That’s… Not How This Works

I work in a customer service call center for a long-established life insurance company. About once a week I have one of these conversations.

Customer: “Hi. My father died and I found some paperwork from your company in his office. Can you tell me if the policy is still good?”

Me: “I would be happy to help you with that.”

After a round of questions and answers:

Me: “Okay, it looks like the policy was taken out in 1979 and the last payment was made in 1981.”

Customer: “So, what does that mean?”

Me: “The policy is not active.”

Customer: “So, do we get any money?”

Me: “No, sorry, it lapsed about thirty years ago.”

Customer: “Well, can we get back the premiums that he paid?”