundled several services together so that they can take advantage of the internet and not be left behind by bigger, national carriers. I hope that you’ll be able to stay with it but I can tell you that my son has never talked to an agent yet, and he uses his cellphone to check on his policy, payments etc. and he can file a claim from his laptop, if he needed to. I may not be comfortable with these new services but by and large, my company is trying to stay up with the pack; it costs money and not all stockholders are happy to see those kinds of outlays without direct payback. Delivering superior insurance services will only get harder when agents get fewer opportunities to actually meet their customers. And the competition keeps getting tougher with the coming soft market.
Taylor, I am sorry to read that you have such a negative view toward this discussion. Unfortunately I rarely have the chance to be a part of these discussions because I do have such a busy life. I took today off because we got home late after attending a Stevie Wonder concert last night so, I had the time today to read part of the IJ.
I had hoped to find out more information about the IJ article. I had assumed that Allstate had been doing online billing for quite some time. We have had two very pro-Allstate comments in this discussion but, I still have not read what is difference about what Allstate has been doing and what this new program will add. Can you enlighten us? I’ll just ask some Allstate agents that I know through our local chamber of commerce if you don’t know.
From a professional standpoint, these discussions convey what else is going on in our industry. As an agent that writes with many carriers I sometimes obtain valuable information from these discussions. I find it easier to use examples to convey ideas.
Yes, Allstate has had a lot of bad press the past couple of years – some it may have deserved and much of it was not. Allstate may think it is doing a better job than the rest of the industry. That is the attitude you should have if you are associated with Allstate. Those of us that represent other carriers may feel just as strongly about what our carrier(s) are doing to be the best. The insurance industry as a whole gets a lot of bad press it does not deserve and little praise for the good it does.
Most of the preferred carriers are already accepting online payment. However, Allstate wasn’t able to accommodate due to poor system and the procedure. Now, they think it’s big deal. wow…
I did not realize that they were so far behind on billing innovations. Most companaies have had this feature for several years. Onr problem when you have online billing is not knowing when a customer has moved or changed zip codes. Because the insured just keeps paying their bill online, they could live anywhere and the insurance company would not know until notified. At least snail mail gives returned mail at some point, which notifies the company that the customer no longer lives at there.
You are both wrong! Allstate has had online bill payment for several years…one of the leaders in this field. If you read the “entire” article you will note that the Fiserv deal allows the bills to go directly to the insured’s bank or other payment institution for tighter control etc.
You’re in good hands!!!!
I read the entire article and understand what Allstate has improved on. I think that is great. However, some other carriers have been doing this for several years.
It has brought about some problems with customers not informing us of moving. Example: I had a customer move from Dallas to Houston last summer. She does online paying – bill sent directly to her bank, paid directly by her bank and a copy emailed to her so, she’ll know about any changes in her bill. She can also access the bill through her online banking account. Both her car and apartment were burglarized in September – two days apart. The auto claim wasn’t a problem as it didn’t matter where the car was when it was damaged. However, her renters policy was still on her former residence in Dallas rather than on her new residence in Houston because she never notified us of the move. The off premises coverage was not enough to cover the loss. Luckily, she and her family had been with us for a long time so, the claims adjuster allowed me to correct the address and rating information on her new apartment but, it delayed processing of the claim by a couple of days.
Even though the monthly bill that she accessed on-line has a notice / request to please report any address changes, she failed to do so. If she had done so then, I would have been sent an email to contact her about updating the information on her policy. Auto and renters rates are more in Houston than Dallas so, the carrier was not collecting the correct premium for several months. In the case I am describing, underwriting didn’t make us back date the address change to last summer but, rather processed it effective the day before the loss. They could have back dated the change to the actual move date and billed the insured for the additional premium. As we know, that may have prompted the insured to shop for coverage with another carrier rather than pay what she owes to her current carrier.
Point is that this is not something new but, I am happy to see that as a leader in the insurance industry that Allstate is helping improve things. I hope that this article in the IJ is a notice to some of the smaller carriers that they need to improve.
I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT THESE SOAP OPERA LOSERS..; WHO HAVE NO LIFE HAVE THE TIME TO RESPOND TO THIS NEWS ARTICLE.
IN FACT, ALLSTATE, LOVE THEM OR NOT,(AND IF YOU LIKE MONEY, YES LOOK AT THEIR EXCELLENT TRACK-RECORD) HAS INDEED HAD THIS PAY METHOD FOR SOME TIME AS BOB SO POINTEDLY INDICATED. DO YOU GET THE FEELING THAT WHENEVER “20/20” OR “60 MINUTES” OR MR. “WHY SO LATE” EVER WANT TO POUND A CARRIER, IT’S ALWAYS ALLSTATE ? (HE SHOULD HOPE HIS GIRLFRIEND ISN’T LATE THIS MONTH)
-EVEN THO ALLSTATE IS; LIKE HALF STATE FARMS’ SIZE..WELL, IT’S BECAUSE ALLSTATE IS THE MOST POPULAR PERSONAL LINES CARRIER IN THE USA..WITH NO GIMMICKS; REPTILES, NEANDERTHALS, CARTOONS, OR WASHED-UP “CELEBRITIES” TO TOUT THEIR BEING
THEY’VE ALWAYS DONE THEIR BEST FOR THE AMERICAN PUBLIC WHETHER IT WAS IN THAT SEARS-ROEBUCK STORE DECADES AGO, OF AT THE AGENTS OFFICE TODAY
(THE CAPS ARE SO I CAN SEE THE WORDS..)
HAVE A GREAT DAY
THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMMENTS AND MISSPELLINGS. MUCH APPRECIATED. Please learn to use proper caps when typing as is proper net etiquette.
Stat Guy, I understand what the improvements to Allstate’s billing system. The IJ article simply doesn’t tell us what this adds to their previous billing system. At least I didn’t see it in the article.
I’ve experienced most of my smaller carriers make substantial upgrades to their systems this past year but, they still fall far short of what is provided by Allstate and Farmers – I am not familiar with State Farm or Nationwide’s billing systems. I’ve noticed that any upgrades to systems by the major carriers at least gets the smaller ones to keep trying to upgrade. They may be behind the curve but, they do understand the importance of staying in the game.
I agree with Justin in regards to relationships with customers. Everyone in my office uses any contact with customers to cross sell. Anytime you allow a customer to bypass their agent this opportunity to cross sell is lost. My primary carrier is Farmers and I’ve had a lot of customers start using their ebill system when it started several years ago. Most are my younger customers that I want to have more contact with to cross sell. Ebilling system reduces that valuable contact with these customers. However, some of these customers may think about moving to another carrier to get ebilling features. It works both ways!
the comments from “Kent” 12/7/07; 7:09pm was actually input by me”Kent from Farmers”
I understood the difference. Our company allows online payments but I have to do it from my account on my own. However, I for one would not want to find my insurance bill waiting for me when I log on to my checking account. This is a unique service but not one I would choose.
Some valid points have been made in this discussion. Coming from a smaller, regional carrier I find that our customers ask for the same services. Their perception is that all insurance companies have the same resources to deliver the same types of services such as these billing options in order to stay competitive with one another. It just isn’t the case. Smaller companies do not have the resources to deliver these costly services, at least right away once introduced to the market. It could be years before a smaller, regional carrier can offer this type of service. What’s important is that smaller carriers LISTEN to their customers and constantly collect their feedback and ideas.
Finally, the question that I pose is does a service like this really build a stronger relationship with the customer?
Kent, I appreciate your comments; this is exactly one of the issues my company has wrestled with, that younger insurance consumers prefer to use the internet and NOT rely on personal contact. That may be good news for direct writers but for the agent, it can reduce income. My viewpoint was from a consumer standpoint, I am older and not as likely to rely on the internet to do my insurance business. In fact, my agent happens to be a friend of my wife so doing business with my agent is a chance to catch up on things. But I am aware that my carrier has bundled several services together so that they can take advantage of the internet and not be left behind by bigger, national carriers. I hope that you’ll be able to stay with it but I can tell you that my son has never talked to an agent yet, and he uses his cellphone to check on his policy, payments etc. and he can file a claim from his laptop, if he needed to. I may not be comfortable with these new services but by and large, my company is trying to stay up with the pack; it costs money and not all stockholders are happy to see those kinds of outlays without direct payback. Delivering superior insurance services will only get harder when agents get fewer opportunities to actually meet their customers. And the competition keeps getting tougher with the coming soft market.
When will the online bill payment begin? 8/10/2010.