Paymentshield - time to practise what you preach
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Paymentshield made a faux pas this morning when an eager salesman told me over the phone that brokers only advise on the deals that offer them the best commission.
Having recently cancelled my policy with the provider in favour of a cheaper deal, Paymentshield was calling to win me back by offering me a better quote direct.
The salesman explained that because I had gone through a broker I had paid a premium because the broker was paid commission.
He then offered to cut out the middle man and offer me a better deal direct.
I decided to play devil’s advocate and ask him if brokers only offer deals which give the best commission, to which he replied - “most of the time”.
Not really the attitude of a provider that says it supports the intermediary sector.
The phone call this morning was the result of me opting for a better deal with a rival provider.
Until recently, much to my shame, I hadn’t paid much attention to my home insurance policy.
This was until a few weeks ago when I received a letter from my provider - Paymentshield - informing me my policy was going to go up by a couple of pence every month.
As Tesco says, every little helps, so instead of forking out the extra money I decided to empower my inner Martin Lewis and try my hand at haggling.
I had taken out the original policy through a mortgage broker when I remortgaged, but I decided to put the business the way of a broker I knew.
After going through my details, the broker revealed he could save me a couple of pounds by going through 3XD - happy days.
After seven years of working as a mortgage journalist I was finally able to phone my husband and tell him it had paid off- I had got us a better policy and saved us £3 a month.
Being new to haggling, I didn’t realise the game of cat and mouse that follows when you try to cancel an insurance policy.
But 30 minutes later after several phone calls between myself, my broker and Paymentshield, my broker offered a policy around £7 lower than my original and I cancelled my policy with Paymentshield.
I opted for the policy with 3XD, which the adviser at Paymentshield kindly informed me stood for three ex-directors of Paymentshield.
I remember thinking at the time that Paymentshield gave up the ghost pretty quickly in the end,- but assumed it must have admitted defeat.
Paymentshield has not had much love from brokers in recent times after cutting its trail commission from 27% to 5% for brokers who are not placing enough business with it.
When asked about the comment by the salesman, a spokeswoman for Paymentshield says: “We do not believe that brokers would ever base their advice to customers on what would earn them most commission.
“The process they go through thoroughly assesses a customer’s needs which allows them to identify the most appropriate product. Their knowledge of the market and advice is invaluable.”
I know the ethos of a company does not always translate down to its call centres, but if the attitude of the salespeople at Paymentshield is that brokers are only chasing commission, it would appear it has some further training to do.
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Readers' comments (16)
Larry | 18 Nov 2011 4:56 pm
Hardly any surprises there. Commission rules the day in the financial world, to the detriment of the client.
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Jools | 18 Nov 2011 5:11 pm
Main lesson for brokers to learn there is don't rely on the renewal, get back in touch every year, then your client is less likely to shop around themselves......and end up with a 'direct deal' with pytsh and a loss of trail comms.
not much of a surprise that the press office tells the well practsed, tow the line rhetoric meanwhile at the coal face, anything is said to bag a deal. They're called targets and if you don't hit them, you're fired.
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Mark | 18 Nov 2011 5:13 pm
Commission doesn't rule the world if you are an honest broker who is in it for the long term... whoever it was that said this at Paymentshield should be fired, absolutely disgraceful.
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Anonymous | 18 Nov 2011 5:16 pm
Larry, I disgusted with you. I am assuming you are a broker and are painting everyone by your own standards. An ordinary, everyday broker has built ongoing relationship with their clients and alway, regardless of commission paid, makes sure their clients is well served. Look at the recent Which survey report! It's people like you that should be hounded if that's how YOU behave, the rest of us certainly don't! Or perhaps you are a banker?
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Bill Wells | 18 Nov 2011 5:52 pm
PaymentShield has an excellent reputation for meeting claims fairly and promptly. Saving a few pounds on the premium might seem like a good idea until you have to make a claim with a certain company - that won't "make you happy", thinking of one particular company I would insure through if it was the last insurance company on the planet.
And it should also be remembered that if you have a policy through a broker, that broker will help when you make a claim - not just filling in the necessary form but a whole lot more if necessary, including fighting your corner. If you take a policy, any policy, through a broker, then the broker gets paid - what's wrong with that? If you want to do your own shopping around, save 2p and finish up with a crap insurer - fine, do it! Bye.
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Anonymous | 18 Nov 2011 6:02 pm
I had the same experience with Paymentshield. On renewal they increased my premium to three times the price of other quotes I could get & after I cancelled they then called me direct to offer me a premium almost half the price of going through the broker. I asked if I could go to broker three times but they discouraged me on each occasion.
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Richard | 18 Nov 2011 6:28 pm
Hey!!! its dog eat dog out there and on this occasion paymentshield (lower case p because their alleged actions on this occasion make them unworthy of being regarded as proper)has proved itself as a dog insurance company yet again.
Support the Brokers to get established then cut them off bit by bit. Commission drops first then deal direct with the client listings. Nice!!!!!!!
Incidentally, is there not a no cross sale agreement in place anywhere?
Not run by bankers is it? Well I think that's the correct spelling.
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roger travis | 18 Nov 2011 6:44 pm
i had a call 3 weeks ago from Paymentshield Direct trying to flog me B&C insurance. I cancelled my own B&C with them 2+ years ago as they doubled my premium. Considering i was the one that brokered it in the first place, i told them to get stuffed as i don't appreachiate cold calling, or cross selling.
No doubt they are also calling all of my clients, trying to undercut me.
Simples - no new business with them. Hopefully other brokers will follow suite.
Rog out.
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Solo | 18 Nov 2011 9:20 pm
This is just one of many tricks that Paymentshield play. They do not pay commission on the full premium for ASU. One of my customers has a "commissionable premium" of £16.96 but actually pays £26.68. I've re brokered with 3XD for under £20.
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Gary Edwards | 19 Nov 2011 10:37 am
I had a similar issue with Paymentshileld too and when they looked into it it wasn't them that had called but another firm selling their products who lead you to believe they are them. As a result my BDM invited me up to their office to see their operation and put my mind at ease and whilst on occasion they do bump into clients that deal with brokers thy don't do it outright and on any cases that they do bump into broker clients they pay us the commission back. i agree with Bill, Paymentshield have an excellent claiims service and no one owns a client these days, if u don't service them they will end up on the web getting inadequate cover and any excuse not to pay their claims.
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