Apia customers that have been affected by recent flooding in Wagga Wagga and surrounding areas can lodge their claims in person from Monday at the official Recovery Centre being coordinated by the Wagga Wagga City Council at 36 Gurwood Street, Wagga Wagga.
David Skapinker, spokesperson for Apia, commented, “Customers can lodge a claim over the phone 24 hours a day even before they have been back to their home, but if they prefer they can do so in person from Monday.
“Our Customer Response Team will be on the ground and are totally mobile, wireless claims centres to help people start the claims process and make it as quick and smooth as possible.
“We already have assessors on the ground visiting properties where it is safe to do so, and they will be working through the weekend. We will be ramping up our efforts over the next few days and will have a team of more than ten assessors coming in from across the state from Monday.”
For the first time in NSW, the Customer Response Team will be able to provide emergency payments to customers on Visa prepaid debit cards, which means that emergency food, shelter and clothing can be purchased immediately.
“In the wake of a disaster, our first priority is making sure our customers can access food, shelter and other essential items. These cards are the fastest and simplest way for customers to access much-needed funds,” Mr Skapinker continued.
“It also means that money is flowing into local businesses at a time when they need it most.”
To lodge a claim 24 hours a day over the phone, customers can call Apia 13 50 55.
General flooding claims tips:
There are some simple things that can help speed up the claims process including:
- Do your best to dry out your home or business by keeping it as ventilated as possible. This will also help avoid the quick build up of mould
- Get your wet contents out of the house/business – and make a list of damaged items. You can group lots of smaller/similar items together like ‘food in pantry’ or ‘clothes in chests of drawers’
- Where possible, take photos of your damaged belongings to show what you have lost.
- If you are throwing away irreparable items in clean-up, take photos or make a note of brands and models for electrical items. Keep the manufacturer manuals if possible.
- When cleaning out your refrigerator, take photos of all spoilt food before throwing it away.
- Keep a piece of damaged carpet or photograph the carpet back where the make and brand is stamped so we can replace it with similar carpet and colour where possible.
- Council collection of flood affected items:
- If impacted by Natural Hazard/Flood and the local council are conducting mass Council collections of damaged items, please try and retain evidence of ownership before disposing of damaged items.
Sufficient evidence of ownership can include:
- Photos of the damaged items
- Receipts of the damaged items.
For further information and to arrange interviews, please contact:
David Skapinker
Senior Communications Advisor, Apia
T: 02 8121 1404
M: 0467 801 922
E: David.skapinker@suncorp.com.au
Apia is a specialist insurance provider for people aged over 50. Providing a wide range of home and contents, car, caravan, motor home, boat and life insurance solutions tailored to the over 50s life stage, Apia has a network of 28 branches across Australia serving almost 700,000 policy holders. For more information on Apia visit www.apia.com.au
Australian Pensioners Insurance Pty Limited ABN 14 099 650 996 (Apia) acts as agent and authorised representative of Australian Alliance Insurance Company Limited ABN 11 006 471 709, the issuer of the general insurance products
