I worked in an auto insurance call center in 2020. In certain states, even if you don’t physically have a vehicle in your possession, if you have the plates registered to you, you have to keep insurance on the car until you surrender your plates. This call is one such state.

Our policyholder insured a car with us, sold the car on June 2nd, kept the plates, returned said plates on July 30th, then called to get coverage deleted as of June 2nd, and a credit for all of July.

Me: “Sir, I can definitely backdate cancellation or coverage to June. But that will mean that from June 2nd to the day you turn in the plates, you will have a valid lapse of coverage. This will result in fines/penalties from the DMV in your state and may result in license suspension.”

Policy Holder: “No.”

Me: “I’m sorry, sir?”

Policy Holder: “No. I don’t accept those terms. I don’t want any fines or lapses or anything.”

Me: “Of course, sir. So, to avoid those issues, let’s take coverage off, effective for the date you actually turned in the plates, the 30th of July.”

Policy Holder: “Okay, and then what will my July refund be?”

Me: “So, since we would be looking at providing insurance coverages and service for all of July, there would be no July refund.”

Policy Holder: “No. There will be, because I didn’t have the car for July. I’m not going to pay insurance for a car I don’t have!”

Me: “I understand your frustration, sir. However, for the state you live in, the law is that you turn in the plates and then turn off the insurance the day you turn in those plates.”

Policy Holder: “Well, it was Coronavirus, that means I get no fines because the DMV was closed. If I get fines, your company has to pay them because no one told me about them.”

I review the policy notes where the policy holder has been advised of penalties no less than three times for this incident and had a suspension before because of the same thing for a different car; multiple escalations due to this.

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, but per our contract, we will not be liable for any fees accrued due to lapse of coverage. We provide you with information, and if you decide to take the insurance off after we have advised against it, you are responsible for the consequences.”

Policy Holder: “Then you’re giving me a goodwill credit. I’ve worked in customer service. You’ll do it for the amount I had to pay for July.”

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, that will not be possible. We insured you for July; we have to charge for the services we provided. It’s not fair to everyone else if we give away free services because you don’t like the laws where you live.”

Policy Holder: “No. I worked in customer service all through the 80s. I know you can give me a goodwill credit. Get me your supervisor.”

Me: “Of course, sir.”

My supervisor came on the line, told him the same thing, sent him the itemized bill, and a copy of the state law in an email.

But, of course, I get a bad survey, because “She prioritized the LAW over good customer service.”

This is a story from when I worked in title insurance and cell phones were still a relatively new thing.

Me: “Thank you for calling [Company]. This is [Me]. How can I help you?”

Client: “Yes, I need you to look up some policies for me.”

Me: “Okay, I’m ready.”

Sounds of papers shuffling. Then screeching tires and a horn honking.

Client: “…A**hole. Sorry, someone honking their horn at me…”

Me: “[Client], I hate to break your train of thought. But are you driving right now?”

Client: “Yeah, why?”

Me: “Okay… Let’s wait until you get to your destination before I look up these policies for you. I don’t want you getting into a wreck.”

Client: “But I need these policies before five!”

Me: “I promise I’m not going anywhere until five. So, let’s end this call, and you can call me back at my extension when you get to your office. Okay?”

Client: “…Okay.”

He hung up the call, and I lay my head on the desk for a minute. All our clients were lawyers, so you’d think he’d know better than to be on his cell phone or looking at paperwork while driving!

I work for an insurance agency. In the world of homeowner’s insurance and mortgages, the banks want to confirm their investment is still safe and in order every time the policy renews. Rather than call us, this one bank faxed over a form requesting the Declarations Page with a correct Mortgagee Clause be sent over. As is becoming more common, this form only directed me to a website that will take an electronic file. What made this unique was the absence of a phone number or email address for other forms of communication. Since this policy did not require a change, I sent that right over.

The following day, we got a fax from the same bank requesting the same policy, and we still only had the single method of reaching the bank. I double-checked this form against what he sent yesterday, but nothing was different. I also double checked where I sent it, and nothing I entered was wrong. Since we were doing fine with other companies on our end, I figured it was just a technical glitch on their end, and they needed me to keep trying until it worked.

The next day, the request was faxed again, once again giving us only the website. This time, there was a note attached:

Note: “All documents sent electronically must be sent in PDF format. Other formats cannot be accepted.”

This was an interesting note, since our system, by default, makes these electronic document bundles a PDF. Just to be sure I was not imagining that, I checked that my bundle is, indeed, a PDF. After confirming the note was unnecessary, I sent the bundle again. I also tried to fax it back through the number at the top of our fax printout, but it bounces back every time; evidently, this bank can only send faxes, not receive them, so I still have no other way to send the documents.

Once again, this request was faxed over with a single form of contact the next day. The note this time:

Note: “We need to confirm the policy holder, the property address, the policy duration, the Dwelling Coverage, and the Mortgagee Clause. Your PDF does not offer any of this information. Please send the correct PDF.”

At this point, I am second-guessing reality. I pull open my bundle and call over another agent to check it against the note to make sure I am not missing something.

Agent: “Are they f****** stupid?”

He had the brilliant idea to highlight the requested information in different colors and make a key for the bank. It was actually quite fortunate I involved him, since I was far less civil when planning out this cover page to explain our objections to the repeated requests.

The next day, the bank finally broke and called us.

Bank Agent: “Why do you keep sending me the wrong documents?”

Me: “We’re following your requests. What, specifically, is wrong with them?”

Bank Agent: “What is the duration of the policy?”

Me: “Is the PDF open in front of you?”

Bank Agent: “Yeah.”

You guessed it: I had to hold his hand through the entire PDF. Since I was not making a simple list of all of this information, he would have to read these documents himself and find it (you know, actually do his job). Even color coordination was too much work for him. Once we are done:

Me: “So what is the problem?”

He hung up, correctly guessing I was going to ask for a manager.

I go through the call history and autodialed back.

Automated Service: “We’re sorry, but the number you have dialed is not able to receive incoming calls.”

We do not normally do this, but after this, I helped the client refinance his mortgage with a different bank.

Related:
Taxing Faxing, Part 41
Taxing Faxing, Part 40
Taxing Faxing, Part 39
Taxing Faxing, Part 38
Taxing Faxing, Part 37

We’re an auto shop that gets insurance claims brought to us primarily from an insurance company whose mascot is a little talking reptile with a British accent.

When it comes to any form of insurance claim, there is one golden rule: the insurance company will only cover costs if you are actually getting a vehicle repaired at our shop or if the vehicle is a total loss per their system. They won’t pay just for an estimate, and to get a full, comprehensive estimate, we have to do a teardown of the vehicle (disassemble where the damage is to assess for further damages), which comes with labor fees.

We’ve had a customer who cannot seem to make up his mind about whether or not he’s bringing his car in. His appointment was for one date, but he wasn’t able to drop it off because the rental car company had nothing available. Our main estimator was on vacation at the time, so I offered our usual alternative, which is to get photos of the vehicle and damages and email them to the insurance adjuster for a visual estimate. No problems there, he lets me do so, and I email it over.

The adjuster sends over the estimate, and once I have the estimate in the system, I call the customer to see when he would like to drop off so I can get a rental set up for him. He doesn’t answer, and after several days, I cancel the assignment.

When he does finally drop off (two and a half weeks later), and I have to reopen his assignment, he refuses to sign one of the authorization forms. We have two forms that customers have to fill out, one being authorization for teardown and repair, and the other to authorize insurance companies to pay us directly for repairs.

He refuses to sign the second form because he decides he doesn’t want repairs; he just wants an estimate. I explain to him that we have a visual estimate from the insurance company, but if he wants a full teardown estimate, he will have to pay the labor costs because the insurance company won’t pay just for an estimate.

Cue almost twenty minutes of back-and-forth of him not getting that the insurance company isn’t going to pay us to just write him an estimate if he’s not getting repairs done. I have to use an analogy and compare it to a landlord paying his tenants to live in another house to emphasize that this does not work. Eventually, my manager has to step in and explain it to him in the exact same terms.

I end up tuning out the rest of the conversation as it’s akin to talking to a brick wall, and he storms out. I canceled his assignment and moved on with my day.

Two hours later, he comes back in and says he’ll drop off for repair per his lawyer’s advice, so I have to reopen his assignment again. He says he’ll drop back off later, that he needs to come up with money for the rental deposit, and fills out the forms.

It’s been a week. He still hasn’t come back, and I just know that as soon as I cancel his assignment for the third time, he’ll show back up.

Related:
Not Much Assurance About The Insurance, Part 23
Not Much Assurance About The Insurance, Part 22
Not Much Assurance About The Insurance, Part 21
Not Much Assurance About The Insurance, Part 20
Not Much Assurance About The Insurance, Part 19

This happened to me a few years ago. I was owed a significant sum of money by the company that handled my doctor’s billing (she worked at a large healthcare system, which outsourced billing to this company). For months and months, I tried via email and phone to get the money back… but each contact treated me rudely or ignored me. They would either say they were still working on it or would act like I had never requested the money in the first place and needed to start the process over. It was maddening.

One day, after receiving another rude email from this company, I decided to leave a Yelp review on my doctor’s page. I essentially said that while the doctor and her staff were helpful and professional, the billing company they used was atrocious and made the entire experience not worth it.

Lo and behold, the very next day, I get a call from the CEO of the billing company.

CEO: “What’s the problem?”

Me: *Explains the situation.*

CEO: “Okay, I’ll make sure the money gets sent ASAP. Could you please take the review down?”

Apparently, he was getting angry calls from my doctor, and he seemed pretty pressured to get it taken down.

Me: “I can take the review down… after I get my money back.”

He gladly accepted my offer. A week later, there was my check in the mail.

Here’s the thing, though: I never specified how long after I got the money I would take the review down. 

So, I wait a week. I get some calls and texts from the CEO. I ignore them. Wait another week. Respond that I’m having “technical problems logging into Yelp” but should have it resolved soon.

After about six months of him reaching out and me being as unhelpful as possible, I finally took it down. 

The next time I returned to that doctor’s office, it was a whole new billing system. I’m not sure if my review made the difference, but it was sweet malicious compliance regardless.