Crawford mpany : Adjuster spotlight - Jeannette Reed

'Friendly. Professional. Flexible. Reliable. If only every customer service experience was as excellent.'

Crawford & Company takes customer feedback very seriously, and there have been few more glowing reports than one recently received about the service provided by Australia-based adjuster Jeannette Reed.

Based in Wollongong, New South Wales, Jeanette joined Crawford from an insurance company in 2013 as an internal claims adjuster. She is now Property Repair Team Leader and primarily responsible for managing the property repair portfolio of one of the world's largest insurers.

Earlier this year, she was called into action to adjust a claim made by Matt Jones, who was compelled to write to inform Crawford of the extremely high level of service received.

Matt Jones explained how, from first contact, Jeannette took ownership of the claim as the single point of contact and immediately put him at ease in what he admitted was a stressful time. 'I felt very comfortable with Jeannette handling my claim,' he said, describing her as 'polite, friendly and professional, flexible in her approach and extremely easy-going.'

But Jeannette's service went beyond being highly personable. 'The most important thing for me was Jeannette's honesty and reliability,' Matt said.

'She always responded to my emails in a timely manner and when she said she was going to call me at a certain time and date, she did exactly that. I could not give Jeannette any higher praise.'

Jeannette says her role, which involves managing a team and attending management meetings while also running her own caseload and assisting customers by dealing with escalations, is 'a juggling act', but she enjoys the challenge that brings. 'I enjoy the diversity in my role. I have a fantastic team of people I work with.'

While the role of the adjuster is changing rapidly due to the widescale adoption of new technology enabling remote working, Jeannette insists there always be a need for Crawford's adjusting services. 'There will always be weather events and people requiring assistance, be it virtually via desktop or attending in person.'

Jeanette finds restoring customers' homes to pre-loss condition in the wake of catastrophe claims and 'assisting them throughout a stressful time in their lives' one of the most rewarding elements of the job, despite these claims often being the most challenging. 'I enjoy assisting people in their time of need,' she says.

She certainly achieved that in the case of the satisfied homeowner, though he did have one complaint: 'The only disappointment was when the claim was settled and there was no need for further contact,' he said. Well, no one's perfect.