I just thought I would share a couple of stories from work today that I thought would humor you all. For those of you that don't already know, I am a claims examiner and my account is The Home Depot. These are the type of people I deal with on a daily basis...
First, I spoke with a man who we will call Dick because that's precisely what he was. He filed a claim at a store on behalf of his friend who injured his left pinky finger on some tile in the store. He filed the claim two days after the incident occurred for his friend. I called the number that was provided for the customer who was injured at the store and lo and behold, Dick answered the phone. I asked to speak with the injured party, as he is the one who the claim is regarding. Dick then explained that he is the customer's advocate and would be speaking on his behalf. I kindly explained that I would need to speak with the injured party or his lawyer, if he had one. Dick then got upset and stated that he was sorry he didn't have a law degree and couldn't speak with me. I told him that I didn't know who he was and could not talk to him regarding this matter and that I am uncertain as to why I was speaking with him in the first place. He then starting talking about the weather and said that he thinks I was talking to him because he thinks I like him. At this point, I was irritated that he was wasting my time and I began to get sassy. I told him that I didn't care who he was unless he was the injured party or the injured party's lawyer and that I don't speak with advocates. He then stated that he was an advocate of justice and just wanted to help out The Home Depot. He stated that he has some very valuable information regarding a fraudulent claim pertaining to The Home Depot from 5 to 7 years ago that he thinks would be helpful, since he is an advocate for justice and all. I started laughing and told him to have the injured party to call me and then I hung up. Thank you Dick for wasting 20 minutes of my life that I will never get back. And no, I don't like you.
The second claimant I spoke to was a man that we will call Mr. Fix It. This good ol' country boy has a claim that dates back several months. I requested estimates from him way back and told him to fax me one estimate if it was less than $500 and two if it was more, regarding damage to his vehicle at the store. The customer agreed. The customer never sent in estimates and the file was closed. Today, I received an "estimate" from the customer that was written in Microsoft Word that had the customer's business letterhead (a boat repair shop) on top and then in the middle of the page it stated "Estimate = $500". I called the customer back and explained that he could not come up with an estimate on his own for any old dollar amount and that it would need to be from a repair shop with parts and services with their prices listed. He stated that he loves to fix things and figured he could do it with $500. I told him that that would not work and that I would need a legitimate estimate. The customer still did not seem to understand this concept but finally agreed and hung up.
These stories are nothing compared to the toilet claim, vicious frog claim, or the long distance dater claim but they will do for now.
Just a little insight into the life of a claims examiner... :)
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