Man with Indian accent: Thank you for calling Smetna Insurance. My name is Rakeesh. It will be my pleasure to serve you today. May I ask to whom I am speaking?
TD: You don't know?
Rakeesh: No sir, I don't have that information.
TD: Then why was I asked to enter my ID number three times before I finally reached a human?
Rakeesh: I am sorry for the inconvenience.
TD: Thomas Dryden.
Rakeesh: May I have your Smetna ID number?
TD: 12345 6789.
Rakeesh: Alright Mr. Thomas, how can I help you today?
TD: I became a customer on January 1. Just received a letter that says Smetna needs proof I had insurance between April 15 and June 30 of 2011 -- before I became a customer -- in order to process a claim. This is the third time I've received that letter. I've sent you proof both other times. The first time I mailed it. The second time I faxed it.
Rakeesh: Please accept my apologies, Mr. Thomas. Who was your previous insurance provider?
TD: That's not the point. The point is, I've provided this twice already. Plus you already know from my application who my previous insurer was.
Rakeesh: I'm sorry, Mr. Thomas. We don't have access to information from
your application.
TD: What do you mean you "don't have access?"
Rakeesh: That's confidential information.
TD: Well someone at Smetna has it because someone at your company approved me. It should be right there in my records. I was required to provide proof of insurance with my application and I did. And I've done it twice since.
Rakeesh: As I explained, Mr. Thomas ....
TD: Fine, it was Banner Black Cross/Red Shield.
Rakeesh: Do you know your ID number?
TD: Yes, I still have my card. It's 63927 050302.
Rakeesh: Mr. Thomas, I'll read that back to you. 63927 050302.
TD: Correct. If you'll check your records, you will see I was insured by Banner for 10 years up until the day I became a Smetna customer.
Rakeesh: We need to verify that information. Do you have their phone number?
TD: The card says 800-555-6666.
Rakeesh: Do you mind if I place you on hold for no more than three minutes while I call them?
TD: Go right ahead.
(Three minutes of a Bach fugue.)
Rakeesh: I am sorry, Mr. Thomas. That appears to be a fax number. Is there another number on the card?
TD: No, it must have changed. I'll look up the number online. Give me a minute.
Rakeesh: Take your time, Mr. Thomas.
TD: Here's one -- 203-555-6666.
Rakeesh: I will be placing you on hold for no longer than three minutes while I call Banner Black Cross/Red Shield at 203-555-6666 to verify. Is that acceptable?
TD: Sure, I have nothing else to do other than wait while you verify information I've already supplied. Why not?
Rakeesh: I understand your frustration, Mr. Thomas.
TD: My last name is Dryden, not Thomas.
Rakeesh: I'm sorry, Mr. Dryden.
TD: That's OK.
Rakeesh: Please hold, Mr. Thomas.
(Three minutes of Bach fugue)
Rakeesh: Are you still there, Mr. Thomas?
TD: Yes.
Rakeesh: Thank you for holding. That appears to be a number for government policyholders only. Do you have another number?
TD: I can't believe you don't have one. Surely Smetna gives you a directory of other insurance company numbers for cases like this.
Rakeesh: I apologize, Mr. Thomas. But I do not have a directory. Can you find another number?
TD: We just got a new phone book. Hold on, I'll look it up.
Rakeesh: Certainly, Mr. Thomas, take your time, I have all day.
TD: Well I don't.
Rakeesh: I do understand, Mr. Thomas, and am working hard to ease your frustration.
TD: OK, try 203-555-4321.
Rakeesh: Will it be alright if I conference you in on the call?
TD: Yes, if my being on the call will make this go faster, please do.
Rakeesh: Alright, I am calling 203-555-4321 right now.
(Ring ring, ring)
Recorded Message: Thank you for calling Banner Black Cross/Red Shield. If you are a broker, press 1. If you are a physician, press 2. If you are a member requesting information about a pending claim, press 9. If you are calling for any other reason, please hang up and call our main number, 203-666-4561. Or visit us online 24 hours a day www.bbcrsco.com.
Rakeesh: I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience Mr. Thomas. I know your time is valuable.
TD: No you don't.
Rakeesh: Kindly bear with me while I call that number.
TD: Fine.
Rakesh: I am dialing 203-666-4561.
(Ring, ring, ring)
Banner Rep: Banner Black Cross/Red Shield, how may I direct your call?
TD: I was a Banner customer for 10 years but switched to Smetna January 1. There is a Smetna rep on this call. He needs to speak to you to verify I was covered by Banner between April 15 and June 30, 2011.
Banner Rep: Hello, my name is Rakeesh from Smetna. This call may be monitored for quality and training purposes. Is that acceptable to you?
Banner Rep: Do you have your Banner ID number?
TD: 63927 050302
Banner Rep: And your name?
TD: Thomas Dryden.
Banner Rep: Alright, I have your account in front of me.
TD: So will you tell this guy I was insured by Banner?
Banner Rep: You have the wrong department. Let me transfer you.
TD: You are kidding, right?
Rakeesh: Thank you kindly for your assistance.
(Ring, ring, ring)
Banner Rep 2: This is Sarah.
TD: Let me make this quick. I was a Banner customer but am with Smetna now. I have a guy from Smetna on the line.
Rakeesh: Hello, my name is Rakeesh. This call may be monitored for quality and training purposes. Is that acceptable to you?
TD: Would you verify for him that I was with Banner for 10 years, up to December 31, 2011? My ID number was 63927 050302.
Banner Rep 2: And your name, do you know that?
TD: I have fucking had it with you people. Of course I know my name, do you think I'm a complete moron?
Banner Rep 2: There's no need to use offensive language.
TD: Actually, there is.
Banner Rep 2: If you swear again, I am hanging up and reporting you.
TD: I am sorry, I really am, but you have no idea. My name is Thomas Dryden.
Banner Rep 2: Can you tell me your date of birth?
TD: Eleven seventeen fifty-one.
Banner Rep: Alright, I see your information. But you should have called another department.
TD: So why did they switch us over to you?
Banner Rep 2: You'll have to ask whoever you spoke to.
TD: And why did you ask my name and number and date of birth if you knew you couldn't help?
Rakeesh: Thomas, I understand your frustration, I see it every day.
TD: You cause it every day. You've both probably caused thousands of strokes that have cost Smetna and Banner millions of dollars. You two are the number one reason health care needs overhauling.
Banner Rep 2: Let me transfer you to the correct department.
TD: God, smite me dead. Please.
Rakeesh: Mr. Thomas, may I have your phone number? I will stay on the line and get the required information and call you back within one hour. Would that be acceptable?
TD: My number is 203-555-4321.
Banner 2: I'm transferring you now.
Rakeesh: Thank you both. I will speak with you shortly Mr. Thomas.
TD: (Hangs up)
It was actually much worse than that, folks. There were several additional calls within Banner that were omitted.
And for the record, I'm still waiting for that callback from Rakeesh.
How PAINFUL, but true!
ReplyDeleteMr. Thomas, You might long for a personal conservation with someone from India when/if Obamacare takes over our health insurance. Perhaps you can imagine having a similar conversation with a professional, career bureaucrat while you are slowly bleeding to death. When you tell the bureaucrat that you are bleeding he/she puts you on hold, without asking for permission, to report you to the EPA for unauthorized contamination of the environment! The only good news will be that you will have bleed to death by the time the EPA agent arrives to collect evidence to file a civil suit against your estate. Of course the answer to our health insurance problems can be found in tort reform which is not going to happen in our lifetime.
ReplyDeleteMr. Russell, I don't disagree, but it is tough to imagine how insurance companies could be any more screwed up than they already are -- especially here in Connecticut where the insurance industry rules the state. Ironically after I posted the above, I got an emergency writing assignment from a friend who runs an ad agency, asking for help in creating a web site for one of his clients, a personal injury law firm. I wrote about how much money the firm was able to collect for clients, even when the clients were unable to prove a defendant's negligence caused their injuries. In some cases the law firm got up to $3 million judgements. It then occurred to me that this is part of the "healthcare is 20% of the economy" debate. I wrote about the law firm's expertise, they will pay me and I'll use the money to buy insurance which they can then recover on behalf of a personal injury client, by which time the firm will need their website updated.
DeleteIn order to change an industry-wide practice, you need to shake things up. The only thing that matters to these companies is the bottom line - it's certainly not the health, welfare and care of their customers or even their employees.
DeleteIf a company values the bottom line and the next quarter's profits more than their product or customers, then there's something wrong there.
But it's the "way things are done." Typing that doesn't make me cynical, it makes me a realist. These days, when I receive GOOD service, it's something to come and remark about.
The only way to CHANGE a corporate culture which isn't working for its customers is to hit them in the pocketbook and "tort reform" just stops the change and protects the wrongdoers. When a company would rather pay a fine than develop a drug that doesn't kill children or pay a fine rather than create safer technologies, when a company would rather pay a fine than adopting policies which won't pollute, then you're going to get more dead children, more pollution. Same old same old.
"Tort reform" is an oft repeated rallying cry - but it's not the answer. If you cannot put a limit on earnings, why place a limit on damages?
"Tort reform" isn't the answer. Asking these behemoths to stop