A MOTORCYCLIST has alleged that a workshop forged his signature to claim more compensation for spare parts to repair his damaged motorcycle.
Din, who met with an accident on May 12, had sent his motorcycle to the workshop for repairs.
The workshop submitted the insurance claim on June 18 and it was approved on June 26.
However, no representatives from the insurance agency or workshop contacted him.
“Sensing that something was wrong, I met an officer from my insurance agency and related my experience to him.
“I sent an email to the headquarters, requesting them to withhold payment.
“To my surprise, when I received my motorcycle, I noticed that some parts were not replaced and some undamaged parts were replaced with old parts.
“I was shocked to find that the claim, which came up to RM51,500, was approved and paid by the insurance agency even though I had notified them.”
He also alleged that his signature had been forged by the workshop as he did not sign any documents.
“When I asked the insurance agency for the documents, I found out that my signature had also been forged.”
Din claimed that the workshop had offered him RM2,000 to “settle” the issue.
“I am very unhappy with the way I have been treated. In the end, my motorcycle has not been completely repaired. I feel cheated,” he said.
Din also lodged two police reports against the workshop.
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The insurance agency handling the complainant’s case acknowledged that there was miscommunication between the agency, complainant and workshop.
A representative from the agency’s claims department said for motorcycle claims, the policyholder was allowed to choose his own workshop for convenience.
For a car, there is a system where the panel workshop will make the claims online, whereby an SMS alert will be sent to the policyholder when the claim is submitted and also when it is approved.
In the case of Din, since it was a motorcycle, the process was not applied and thus, the policyholder did not get any information when the claim was submitted and approved.
“There has been much miscommunication between all three parties. We admit that we should have checked with the policyholder on the insurance part.
“We have already made a police report regarding the claim of forged documents,” said the representative.
The next course of action to be taken by the insurance agency is to reimburse the policyholder so that he can send the motorcycle to a new workshop.
“We have met the policyholder and instructed our adjuster to go to the chosen workshop to inspect and confirm if the parts were replaced.
“If the new workshop confirms that old parts were used for the repair, the earlier workshop will be asked to refund the agency for the claims it made.
“We will also make a new police report against the workshop for committing fraud by replacing undamaged items with damaged ones,” he said.