So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[tonyb]

I decided against making a claim on home insurance winter before last (a tree took out a section of fence) because the agent assured me my rates would indeed go up if I did. She was certainly no "random person who is equally clueless."

 

[tonyb]

People who use the word literally when they literally don't understand what it means.

It used to grate but now amuses me when I hear people scream "I could care less!," for a couple of reasons, the first being that it is illogical. "I couldn't care less" is what they would say if they gave a little more thought to what came out of their mouths. The second reason is that their behavior indicates that they do indeed care a great deal, for if they didn't they wouldn't get so exercised over it.

So, such people are indeed making sense, but they don't know it.

 

[2jakes]

I decided against making a claim on home insurance winter before last (a tree took out a section of fence) because the agent assured me my rates would indeed go up if I did. She was certainly no "random person who is equally clueless."

tonyb, is there a claim you can make on home insurance where the agent can assure you that the rates would not go up ?

If there isn’t, what is the reason for continuing with this policy ? I don’t quite understand .

Thanks .

 

[tonyb]

tonyb, is there a claim you can make on home insurance where the agent can assure you that the rates would not go up ?

If there isn’t, what is the reason for continuing with this policy ? I don’t quite understand .

Thanks .

I'll admit to being ticked off by it. I've had the same company (Farmers) for many years and never once filed a claim. (Indeed, I don't recall ever filing an insurance claim.) So they got a helluva lot more than the cost of those fence repairs out of me long, long ago. FWIW, I dumped that agent shortly thereafter. I stayed with the company, but that agent had in the past sent confusing information which phone calls to her did nothing to demystify. The new agent rearranged some coverages and saved us a little bit, mostly on the automobile piece.

The original agent left me with little doubt that the rates would go up should I file the claim. Perhaps she was full of baloney, but she has been in her position for at least a few years of which I am aware. So why do I have that insurance? Well, because the bank insists we insure the property, and the company is allegedly a reputable one. It certainly meets the bank's requirements.

 

[pawineguy]

tonyb, is there a claim you can make on home insurance where the agent can assure you that the rates would not go up ?

If there isn’t, what is the reason for continuing with this policy ? I don’t quite understand .

Thanks .

Insurance agents receive bonuses based on claims paid, and so keeping claims down helps them financially. A friend who's one of the top producing agents in the country for his company (one of the big names) can't sleep at the end of fiscal if he's near certain thresholds where large bonus dollars can be lost. It's not ethical for them to talk people out of filing claims but unfortunately it happens.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^^

So you're telling me the agent might be somewhat less than honest?

I do believe a call to Farmers is in order.

 

[2jakes]

I'll admit to being ticked off by it. I've had the same company (Farmers) for many years and never once filed a claim. (Indeed, I don't recall ever filing an insurance claim.) So they got a helluva lot more than the cost of those fence repairs out of me long, long ago. FWIW, I dumped that agent shortly thereafter. I stayed with the company, but that agent had in the past sent confusing information which phone calls to her did nothing to demystify. The new agent rearranged some coverages and saved us a little bit, mostly on the automobile piece.

The original agent left me with little doubt that the rates would go up should I file the claim. Perhaps she was full of baloney, but she has been in her position for at least a few years of which I am aware. So why do I have that insurance? Well, because the bank insists we insure the property, and the company is allegedly a reputable one. It certainly meets the bank's requirements.

Banks !

In my younger years I would go to the bank & cash my paycheck. ( I did this until someone convinced me to go direct deposit )

Anyway...one time after returning to work having cashed my check, I noticed that I had $50 more .
Soon after, the bank cashier called to ask about my check & the possibility that she may have made a mistake in cashing my
check & given me the wrong amount.

I answered her that, when I make a mistake with my writing a check for insufficient funds because the deposit took time.
I am penalized immediately by the bank without so much as a “howdy-do” ....BAM !.

I also added, since you made the mistake, I hearby penalize you .

She cut me off & told me “ Sir...you have a wrong attitude” and hung up !

true story

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Insurance agents receive bonuses based on claims paid, and so keeping claims down helps them financially. A friend who's one of the top producing agents in the country for his company (one of the big names) can't sleep at the end of fiscal if he's near certain thresholds where large bonus dollars can be lost. It's not ethical for them to talk people out of filing claims but unfortunately it happens.

Even though most politicians are lawyers by profession, I've noticed over the years that the ones from a business background have, for the most part, come from the insurance industry.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It used to grate but now amuses me when I hear people scream "I could care less!," for a couple of reasons, the first being that it is illogical. "I couldn't care less" is what they would say if they gave a little more thought to what came out of their mouths. The second reason is that their behavior indicates that they do indeed care a great deal, for if they didn't they wouldn't get so exercised over it.

So, such people are indeed making sense, but they don't know it.

Our childhood phrase was "I don't give a care!" which makes sense both gramatically and as an appropriate euphemism.

 

[pawineguy]

^^^^^^

So you're telling me the agent might be somewhat less than honest?

I do believe a call to Farmers is in order.

It wouldn't hurt, and yes, go figure... My friend, whose entire family is in insurance (father and brothers) with different large companies, and all incredibly successful, tells me that talking a client out of filing a claim is a pretty big no-no, as you can imagine. That's why he loses sleep when a large bonus is at stake, because it's completely out of his control, and he would never risk the loss of his agency over the size of one year's bonus check. For many insurance companies, the agent is supposed to just quickly get you in touch with their claims department and get out of the way of the process.

 

[p51]

Insurance agents receive bonuses based on claims paid, and so keeping claims down helps them financially.

This can be especially true for companies which have stockholders.
But yeah, it is a fact that agents will often talk policyholders out of filing claims. I've seen just about every company do this, even the one I work for. Agents are often not employees of the actual companies they represent, but instead buy into it as a contractor, as such. They're supposed to file claims for all reported losses, but very few will do that. It's a strange duality, in that I handle claims and often have to go round and round with agents on this. It got so bad that we removed them from the claim reporting process a while back and handed that function over to internal employees.
I won't say company I work for, but it isn't Farmers, and I can say that Farmers is probably one of the worst for this. I don't know about their homeowner's side of things, but when it comes to auto policies they'll often tell their people to just file a claim with the other driver's insurance, even when they don't really have a good idea what even happened in the accident.

 

[sheeplady]

When people don't realize that "No" is a complete sentence and then whining about it.

I went to the doctor's the other day, and the nurse's aid took my blood pressure. I can't have blood pressure taken on my left side for medical reasons. Ever, even in an emergency- even if I have an IV in my right, they have to take it off my right arm or my legs.

"Can I take your blood pressure on your left arm?"
"No."
"But this is a left handed blood pressure cuff."
"No."
"I'm not going to get an accurate reading with it."
"No."
"It would be so much easier for me..."
"No."
"Why won't you just let me use your left?"
"I said no."

It was at the point of whining- actual whining. At some point in this conversation she should have realized I wasn't giving in, and at no point asked if there was a medical reason why I needed it on the right. Nor did she offer to get me a different cuff.

 

[GHT]

When people don't realize that "No" is a complete sentence and then whining about it.

One of my wife's favourite expressions:
"No! It's a simple word. Which part of it are you having difficulty with?"

 

[p51]

I went to the doctor's the other day, and the nurse's aid took my blood pressure. I can't have blood pressure taken on my left side for medical reasons. Ever, even in an emergency- even if I have an IV in my right, they have to take it off my right arm or my legs.

If there's a medical reason why the left arm is a no-go, did you bother telling them that? If not, then their reaction was quite reasonable. If something like that can't be done under any circumstances, I'd wonder why you don't have some manner of life alert bracelet explaining it (in case you were knocked out and couldn't tell them), and you should be used to having to explain the reasons by now.
If you did tell them that, I sort of doubt the rest of the conversation would have taken place unless you were dealing with someone truly dense.
I know a few nurses, and all have told me stories of people who were simply difficult for no seeming reason whatsoever. If you didn't tell them why they couldn't go to your left, I'm sure you became that nurse's story later on...

 

[HoosierDaddy]

+1

 

[LizzieMaine]

You'd think something like that would be on your medical history chart, like the one that they've got in their hand or on their computer screen when they're examining you. Every time I go in for a physical I have to explain I don't need a pap test because I don't have a cervix, but they never write it down and never look at the chart. It doesn't take any extra effort for me to explain this for the ninetieth time, but it does make me wonder just how much of a damn they give about me as a patient. Considering how much I have to pay them for my "medical care" you'd think I'd get at least a little bit of service.

Speaking of medical fun, I hate getting a phlebotomist who keeps poking and poking and poking to try and find the vein. The one woman who could always tap me on the first try left a couple years ago, and ever since then I emerge from the lab with my arm looking like a pincushion.

 

[Babydoll]

Speaking of medical fun, I hate getting a phlebotomist who keeps poking and poking and poking to try and find the vein. The one woman who could always tap me on the first try left a couple years ago, and ever since then I emerge from the lab with my arm looking like a pincushion.

Hubby's veins are hard to poke. I remember once he had a newbie that *ground* the needle around and around in his arm trying to find the vein at his elbow. He had a black bruise the size of a half dollar from that one. He's also had both elbows, both wrists (!!!), and the back of his hand poked before they've found that the back of the hand was the best. Now he just tells them to get the head of the lab, and only poke the back of his hand. He recently had 6 vials drawn without a bruise from his hand.

 

[Fading Fast]

Phlebotomy is a skill - no question. A good one can size up your vein situation and normally get it right on the first call. And it all feels professionally done - tourniquet on, ball being squeezed, a simple stick, blood flowing, tourniquet off, ball released, vials switch in and out effortlessly (without your arm being tugged) and then the removal, cover with gauze and, finally, bandaid happens before you know it. A not good phlebotomist makes it a hot mess: Multiple tries, clumsy vial switching, tourniquet left on too long, ball being squeezed for too long, arm tugged here and there, and the removal and bandaging done haphazardly.

A narrow skill, yes, but an impressive one when done well.

 

[p51]

- it does make me wonder just how much of a damn they give about me as a patient. Considering how much I have to pay them for my "medical care" you'd think I'd get at least a little bit of service.

The medical profession has historically never taken any concept of 'customer service' into account and you'd have thought they would when hospitals started being bought up by corporations, but that never happened.
The medical field, I guess is the only big business that simply couldn't care less about customer satisfaction. I guess this is primarily because they now get their money from the insurance companies (which is to a degree why an aspirin now costs $20, I guess) and not from the patients themselves. If they dealt directly with patients like any other business deals with customers, could you imagine what the medical field would be like?

 

[swanson_eyes]

Not annoyed but amused: I just heard an announcer on a commercial ask "Were you born from 1945 to 1965?" He should've asked if I was born between those years. I don't think I took 20 years to be born. Word choice matters.