Friday, January 21, 2011

How Not to Sell Insurance

Maybe I should have given this post the title of "How to Sell Insurance" as I'm going to be talking about Met Life, perhaps the #1 insurance company in the U.S. If, in fact, they are #1, this is a title that they will lose over the next few years if they continue their current policies re customer service. Let me give you an example of their inept customer service.

I called my "agent" on the telephone number listed on my most recent invoice. Of course, they only accept calls between 9 and 4, you know, normal business hours. I followed the rules and called at 11:30. There was no agent assigned to my account at that telephone number. I should call Customer Service.

Customer Service happened to be a robot with supposed voice recognition abilities. Unfortunately, it did not have common sense abilities. So, I ran through several menus before I realized I should press 0 (I am getting old). Although I had to prove who I was (address, telephone, 4 digits of SSN, date of birth) because I had the temerity to be calling Met Life, the person I spoke to was able to handle my request.

Howsomever, I was so upset by the robot that I asked to speak to the customer service person's supervisor. Apparently, the Customer Service person was too low on the corporate ladder as the only way that I had a chance of speaking with her supervisor was if the CS person made a request and the person on the next rung deigned to honor that request.

Being stubborn, I asked for the telephone number of the home office (which, I know, is readily available) and was told that I could not have it as it was an internal number.

What are the odds Met Life will still be around by 2021?

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