Dear Claudienne

I have been having a problem getting a claim settled with British Caribbean Insurance Company Limited (BCIC) for an accident which occurred on July 16, 2012. On the said date, a Toyota Townace minibus ran into the back of my 1997 Honda Integra motor car on the Old Stony Hill Road. The driver acknowledged his error and produced his motor vehicle documents. However, he was not in possession of his driver’s licence at the time.

When he showed me the documents I realised that he was not the owner of the minibus. We exchanged information and numbers and I told him that I would report the accident to the Constant Spring police station and my insurance company, Insurance Company of the West Indies (ICWI). He wanted to settle the matter without informing the insurance companies about the accident but I declined, having been advised by ICWI not to do so as I would have no legal support should something go awry.

I went ahead and reported the accident to the police and ICWI and received an assessors report for the estimate of the repairs.

After numerous calls to ICWI over many months, in October 2012 I was told that the minibus was insured through a broker and that they had been having difficulty getting the driver to come in to report the accident. According to them, the minibus owner had loaned out the vehicle when the accident occurred. The driver of the vehicle at the time of the accident worked out of town during the week and was only able to come to Kingston on weekends at which time BCIC was closed.

As advised by ICWI, I paid for and received a police report that was sent off to BCIC.

In January 2013, ICWI told me that they had asked that the claim be paid out under the Third Party Act but BCIC declined, stating that the owner of the minibus was unable to supply information about the driver. They said that BCIC policy stipulated that in order to pay out they must have the driver’s information.

I am seeking your assistance, because ICWI has advised me that they are still trying to get BCIC to pay out under the Third Party clause as it was not my fault that the owner of the vehicle had failed to produce information about his driver. I also find it difficult to comprehend why I should be forced to fix my own vehicle when I am not at fault and there was a verbal acknowledgement on the part of the minibus driver of the minibus that he was the cause of the accident.

DB

Dear DB

We contacted the claims manager at BCIC. She has advised Tell Claudienne by email that since we communicated with her she has requested details of your claim from ICWI.

The BCIC email apologised for the delay in dealing with this matter. The claims manager said that she would “endeavour to settle the claim in the shortest possible time”.

We have also been in communication with ICWI and both companies are coordinating to see how soon your claim can be settled.

Good luck.

Dear Claudienne,

I have a serious problem with Digicel regarding my 4G Broadband account.

My service was disconnected on December 4, 2012 for non-payment of bill. My bill was paid on December 19, 2012 and service was restored. Therefore, I had no service for 15 days. However, when my bill was generated in January 2013 they billed me for 30 days in December. I called the contact centre on February 2, 2013 to dispute these charges, and the agent told me that he would pass on the information to the relevant department and I would be contacted within 24 hours.

I got no response so I called Digicel on February 3, 2013. I spoke with the supervisor who informed me that post-paid accounts are billed for 30 days once the account was disconnected for non-payment of bills. He further explained to me that if the account was out of service for a full month in December and January, I would still be billed in full because of the type of account. I have been a customer with them for two years and if my bill is disconnected I normally pay the same day. I have never been disconnected before and paid two weeks later, so I thought I would get a prorated bill for the 15 days that I was out of service. I never expected to be billed for 30 days.

I refuse to pay for 30 days, when I had service for only 15 days. Please investigate the matter for me.

Thanks in advance.

AW

Dear AW

According to Digicel, their customer care department has advised you that, as with any other monthly subscribed product/service, customers are billed on a monthly basis whether the service was disconnected for non-payment or they used the service for the entire month. Since you have a post-paid service with Digicel on a monthly plan, the full month’s subscription fee would therefore be applied to your account, even though your service was disconnected for non-payment, Digicel explained to Tell Claudienne.

Nonetheless, we note that the matter has been amicably resolved as Digicel said that in recognition of your years of service as a customer, on this occasion they have applied a rebate to your account in the amount of $1,409.27 for the 15 days that your service was disconnected.

Good luck

Have a problem with a store, utility, a company? Telephone 936-9436 or write to: Tell Claudienne c/o Sunday Finance, Jamaica Observer, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5; or e-mail: edwardsc@jamaicaobserver.com. Please include a contact phone number.