New Zealand’s Insurance and Savings Ombudsman Scheme has handled more than 1000 inquiries but received only 65 formal complaints about Canterbury earthquake claims.

The scheme invests significant time on inquiries to stop them graduating to formal complaints, according to Earthquake Response Manager Iain Opray.

“It suggests what we’re doing is working and insurers are doing better than they’re being given credit for,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“We would have expected a lot more formal complaints.”

The ombudsman scheme can obtain clarification from insurers, point customers towards more information or confirm that information they have been provided is correct. It makes case studies available on its website.

“I think there are many [complaints] in the pipeline, because this recovery is taking a long time,” Mr Opray said.

The scheme is currently trying to raise awareness of its services, because he says many people “have heard of us but are not sure of the process”.

“We find this quite surprising and quite frightening. Our participant companies should be publicising the scheme.”

He says most insurers feature the scheme in their documentation, but many consumers did not read their policies until after the quakes.