Disgrunted claims adjuster and evil customers... are people really this clueless?

As a claims adjuster who really DOES want to help people... it boggles my mind when people scream at me for things completely out of my control on a daily basis. So weird question, but id like to get "normal peoples" opinions on this situation and whether or not you would be more understanding then the &*(& who screamed at me for an hour today..

We had a claim called in where someone NOT listed on the policy was driving at the time of the accident. this can be a HUGE problem. Reason being? Sometimes a family will only put the cheapest person in their house on the policy... and let they 19 year old son whos a HORRIBLE driver drive daily and potentially cause wrecks and be a HUGE risk to us... and they arent paying a dime for it.

So i explained to this guy that if the person who was in the wreck lived in the household where the car was... drives it regularly... and isnt being paid for on the policy.. we will likely deny the claim. reason being? he was a huge risk to us that we didnt knwo about.. and they were paying for him.

of course his answer was "anything to get out of paying huh?" its frustrating.

Would YOU understand? I need civilians thoughts :)

Additional Details
haha i try not to sweat it- its hard!

Im in a field where people automatically assume im out to get them and trick them.. when in reality if ANYTHING i try way to hard to make people happy and please them and pay them no matter what!

But im glad everyone on here has a good head on their shoulders. This guy was just probably dumb :)

Vipassana

Totally agree.

These days, people are so accustomed to thinking they're right (the customer is right, as a kid, parents teach them that they're all winners, etc), that the idea that they're wrong...is simply unfathomable.

I sympathize for you. I deal with a lot of stupid people on a daily basis, and I can only imagine how hard it is to be a claims adjuster. Whenever I call my insurance, I try to be as friendly as possible, because I can guess that the rest of their day isn't so great.

Good luck to you :)

CwboyBill

People are morons when it comes to insurance. I swear I'm going to offer a night-school course in 'Policy Comprehension 101'. Just yesterday I had a lady about to climb down my throat because her 1981 model car had $4,000+ of damage and we were NOT going to repair it. She just could not understand why we would choose to 'total' her car vs repairing it. No amount of explaining could convince her that we didn't CARE about taking the car from her -- the state demanded that the vehicle be declared a total and if she insisted on repairing the car her only option would be to withdraw her claim or buy back the salvage and get a 'rebuilt salvage title' for it. Of course I then had to endure the whole speech about how insurance was just a racket and she had paid her premiums on time for over 30 years and she would just have to consult a lawyer, blah, blah, blah, blah, etc, etc,etc....
Damn. Don't these people realize that it would be MUCH easier to just pay the damn claims vs fighting them?? Do they honestly believe we enjoy this?

flashheart

i once met a person who thought the london under ground was a political movement

my answer is yes

Nap

Don't Sweat It. How would you hold up to daily abuse? Like my associates and I stand each & every day. You'd think that people would now the whys and wherefore's before they come to us. But Nooooo. Lets be a d*** for all to see. I think that people think that If they yell and carry on loud and long enough that this agency will change there minds on a situation that's not under our control at all.I don't envy you, at all.

NvrMnd smart1 its over ur head

It makes total sense and is understandable assuming they don't have full coverage. But My understanding is that if you have full coverage you don't have to have someone on your policy to have them covered on your insurance. For instance. My dad has 2 cars insured with only him and my step mom and not me. But I still live at home. I rarely drive either of their vehicles but sometimes he'll send me to get his gas for him or I'll need to borrow his truck since its a pickup and I drive a small car. They don't have me on their insurance because it would be a total waste of money to have me on their when I MIGHT drive their cars once a month. In our situation I'd think that it would be totally unfair of the insurance company to give us crap if I were to get into an accident on the rare occasion I was driving his truck.

For the record, I totally understand where you're sitting. I work in customer service for a sales office and it's funny how mad people get when they fail to read their contracts prior to signing them. I usually just tell them "its in the contract, you should have read it before you signed it, I'm just doing my job there's nothing I can do" and typically hang up on them if they continue to try and abuse me. I've got a standing rule, people can yell and rant and cuss at me for no more than 5min tops. After that I hang up on them, and if they call back, I jump down their throat, email my boss that I did it and tell them they can call him and complain. LOL

Quicksilver82778

Yeah its a tough job but you can't take it personal at all, the people we deal with have no clue on insurance for the most part.

Officer Friendly

It seems reasonable to me that you'd deny them.

I wouldn't want your job for all the money in the world. Insurance claims adjusters and the IRS are basically walking abuse magnets. :-p

Ya, I'd understand. There's just some people out there that think they can get away with "using" the system. When in all reality, we as associates are just doing our jobs, and can't bundge for anyone!

Suggestion: I tell my customers straight out, that I'm doing my job. It pays my bills, and that's that. (In your case: If they would have read their policy, they'd know what to expect)

Gambit

Unless you're just truly looking to have your ego stroked it doesn't really matter what anyone here thinks. You are going to run into many people in your career as an adjuster who are illogical, unreasonable and are a complete asshead. No matter how reasonable your arguments, no matter how thoroughly you explain your side, no matter how well you keep your cool, some people will just never get it. The trick is to not take it personally. All you can do is try your best and then move on. If the insured doesn't want to see reason then that's their problem.

Moon Dancer

I understand completely and you are totally right! That being said, he is in a bind and it is easy to lash out at you for his stupidity!

When you do wrong it is gonna cost you 1 way or another! If he did not learn this lesson earlier in life then he gets to learn it now. Maybe you could reword that and tell it to him. Be very nice and ask him if he would like to add the 19 year old to the policy!

Now there is also the off chance that this is a coincidence and it is a friend of the family type deal and he did not want to add him to the policy. Maybe a guest who overstayed his welcome?

jtexas

Interesting statement coming from a guy trying to scam his insurance company.

The goal of any insurance company is to avoid paying claims whenever possible -- it *has* to be after all, end of the day, they're in business to make money.

Or rather, to pay only what they're contractually obligated to pay -- no more, no less.

Not your fault, you're a professional doing a thankless job. You are the customer contact so we complain to you.

Doug J

Don't sweat it. Maybe you are not cut out to be a claims adjuster if something like this bothers you so much. Are you a newbie? Some kind of idealist about human nature?

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