I work in an insurance call center handling complex technical calls and taking escalated calls. Most of my calls are ho-hum technical calls. I handle escalations about billing and underwriting, which are usually a variation of “How dare you tell me that you won’t insure me for free?!” I work swing shift, so I handle more than just the Garden Variety Crazy or Demanding Entitled Brat; I handle the ones who are willing to call an insurance company at 2:00 am to yell at someone.
I get a call from a member of our online team. He’s had to escalate a chat up to me because the customer will not accept the answer he’s been giving for the last half-hour. In writing, no less. She has also made some changes to the policy while online with my rep, including deleting a driver.
When an online rep escalates to yours truly, it entails the online rep calling out to the customer first. This particular online rep is a perfectly lovely individual with a distinctive accent. Apparently, the accent got under the customer’s skin to the point where she used racial epithets on him repeatedly.
I introduce myself.
Customer: “I want to know where you are physically located, exactly.”
Her emphasis on the word “exactly” is so snotty and condescending that I am tempted to provide her with the latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates just to mess with her head. But she’s not worth the time, so I give her only my state.
Customer: “You are withdrawing $300 a month from my checking account. I only agreed to $70 a month! You are committing fraud and I want $1,200 back. I worked as a court reporter and I know all about how the law works.”
I note that her current policy term has been active for a little over four months. We sent out a renewal offer back in the middle of July. The policy renewed in late August. The renewal offer included a payment schedule for $300 a month, starting with the renewal date. Along with a billing schedule is a summary of what changes have been applied, including changes to her child’s rating status. She has enrolled in online documents for everything, so I refer her to her emails.
Customer: “Oh, I got the emails, but they weren’t urgent enough for me to read. You guys need to tell me when something’s urgent so I’ll pay attention to it. And I didn’t give you c**ksuckers permission to change my kid’s status, so you did something that you weren’t supposed to do.”
Me: “We’re only obligated to send out the renewal offer to the address you’ve provided. Verification of your reading of those notices is not incumbent upon us per the Department of Insurance. And by making your initial down payment with us back on [date], you agreed to terms and conditions we’ve outlined in our policy contract. We’re merely enforcing the contract terms upon which you’ve agreed.”
Customer: “Well, that’s unethical, and we’re in the middle of a health crisis. I told your [racial slur] salesperson not to put [Child] on my policy because I can’t afford the insurance for him. Your salesman forced me to add [Child] because he lives in my household and drives my vehicle now that he has a driver’s license.”
I note that her child was just deleted from her policy.
Me: “I’m sorry you feel that adherence to a contract is unethical. Also, I will ask you to keep this call professional, or we will discontinue this conversation. Now, does [Child] still operate your vehicle or live in your household?”
Customer: “Yes, but I don’t want him on my policy because I don’t want to pay $300 a month for insurance. I should only be paying $70 per month. And are you going to be giving me $1,200 back or what?!”
Me: “[Child] needs to be added back onto your policy as a rated driver, then. Should you choose not to have me add him onto your policy, I will be referring this policy to our underwriting department, who will add him on for you. Furthermore, as you’ve admitted on a recorded line that you received the email, we will not be accommodating any request to refund you that money, as there was no error made.”
The customer then calls me a c*** and tells me I’m horrible at my job. I tell her I’m sorry she feels that way, but she has a choice to make. She hangs up on me after calling me a “F****** STUPID B****” at the top of her lungs.
Right as I’m documenting how unhinged the customer is and submitting an underwriting review, my boss messages me. It’s a string of three emojis: big eyes, whew, big eyes again.
Boss: “Are you okay? That was rough.”
Me: “I’ve been called worse by better, but can this call get me something like hazard pay?”
Boss: “Well, funny you should mention that, because I’m messaging you to go over raise information. Call me on our conference line.”
My boss had put me in for the max percentage bump this year. He was doing silent monitoring because he was completing the annual reviews for said raise. His words: “You’ve definitely earned it.”
The job can be tedious, but it’s that much better when you have a boss who recognizes how hard you work and that you’re good at your job.