Smart-Cover Direct on how its customer service led to a national award nomination

Personal lines broker seeing success in what can be a challenging market

Smart-Cover Direct on how its customer service led to a national award nomination

Property

By Lucy Hook

A regional broker that specialises in gadget, appliance and home emergency cover has been selected as a finalist for a national broker award.

Watford-based Smart-Cover Direct has been shortlisted at the UK Broker Awards in the Customer Service Award category, which will take place next month – the fourth award nomination the company has scored this year.

Niraz Buhari, managing director at the firm, told Insurance Business that Smart-Cover has been nominated based on its consistent efforts in reaching out to customers for feedback and using their input to improve the business.

“All customers receive our feedback form online or by letter and they get a chance to rate our service, and that’s something we’ve been doing since 2003,” Buhari explained. “We are able to demonstrate that we are constantly reaching out to the customer, taking their feedback, and making the changes within the company which ultimately benefit the customers. We’ve been constantly doing that for years.”

Smart-Cover specialises in cover for gadgets, where Buhari says there is a fast-growing demand for television cover in particular, as well as kitchen appliances and home emergency cover. The nature of those types of coverage means that the broker is not simply focused on paying claims, but on providing a high-level of service and interaction with clients.

“Here it’s different, it’s about customer service for us. Customers expect us to fix their problem… As soon as a customer reports a problem to us we send an engineer, usually within 24 hours depending on where they live, and if they can’t fix it then we will replace it for them absolutely free of charge,” Buhari said.

Smart-Cover trades most of its business online, and has purchased the customer databases of four other intermediaries in the last year alone, which has helped grow its books.

Speaking of his company’s latest nomination, Buhari added: “The awards are not only a huge motivation for us but at the same time, it reassures that we are working in the right direction in providing the best services to our customers. I would also like to take a moment and thank all our employees for their constant support. Without their hard work, this would not have been possible.”


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