I HAVE THE POWER!!!

[Wade]

(sigh)

What is it that makes call-center reps verbal punching bags? And... I HATE credit card companies for putting the idea in everyone's head that all rates are therefor negotiable. I see it everywhere - grocery stores, music shops, gas pumps, customers saying, "Well, this is what I SHOULD be paying!" Well, ya know what? Go find a place that charges that price. Until then, fuck right off.

Me: Thank you for calling so-and-so. This is Wade, how may I help you today?
SC: Yeah, I'm gonna cancel my policy!
Me: Oh, I'm very sorry to hear that. May I ask why you've decided to leave so-and-so?
SC: You keep raising my damned rates! The economy's in the shitter, I have no claims, a clean driving record, and you people just keep penalizing me for it!

Okay, let's examine. 1) Yes, companies are free to charge whatever the hell they want. 2) Yes, you are free to take your business wherever the hell you may please. 3) I do not set rates. You yelling at me is not going to exactly make me want to go the extra mile and try to find any and all applicable discounts you may have been eligible for had you not jackassed yourself to my Dark Side.

SC: You give this message to your CEO. Tell him to skip the Lamborghini this year and go with a Ferrari!

Okay, really? I mean, really? Granted, I'm not the biggest car-guy on Earth, but aren't those two vehicles generally in the same price range? I mean, I suppose if you had suggested foregoing said Lamborghini for, let's just say, a Schwinn, than I might sit up and take notice. Hell, were you slightly more realistic, I might have resurrected the Pony Express and high-tailed it cross-country straight to Corporate and make sure come Hell or High Water our CEO cradles it in his loving hand before giving away free insurance policies to everyone who doesn't like our rates.

Oh, but wait - you said Ferrari, not Schwinn. Sorry, you fail.

Me: Okay.... I could pass that message on -
SC: Like Hell you will!
Me: Okay.... is there anything else I can do for you?
SC: You can LOWER MY RATE!!!

And thus, we have come full-circle. However, you forgot item #3 above.

Me: Well, sir, I can't just arbitrarily lower the rates. May I suggest you contact your local agent at his office? They sometimes have tools available to them that I do not.

Which is true - a licensed agent knows the ins-and-outs of insurance far better than a CSR working in a call center. You'd be amazed what they can get away with well within legal parameters.

SC: The only "tool" I have is to get rid of my full coverage!

Me: Well, Sir, I -
SC: GOODBYE!!!

[click]

Ah, Interruptor! You Inglorious Bastard! You may have won the battle, but mark my words....

I will win the war....

[PepperElf]

but um wait... if they didn't give you the account info to cancel... they're still signed up, unless they had to enter it to get into the system or something...

but heh i guess he/she hated the idea that you didn't fall for the threat

[crashhelmet]

I can feel this SC's pain as my insurance company has been doing the same thing to me. Clean record, no claims, etc and my rate has been going up every 6 months. My rate has increased by almost $30 a month in the last 3 years. If it goes up again in June, I'll leave. I just won't be a douchewaffle about it like this guy.

CH

[Kittish]

Last time I changed insurance companies, I cancelled my old policy online, and the agent called me (!) to ask why I'd cancelled. I politely told her that I could get a better rate from X company. She then asked what the rate they offered me was, I told her, and she tried to see if she could match it. She couldn't, and was quite apologetic about that. If she'd even been able to come close, I'd likely have stayed with that company just because of that effort. And for whatever it's worth, we were both quite polite to each other throughout the conversation.

[Wade]

My point exactly - I'm far more motivated to "go the extra mile" if you're not a complete dickhead about it. Look, I'm very realistic about these things - I know we're not the most competitively-priced company out there, but yelling at me like I'm the one who sets the rates is really out there. I guess my gripe isn't so much the dickhead bitching, but bitching at me. I mean, come on! Even I know when rates increase on my credit cards, telephone, whatever, it's not the dude at the end of the phone I'm calling who's responsible, but someone so high up that it doesn't matter how hard I bitch, IT JUST AIN'T HAPPENIN'!!!

[iradney]

I haven't claimed from my insurance company for a few years now. So when they do the annual premium hike, I politely call and ask if they can do something for me. And they do It's a very pleasant experience really.

[malmalthekiller]

Maybe I'm the only one whose car insurance is going down. It's actually $40 less than it was 6 months ago. Though I did just turn 23, maybe that has something to do with it.

[friendofjimmyk]

You give this message to your CEO. Tell him to skip the Lamborghini this year and go with a Ferrari!

....

I agree with you...what the hell is that statment supposed to mean? ooo...he got you there! He told you now, didn't he!

[Mike Taylor]

My car insurance has stayed relatively flat over the past three years, with the only increase coming from the fact that I went from an ancient POS with 120,000 miles on it to a much newer and better made car with 43,000 miles on it. Even then, my newer car rate has all kinds of safety related discounts piled on it.

[SG15Z]

Wait, did he even get his coverage canceled. Or did he hung up without getting anything accomplished? In which case, he fails big time.

[NateTheChops]

Phone Cahones. It's just like the NetNuts (r) that people have when they go into a chatroom and start badmouthing and threatning people whom they do not know and will probably never meet so long as they remain in their parent's basements.

I'm sure this guy takes a lot of crap from bigger and better people all day at work and like most of the customers I deal with, feels like he has to call you to take out his frustrations.

The only difference between your customers and mine is at least mine are face to face and I can give them my patented psychotic grin and make some statement along the lines of "What's your blood type? My favorite is O+" and not worry about being recorded and monitored for quality purposes.