Case Studies

Furnisure; Approaching Risk from Another Perspective

Recently a furniture manufacturer came to us with a problem. Their current insurance company were asking them to alter things about their business that weren’t feasible and, the manufacturer argued, unnecessary.

It started with a routine insurance survey but ended with a list of recommendations aimed at reducing risk. But the deadline for making these changes was extremely tight, and the company knew that it wasn’t possible.

The company appealed to the insurer and explained which recommendations they felt were unnecessary, and which they couldn’t complete within the timeframe.

But the insurer wasn’t budging and said that they could not continue to insure the business.

Knowing our reputation as a broker for furniture insurers through our ‘furnisure’ scheme, the company came to us to see what their options were.

They told us why they couldn’t complete the recommendations; partly because some were not warranted, but equally because of the time, expense and impact on their business to alter their working environment.

We contacted their current insurer, as well as another contact that we felt would be able to provide a solution. The current insurer, as expected, were not prepared to change their stance. But we worked with the alternate insurer to help them understand the whole situation and they agreed to conduct their own survey on the manufacturer.

The new survey was conducted using a different approach and looked at each individual risk element, agreeing a more reasonable solution to each. The new insurance company confirmed to the underwriter that they would be happy to accept the risk and were able to provide cover which protected the client.

The client was very appreciative of the outcome we achieved and relieved we had been able to help him solve the issue without him needing to implement expensive and disruptive changes.