My husband and I recently had our cars stolen off our drive at home in the middle of the night. What was worse was that the thieves had broken into our house whilst we were fast asleep to find the car keys! As you can imagine our hearts sank when we saw the empty drive and the backdoor broken into. But, the local businesses that have helped us have restored our faith in human-kindness.
I was supposed to be at a breakfast business meeting the morning it happened, and through the grapevine Wendy from my insurance broker Prizm Solutions in Tamworth actually phoned me at 8.45am, before I had a chance to call her, to say they had heard what had happened and what they were going to do next. She rang me back 10 minutes later to say that the house insurance company was going to ring me to sort out the replacement locks – and they did. She rang a few minutes later to tell me that the car insurance company was going to call me – and they did. Suffice to say by 12 noon our locks had been changed and I had my temporary courtesy car on the drive.
Prizm went on to excel themselves by getting the claim put through very quickly, they found cars similar to the one stolen on the internet to prove the value of the car and helped me negotiate with the insurance company to get a substantially higher settlement amount than was first offered.
Suffice to say, my husband whose company car was insured with his employers broker had nothing like this level of service. They actually had to phone their insurance broker four times before they could speak to someone!
Polesworth Garage were also fantastic. Name check for the Steve Sadler! He was so helpful, he also helped find similar cars to help me prove the value of my stolen vehicle which I had bought from him a couple of years earlier. He also provided a courtesy car whilst my new car was on order, saving me several hundred pounds in car hire costs.
Then, there is Philip Howard Opticians in Tamworth. I had to get a quote so I could claim for my prescription sunglasses that were in the car, and after a very short phone call the quote was emailed to me in a matter of minutes. I don’t think I would have gotten that service from a High Street chain!
The Police get a lot of criticism, but again they have been and continue to be utterly fantastic. They were on the scene within 20 minutes of us reporting what had happened and the forensics lady was with us about an hour after the first officers left. Since then we have had regular updates, they have made an arrest! And, some of my personal belongings have been recovered and returned to me.
From a business perspective, the whole process has been so time efficient. Why? Because all of these businesses (and Staffordshire Police) have systems in place and value customer care, they are also successful. It is for this reason that I am writing this blog. I want other people to know that when you need help, if you have chosen the right people to do business with, what was a horrible experience has actually left me with a very good feeling and immense gratitude. Thank you all – Karen x