Buying Insurance To Cover The Insurance
I work in insurance. A system error has caused a car policy not to show as active on the national database. We call the customer to explain about the error, apologise, and assure him he is covered and send him a cover note he can show to anyone to confirm his vehicle is insured. He’s not convinced that he is covered despite this and says he doesn’t feel comfortable driving the car until we’ve sorted the issue. The original agent says this is fine and we’ll offer compensation for any travel arrangements he has to make while we sort this. I should state that the customer’s policy was £300 roughly for the year. This happens when I call him back two days later to let him know the policy is now showing as active.
Customer: “Thanks for sorting that out. So, what will I get for compensation?”
Me: “Well, for the two days the policy wasn’t showing as insured, we can offer you £50 for travel and inconvenience.”
Customer: “That’s no good. I spent more than that because of your error.”
Me: “Okay, well, I can see about adding something more if we can receive proof of your travel expenses.”
Customer: “Not a problem. I’ll send you the proof of purchase for the other car and the insurance purchased.”
Me: “I’m sorry. Did you say, ‘other car’?”
Customer: “Yes, that’s a [make and model]. I bought that for £6,000 and got a year’s insurance for £1,200. I’ll need compensation for both of those.”
Me: “I’m sorry, sir, but your policy was only inactive for two days. We can’t justify that kind of cost.”
Customer: “Now, you listen here. I was promised that any travel arrangements would be compensated for. I had to buy a new car while you sorted the insurance for the other one and I had to get it insured, as well, to drive it.”
Me: “”Compensated for travel arrangements’ does not mean buying you a new car and insurance for a whole year. We assured you it would be fine to drive the original vehicle, and you had documents you could show anyone who challenged that. It was your decision not to believe us, and we offered compensation as a gesture of goodwill so you could travel for no cost to yourself. I’m sorry, but £50 is the most I can do for you.”
Customer: “I recorded the previous call, and no such restrictions were made on what ‘travel arrangements’ meant.”
Me: “This does not warrant over £7,000 in compensation. The original policy was only £300 total for the year.”
Customer: “I want to make a complaint. You’re denying me something I’m owed.”
Me: “I’ll certainly log that for you, sir, but I’ll be honest: no one will authorise that amount of money for you.”
Customer: “Just shut up and log it.”
So I did, and it went further up the chain… to a far less sympathetic member of management. Not only did he not get compensated for the new car and its insurance, but he got nothing at all; the manager decided that since the customer tried to abuse the gesture of goodwill, he was now entitled to nothing.
