Just not good enough – that appears to be the response from many insurance brokers in reaction to SSP’s offer of financial rebates to help make up for the toll that its recent outage has taken on brokers’ businesses.
In a
Computer Weekly report, it is claimed that many brokers are unhappy with the terms offered by SSP – reported to be a refund to the brokers unable to use its Pure Broking platform during the outage, as well as a further 14day rebate as a goodwill gesture.
Several brokers believe the gestures do not go far enough, especially as they were, in many cases, locked out of the systems they rely on to issue quotes, track renewals, or even to check emails.
Speaking to the publication, Chris Howell, who works as a managing director for Seaway Insurance Consultants in Torquay, noted that SSP’s measures were “not adequate for what the outage cost us in lost business and in time for my staff to catch up.” He also noted that the system has crashed again since power was restored.
Meanwhile, a broker who asked to remain anonymous told the publication that the offer was “derisory” and “insulting”.
It is reported that several brokers have made approaches to SSP asking for additional recompense but that they have been told SSP is not liable for “consequential losses”. Now it is believed that several brokers are co-ordinating possible legal action as a group in an effort to pursue the company for further damages.
In response, SSP told
Computer Weekly that the majority of brokers have been satisfied with the rebates offered.
“The vast majority of affected customers have been satisfied with the offers we have made and we are continuing discussions on an individual basis,” it stated.
The reports come on the back of the British Insurance Brokers’ Association meeting with SSP on October 10 and outlining plans to conduct a thorough review of the disaster recovery strategies of six major insurance software houses, including SSP.
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