Thursday, November 30, 2006 Ledesma: Promos and insurance By Jun Ledesma Sunbursts
THIS is about a long existing virtual racket perpetrated by unscrupulous insurance companies preying on motorists dealing with the Land Transportation Office.
It's a shame that government departments and other regulatory agencies cannot see what Mayor Rodrigo Duterte can despite the enormity of his job. Is it because they have become so inured with irregularities and other shenanigans in their office that they just relegate the scam as among the devious practices that happen in the government bureaucracy?
The other day, Mayor Duterte finally broke his silence over the proliferation of fly-by-night insurance companies that had made Land Transportation Office their business turf.
First time I heard of this controversy was when an insurance agent who looks like Bill Martin questioned the existence of a mafia that controlled the insurance business at the LTO. You see if there are about 100,000 vehicles registered in Davao City alone, about 80 percent of this does not have any preferred insurance firms to deal with.
Some vehicle owners do not care which insurance firm issues the insurance cover for as long as it is good enough to have their vehicle registered then that is perfectly okay with them. The suspicion is that these insurance firms with dubious viability are in cahoots with insider who refers vehicle owners to them.
These firms are within the spitting distance of the LTO office. There seems to be nothing wrong with that. Problem is, when accident happens these fly-by-night insurance companies are nowhere to be found and the insured badgers the Mayor to look into their plight.
Actually, the motor vehicle owners have nothing to blame but themselves. Just like buying pre-need insurance. For a few pesos difference in premium some gullible clients would go companies with no track record. Some would fall prey to sweet talks, propaganda and promos despite the fact that already the viability of the company is known to be on the rocks.
For example, I knew of some people who still buy College Assurance Plans because it is cheap and with incredible awards despite the fact that the Insurance Commission already warned that the company is going belly up. "Gi-initan ra na sa administration ni Arroyo." Beat that kind of reasoning? In fact it is completely irrational and stupid.
Like most irregularities in the government, it takes two to tango. If the owner does not give a hoot about the integrity of the insurance firm, then LTO does not care either. The vehicle owners thought that he saves money on premiums, the LTO officer would not mind that either because he might have a share of the loot which is legitimately called commission. But my mole at the LTO says that the head or heads of the LTO maintain a distance from these shady insurance deals. There is actually a group that is assigned to handle that enterprise. You will know them because at the end of the day and into the night the official is part of the coterie of these mafiosos in plush hotels.
However, it is difficult to pin an LTO official to the racket. Just because he is seen imbibing drinks and seen a huddle with some guys identified with the favored insurance firm does not necessarily mean he is in the take. When I told my publisher that, he snapped back: "Tell that to the marines."
That's about the LTO and the ubiquitous insurance swindle as Mayor Rody puts it. The very bad news is that, this racket is rampant in other parts of the country, Metro manila especially.
In yet another rip-off, companies, some of them with big names and brands, warrant their products but only for seven days! These products are sold in big malls in Davao City. Salespersons assigned by the appliance distributors in these superstores are obviously coached how to not to issue written warranties as mandated by law. Unlike in the past, every home appliance that one buys is issued a guarantee document. These days they will tell you that the receipt is good enough as a guarantee. But then there is really nothing there that would mean it serves as a guarantee document.
The Department of Trade and Industry had been remiss on their job of monitoring what products are substandard and what are not. Verbal guarantees of seven to 30 days presuppose that the product is below standard or smuggled. Merly Cruz ought to whip her subordinates into acting on this scam.
Merly too should look into marketing promotions that promises some perks. Actually the purpose is only to lure customers. My son is a victim of this. He read in one of the commercial ads that Smart ran. Smart comes out with various offers which I found out were good only in paper. My son thinks the offer was great so he went to this Smart outlet in SM Davao. He was asked to fill up a form and submit some documents. Having done that, and was assured that everything was accomplished, he was made to choose from the advertised items.
But the unit was not available, the smart guy said. My son has to leave for a job assignment so he authorized a friend to follow up and accept the unit for him. After two weeks of follow-ups and waiting his friend was told that the unit was not yet available. My son called me to intercede for him and so I went to this Smart outlet at SM as he directed me. The smart guy with a cute necktie burrowed through the file of applications and he saw my son's. He browsed over it and told me that the unit will be available within the next five days. I asked him whether there was something lacking in the applications that they hesitated to accommodate my son's option. He went through the documents again and told me that everything was in order. We just have to wait although there are other models he might want to avail of.
I never realized that that was plain subtlety until I returned last week to inquire whether the unit my son applied for is already available. Without answering my question, they looked for my son's document, went through it again and then told me. "There are some corrections in the application, space not filled up, etcetera etcetera." I called up my son who at that time was in Legaspi City. He said that they guided him on how to fill up the form so it is impossible that he missed something. He is right. The first time I went to Smart office to check on his application, I was also told that everything was in order.
I called up my son and told him that Smart cannot serve his order. My house helper overheard me talking about the Smart good-only-for propaganda. She quipped: "Grabe lagi ng Smart kuya. Nagpaload ko didto sa kanto, pagabot nako ngari wala na ang load nako. Kawatan lagi na ang Smart." I explained that "wala na kawata, siguro aduna lang dakung problema sa ilang computer system nga maoy hinungdan nga nawala ang imong load." My other house helper batted in. "Tinuod na kuya. Tulo na ka bises nahinabo namo na." Last weekend they told me that the two of them changed their SIM cards. End of story, end of Smart. But I know that Manuel V. Pangilinan is not one who will tolerate this incompetence.
