Sharing rants & raves about insurers

One of the great levellers is the helpless feeling most of us have after an unpleasant encounter with an insurance company. Angry ranting frequently follows, and that’s just where Zuzzid comes in: By allowing users to share their insurance experiences, good and bad, it provides a way for them to hold insurance companies a little more accountable. Registered users on the site can not just rant but also rave, as well as ask questions and learn from the collective experiences of others. A comparison feature totals all the bad and good comments about each particular company, presenting a quick ranking of where they all fall. A price engine, meanwhile, uses collective data to predict what a particular user will have to pay for a particular type of insurance. The site is aimed at consumers just in the UK, and it’s actually run by UK-based insurer Norwich Union—which is also among the many companies rated. That slightly covert affiliation helps explain why the site doesn’t feel like a genuine grassroots one would—there is no “About Us” section to speak of, for instance—and suggests at least the potential for less-than-pure intentions. But it’s a great model for opinion-sharing sites in any number of like areas. For the companies being discussed, such sites could also make customer surveys obsolete with their wealth of information about the real word of mouth. Web-savvy entrepreneurs: which other industries can you unleash transparency tyranny on? Spotted by: Susanna Haynie