This site will not be rant filled…but today’s post is a rant.
Today I received a text message requesting payment for a bill. So I clicked on the link which seemed legitimate. The resulting site asked for my BoD and zip code, both of which I supplied. The system then replied that no such account existed. Trying to be a good customer, I dialed the only number provided on the website. After navigating their innane voice response system, which was clearly designed to keep customers from talking to a human, I finally got to a customer service rep – who asked me the same question as the IVR and came back with the same answer. So she then asked for my account number. After explaining, again, that I had no physical bill and no account number she performed a system wide search under all billing codes (didn’t know most searches are restricted to a single billing code) which, predictably, turned up nothing. The pleasant woman then asked for my SSN. Unwilling to provide that, I asked if there was another option. She said that she might be able to track it down with my insurance info. Considering this the lesser of two evils, I provided that.
Armed with the insurance info, she asked the name of my child. Explaining that I have multiple children, I asked which child she was looking for. She wouldn’t tell me. So I had to guess. Starting with the eldest, it only took two guesses. The customer service rep then needed her birthdate – mine you this child is 14 yrs old – which I provided. To cut to the chase, the medical practice sent a physical bill to a child and wondered why it wasn’t paid.
Somewhere along the line, the system failed. At a minimum it should have noted her age and tracked back to the responsible adult – like the human customer service rep did. Instead I spent 45 minutes of my life doing it for them while the customer service rep continues to work within a broken system.