The
Insurance Bureau of Canada has said that insurance companies may be making mistakes as they deal with the fallout of the Fort McMurray wildfires, as they struggle to cope with the sheer number of claims.
“We don’t always get it right. I’d be the first to admit that,” Bill Adams, the insurance bureau’s vice-president, Western and Pacific region, told
CBC News.
However, he said, “It’s not because there’s any intention of getting it wrong. It’s the reality that our industry is facing with 45,000 claims to manage just out of Fort McMurray.”
The mountain of claims, he said, is a significant challenge for the industry: “We’ve never faced all that volume all at once.”
The Insurance Bureau of Canada itself saw a surge in the number of calls it was receiving shortly after the wildfires, to the extent that it quadrupled its numbers of call-centre staff.
The Bureau said the call volume has now returned to normal levels along with its staff levels, but the length of calls has increased “dramatically” from a previous average time of 10-15 minutes since the disaster.
Adams’ comments come after disgruntled residents spoke out earlier this week over the stress of dealing with insurance companies about their claims, with one resident calling the process a ‘horrible nightmare’.
A number of residents told CBC News that they had ‘had it’ with insurance companies that “don’t return calls and emails, pressure them to accept low settlements or have been rude and unprofessional.”
“As time goes on, people are feeling a lot more stressed,” Adams said.
“They want answers. They want a resolution to the situation. They want their life back. And as an insurance industry we fully understand that.”
Related stories:
Fort McMurray residents: Dealing with insurers a nightmare
Select owners affected by Fort McMurray fires return to their properties
