Cornhill Direct home insurance and customer service has been praised in two independent surveys of the general insurance market.

Research company Defaqto, which rates insurance policies by their quality of cover rather than premium, recently judged Cornhill Direct?s buildings and contents insurance as five star products.

In separate research, Direct Excellence, a company which produces competitor benchmarking studies for the consumer sector, mystery shops more than 35 brands on a quarterly basis for motor and home policies. The performance of each company is then assessed across nearly 100 attributes during a live sales call.

In the latest Direct Excellence study of the home insurance market, Cornhill Direct scored top in the ?explained all excesses clearly? category and was a top five performer in the ?time to quote? and ?total call time? categories.

Cornhill Direct spokesman, Steven Ward, said... "Focusing on the customer?s needs is crucial. It is important to communicate effectively with the customer, which means setting the right balance between providing the right level of explanation about the product without lengthening the call unnecessarily.

"Customers want the reassurance that they will be covered in the event of a loss, rather than find out that their policy does not cover certain events, or the policy limits are too low. It can be worth customers spending a few extra pounds to get the cover and service they need."