A Tanjung Aru resident has turned down the compensation from a Kuala Lumpur-based insurance company for the damage to his front gate, after waiting three months and only being told verbally how much he will be getting as compensation. The amount the insurer, Liberty Insurance, was willing to pay for the damage caused by a client of the firm was only RM1,000 – RM431 short of the amount needed to replace the mechanism in the electric gate hat was damaged.
"What the insurance firm is telling me is that it is my fault that its client rammed her car through my closed electric gate and that I have to subsidise on behalf the company. To me, this sounds like it is a cheap skate insurer that is failing to live up to its image. I know times are hard but shortchanging an innocent victim of RM431 is unethical. How it came to the conclusion that it will not fully compensate me for the damage when it did not even bother to send over an adjustor to inspect the damage is shocking," said the complainant, JS. The electrical mechanism for the gate had not been functioning as it used to ever since a woman driver rammed into it last September.
The owner submitted a quotation for the repairs, asking for RM 1,431, to be paid direct to the firm that installed the electric gate that same month, so that it could be fixed soonest possible. When no offer was forthcoming from the firm by the beginning of January, he turned to Hotline for help.
A spokeswoman for the Kota Kinabalu branch of the firm said a check of its records revealed that an offer of RM1, 000 was approved by its headquarters on Jan. 6. There was some difficulty in processing his claim as the print outs of the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) screen grabs of the accident were not very clear," she said.
Our adjustor contacted him by phone some time after we received his claim, requesting for clearer copies of these photographs. She said a letter of discharge was mailed to the homeowner, together with the company's offer. He will have to sign the letter of discharge before the compensation can be paid out. If he is not satisfied with the offer, he should write a letter of appeal to our headquarters, stating the amount he wishes to receive.
We will reconsider the sum, before making a counter-offer." JS bemoaned the added headache of having to appeal the offer in writing. I was made to wait three months with the prospect of having a faulty gate. In view of the risky neighbourhood as it is populated by squatters, I had an electrician to do remedial repairs also at my own expenses.
"Still, the movement of the gate had slowed down considerably compared to how easily it used to open before because the lower arms of the gate were damaged in the accident. What was also surprising was that I was asked to produce colour printouts of the cctv footage when the incident happened at 9pm. Besides, I am not aware of cctv footages being in colour. I went through the hassle of making a police report, tracking down the driver's details and getting an estimate of the repairs.
"On top of this, I had to wait for months to hear back about the offer from the company."
"I have decided to replace the mechanism at my own expense and pursue the matter in the Consumer Claims Tribunal, instead."
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