Not Much Assurance About The Insurance, Part 6

(I am working for an insurance company when I get a customer who has fallen behind on his payments. His policy is about to lapse because it has been almost 14 days since his payment was due. He tells me he doesn’t want to pay any more, but still wants to keep his policy and asks if there is anything I can do – some discount or special arrangement we can make.)

Me: “I can place a hold on the account for a week if that helps. It’ll give you more time to get some money together to pay. But that’s all I can do. I should warn you, though, that until you catch up your payments, you are not covered. Should you need to make a claim you will have to clear the outstanding balance first.”

Customer: “Well, that’s not good enough. Look, it’s just insurance. Just let me have it.”

Me: “I’m afraid I can’t do that. If you do not pay it within a week’s time, your policy will lapse. In other words it will cancel itself—”

Customer: “I don’t want to cancel my policy! I want it but I can’t afford to pay you, so you should let me off.”

Me: “If you want to continue your policy, you must pay the balance you owe. As I said, I am happy to hold your account for a week, but that is the longest I can hold it because it has been almost 14 days since your last payment was due. You need to pay by [Date]. After that, your policy will cancel automatically. If your policy lapses you will not be covered at all and will have to take out a new policy in order to be covered again. Also, if you allow your policy to lapse, you will not be able to open another policy with us unless you pay it annually – meaning you will not be able to spread your payments over the year like with your current policy.”

Customer: “No, no, no. You are not listening to me. I want to be covered; I need my insurance. I just can’t afford to give any more money. Is there some discount I can get?”

Me: “You were given a 15% discount when you signed up. You cannot get any more mid-policy. You must get your payments up to date.”

Customer: “This is terrible customer service. If you want me as a customer, you should let me keep the insurance and write off the rest of the balance.”

Me: “I cannot do that. Your only options are to pay what you owe by [Date], or let the policy lapse and go uninsured.”

Customer: “This is disgusting. The full policy is only £50. I’m a loyal customer! You can let me off the rest. You’re just money grubbing b******s. All you care about is your profits. You don’t care about your customers at all!”

Me: “If you opened a shop, would give away all your goods to anyone who asked?”

Customer: “Of course. It would get the word out about the business and win me lots of customers.”

Me: “How long do you think you’d stay in business if nobody paid for anything?”

Customer: “Well, that’s different. Insurance doesn’t cost you anything.”

Me: “Of course it does. The company has to pay staff like me, and for premises like the one I am working in, and the phone lines you are calling. And most importantly, the whole point of insurance is that if something goes wrong, the insurer will give you money to fix it. Where do you think that money comes from?”

Customer: “Well, just letting me have a free policy won’t hurt. It’s only £50. Besides, I’ve already paid something. You should let me have the rest for free.”

Me: “If we let every customer do that, we wouldn’t make any money.”

Customer: “I’m not asking you to let every customer have it for free! I’m just asking for me! It’s not f****** hard.”

Me: “I’m sorry, sir. I can’t give you your policy for free. You have a week to get the money together, otherwise your policy will lapse and you won’t be covered.”

Customer: “You’re the worst customer service person I have ever dealt with. You should be ashamed of yourself. If I had a business, I’d never hire you. You’ve lost yourself a customer. Give me your name right now!”

Me: “Certainly, sir. It’s [My Name], extension [extension number]; my manager is [Manager]. Is there anything else I can help you with today?”

Customer: “Yeah. Go and learn proper customer service and some d*** manners.” *hangs up*

(I put a one-week hold on the account anyway just in case he wanted to call and pay, but added a note detailing our conversation. The customer sent a complaint letter saying I was rude and that our customer service was bad and that we didn’t care about our customers. He then called up a month after the policy expired to pay his balance. As I warned, his policy had lapsed and it could not be re-opened. He shouted at my colleague when they couldn’t re-open his policy, and got angry when he was told the only way he could be insured by us was to open a new policy, and that he would have to pay annually, just as I told him a month ago. He accused my colleague of trying to extort him and said he would go elsewhere. Then he hung up. He sent another complaint letter, saying it was all my fault, that I never told him his policy would lapse, that I promised to hold the account for a month, and that I told him he could pay what he wanted when he wanted. The complaint was not upheld because the recorded call proved I told him several times how long he had to pay, what would happen if he didn’t pay, and also that I had most certainly not told him he could pay what he wanted when he wanted.)