ICBC - overcharged customers

[Triple 6]

I saw this in this mornings province.

http://www.theprovince.com/business/exp ... story.html


B.C. Transportation Minister Todd Stone has ordered an audit at ICBC after he learned the public insurer mistakenly over- or undercharged motorists for their optional insurance for more than six years.
Photograph by: Steve Bosch , PNG
A PROVINCE EXCLUSIVE

B.C.’s transportation minister, Todd Stone, will make ICBC repay $39 million to customers it has overcharged for insurance in a massive billing blunder.

Stone has also promised that the Crown corporation will not recoup $71 million more it has undercharged customers during the past six and a half years.

“I was very, very angry when I learned there was a problem here,” said Stone, the minister responsible for ICBC. An estimated 240,000 customers were overcharged and 350,000 were undercharged.

Stone said he was briefed on the financial fiasco in late February. The government had been waiting to release details of the repayment plan but told The Province exclusively when confronted with an email outlining the extensive problem.

“I was told we have a problem here,” Stone said. “ICBC said we think we have a significant number of customers who have been overbilled.

“I expect B.C. drivers to be angry about this. I think of the millions of people who trust and rely on their public auto insurer to charge them exactly what they should be paying.”

The anonymous email The Province received that forced Stone’s hand pointed out the over and under billing, but also contains stinging allegations that will be addressed by an ICBC audit the minister has ordered.

Stone, a former ICBC board member, was unsure when the problem in the Crown corporation’s insurance division was identified.

ICBC has a monopoly on basic insurance and the lion’s share of B.C’s profitable optional insurance market that offers collision, comprehensive and extra third party insurance.

Stone said the problem had to do with “incorrect vehicle descriptions in the system” and did not affect basic insurance. Optional insurance premiums at ICBC have been going down since 2004, while basic insurance rocketed up 11.2 per cent in 2012. Optional insurance makes up almost half of ICBC’s revenues.

Stone said he is in continued discussions with Mark Blucher, ICBC’s CEO and president. Blucher was vice-president of insurance for ICBC beginning in 2010, and took on his current role in October 2012 on an interim basis; he was officially named to the top job in November 2013.

Stone said ICBC’s main business applications are outdated and presently being upgraded as part of a $400-million transformation program funded by optional insurance premiums.

He said the $39 million ­— including $3 million in interest — to be repaid to ICBC customers will average $21 per person per year for each of the six years involved. It will cost ICBC $4 million to address the problem, including manually going through 18 million transactions one at a time to calculate the refund.

Stone said that when he learned of the mass error, he insisted ICBC adhere to a five-point plan including: That the error not result in higher premiums, that it be repaid with interest, that those undercharged not be back-billed, that the problem be fixed and that an outside auditor be appointed.

“I will be watching this very carefully,” said Stone, who is unsure when the first cheques will be issued.

An ICBC spokesman could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

[email protected]

[matai]

How do we know if we are overcharged?

[Bsuds]

You will know if you get a refund.

[matai]

You will know if you get a refund.

You really think they are that honest?

ICBC is nothing more than a money grab to feed a bunch of lawyers & Clark's expenses.

BC should welcome the no fault system and fair insurance competition in this province and y'all be saving thousands of dollars a year. Yes, THOUSANDS!!!!

My 2 cents rounded to a nickel.

[WeatherWoman]

Yes, THOUSANDS!!!!

does this mean that I will get my insurance for free and and extra $900 in my pocket?

[Smurf]

I was going to ask a similar question. I have done comparisons in Alberta and found little difference for similar coverage. I believe anyone with a poor record will be as well or better off in BC. Aren't new drivers a lot better off in BC.. Every situation is different.

[Bsuds]

[quote="matai"You really think they are that honest?
My 2 cents rounded to a nickel.[/quote]

You didn't actually read the article did you?

Your nickle isn't worth the paper it's not printed on.

You can get collision coverage from other providers and save lots. We do and save $400-500 per year.

[flamingfingers]

This has been going on for at least 5 years!!

Bottom line....

Tens of millions lost to the public purse.

Again.

Meanwhile, the VSB is getting ready to cut the heart out of everything for want of something on the order of $12 million.

And the Premier's response?

Well, pretty much what you would expect from a person in power who will pretty much say anything.

(more on that tomorrow).

http://pacificgazette.blogspot.ca/

[wanderingman]

You didn't actually read the article did you?

Your nickle isn't worth the paper it's not printed on.

You can get collision coverage from other providers and save lots. We do and save $400-500 per year.

[/quote]

I have looked long and strong at Private collision and have never seen where u would save 4-500$ PY?
Are u talking like 3 vehicles or one?

[Bsuds]

2 Vehicles and we save over $200 ea compared to ICBC

[matai]

I used to pay less than half of what I do right now for the same crap in another province.

Guess where BC stands for the average driver?

http://autos.ca.msn.com/editors-picks/c ... tes?page=9

And if I remember properly, ICBC made like half a billion dollar profits last year. WHY on earth are they not giving us back our money like a credit union would do eh?

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight, miss Clark took it.

Of course, she prefers to tax $10,000 a year madame single mom and $130,000 mr oil equally rather than giving back what belongs to us and tax the individual income properly to compensate the loss the province would make by not keeping the $500,000,000.

I call that legal stealing. And it's outrageous.

So based on the fact that miss christie cookie uses ICBC to fund the province, it means that ICBC is nothing more than a disguised tax, but it doesn't matter you're poor or rich, y'all pay equally she doesn't give a finger. And then they wonder why people can't make it anymore. LOL

It would be nice she'd think about that next time she's on a plane paid by the taxpayers from her Capital on the island to her minimum wage Capital in the interior.

[WeatherWoman]

tax $10,000 a year madame single mom and $130,000 mr oil equally

they don't get taxed equally

British Columbia
5.06% on the first $37,606 of taxable income, +
7.7% on the next $37,607, +
10.5% on the next $11,141, +
12.29% on the next $18,504, +
14.7% on the next $45,142, +
16.8% on the amount over $150,000

FYI

Quebec
$41,495 or less 16%
More than $41,495 but not more than $82,985 20%
More than $82,985 but not more than $100,970 24%
More than $100,970 25.75%

[matai]

they don't get taxed equally

I think you did not understand.

Clark uses ICBC as a disguised tax to fund the province. You pay premiums according to your driving record, not according to your income. So by paying your premium to ICBC, you're actually paying tax, equally no matter you earn $10,000 or $130,000.

Instead, Clark should tax the personal income to fund her province accordingly and leave ICBC alone, and making sure that as a crown corporation, it stays as affordable as possible for each and every citizen in this province.

As for the lawyers, imagine not having to pay for them anymore if you have a claim by introducing the no fault system.

You need to be blind to not see that YOU and ICBC would be saving millions of dollars by not suing each other and insuring ICBC doesn't try to screw everyone like they seem to be doing right now according to the many complaints one can hear when talking to their customers.

Of course, you could only expect your premiums to go down, but why make them go down if you're happy with what you pay right now eh?

If you pay $900 a year I can only imagine you've been driving for a century and have no claim. If you think that's a cheap price, now imagine paying only $400 for your insurance like you would do in some other provinces. But of course you ask, how can it be possible, it's less than MSP premiums...

[flamingfingers]

They can't 'survive' on their 6-figure salaries so they have to give themselves 'bonuses' that we who earn much, much less pay for!! Sheer greed! Disgusting..

Monday, April 14, 2014

Effective management... of bonuses

The marvellous managers of British Columbia's public service demonstrate an indisputable skill. Come hell or high water, they always manage to hit pre-determined objectives and thereby manage to trigger payments of personal performance rewards and bonuses. (And you thought the 'manage' parts of their job descriptions were about directing agencies and enterprises.)

If senior public servants were inspired by New York postmen, they might appreciate a credo like this,

"Neither rising fees nor declining services nor mounting debts nor program botch-ups nor conflicts of interest nor auditor's reservations shall stay these administrators from from the swift completion of their expected deposits."

All public agencies in this province publish high-minded statements that recount what ICBC calls the need for,

"high caliber leadership and the retention of critical talent and knowledgeable executive level leaders capable of guiding the company through a period of transformational change."

Indeed, we're big on transformational change. ICBC has been undergoing that for ten years, under the guidance of six different CEO's.

Paul Taylor, Mr. Can't-Fixit, left the Liberal Finance Ministry for ICBC in 2004. There he doubled his annual remuneration and was hauling over half a million when he departed under a little cloud, described by Black Press as,

"Controversy over vehicles ICBC repaired and sold - some with undisclosed crash histories to the unsuspecting public and other better buys to ICBC staff who trumped all other bidders in rigged auctions."

Despite that, Taylor collected a six-figure bonus on the way out the door and carried with him credits for his "Supplemental Employee Retirement Plan," to go along with his supplemental retirement plan from the provincial government. These plans are for "preserving the income replacement objective for higher income employees." The most fortunate bureaucrats are able to stack pensions from multiple public sources, leading to retirement incomes far higher than their highest paid employment. In that vehicle trading and repairs scandal of the Taylor years, ICBC paid over $800,000 in severance costs to employees fired for involvement in the questionable practices.

Despite years of management targets met and bonuses paid, ICBC found itself needing to pay $26 million in severance to eliminate overstaffing of 2012. Departing executives responsible for hiring too many employees shared $2 milion for the inconvenience of no longer collecting annual incentive rewards for mythical targets met.

This week, after a whistleblower forced it into the open, ICBC revealed that hundreds of thousand of drivers have been charged incorrect premiums. Check Bob Mackin's work for the detail.

Some may already be wondering how all senior executives of ICBC can manage to earn substantial non-salary remuneration each year while the company continues to show evidence of incompetent management. This latest scandal dates back to 2008 and ICBC's five most senior executives collected over $5.1 million in bonuses and other non-salary compensation between 2008 and 2012.

Readers should not be surprised that Paul Taylor was back at ICBC as Chairman, only to depart suddenly a few months ago, three years before his term of appointment ended and before news of the latest difficulties leaked to the public.

Rest assured, more than a year from now, when we get the executive compensation reports for 2014, payments of executive performance rewards and bonuses wil remain undistubed and the ICBC Board of Directors will continue to be a resting place for beneficiaries of Liberal patronage. This is the model that got BC Ferries where it is today.

http://northerninsights.blogspot.ca/201 ... nuses.html

[matai]

How surprising...