A friend/coworker of mine is in the process of adopting
internationally. Some of the institutions involved are being less than
helpful and efficient to her and other parents who are looking forward to being with their
children.I should mention that this friend first tried to adopt
locally, but DC was a big clusterf* that turned the whole process into a torturous mindf*, so said friend opted
to go the international route.
I mention that this friend is only a coworker because when we discussed the latest adoption challenge the other day, we talked about how we are not the people you f* with... not because we have power associated with our positions, but because we are professional nit-picks who read the fine print and figure out where to complain until we get our issues resolved. We're not (necessarily) lawyers, but we're trained to pour through the driest, most confusing crap to get what we need.
My friend’s issue is anything but a first-world problem; there’s a lot more at stake there, and the people slowing her down had better get their $hit together.
My issue is sort-of a first-world problem (it involves health insurance, so we can debate whether that in and of itself makes it a proverbial first-world problem but not technically one): my health insurance is covering the emergency services related to my immersion-blender incident out of a health fund, and they are billing that health fund more than the hospital billed for the services because the insurance company’s negotiated “member rates” are higher than those billed. Which in and of itself is a microcosm of what’s wrong with our health care system, but that’s another story. I have sufficient money in my health fund, so the cost to me from the discrepancy (of nearly $700) has not been realized. But since the fund rolls over, and since I may one day incur additional medical costs from the fund, the discrepancy may one day matter—I may have to pay that difference. And I feel that I should fight this on behalf of people who are not as programmed to fight this kind of crap, so that the companies get the sense that they’re less likely to get away with it.
I called a few weeks ago when I first noticed the difference, and was told that I shouldn’t have to pay the difference and that I would get new paperwork in a week. I called again to say I had gotten no new paperwork, and was told that I would have to formally appeal if I didn’t want to pay the difference.
Fair enough; I am appealing. And I’m not yet calling out my insurer on Twitter, though I will do so if they rule against my appeal, because the whole situation is pretty silly; why would they pay amounts higher than what’s billed? That’s just bad business.
Have I mentioned that I saved the insurer additional money by having the stitches removed in my office, by a friend? I mention that this friend is only a coworker because when we discussed the latest adoption challenge the other day, we talked about how we are not the people you f* with... not because we have power associated with our positions, but because we are professional nit-picks who read the fine print and figure out where to complain until we get our issues resolved. We're not (necessarily) lawyers, but we're trained to pour through the driest, most confusing crap to get what we need.
My friend’s issue is anything but a first-world problem; there’s a lot more at stake there, and the people slowing her down had better get their $hit together.
My issue is sort-of a first-world problem (it involves health insurance, so we can debate whether that in and of itself makes it a proverbial first-world problem but not technically one): my health insurance is covering the emergency services related to my immersion-blender incident out of a health fund, and they are billing that health fund more than the hospital billed for the services because the insurance company’s negotiated “member rates” are higher than those billed. Which in and of itself is a microcosm of what’s wrong with our health care system, but that’s another story. I have sufficient money in my health fund, so the cost to me from the discrepancy (of nearly $700) has not been realized. But since the fund rolls over, and since I may one day incur additional medical costs from the fund, the discrepancy may one day matter—I may have to pay that difference. And I feel that I should fight this on behalf of people who are not as programmed to fight this kind of crap, so that the companies get the sense that they’re less likely to get away with it.
I called a few weeks ago when I first noticed the difference, and was told that I shouldn’t have to pay the difference and that I would get new paperwork in a week. I called again to say I had gotten no new paperwork, and was told that I would have to formally appeal if I didn’t want to pay the difference.
Fair enough; I am appealing. And I’m not yet calling out my insurer on Twitter, though I will do so if they rule against my appeal, because the whole situation is pretty silly; why would they pay amounts higher than what’s billed? That’s just bad business.
***
Speaking of customer service complaints, Adam Grant's tips on cold-contacting people who could help you are (1) so true (2) got me thinking about how much some of these apply to dating (variations of them, at least) and (3) how it can be hard to appreciate the value of these tips from the other side if you haven't been on it (I started appreciating what a difference technique makes when I first screened resumes/interviewed applicants, many years ago).
Which made me think about how much this stuff applies to home ownership, or purchasing the many services one does as a homeowner. Not to put too fine a point on it, but homeownership can definitively shift you from the camp of always defending the proletariat because their jobs suck to wondering why you can't get good help these days ("I don't care if cleaning houses sucks; if I'm paying you to do it, please do it right.") Constantly purchasing services made me increasingly attuned to what does and does not constitute good customer service, what's more likely to have me consider, much less, go with a certain vendor. So here's my list:
- Be willing and able to provide some sort of estimate without seeing the problem for yourself. I don't care if it's a range; I don't care if it's full of disclaimers, including "may be [this much more] if it's bad." But if you can't even provide any kind of upper limit based on a generic description, it's over.
- If it's a big enough thing that you have to see it (and it's a lot of money), provide a detailed, itemized, written estimate. Someone once--I $hit you not--texted me an estimate for thousands of dollars of work.
- Answer questions. The guys who did my roof (Lyons Contracting) were great about this--I had a lot of questions and they provided very good answers, both about technical issues and potential sources of additional costs. [And, back to the first bullet, even for a complicated, expensive job, they were able to provide a rough estimate over the phone; the actual estimate, once they saw the roof, came in slightly lower.]
- Keep me posted. If the work is delayed because you're waiting on parts, let me know that you haven't forgotten about the job.
- Listen. If I hire you to clean my house right after I move in, and I specifically tell you not to bother making my bed with hospital corners but to instead focus on things like the grease on the kitchen walls and the greasy dust on the ceiling fans, I don't want to come home to hospital corners and greasy ceiling fans (which is exactly what happened). If you're above cleaning grease, don't take the job.
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