August 9, 2012 BULLETIN NO. 5268 TO: Merchants Insurance Group Personal Lines Agents SUBJECT: Introduction of epolicy and ebill Delivery Service Agency Bulletin Great news for our Personal Lines policyholders and agents! As part of our enhanced online services, Merchants Insurance Group is pleased to announce, effective August 13, 2012, the availability of electronic delivery of policies and bills for Personal Lines policies through our epolicy and ebill service. Merchants epolicy and ebill service offers a number of benefits: Saves time and money No worries about mailing in payments Access to policies and bills after business hours At this time, our epolicy and ebill service is available for all Personal Lines policies: Personal Auto, Home Owners, Dwelling Fire and Personal Umbrella. What is epolicy and ebill, or electronic document delivery? We have designed the epolicy and ebill service to be a convenient, secure and flexible system that puts the policyholder in charge of their policies. The user chooses which documents they want to receive online. epolicy eliminates paper policies by delivering the documents to policyholders electronically. Policyholders can save a PDF copy to their computer, print them or view them online. ebill eliminates the paper invoice. The bill can be viewed and paid online via a number of options. Please see Bulletin # 5256, April 13, 2012, for more information about recent billing changes. When a new policy or bill is available to view, we will send the policyholder an e-mail notification with a link, and the user will then need to log in to our website to view, print or download the documents. The emails will come from Merchants, with the subject line pertaining to policy or billing. New screens that agents will see for epolicy and ebill When writing a new Homeowners or Personal Auto policy, after the application is submitted agents will be able to enroll the insured for these services. The screens on the following pages (Examples 1-4) are what agents will see for the epolicy and ebill service. 250 Main Street Buffalo, New York 14202 (716) 849-3333
Examples 1 and 2. Homeowners screen (Example 1) before an agent submits a request, and the message that is returned after the request was submitted (Example 2).
Examples 3 and 4. Personal Auto screen (Example 3) before an agent submits a request, and the message that is returned after the request was submitted (Example 4). How the insured can sign up for epolicy and ebill The Policyholders section of our website, www.merchantsgroup.com, has been revised to reflect our new service. The new Policyholder login page is shown in Example 5 on the next page.
Example 5. New Policyholder Login Page Personal Lines policyholders can enroll in electronic delivery by logging into the Policyholders Login page through our site. If they do not already have a User ID and password to log into our site, all they need to do is click on Sign up now! on the Policyholders Login page. Once signed in, the user will be taken to their personalized Welcome to Merchants Insurance Group page (Example 6 below). At that point, look for the electronic document delivery symbol (indicated below) and follow the easy and quick enrollment steps. Example 6. Personalized Welcome Page Electronic document delivery symbol
Example 7, below, shows the screen where policyholders will choose in which service to enroll. Following enrollment, the policyholder will receive a confirmation e-mail at the e-mail address with which they have enrolled. See Example 8 below. Example 8. Confirmation E-mail Date: Wednesday, June 20, 2012 3:09 PM From: To: Subject: Merchants Insurance Group <SUPPORT@MERCHANTSGROUP.COM> Web User <PATBD@ROADRUNNER.COM> Email Confirmation for Enrollment Dear Charles, Thank you for enrolling in Merchants Insurance Group's ebill and epolicy programs. To complete your enrollment, please click on the following link: Link to confirm your enrollment If you did not enroll in this program or would like to cancel your enrollment, please click on the following link: Link to unenroll If you have any questions or problems, please contact us by email at support@merchantsgroup.com or by phone at 1-800-362-3343. Thank you for choosing Merchants Insurance Group. www.merchantsgroup.com>merchantsgroup.com Earning Your Business Everyday When a policyholder enrolls in either epolicy and/or ebill, they will need to read and agree to a Consent for Electronic Documents and a Terms and Conditions that outline what the user is agreeing to and how they will receive their policies and bills. If a policyholder needs to make any changes to their electronic selections or email address, they will use the My Profile page (Example 9, next page). To get to this page, the policyholder will log in to our website and click on the "My Profile" button on their personalized Welcome to Merchants Insurance Group page (see Example 6, above).
Example 9. My Profile Page If a new insurance policy is purchased after the policyholder enrolls in epolicy and ebill, that policy will not automatically be enrolled in epolicy or ebill. The user must select the preferences for that policy by visiting the "My Policies" page from their personalized Welcome to Merchants Insurance Group page. With this service, the policyholder always has the right to cancel their enrollment and may withdraw their consent for epolicy and ebill at any time. To withdraw consent, the policyholder will log in to Merchants Policyholders section and click My Policies, and then click on Unenroll epolicy or Unenroll ebill (Example 10, below and on following page). We will resume paper delivery of subsequent policies and invoices. If the policyholder later decides to re-enroll, they must repeat the consent process. Example 10. Unenroll epolicy
Example 10 (continued) Unenroll from ebill Please note that if a policyholder is on Account Bill when they enroll in ebill they will automatically be enrolled in Account Bill electronic document delivery. Additionally, notifications of cancellation, non-renewal and reinstatements are required by law to also be sent via the United States Postal Service. In order to help our agents and policyholders, we have developed flyers (attached and available on Merchants On-Demand ) and tutorials (in the secured section of Merchants website) as below: Flyers: Frequently Asked Questions for Insureds, F 261 General Information for Insureds, F 274 Tutorials: Electronic Delivery Service (EDS) for Agents EDS transaction log subscription information and agents instructions for enrolling personal lines new business policyholders. Electronic Delivery Service (EDS) for Policyholders Policyholder instructions for enrolling in EDS. If you have any questions, please contact your Regional Manager, Territory Manager or Personal Lines Underwriter.
epolicy and ebill What You Need to Know epolicy and ebill Frequently Asked Questions 1) How does epolicy and ebill work? You are in control of this process. You choose which documents you want to receive online, and which ones you want to receive by mail. When new documents are available we'll send you an email notice with a link to the documents. You then log into the website to view, print or download documents. All of your available documents are stored for you online whenever you need them. 2) Can I view my policies and invoices online? Yes. Go to www.merchantsgroup.com and log in to the secure Policyholders site to view policies and invoices. 3) What documents are available through epolicy and ebill? There are two document categories available for electronic delivery for Personal Lines policies (Personal Auto, Home Owners, Dwelling Fire, Personal Umbrella): epolicy This eliminates paper documents. Instead you ll receive an e-mail notification indicating when a current policy document is available on our website. You can save a PDF copy to your computer or view them online whenever you need them. ebill - This option eliminates the paper invoice. You will receive an e-mail notification indicating when a current invoice is available on our website. 4) How do I enroll for epolicy or ebill electronic document delivery? For our insureds with Personal Lines policies, you can enroll in electronic delivery by logging into the Policyholders Login page at Merchantsgroup.com. If you do not already have a User ID and password to log into our site, click on Sign up now! on the Policyholders Login page. 5) How will I know when documents are available online? You will receive an email notice with a link so you can log in and view the documents on our site. The emails to you will come from Merchants, with the subject line pertaining to policy or billing. 6) What about undeliverable e-mails? If an e-mail is returned to us as "undeliverable", we will send you a letter by U.S. Mail advising you to update your e-mail address, and that a document for which the notice was sent is available online for you to access. The letter also advises that if you are unable to access the document Page 1 of 3
electronically, you should call our help desk at 1-800-462-1077, ext. 3961 to request that we mail you a paper copy. This will opt you out of epolicy and ebill. If your internet service provider advises that e-mails cannot be delivered to you because your address is no longer active or if repeated attempts to deliver an e-mail to you are returned to us: We will suspend either your epolicy and ebill delivery and resume paper mailing as appropriate for the next document that is produced. At your next log in, you will be asked to update your e-mail address. You will also be prompted to re-start epolicy and ebill. Because we'll send delivery notices to the e-mail address you provided during enrollment, it s important to keep us updated on any changes to your e-mail address. Use the My Profile section on your personalized Welcome to Merchants Insurance Group page in the password protected Policyholders section at Merchantsgroup.com to make changes to your profile information. 7) How do I access a document if I deleted the e-mail with the link? To access documents, log in to the Policyholders section of our website, and from the menu options select My Policies. A list of policy documents available online will be displayed. Select the document you want to view. 8) Are epolicy and ebill secure? To insure your privacy, once you have enrolled, you will be required to log in each time you wish to access documents, using a personal ID and password. 9) Who can enroll in epolicy and ebill? Policyholders with Personal Lines Policies including Personal Auto, Home Owners, Dwelling Fire and Personal Umbrella can enroll online. 10) How do I cancel my enrollment in either epolicy and ebill? You always retain your right to receive paper copies, and you may withdraw your consent for epolicy and ebill at any time. To withdraw consent: Log in to our Policyholder section and click My Policies and then click on Unenroll epolicy or Unenroll ebill. We will resume paper delivery of subsequent policies and invoices. If you later decide to re-enroll, you must repeat the consent process. Page 2 of 3
11) Am I required to receive policies and invoices electronically? No. Enrollment in either or both services is optional, and you may revert to delivery via U.S. Mail at any time. 12) What software and hardware will I need? To access epolicy, you must be able to view the material on your monitor and print from internet sites. To view your policies or invoices, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader. Download Adobe Acrobat Reader by either clicking the "Get Adobe Reader" graphic within the enrollment process or download it from Adobe s website, www.adobe.com. You must also have access to an account with an internet service provider, and be able to send and receive e-mail that contains hyperlinks to websites. 13) How do I change my information? To change your e-mail address, log in to our website and click on the "My Profile" button on your personalized Welcome to Merchants Insurance Group page. Delete your old e-mail address and type in your new e-mail address. To change your epolicy or ebill delivery elections, click on the My Policies button to either enroll or cancel enrollment in epolicy or ebill. Please note that if you purchase a new insurance policy subsequent to enrolling in epolicy and ebill, that policy will not automatically be enrolled for electronic delivery. You must select the preferences for that policy by selecting "My Policies" from your personalized Welcome to Merchants Insurance Group page. Page 3 of 3 F 261, 08-2012
epolicy & ebill are here! epolicy and ebill are convenient, secure and flexible services that put YOU in charge of your policies. epolicy eliminates paper policies by delivering documents to you electronically. You can save a PDF copy Benefits: Saves time and money No worries about mailing in payments Access to policies and bills after regular business hours Merchants epolicy and ebill service is available for all Personal Lines policies: Personal Auto, Home Owners, Dwelling Fire and Personal Umbrella. to your computer, print the policies or view them online. ebill eliminates the paper invoice. The bill can be viewed and paid online via a number of options. To get started, simply visit our website, www.merchantsgroup.com, and log in to the Policyholders area! F 274 08-12 ins