Jean-Paul Connock, who lives in Cambridge, was involved in a motor vehicle accident in the beginning of this month. While he was injured and sent to hospital, he was also dealing with another problem when we spoke with him — trying to get his car released from the tow company that took it so he could get it to the shop for repairs.
“It’s not the tow company’s fault,” he said. “It’s Onlia.”
Onlia, once an insurance provider servicing Ontario, was purchased last year by a private equity firm and changed into an insurance brokerage. The move, policy holders of the former company say, has caused a litany of problems.
Connock, whose policy was active during the time of the crash, says he filed a claim for the accident.
“Nobody responded. My vehicle won’t be released until the storage fees are paid, something the insurance company is supposed to take care of but nobody was getting back to me.”
Connock joins a chorus of people who’ve reached out to Speakers Corner this month with a list of complaints, mainly to do with the lack of communication from Onlia on where policies stand; making payments and getting refunds for those who decided not to renew their policies.
“Before this, every time I had an issue, I could get a hold of a customer service agent quickly,” former customer Matthew Furlonge told us. “It was a great service but when they switched over to another company, I was put on hold for an hour, then people would hang up.”
Frustrated, Furlonge canceled his policy and decided to sign on with another provider.
“But the website wasn’t allowing me to cancel and I have been waiting for a refund ever since.”
Onlia hit the Ontario market in 2018, operating at the time as a managing general agency offering personal insurance exclusively underwritten through Verassure Insurance, a subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Inc which partnered with a Dutch company to launch the service.
It also used a Dutch based I.T. platform which catered to tech savvy customers, who say the service was great.
“One of the reasons we went with them is that we could do everything online. You didn’t have to talk to someone on the phone. Everything was done online,” Connock said.
In 2024, Verasurre decided to exit the market and Onlia was purchased by private equity firm Southampton Financial Inc. (SHFI), which changed it from insurance provider to insurance brokerage.
“They underestimated what it was going to take to transition from the insurance company over to the broker side,” said Adam Mitchell of Mitch Insurance, who CityNews asked to weigh in on the issue.
“The underwriters decided they didn’t want to distribute in Ontario any longer in auto insurance, and went through the process of pulling out and selling the business,” Mitchell said.
ONLIA ADMITS CHANGEOVER HAS BEEN A CHALLENGE
Speakers Corner reached out to Onlia representatives who said they are working to address all issues with customers who had policies under the previous company.
“We acknowledge that there have been service challenges, as our team is actively and diligently addressing with the remarket of this portfolio,” a spokesperson said. “The identified problems are the result of a business acquisition — and are not Onlia’s normal business practices.”
When Onlia transitioned into a licensed insurance brokerage it meant the company was tasked with working to find alternative insurance options for its customers from other insurance carriers.
“Onlia customers were treated as new business by our carrier partners and additional underwriting information was required. This, combined with a transition from a digital single insurance carrier served platform to a traditional broker model, led to significant increased customer interaction needs, higher call volumes, and operational delays that, at times, seriously challenged our resources,” the Onlia spokesperson said.
Addressing other complaints, Onlia says the Ontario personal lines insurance market experienced significant rate increases, which have impacted customers’ premiums, something they say they have no control over.
“Since the transaction, Onlia has also been navigating a highly complex transition involving a Dutch-based system. SHFI has worked diligently to address these challenges through proactive communication with all stakeholders and continuous, round-the-clock system improvements. Additionally, the industry-wide shortage of licensed insurance brokers has further complicated Onlia’s efforts to scale up and handle the surge in customer inquiries.”
Onlia says SHFI completed the integration of Onlia’s operations into its brokerage model in December.
“Despite many challenges, the overall transition was a success. As with any transition, we also faced some “speed bumps” (i.e. payments processing issues on certain policies, etc.,), which we are now happy to report are largely resolved.”
Since we initially spoke with Connock, he says he was able to get his claim processed, by going through Verassure, the original underwriter for his policy. But says he still has not heard from Onlia.
Furlonge says he too, had his problem rectified.
“Before we had this meeting, I sent them an email saying that I’m reaching out to CityNews,” he said. “Within 30 minutes, I got a call back from the manager and saying that the email refund was issued.”
Onlia says it is currently working to solve the issues by hiring new brokers, improving their call centre triage and establishing a dedicated email for priority customer complaints and issues.
“Onlia recognizes the problems that have occurred and is committed to “making things right” for all its customers going forward,” the Onlia spokesperson added.
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