Nnnngh.

[joiedecombat]

So. I work for an insurance office. I've only had the job a few months, and so I'm far from an expert on insurance in general; my job is generally to field phone calls to other people in the office who know what's going on. I also take payments and give basic auto quotes.

I've come to dread giving quotes. Not because it's difficult in itself; no, what I dread is the phone call that begins "I want a quote on some insurance," because nine times out of ten the person on the other end has no earthly idea what they want, and prying information out of them is like pulling teeth. For the love of God, people, if you ever call an insurance agency for a quote, take the time to acquire at least a vague notion of what you want before you ask someone to give you a price.

I am so, so sick of people who call my office and ask for a quote on insurance for such and such a car as though I have a chart in front of me and I can instantly rattle off a number right then.

My calls generally run something like this:
Caller: "I wanna get a quote on some car insurance."
Me: "What kind of car do you want to have quoted?"
This is where I'm supposed to input year, make, and model. Most callers generally leave out at least one of these, forcing me to prompt them until they tell me the rest of the information.
Then I have to figure out the age, gender, and marital status of the driver, which usually isn't too hard.
Then it gets tricky.
Me: "What kind of coverage do you want?"
Caller: "Full."
Me: "...Okay. How much liability coverage do you need?"
Caller: "...I dunno."
Insert thumbnail explanation of liability coverage: $x per person up to $x per accident for bodily injury and $x per accident for property damage.
Caller: "That sounds good."
Me: "Okay, but how much liability do you want?"
Caller: "...how much does it cost?"
Me: "I can't give you the price quote until you've chosen your coverages. Right now I'll put you down for our minimum, and if that's not enough we can go back and change it, okay?"
Caller: "Okay."
Me: "Do you want medical coverage?"
Lather, rinse, repeat ad nauseam, until I'm rolling my eyes and restraining the urge to channel funwithrage and snarl into the phone, "What do you want?"

I do not insist that everyone know everything about insurance. Hell, I don't understand some of it myself. But if these people are making me pick their coverages for them, how can they possibly be getting the coverage they actually need? If all you know about insurance is that you need some, go to an insurance office! Talk to an agent! Find out what the hell you need! Do not call me and make me try to figure out how to quote you!

Even worse are the people who call my office and do this to me at 4:57 in the afternoon, when our office closes at 5:00.

Like today.

Aaaaaargh.

Comments

[lovedbyanangel9.livejournal.com]

Ouch. That sucks royally. I do know exactly how you feel, though. I do computer repair. I love when someone calls in and says "Hello. My text is all capitals." You go through eight million steps (starting with turning off caps lock) and at the end you send someone out ... turns out the caps lock was on and they'd been hitting the button twice when you told them to turn it off >.<. And yea, that's a thirty minute phone call ... and it /always/ comes 3 minutes before I'm supposed to get off. These people should never be allowed near computers.