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Recently I've had the 'Grumpy Old Men' line. In amongst the usual grumblings of elderly gentlemen I need to endure, the below are the grumpiest of the grumpy old men.
Grumpy Old Man #1
GOM1 calls up because he may buy a new vehicle towards the end of the year and he wants an insurance quote for the vehicle. After advising that our quotes are only valid for 30 days, GOM1 says he just wants a 'ball park figure', which I said we don't do. GOM1 was pretty much refusing to take no for an answer, so I decide to see if there was any change in premium if we transferred the cover from his current vehicle to potential new vehicle, but mention that this will not be an accurate price.
His response, 'Well we're not all millionaires like you'. I roll my eyes, and get the bare essential information for the potential new vehicle. I advise him what the change in the premium is, and then he really starts to carry on, with comments that I wasn't taking him seriously, that the price I was telling him was wrong, that I was making up the premium bla bla bla, before pulling the 'we're not all millionaires like you' line once again. I told him to stop saying that as that was irrelevant to the conversation.
I eventually get him off the phone, and leave a lengthy note advising of GOM1's behaviour.
Half an hour later a manager comes up to me thanking me for the note. He called back and played the 'brucetiki was rude to me' card. GOM1 was promptly put back in his box by manager, who pretty much reiterated what I said.
Grumpy Old Man #2
GOM2 calls up with a query on his house insurance, I start the usual identification process, and then proceed with the confirmation of contact details.
GOM2 interrupts with 'hang on hang on, let's go back to the start. I want your name.' I'm thinking WTF, so tell him my name again. Then he wants to know what questions I've asked him. I said I've asked for your policy number, name, address and date of birth. GOM2 I assume is writing all these questions down. I then explain that I will be start confirming his contact details - 'hang on hang on hang on', and he goes through what he's already told me.
Now I'm just scratching my head as to what GOM2's problem is. I start to confirm his phone number again where he interrupts again with, 'I don't want to talk to you' and hung up.
Left another pile of notes describing GOM2's conduct, which is just the latest in a pile of notes about GOM2 being a hostile customer.
Strangely enough he never phoned back - or if he did no one left notes about it.
We've been busy, but not THAT busy
Had someone start a call with 'Thank God, a person. I've been waiting over an hour'. The longest hold time we had all day was 5 minutes. After that comment he was actually pretty reasonable and not sucky at all, but clearly running on Customer Standard Time.
Think about what you're saying
Someone calls because they recently cancelled a policy and wanted to know where their refund is. I advised that refund's been processed and the cheque is on it's way.
SC's response - that's ridiculous I might cancel all my policies.
I mention that if you want to cancel all your policies because you're receiving a refund by cheque that's his prerogative, in a vain effort to make SC realise just how stupid he sounds.
If you're going to attempt insurance fraud, don't be so brazen and tell me about it
Did a quote for one customer, who disclosed they let out a few of their rooms. I advise we don't insure share houses. First attempt was 'oh I'll just evict everybody'. I said that we won't look at a quote until this happened. Not deterred by the first shut down, they mentioned that they may call back and not mention the sub-tenants. Another quote with plenty of notes, including 'may call back and not disclose'.
Grumpy Old Man #1
GOM1 calls up because he may buy a new vehicle towards the end of the year and he wants an insurance quote for the vehicle. After advising that our quotes are only valid for 30 days, GOM1 says he just wants a 'ball park figure', which I said we don't do. GOM1 was pretty much refusing to take no for an answer, so I decide to see if there was any change in premium if we transferred the cover from his current vehicle to potential new vehicle, but mention that this will not be an accurate price.
His response, 'Well we're not all millionaires like you'. I roll my eyes, and get the bare essential information for the potential new vehicle. I advise him what the change in the premium is, and then he really starts to carry on, with comments that I wasn't taking him seriously, that the price I was telling him was wrong, that I was making up the premium bla bla bla, before pulling the 'we're not all millionaires like you' line once again. I told him to stop saying that as that was irrelevant to the conversation.
I eventually get him off the phone, and leave a lengthy note advising of GOM1's behaviour.
Half an hour later a manager comes up to me thanking me for the note. He called back and played the 'brucetiki was rude to me' card. GOM1 was promptly put back in his box by manager, who pretty much reiterated what I said.
Grumpy Old Man #2
GOM2 calls up with a query on his house insurance, I start the usual identification process, and then proceed with the confirmation of contact details.
GOM2 interrupts with 'hang on hang on, let's go back to the start. I want your name.' I'm thinking WTF, so tell him my name again. Then he wants to know what questions I've asked him. I said I've asked for your policy number, name, address and date of birth. GOM2 I assume is writing all these questions down. I then explain that I will be start confirming his contact details - 'hang on hang on hang on', and he goes through what he's already told me.
Now I'm just scratching my head as to what GOM2's problem is. I start to confirm his phone number again where he interrupts again with, 'I don't want to talk to you' and hung up.
Left another pile of notes describing GOM2's conduct, which is just the latest in a pile of notes about GOM2 being a hostile customer.
Strangely enough he never phoned back - or if he did no one left notes about it.
We've been busy, but not THAT busy
Had someone start a call with 'Thank God, a person. I've been waiting over an hour'. The longest hold time we had all day was 5 minutes. After that comment he was actually pretty reasonable and not sucky at all, but clearly running on Customer Standard Time.
Think about what you're saying
Someone calls because they recently cancelled a policy and wanted to know where their refund is. I advised that refund's been processed and the cheque is on it's way.
SC's response - that's ridiculous I might cancel all my policies.
I mention that if you want to cancel all your policies because you're receiving a refund by cheque that's his prerogative, in a vain effort to make SC realise just how stupid he sounds.
If you're going to attempt insurance fraud, don't be so brazen and tell me about it
Did a quote for one customer, who disclosed they let out a few of their rooms. I advise we don't insure share houses. First attempt was 'oh I'll just evict everybody'. I said that we won't look at a quote until this happened. Not deterred by the first shut down, they mentioned that they may call back and not mention the sub-tenants. Another quote with plenty of notes, including 'may call back and not disclose'.
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