Etaoin Shrdlu

I used to think Mrs. Shrdlu was daft to go around the house unplugging all the electrical appliances (save the refrigerators) from the mains. Nowadays I'm not so sure after reading many times that electrical faults are suspected of causing fires here. Of course, "electrical fault" could be modern shorthand for arson the way "rats in matches" was many years ago.

When I see a Haval on the road, I can't help but think the Chinese mis-spelled the Norwegian word for "whale". I have no idea what was going on when the Chinese came up with the GAC Trumpchi.

I mailed a registered letter last month to the Social Security Administration in the US and was asked about the contents of the envelope. I said it was a document and had no monetary value and that satisfied the clerk. I don't recall having been asked this for simple registered letters before, but I know it is a mandatory item on the EMS application form for all sendings.

I will second Sheryl's suggestion. My daughter had bad acne and saw doctors at several different hospitals and derm clinics here. Nothing worked very well. When she went off to university in the US, she saw a doctor there who put her on birth control pills and it made a tremendous difference.

Not really very newsworthy. I have yet to hear of a doctor telling his patients that they need to drink lots more alcohol and stay out all night.

Nobody really needs to do anything and I suppose I should shut up. I'm getting kind of tired of it, too, so I will stop commenting on this topic. Please be assured that I did not intend to upset or aggravate you or anyone else.

Lloyds is domiciled in London and subject to regulatory oversight there, so domicile, financial status and jurisdiction are answered by this statement. The policy would likely state the Lloyds company or syndicate(s) actually providing cover, so this would satisfy knowing the insurer specifically. I suspect that the broker would also advise the identity of the insurer if asked before the policy was issued. So, yes, this would be satisfactory for me.

WRLife states on their website that they are an insurance broker. The UK entity may be licensed as an insurance broker. If WRLife is an insurance broker, then they would have to place their clients' business with an insurance company or companies. Despite a direct inquiry to WRLife, the identity and location of the insurance company or companies hasn't been clarified precisely yet. There has been discussion that WRLife uses the French mutuelle or German VVaG business model, but I don't think this means that there would not be some form of insurance company or other financial institution subject to governmental regulation actually providing the coverage.

WRLife knows this. This is something that the policyholders and prospective policyholders should also know in order to be able to make an informed decision about selecting WRLife's insurance offerings.

That's fine. I was not under the impression that WRLife received any support from the French or German government. But somewhere there must be some type of juristic entity that is capitalized, receives premiums, pays claims, maintains reserves against future claims and is subject to the regulation of either an insurance regulator or some other governmental oversight body. In most places this would require being licensed as an insurance company of some description or possibly some other type of financial institution, not an insurance broker. The question is the identity of this institution, its financial status and the jurisdiction in which it is licensed and regulated.

We haven't heard from anyone who has had a complaint about WRLife and we have heard of at least a couple of people getting claims paid, so that is certainly something to take comfort from.

What is the name of the mutuelle or VVaG-like institution that is providing the security for the insurance cover being offered by WRLife and what is their financial status? What jurisdiction are they in?

Dr. Boon is guaranteeing the solvency of the insurance company providing the coverage?

Your satisfaction with the insurance you get from Pacific Prime will largely depend upon which insurance company actually issues the policy and pays the claims. From which insurance company did Pacific Prime obtain your quotation?

The best place to seek to resolve insurance issues or disputes is the Office of the Insurance Commissioner. https://www.oic.or.th/en/consumer The OIC is quite consumer-friendly and also has the ability to issue fines or revoke insurance broker and insurer licenses. Make an appointment and bring a Thai speaker. You'll get a fair hearing. Ask your broker about helping you with your complaint.

I think WRLife's website lists a couple of different locations from which they conduct business. If one were to file suit against WRLife for an error or omission or other tort on their part, one would have to determine which legal entity of WRLife one was dealing with. Perhaps that's clear from the documentation that policyholders have received. If one wanted to file suit against the insurer for not performing under the terms of their insurance contract, that would require knowledge of the identity and location of the insurer.

An insurance broker can work with multiple insurers, so it is possible that the broker uses different insurers with different clients or for different types of insurance. The issue isn't whether WRLife uses one or several insurers to provide coverage for their clients, it is the lack of information on the identity of the insurer or insurers that WRLife works with that is the issue. At least one policyholder has advised that the documentation provided by WRLife only gave WRLife's name and address and there was no information on the policy as to the identity of the insurance company actually providing the coverage. Regardless of which insurer a broker uses, the policyholder should know the identity of the insurer. After all, the insurer and the policyholder are the two parties to the contract of insurance (the broker is not) and I don't know for what reason the identity of the other party to the insurance contract would be withheld from a policyholder.

I am not a client of WRLife.

There is absolutely no reason for an insurance broker to withhold the identity of the insurance company that is actually providing the coverage to one of their clients.

Still no name of the insurer or any reference to an AM Best or Standard and Poor rating.. It looks like it is pointing towards something incorporated in St. Kitts and Nevis. A policyholder has every right to know who their insurer is. I don't find it comforting at all that the broker hasn't disclosed the name of the insurance company.

Insurance brokers licensed by the Office of the Insurance Commissioner are prohibited from arranging insurance on behalf of their clients with offshore insurers. This is not well enforced, but most local brokers would not place themselves in the payment chain between their client and the offshore insurer in order to avoid potential scrutiny when the OIC audits them. Many Thai insurance brokers will have little knowledge of offshore insurers because of this prohibition.

From what I've been able to learn from WRLife's website and some other online sources, they are an insurance broker. It isn't clear which insurance company or companies they use to actually provide the coverage. At least one request for clarification by another poster resulted in a response that did not provide much useful information.

I am aware of two different developments in which the condo juristic person collected the insurance premium for the building and common areas separately from the annual maintenance fee.

No, I'm not a beer chemist, although I've made my own beer before.

More nitrogen and less carbon dioxide produces smaller bubbles in beer.