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Old 09-22-2016, 01:37 PM   #2941
Gravdigr
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Did I miss something? Where the hell is Dana?
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Old 09-22-2016, 03:25 PM   #2942
monster
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she got a proper job
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Old 09-22-2016, 08:58 PM   #2943
Gravdigr
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Oh.
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Old 09-23-2016, 08:06 PM   #2944
mbpark
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Hi.

I have been barely checking in for the past decade. I started calling here when this was a BBS on my Commodore 64. No longer have the modem or that 64, but still have one that needs to be unpacked in my office.

I got married, got a management job, got promoted, got 2 master's degrees (MS and MBA), wife had twins (22 months old now), and moved to NJ and Indiana in the space of 10 months.

We're now living north of Indianapolis in Carmel, Indiana, and I'm now working as an Executive Director of InfoSec somewhere in this area (those of you who know me on LinkedIn know where).

I hope all is well with everyone.

Now let's see who pops up from the BBS days
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Old 09-23-2016, 08:12 PM   #2945
xoxoxoBruce
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Mitch! Great to hear from you. Not surprised at your success but sad to hear you're one of those evil MBAs tw warns us about.
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Old 09-23-2016, 08:36 PM   #2946
Undertoad
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good day sir
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Old 09-23-2016, 11:50 PM   #2947
lumberjim
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Hey mitch. Good to hear from you.
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Old 09-24-2016, 07:15 AM   #2948
Clodfobble
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Mitch, I remember you, though I imagine you don't remember me. I think the above post might be the first one you ever didn't sign with your name.
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Old 09-24-2016, 10:32 AM   #2949
classicman
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Hey man! Wow - you've been busy.

FWIW, I still have the computer you recommended many years ago. Still working great too.
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Old 09-24-2016, 06:21 PM   #2950
Pamela
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Hi Mitch! Glad to hear that you're doing all right.
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Old 09-25-2016, 06:24 AM   #2951
DanaC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gravdigr View Post
Did I miss something? Where the hell is Dana?
*waves at Grav*

Hi. Sorry I've been a bit absent lately. I have been checking by a couple of times a week, but finding it hard to concentrate on reading and not really had the mental energy to post. I think, possibly because I spend such a lot of my day now communicating with people, that when I get home I just want to shut down that part of my brain.

It's been a pretty intensive couple of months. The three weeks of 'Creche' working, where trainees are live on the phones but with focused support, ended on Friday. We won't be joining our teams until Oct 10th, but the focussed support is now over - there is general support in place as there is for everyone (technical advisor for each team, and a referral line if you come across something you can't figure out using information portal - but that is a much less ready by your side kind of support,and assumes that you have a handle on basics.


I do not have a handle on basics :P


I'm getting there - but there's a fuckton of specialist knowledge, intricate systems and processes all of which vary according to specific insurance policies (of which there are hundreds - different brands and providers, owned by or underwritten by us, banks, building societies, brokers etc )

Dealing with all that, and trying not to fuck up and get a payment returned, because of some small clause in the individual policy, or have a supplier instruction get lost in the system because you didn't check a little box, or fail to get some crucial piece of information and have to call the policyholder back, all while talking to the customer and trying to help them navigate a stressful situation - it can be intense.

Half the call are just people who need redirecting, or an update on a claim. But then it's like - you have to be really careful, and check the file notes, because they might be a CFU case (fraud)in which case you aren't allowed to tell them anything about the claim, you just have to tell them someone from the team dealing with their claim will get back to them. Or, they may be with the loss adjusters and you spend the next 20 minutes trying to find out what the hell is going on ...

Or the policy number is from a scheme that doesn't pull through to our system and you have to ring through to the broker and get the cover details and enter it all manually on the system

And take full file notes - including all the different actions, check their contact details, ask the underwriting questions. Check inception date and prev.claims,and if necessary ask questions needed for carrying out an insurance check,like time at address, prev. address, how many adults over 18 etc.

If it's a buildings claim you do a quick fire quote using the buildings triage tool. A single item you might validate through the validation tool. If they express any dissatisfaction you log it on the complaint system....

But before all of that, you have to find them on the system, and bring up the special handling instructions for their scheme. And the online guidance system for whatever it is they're looking to claim for (often multiple things).

A call can take 20-30 minutes. But some are really quick. Some calls you're logging new claims,and others you are picking up an ongoing situation - like the other day I answered a call and within five minutes I was knee deep in a car crash of an existing claim, where complaints had been raised and threats of ombudsman made.

It's a long time since I had a job where I felt time pressure of this sort - as in, there aren't enough hours in the shift to do everything. I am sure I'll get faster, and cleaner in what I'm doing - fewer call backs, less time desperately trying to locate a piece of information or figure out who the fuck should be dealing with this and what is their number - but just the times you need to make a commitment to finding something out and getting back to someone, trying to sort out an instruction that shows as sent but for some reason hasn't arrived with the supplier.

Or, because we're all scheduled, and compliance to schedule is a thing - you may leave the write up and instructions on a claim til after your break or lunch, but then when you log back in, before you've a chance to click yourself into off-call working, a call comes through and now you're knee deep in another claim - you've 10 fucking windows open on your screen and five different word docs, pdfs, or excel docs, and several time sensitive and mildly complex processes to follow to set up the claim you were working on before you went on your break and now you're setting up a new one, or you've just found yourself responsible for making sure a payment that has already failed three times somehow reaches its recipient this time...

Meanwhile you've an eye on the time, because at precisely x:15 you scheduled to go into comms, or go on a break, and you're scheduled to be logging back in at x:30. And if you're not going to make that schedule, you need to message scheduling so they can alter your schedule on the hop to keep adherence levels.

So far we have not been expected to conduct between calls tasks - we've just done a couple of one hour slots of scheduled tasks (working post). When we go live we are expected to work tasks between calls- scheduled emails, completing reviews, checking the evidence a customer has sent in, or accepting a contractor's quote or a supplier estimate of work.

Experienced handlers seem to cope, though with periods of high activity that can be a little stressful. I guess as I get more practiced and more things are instinctive, I'll speed up and get more done as I am logging the claim with the customer, rather than leaving a lot of it to the end when the call has ended.

There are usually a few periods of very low activity in call terms. You can sometimes go nearly an hour without a call coming through. Or it might just be a few seconds after you click your status to open for calls, after you've finished with a claim.

It's interesting and challenging, and at times quite fun. It's also intermittently terrifying. Like....seriously I have delegated authority within a network of legal and financial relationships? How the hell did that happen?
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Old 09-25-2016, 06:57 AM   #2952
Sundae
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DanaC View Post
So far we have not been expected to conduct between calls tasks
All this and you're managing an orchestra too?!

It sounds like you're far more diligent than many of the medical staff I've encountered recently. If I'd done my cheese-cutting job the way they run their wards I'd have had an arm off by now.

But you sound more challenged than overwhelmed, so that's good. And it keeps Carrot in the style to which he has become accustomed.
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Old 09-25-2016, 07:09 AM   #2953
Clodfobble
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This is why our insurance claims department is constantly putting me on hold...
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Old 09-25-2016, 07:14 AM   #2954
classicman
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^WSS ... navigating those waters for Dan was/is a frikkin nightmare.
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Old 09-25-2016, 10:06 AM   #2955
xoxoxoBruce
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On the up side, once you get a handle on the system, job security sounds good. You go girl.
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