Key Post Laya gives €100 if you take out a new policy, instead of renewing automatically!

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grenzgebiet

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I'm with Laya Health Insurance. I received my quote for renewal by e-mail.
When I looked at the price on the Laya website for exactly the same scheme it was €100 less expensive than what they had quoted me for renewal.
Phoned Laya. The advice from the call centre people was to just buy on-line and let them know you had done that.
No disadvantage to doing that compared to just paying the quoted renewal price.
My partner is on the same scheme, so both of us did that - saved €200 between the two of us.
Same situation with Laya last year - so it's not just a one-off.

The entire situation leaves a bad taste though.
Anyone just renewing based on the quoted price gets to pay more.
Health Insurance is, in my opinion, too important to be subjected to this type of haggling.
 
When I asked Irish Life if I could get any discount on the renewal quote they told me that, other than group discounts, they were precluded from offering any discounts by the health insurance/risk equalisation rules... :(
 
They sent me back a letter which included the following :
"laya healthcare from time to time provides online discounts for certain schemes when joining online only"

It seems, if you join online you can get a substantial discount, 10%.
So you just join again online when your contract runs out to avail of this instead of 'renewing'.
 
Does anyone know who is in charge of the Laya Complaints department? I have a complaint about their customer care staff but I am being directed to the customer care staff to deal with my complaint. As a result I am being passed around between them with nobody dealing with the actual complaint. Must have dealt with six people at this stage.
 
@WaterWater

It would be better if you started a new thread as this subject is off topic on a key post. The following complaints procedure is on the Laya website.

How to complain?​

If you are unhappy in anyway with the service provided to you please contact our team directly to see if we can resolve any concerns you may have. If you are unhappy with our response you can address your concerns in writing to The Head of Customer Service at Laya Healthcare Limited, Eastgate Road, Eastgate Business Park, Little Island, Co. Cork, T45 E181.

Laya Healthcare Limited takes part in the insurance ombudsman scheme. In the event of your dissatisfaction continuing you have direct recourse to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman, Lincoln House, Lincoln Place Dublin 2, D02 VH29. Tel: (01) 567 7000, Email: [email protected] and Website: www.fspo.ie
 
grenzgebiet said:
I'm with Laya Health Insurance. I received my quote for renewal by e-mail.
When I looked at the price on the Laya website for exactly the same scheme it was €100 less expensive than what they had quoted me for renewal.
Phoned Laya. The advice from the call centre people was to just buy on-line and let them know you had done that...
Click to expand...
This seems almost too good, to be true - are you certain there's no difference in the terms and conditions of the new policy, compared to the original?
.
 
Thanks Sue Ellen. I had already seen that. However my complaint is about the customer care team. It does not seem right that I am being dealt with by the very department that I am making my complaint about. I have asked them if they have a complaints department, then I get a phone call from a colleague who probably sits at a desk beside them.

There should be a stand alone person or department to deal with complaints.
 
Sue Ellen said:
If you are unhappy in anyway with the service provided to you please contact our team directly to see if we can resolve any concerns you may have. If you are unhappy with our response you can address your concerns in writing to The Head of Customer Service at Laya Healthcare Limited, Eastgate Road, Eastgate Business Park, Little Island, Co. Cork, T45 E181.
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This is part of the problem with Laya.

I had an issue with Laya recently. I was passed around from person to person in their customer care department. What started as a query eventually turned in to a complaint. Nobody wanted to deal with my complaint. I was eventually referred to a supervisor in the customer care department who didn't want to deal with the complaint either. It would appear that the supervisor had been given part of the complaint by the customer care team but not all of the complaint. This was the response from the supervisor to me...

"I would like to take this opportunity to apologise for any inconvenience caused and to thank you for your feedback in relation to this matter. I hope the above is to your satisfaction however, we would like to explain that, under the terms of our Complaints Procedure, this letter should be regarded as our final response. If you are still dissatisfied, you may refer your complaint to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman as their contact details are set out below. Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman"

What I couldn't get over was the wording "final response" when I never even got to give details of my full complaint. I tried to get a name and an email address of someone in the complaints department....but I was not offered this. I just got as far as one of the supervisors of the customer care team.

I got the impression that they just closed ranks and fobbed me off....
 
Laramie said:
This is part of the problem with Laya.

I had an issue with Laya recently. I was passed around from person to person in their customer care department. What started as a query eventually turned in to a complaint. Nobody wanted to deal with my complaint. I was eventually referred to a supervisor in the customer care department who didn't want to deal with the complaint either. It would appear that the supervisor had been given part of the complaint by the customer care team but not all of the complaint. This was the response from the supervisor to me...

"I would like to take this opportunity to apologise for any inconvenience caused and to thank you for your feedback in relation to this matter. I hope the above is to your satisfaction however, we would like to explain that, under the terms of our Complaints Procedure, this letter should be regarded as our final response. If you are still dissatisfied, you may refer your complaint to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman as their contact details are set out below. Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman"

What I couldn't get over was the wording "final response" when I never even got to give details of my full complaint. I tried to get a name and an email address of someone in the complaints department....but I was not offered this. I just got as far as one of the supervisors of the customer care team.

I got the impression that they just closed ranks and fobbed me off....
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They have gone backwards and its going on for years, It took us 5/6 attempts to get them to change our children's ( adults now) policies to something that would be more appropriate for them.

They never told my wifes employer so they owe us money but try getting it back.

Add in the claiming back of medical expenses, they introduced an app to send the receipts 3 times to 3 different people.

AIG are involved with them now and I expect it to get worse.
 
Laramie said:
I got the impression that they just closed ranks and fobbed me off....
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They are fine as long as nothing goes wrong.

When something goes wrong you get passed around. They then obfuscate in their replies to you. You can never get to a manager.

I am voting with my feet later this year when my Laya policy comes up for renewal. I am not going to support any business anymore that treats me like this. Had enough of that.

Their managers need to step up and be seen and heard and not hiding behind their staff.
 
Laramie said:
I got the impression that they just closed ranks and fobbed me off....
Click to expand...
That's why I have already moved from Laya. I just couldn't give them my business after the way they treated my simple enquiry. There was no one to make a complaint to, other than the team leader of the customer service team.

I got a very similar letter to the letter that Laramie got above. I felt that they were peeved with me for daring to suggest that they were not dealing with my enquiry properly.

They should have an online process for dealing with complaints separate to their customer service team.
 
Kimmagegirl said:
When something goes wrong you get passed around. They then obfuscate in their replies to you. You can never get to a manager.
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I had an issue with Aviva. When their customer care team was passing me around I elevated my query to a complaint. This was then dealt with by another person whose job it was to investigate and deal with complaints only.

It was dealt with very efficiently by this person. You could tell that they investigated it fully.

They apologised on Aviva's behalf and made an offer of monetary compensation to me.

It was not about the money but just the fact that someone actually listened to and understood my complaint.

To see that Laya fobbed off people and actually used the terminology "final response" is terribly dismissive.
 
I am not defending the case but the Ombudsman requires a 'Final Response' letter before they will proceed with investigating a complaint on your behalf. If the letter does not suggest it is a final response and you want to take it further, you will have to go back and request the same letter with the words 'Final Response' in it.
 
kitty81 said:
I am not defending the case but the Ombudsman requires a 'Final Response' letter before they will proceed with investigating a complaint on your behalf. If the letter does not suggest it is a final response and you want to take it further, you will have to go back and request the same letter with the words 'Final Response' in it.
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I understand. But in Laya's case should they not fully investigate the complaint first? It seems that they are not doing this. Just issuing a fob off copy and paste letter from their database.
 
Has anyone got further than the customer care team when making a complaint? Is there an email address for a senior manager or even a complaints department where I can raise an issue by email?

I am just being passed around various team members at the moment for nearly a month and not getting anywhere.
 
SoylentGreen said:
Has anyone got further than the customer care team when making a complaint? Is there an email address for a senior manager or even a complaints department where I can raise an issue by email?

I am just being passed around various team members at the moment for nearly a month and not getting anywhere.
Click to expand...

If it were me and I wasn't getting anywhere with the complaint I would try ringing these people and asking for their advice:

Laya Healthcare Limited takes part in the insurance ombudsman scheme. In the event of your dissatisfaction continuing you have direct recourse to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman, Lincoln House, Lincoln Place Dublin 2, D02 VH29. Tel: (01) 567 7000, Email: [email protected] and Website: www.fspo.ie
 
Sue Ellen said:
If it were me and I wasn't getting anywhere with the complaint I would try ringing these people and asking for their advice:

Laya Healthcare Limited takes part in the insurance ombudsman scheme. In the event of your dissatisfaction continuing you have direct recourse to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman, Lincoln House, Lincoln Place Dublin 2, D02 VH29. Tel: (01) 567 7000, Email: [email protected] and Website: www.fspo.ie
Click to expand...
My understanding is that when dealing with an ombudsman, you have to have exhausted all avenues with the company that you are dealing with?

You have to submit correspondence.

If you cannot even get someone to listen to your complaint and understand your complaint and reply to your complaint how useful will the process be?
 
SoylentGreen said:
Has anyone got further than the customer care team when making a complaint? Is there an email address for a senior manager or even a complaints department where I can raise an issue by email?
Click to expand...
If only. I have no idea who is in charge of the Customer Care department. I have tried to find out but .......silence. I did manage to get to a manager but this person just obfuscated in his responses to me, never actually dealing with my issues raised.

I used to have great respect for Laya but this has gone downhill rapidly. I feel that nobody is actually listening to me when I contact them. Maybe when enough of people start moving elsewhere for their health insurance, the senior managers might wake up and do something.
 
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