color me ANNOYED
I copied our HR person on an e-mail I sent to a few folks in the office, regarding a robo-call I’d just gotten from our health insurance company.
HR person, to me
Subject: RE: BC/BS robo-calls
What is the robo-call saying so I can follow up with our BCBS rep?
Me, to HR person
Subject: RE: BC/BS robo-calls
I deleted it before it got too far, but I believe it was a spiel about getting mammograms. It’s not the first one I’ve gotten from them.
HR person, to me
Subject: RE: BC/BS robo-calls
I found out why you got the call.
This is part of BCBS’s wellness initiative. The point is to get people healthy and to get their wellness visits done.
Me, to HR person
Subject: RE: BC/BS robo-calls
I’m sure it is. However, unless they’re paying my phone bill, I don’t appreciate them wasting my airtime. That’s why I want my number off their call list.
HR person, to me
Subject: RE: BC/BS robo-calls
If you want your number removed from the system so you don’t get any more calls you can do is by going through BlueAccess for members.
Me, to HR person
Subject: RE: BC/BS robo-calls
That’s where I started, figuring all I’d need to do is remove my number from my profile. Except that I have never filled in my phone number on my profile.
- I called the customer service number given there (800-xxx-xxxx) and spoke to a gentleman named C; he told me to call the customer service number on my card (800-xxx-xxxx).
- I did that, and spoke to a rep named L; she called me back with a different number that I had to call, which was the number the call came from (866-xxx-xxxx).
- I called that number and spoke to a rep whose name I missed; she had no idea why I would be directed to call there (unless you’re a medical provider, calling that number drops you into the Case Management department).
- She transferred me to yet another department; the rep there took my name and info and promised to call me back. I haven’t heard anything back yet.
I want to emphasize that all of the individuals I’ve spoken to have done their best to be helpful; it’s the system that’s totally screwed up.
I know it seems kind of silly for me to be pushing this over a call that I could ignore twice a year; and if I'd known it would be such a raging pain in the butt, I probably would have just cussed and let it go. But now it’s about the principle of the thing.
I have on occasion stopped doing business with companies that refused to honor my requests to stop calling me (see my rant from a couple of years ago regarding the cable bill). I don’t care what their reasons are. If it’s not directly related to my account - a claim, a bill, a payment - I don’t want to hear from them.
That should not be so hard a thing to ask.