So I now work for a local Medicare Advantage Plan. Before January we hired nearly 50 people in preparation for Medicare Part D, many of them whose sole purpose is to answer the phones to assist our members - if someone who is not a member calls up we have to pass them on to salespeople - we’re not allowed to give insurance advice.
A few months ago we started getting strange calls. For one thing, they were all from a Georgia state area code, and we only cover parts of Oregon. For another, the people on the other side of the phone all seemed to be high.
Here is a particularly illustative example:
Me: Hello, CompanyName Advantage
Drooling Idiot (DI): Yes, I’d lke information on your Low Income Subsidy
Me: Are you a member of our plan? (I have to log every call from a member in our software)
DI: I’m not, but my mother is
Me: OK, could I have her name please?
DI: I don’t remember my mother’s name. I’ll have to call her. click
Me: ???
But it wasn’t just one call. Our call volume tripled from one day to the next. If you directly asked them who they were, they would either tell you that they were with a senior advocate group or they would just hang up. One DI even told me that she was calling on behalf of the seniors in her church.
At first we thought that it was someone trying for identify theft, but they never asked for private information. In fact they never asked specific questions at all. They would have a general inquiry, but when you asked them for specifics they would hang up.
So just recently we were sent a rating on customer service by CMS (the government entity that administrates Medicare). We were rated on the average length of time on hold, number of dropped calls, helpfulness and knowledgability of our staff, and several other areas.
Yes, CMS had hired these callers to test us. Of course it looked like we bombed. I went from about 100 calls/ day to over 40/hr. We have more than adequate staff for our actual members, but not enough for our members + an army of DIs. And yes, our customer service will be less helpful if it appears that you have the IQ of a cheesecake.
God, I love working with the government!