The View from The Niagara Guide

New things in Niagara Business, Specials, Sales etc. and Other Observations

Can't or Won't?

Mark Kawabe - Thursday, April 30, 2015

Maybe, dear reader, you read the fine print on contracts and agreements. If so, I'll wager you're in the minority of people who do. I recently read my auto insurance policy renewal offer and found I was being charged a 5% surcharge for a minor traffic violation.

Five percent's not much, but what surprised me was that the infraction was not related to unsafe driving. In 2012 I had borrowed a relative's car for a short in-city trip and was pulled over by the police. My elderly relative had mistakenly failed to renew his plates on time. The keen-eyed officer noticed this so pulled me over and asked for my license, ownership and insurance. I didn't have the last two documents, so promptly received two tickets: one for the expired plate and the other for failure to produce proof of insurance.

Since these weren't moving violations, I didn't give them any thought when my policy renewed. It was a surprise to see it on my policy renewal offer.

When I called my insurance agent to inquire about having the surcharge removed, the representative seemed to think it would be a no-brainer. She called the underwriter to make the request. To her surprise and mine, the underwriter said the surcharge couldn't be removed as the conviction was for an offense under the Highway Traffic Act.

After I got off the phone, I wondered how much I had spent with my insurance company over the years. I calculated the amount to be at least $30,000 over the past 15 years.I hadn't had any other tickets for my driving, nor had I had any at-fault collisions. From my perspective, I didn't think it reasonable to pay extra for what amounted to a paperwork violation. So, I called back and asked my insurance representative about my claim history.

That led to her making a speedy phone call back to the underwriter. After a while, my representative called me back saying the underwriter had begrudgingly agreed to waive the surcharge. She also passed along a message from the underwriter who said I should have fought the tickets at the time instead of asking for the surcharge to be removed. Someone wanted to have the last word, I guess.

What surprised me about this whole experience is how easy it would have been to approve the removal of the surcharge on the first call. Instead, it took me feeling unfairly treated and interested in shopping around for a new insurance company to convince an underwriter to eliminate the surcharge. I am also left feeling that perhaps my insurance company won't help me in future when I do need them. Not because they CAN'T, but because they just won't want to.

The underwriter HAD THE ABILITY to remove the surcharge. She didn't WANT to. When you CAN help a client, don't you think you SHOULD? After all, who are you in business to serve? When you're in business to serve yourself, you're in the wrong business. Today, everything is about the customer's experience. Doing your utmost to provide the best customer experience possible is what keeps you in business and makes your business grow.

If you won't help your clients, someone else will.



Need a House? Call Amy Layton!

Mark Kawabe - Thursday, April 16, 2015

If you're looking for a house in Niagara, there's a person you might want to call.

Her name's Amy Layton, and she's a sales representative with Royal LePage.

Why call Amy? Because she cares. She goes above and beyond the usual service provided by a real estate agent. Her clients are often amazed.

Here's a testimonial from one of her clients. Let's call him Josh, because that's his name ;)

Buying or selling a home in Niagara and want to work with someone who cares? Call Amy Layton.



Gout Gone Thanks to Lemons

Mark Kawabe - Thursday, April 16, 2015

I was chatting with Dennis O'Neill, the Business Growth Coach the other day, who told me how he'd spent a weekend prior. He was expecting company that weekend, and had planned to visit a number of wineries, take some winery tours and enjoy some fine Niagara vintages with his guest. A few days before his guest was to arrive, he had another, less welcome visitor show up.

Gout is a particularly unpleasant condition where deposits of uric acid collect in a joint - often in the foot. The crystals irritate the crystals in the joint and cause pain, inflammation and swelling. It's not fun, and in Dennis' case, it was not at all enjoyable because it looked like his weekend was going to be ruined.

Dennis knows a woman named Catherine Bradley, who he met through IdeaShare Niagara. If you haven't heard of her, she's a practitioner of Heilkunst. If you haven't heard of Heilkunst either, you're not alone. A completely unscientific poll of people I know demonstrated that the knowledge of Heilkunst in Niagara is virtually nil. That's okay though, because now you know about it and you know about Catherine. You might want to give her a call in the event something ails you.

Catherine had a chat with Dennis about his gout and suggested that he add something to his dietary regimen to help him quickly alkalize his body. That something was lemon juice. I've heard having lemon juice in warm water in the morning is a great way to start the day. I didn't hear that from Catherine. I think I heard it from Craig Bowman, who's a nutritionist I know, and who wrote an article about the acid/alkaline balance in the body. Anyway, Catherine suggested to Dennis that since he felt his gout was coming on quickly, he should fight back just as hard with lemon juice: one glass of lemon juice and water for every waking hour. So that's what Dennis did for the next three days.

The result? On the day his guest arrived, he went on a couple of Niagara winery tours and had a great time. Walking wasn't a problem that day and that evening, Dennis and his guest spent a few hours enjoying the fruits of their wanderings by enjoying the great weather and some fine Niagara wines on Dennis' back deck. The next morning when Dennis met his regular walking group, he said it was like he'd never had gout, and it was wonderful.

It's nice to hear stories like these. People in Niagara helping other people in Niagara. There are so many bad news stories out there. I don't particularly care to know about the latest drug bust or stabbing or traffic fatality. I know they happen, but that's not the kind of information I want to be filling my consciousness. If I'm going to have to expose myself to bad news, I also want to hear stories of hope, success and healing. Niagara's a wonderful place with great people. Those are the kind of Niagara stories I want to hear and plan to share.

Do you have some good news stories about great people in Niagara? Share them with me and I'll help share them online.




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