Mystery Shopper: Birmingham
This week the shopper, a student, is considering joint life assurance and critical illness policies for herself and her husband, who has recently lost his job.
3/5
Telephone manner: The call centre worker was friendly and sympathetic to the shopper's situation. 3/5
Relevant qualifications: Friends Provident no longer has in-house advisers, so there was no one with any qualifications to advise the shopper. 0/5
Payment method: Friends Provident only charges direct fees for its products. 3/5
Guidance given: The employee apologised, but said she would be unable to give any advice at all. She recommended calling another number to get a quote from the marketing department, but said they would also be unable to offer the shopper advice. She told the shopper it was best to go through an IFA, and directed the shopper to the Unbiased.co.uk website. 2/5
Knowledge: The employee's knowledge was limited, and she was unable to discuss any of the factors that the shopper should consider when choosing a policy. 1/5
Email/ web presence:
Email: www.friendsprovident.co.uk
Website: N/A 3/5
Verdict: The shopper left the conversation none the wiser about what to do. The employee seemed afraid to offer any kind of guidance, lest this was misconstrued, and repeatedly recommended going to an IFA.
15/35
