I have often written about the calls I receive from customers, but I’d like to share an internal conversation this time.
A few days ago one of my colleagues received a call from a lady kindly informing us that the policy holder had sadly passed away. Mrs X said that she was the new owner of the property and had received a letter from us addressed to the deceased. My colleague investigated this and found that an internal department had been attempting to contact the deceased customer – Mrs Z.
Problem was that this particular department had finished work at 5pm and had all gone home. My colleague wasn’t in the next day so she asked me to give them a call and let them know what had happened.
This is how the call went:
ME: Morning. This is…in…I’m ringing for a colleague who received a call last night from a lady informing us that the policy holder has passed away. Mrs X is the new owner of the property. She’s had a letter from you guys addressed to the deceased, Mrs Z. You had finished work last night, so my colleague couldn’t call you. She’s asked me to let you guys know, as you have been trying to contact Mrs Z. My colleague has also put notes on the system for you.
AGENT: Do you have the customer on the phone?
ME: No. The customer has passed away. The new home owner called us to let us know that Mrs Z has passed away. She called last night.
AGENT: We’re doing a review on the policy as it’s one that was set up when there was an error on the system. Is Mrs Z’s husband on the phone?
ME: No.
AGENT: We’ll continue with the review then we’ll give the customer a ring to let her know if we’ve found anything wrong.
ME: You won’t be able to do that. Did you not hear what I said? Mrs Z has passed away. There is a new owner in the property.
AGENT: Oh. Hold on please. I need to speak to the manager.
ME: No problem.
AGENT: I’ve spoken to the manager. Do you have the husbands address?
ME: No. I didn’t take the phone call. My colleague did. I’ve told you this already. My colleague took the call. The new home owner rang in to let us know that Mrs Z has passed away. My colleague asked me to call you guys to let you know as she is not in today. I have now told you. If you care to read the notes on the system, as I’ve already pointed out to you, then you will understand what I’m saying.
AGENT: Well I don’t know what we’re going to do here.
ME: Talk to your manager again. I’ve told you. Bye.
My patience had run out by this time.
Natural Matrix 