By Song Hongmei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-03-14 17:43

Shanghai received 945 insurance complaints in 2007, 58.82 percent more than the number of claims it dealt with in the previous year, according to the China Insurance Regulatory Commission Shanghai Bureau.

Insurance claims and withdrawal and renewal related complaints accounted for 59 percent of the total while those involving illegal operation of insurance institutions made up 15 percent. Vehicle insurance claims, dividend insurance sales and fake recruitment of insurers were the top three kinds of disputes.

An official from the local consumers' association said some vehicle insurance policyholders complained that insurers did not pay indemnities timely and that insurers agreed to pay indemnities while their authorized maintenance center refused to repair the cars.

Some sales agents were too eager to have their policies sold and misled customers by exaggerating insurance benefits, especially of dividend and unit-linked products.

In January this year, the Shanghai bureau received 191 insurance complaints mainly involving PICC Property, Tianan Insurance and China Continental Insurance Shanghai branches. In February, 132 insurance complaints were filed mainly concerning PICC Property, Ping An and China Life Shanghai branches.

Insurance complaints totaled 1,767 in the whole country last year, up 4.8 percent according to a report released recently by the China Consumers' Association.