Service Lacking at Trident Marine Insurance.

I am a big believer in sharing my boating experiences on boatplace.com.au - be they positive or otherwise. That is afterall, the aim of this website; for boaties to share their knowledge and their experiences.

My annual marine insurance renewal came around, reliably as it does and I decided to shop around. The premium had increased yet again (do they ever go down?). With the spate of natural disasters recently both within Australia and abroad, little wonder the insurance companies want to recoup some of their losses.

This year I listed and telephoned one dozen companies, including all the big insurers and also the specialist boat insurance businesses. After obtaining quotes and comparing the various marine insurance policies available, I settled on Trident Marine Insurance. Their quotation was good, the policy seemed great and importantly the service over the telephone seemed really good. Or at least on the surface.

Nearly two weeks after I had agreed upon accepting the policy, I was still waiting on the paperwork to arrive in the mail. Concerned - as my existing boat insurance cover was due to expire shortly, I telephoned once again. During the previous call, I recorded the name of the person I had spoken with. So I knew who to ask for this time. Polite as she was, the lady assured me she would e-mail me the policy and cover note immediately. Fantastic.

Nearly two days passed, no e-mail arrived. So I relented and called my insurance broker and requested that he organise something immediately. Which he promptly did and we settled on a policy that afternoon. The boat insurance that I finally paid for through my broker was substantially more expensive and did not offer the policy particulars that matched Trident Marine Insurance's policy offering. But their service was so astoundingly bad, that in the end I just wanted to ensure my boat was covered!!!

How hard is it to e-mail an insurance policy and invoice to someone? Has it become rocket science to stick a policy in the mail and post it via snail mail? Do we need to offer a degree to do this as well these days? Unfortunately it has left a bad taste in my mouth for Trident and done nothing to improve my already-lowered levels of trust in Australia's service industry. Which ought to be called the 'lack-of-service industry.' Or simply, as we say in Australia, 'the sh**house service industry.'

Absolutely woeful.