Message from Cormarket Insurance:
I can confirm that we will be remaining open for business. We have been working hard and are hopeful that by the end of the week, the majority of our staff will be working from home and in a position to take calls/emails from our customers. There might be delays in answering calls but we will do our best to ensure adequate Business As Usual (BAU) service, particularly for our more vulnerable customers. The team will be working hard to keep our personal handholding service in place as much as possible.
We will be writing to all our customers today to provide assurances that we will support our public sector customers and will play our small part in this great national effort. We are all in this together. A handy FAQ will be included in the communication on our core products and services , which should answer most members’ questions. You can view our Covid19 Information and FAQ’s by clicking on the following link https://www.cornmarket.ie/covid-19/. Our members will be advised that we have contingency plans in place, we have accessible online self-service tools so nobody is left uninsured, and that we have staff on standby to take calls. Some points to note:
- Days of Grace for Motor and Home insurance Customers: In the case of renewals or alterations, we have secured a pardon from the insurers for our Public Sector customers. If a member is unable to get in touch with us before their car or home insurance renewal date, we will keep them on cover for up to 28 days to give extra time to contact us. The only condition is that the customer must be able to show proof of intent to renew their policy e.g. an email.
- Main call activity in the coming weeks will be around our core products with queries on car, home, health, avc’s/fund values and Salary Protection/Income Continuance claims: We continue to work on additional measures for our Salary Protection/Income Continuance customers, particularly our claimants and their families, who will be feeling particularly vulnerable. We also anticipate calls from (1) AVC customers and (2) those who are retiring/retired about their fund values and the stock market. We will be explaining that all previous crises that caused similar volatility in the value of managed funds have passed in time and fund values have recovered. Long-term investors need to focus beyond the near term although it might seem hard right now. Our Retirement team has been proactively calling customers who retired this year and we have a helpline set up. If you have staff who want to talk to a Cornmarket customer service representative about their policy, please direct them to 01 4084162 or lifecustomerservice@cornmarket.ie.
- Key transactions will be around car, travel, health and home insurance: We will be encouraging all members to go online and self-serve. www.cornmarket.ie has all the functionality to allow members to easily get a quote or renew their car, home, and travel insurance. There is also a handy health insurance calculator tool that enables members to see if they can get better value for themselves and their families.
- Suspension of face-to-face meetings and seminars: Finally, we have taken the decision to suspend all face to face meetings, seminars, and conferences, and will replace these where we can with telephone calls or webchat.
We hope to be online and on the phone at all times in the coming days and weeks to help if you need to get messages out to staff, members, etc. We will continue to monitor the situation daily. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with myself on 087 2565 394 or any of the team (Ronan 0876324372, Jane 087 247 0537,Ivan – 087 7729992, Clodagh 087 1208999, Tara 087 639 1254)
We are so grateful to all the public servants that are reporting for duty, adapting to the new reality and helping to keep our country running. We will do all we can to support this great national effort in the days and weeks ahead. We have already begun the process of meeting and negotiating with insurers to see what ‘goodwill gestures ‘ we can secure across all our products to help members get through these difficult times. I will keep you posted on this.
Please take care. I hope you and your family stay well & safe over the coming weeks.
Regards,
Justin
Justin McCarthy
General Manager Group Scheme Operations
Cornmarket Group Financial Services Ltd
T:00353 87 2565394 / E: justin.mccarthy@cornmarket.ie / W: www.cornmarket.ie