Lifestyle Services Group

The autonomy of a disaster. My camera slipped through my gloves on a cold day in Washington DC. The “Lifestyle Services Group” provides “gadget cover” if you have the account extra “Barclays First Additions” (6.50GBP extra a month).

1. 24/2 Dropped my camera in Washington DC
2. 25/2 Called LSG to report the incident
3. 26/2 Form arrives from LSG that needs my signature and payment details for the 25GBP excess
4. 27/2 Form sent
5. 29/2 Called LSG for an update
6. 5/3 Called again as I need a camera for travelling on the 13/3. Since they seem to be taking so long I order the the same camera from Amazon as a replacement. Of course I tell LSG I am buying a replacement beforehand, but they don’t want to hear of it.
7. 5/3 I notice that 25GBP is taken from my account. Maybe something is happening?
8. 5/3 When I get home from work I notice a letter (dated 3/3) with an address I should send my broken IXUS 950IS to
9. 6/3 Posted camera according to instructions. Registered and priority…
10. 7/3 Called to confirm they have the broken camera
11. 11/3 replacement camera arrives
12. 11/3 Called LSG, couldn’t get through :(
13. 11/3 Come home to find a claim for like that from #3. WTF?
14. 11/3 get a call at 5pm offering a cash settlement of what I paid for the camera in the first place.

So 17 days later, 25GBP excess + call costs + postage&packaging, several phone calls, some running around and a lot of trauma I get an Insurance claim through. Wow, a victory for the small guy.

Some notes:

• Is it just my impression that Insurance companies like LSG seem to go out their way to provide poor customer service to the point that you the customer just want to give up?
• I was actually also covered by Columbus travel insurance. I am not going to waste money on Columbus as I was unable to file a claim with them. After chasing up with them, they said they would send a form (via a third party) which never arrived.
• #6 My IXUS 950IS was actually more expensive that what I originally paid for it. So I think when LSG called up on #13 they were happy to pay the lesser price.
• I primarily took this insurance policy for my mobile. But can you imagine waiting at least 17 days to get a mobile phone replacement? I can’t!
• Why didn’t LSG take the payment details for the excess over the phone in #2?
• Why didn’t LSG tell me the address to ship my broken camera at stage #2? It took them 11 days to tell me. They could have just told me over the phone.
• Since I received the new camera in #11 and even though I told LSG repeatedly about that, I was surprised they never asked to take new serial number down. I had to call them up again to “register the details of my new camera”. Poor customer service.
• Why don’t Insurance companies use email?
• All this time… over what? a 180GBP camera? Insurance delays and what not. Is it really worth it?