I'm just now listening through The Note at the End (which, now that I think about it, sounds like a perfect addition to Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide series), but I already have a thought. My late ex-wife once worked for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Indiana. She once told me they routinely denied claims, knowing that about a third of the claimants would shrug and pay the bill themselves. When the other two-thirds filed an appeal, they then mostly routinely approved the appeal, since it was cheaper to pay it than to fight it. It was all about the bottom line, of course.
Your experience with the script person also reminds me of a "tactic" in assertiveness training detailed in a great book, "When I Say No, I Feel Guilty" by Manuel J. Smith (https://amzn.to/43J4UZG). It was first published in 1975, went out of print years ago and then came back into print, and after all those years I still regularly re-read it. For context, most people are either polite or pushy, which in psychology terms means either passive or aggressive, and both have as a goal to control the other person. Assertive isn't just in the middle. It doesn't seek control; it seeks clarity, and it tends to break the patterns of the aggressive or the passive.
One of the tools Smith talks about is "Broken Record." You state what you want, like, "I want my policy reinstated." "We explained why we can't do that in the letter." "I understand, but I still want my insurance reinstated." "Our policy prevents us from reinstating your insurance." "My policy prevents me from being taken advantage of, and I still want my insurance reinstated." You keep going until they run out of responses, remaining calm all the time.
Sort of sounds like they were trying to implement that. But since assertiveness isn't a game of control, the tactic still works for the consumer because it eventually gets beyond the script.
Smith gives extensive examples from real conversations, and he has many other tools. I highly recommend the book. I'll finish listening to the Note, hoping to hear it resolved, but I wanted to post this before my ADHD set fire to it.
I'm just now listening through The Note at the End (which, now that I think about it, sounds like a perfect addition to Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide series), but I already have a thought. My late ex-wife once worked for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Indiana. She once told me they routinely denied claims, knowing that about a third of the claimants would shrug and pay the bill themselves. When the other two-thirds filed an appeal, they then mostly routinely approved the appeal, since it was cheaper to pay it than to fight it. It was all about the bottom line, of course.
Your experience with the script person also reminds me of a "tactic" in assertiveness training detailed in a great book, "When I Say No, I Feel Guilty" by Manuel J. Smith (https://amzn.to/43J4UZG). It was first published in 1975, went out of print years ago and then came back into print, and after all those years I still regularly re-read it. For context, most people are either polite or pushy, which in psychology terms means either passive or aggressive, and both have as a goal to control the other person. Assertive isn't just in the middle. It doesn't seek control; it seeks clarity, and it tends to break the patterns of the aggressive or the passive.
One of the tools Smith talks about is "Broken Record." You state what you want, like, "I want my policy reinstated." "We explained why we can't do that in the letter." "I understand, but I still want my insurance reinstated." "Our policy prevents us from reinstating your insurance." "My policy prevents me from being taken advantage of, and I still want my insurance reinstated." You keep going until they run out of responses, remaining calm all the time.
Sort of sounds like they were trying to implement that. But since assertiveness isn't a game of control, the tactic still works for the consumer because it eventually gets beyond the script.
Smith gives extensive examples from real conversations, and he has many other tools. I highly recommend the book. I'll finish listening to the Note, hoping to hear it resolved, but I wanted to post this before my ADHD set fire to it.