Southern Response and Claimants Moving Forward

“Take the wins but keep the pressure on.”

That from Southern Response protest organiser Steve Gurney today after a significant number of angry claimants had meetings with the insurer this afternoon.

Around 100 people turned out for the second protest in as many weeks at SR’s offices in Addington. Each of the 99 people who handed their “one pager” detailing issues with their claim were provided with a reply from the insurer, and a number said they have had some progress.

“At 8am this morning, one person has had their claim resolved completely following the protest of the 2 December. There are a good number who have had progress and there is a significant number who don’t feel they have had the progress over the last fortnight, that they thought they would,” says Gurney.

Co-organiser Ali Jones says we’ve devised a plan now for moving forward.

“SR CEO Peter Rose has committed to “pull out all the stops” to resolve as many of the remaining claims as possible (from the 99 one pagers) by January 27th, something that many were pleased to hear, but still remain cynical. And it’s no wonder considering the lack of movement for so many for so long,” she says. Jones adds that claimants have to try and stay positive and focus on the progress, which her family has also had over the last two weeks.

Gurney says one of the most significant changes to what SR has been doing is they have committed to pre-approving engineering reports on properties, when the engineer is agreed by both the claimant and SR, and the costs are agreed to by SR.

“This is one of the things that has been holding up a large number of those still not progressing their claims so we see this as very positive,” says Gurney. “I am disappointed that we haven’t had greater progress but each meeting and protest is actually helping us to hone in on what the true issues are. Some of these issues are to do with poor process, problematic staff, inadequate training and general disorganisation. So the benefits of our action are two fold; it helps claimants and assists SR to improve.”

Another meeting with claimants is planned for the 28th January, and meeting organiser Melanie Tobeck-Bourke, says a significant number of people who had not filled in one pagers on Dec 2, have expressed an interest in attending.

“This meeting can be used to gather information and hopefully help all of those still struggling with SR,” she says. The email address for those interested in attending is info@jotomero.co.nz

At the meeting on the 28th a decision will be made on whether to pursue a legal group action.

ENDS

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