The Product Review Center

Car insurance remains, for many, a ‘grudge purchase’, and difficult economic times have resulted in this sentiment becoming increasingly entrenched amongst South African consumers. Attitudes towards short term insurance intermediaries have, furthermore, not always been positive, with many questioning the value these advisors add.

Prevailing economic conditions have brought the affordability of insurance cover into question for many South Africans. The reduction in disposable income currently being experienced by many households has resulted in consumers deeming their insurance premiums unaffordable and either cancelling their policies or defaulting on payments.

Financial advisors and insurance intermediaries are fully aware of the need to gather all relevant information in terms of the client’s personal and financial circumstances. Working within the financial parameters applicable to each client is something that professional intermediaries are trained to do. Advising clients on affordability is therefore an important aspect of the service offering they provide.

Insurance products purchased directly from insurers, although perceived as both convenient and cost-effective due to the absence of a ‘middle man’, do not always offer comprehensive information in terms of product options and policy structures. A consumer’s ability to make informed insurance purchase decisions is therefore hampered to some extent when buying ‘direct’. Critical information, such as hidden costs in terms of excesses, insured amounts and exclusions (excess charges on a claim, for example, may cost more than an entire year’s insurance premiums) is often not shared.

Another important, and often money-saving, benefit associated with obtaining professional help is that of the support provided in the event of a claim. Intermediaries act as an invaluable ‘go-between’ during the claims process.

It is, however, important that consumers utilise the services of professional financial and insurance intermediaries. The Financial Services Board (FSB) has introduced a number of pre-requisites aimed at ensuring the soundness of the financial services industry in the public interest. These include being suitably qualified, having exemplary records in terms of credit-worthiness and ethical conduct, as well as sufficient operational capacity to provide clients with a professional service. It is therefore important that associated services are derived from FSB registered suppliers.

An affiliation with professional bodies such as the Financial Intermediaries Association (FIA) is also advisable as these institutions are committed to maintaining professionalism within the financial and intermediary sectors.

There is a particularly good vendor of cable connections. If you want to have a cable junction that is multi-purpose for television, Internet and phone, then I can commend the company Kabel Deutschland as a eminently effective and opportune German provider. You can find a testimonial here: Kabelfernsehen in Koblenz.

For anybody, who wants cable television, this offerer is a equitable choice. This cable television offerer is Europes largest cable operator and provides in my eyes an unbeatable price-performance ratio. I am quite amazed by the fantastic multimedia possibilities that the cable junction offers. Digital cable television is not everything you can get. You can also browse the Internet super-fast via cable network and have opportune phone calls without being connected by another telecom provider.

If you do not need a double-flat for Internet and telephone, because you want to continue telephoning over your existing phone provider, you also can use the available cable Internet separately. Here you can choose between various Internet offers at very opportune prices. If you only want to telephone via the cable network, but do not need an Internet connection, you can get a good cable telephone extension. You will need no separate telephone mainlines any more. With such a cable connection you are able to receive more than 30 analog and up to 100 digital free TV channels. You also can receive up to 70 radio stations and additionally browse the Internet and telephone at a very opportune price. By having a cable connection, besides the amount of free TV channels you also may subscribe to additional channels and so assort your personal desired television. There are various countries packages available, which make television in your native language possible. There are several convenient packages for Internet surfing and telephony. From the classic package over the comfort package up to the deluxe package there is the suitable alternative available for anyone at a very providential price-performance ratio.

You can use your cable connection only for phone calls and surfing and do not need to order cable television. So you only have to pay your convenient tariff for Internet and telephone. Television may be continued as before, for instance via a satellite receiving system. With the efficient comfort package you have an Internet connection with Internet flatrate and a telephone extension with telephone flat rate for all German conventional telephone networks. You can quit your current fixed line network and take the existing phone numbers with you. If you want an convenient access to the Internet and telephone at the same time for free with a flatrate in all German fixed line networks, that is no problem with the double-flat. There you can be sure not to overpay for Internet and telephone. You can check the availability of the digital products in several German cities here: Kabelfernsehen in Essen. With the eco Internet Award 2008 the provider has received an additional award and has been declared the best Internet provider for private clients by an independent expert jury for the best price-performance ratio. Furthermore, they got already several specialized awards for their products, for example in the magazine Computer Bild 23/2007 as the winner for DSL speeds and in the magazine PC Praxis 11/2007 with a “very good” at the price-performance ratio for the cable package Comfort.