Phone Insurance

I've finally met my match. I have always been accustomed to winning in almost any arguments... of course some of them are actually really forced arguments but no matter how, I almost always win. The only time that I would lose an argument is in technical matters which is almost impossible to turn and twist is the way I wanted.

However, I have finally met (or more accurately, talk with) someone who is able to turn my own reasoning onto me. I had to resort to some very unreasonable and downright crude methods to keep myself from being dragged into his reasoning.

Over the past two years, I have received numerous calls on congratulating me for being the lucky customer who is the 'specially' selected few to receive a bargain of the century in insurance. To tell the truth, initially, I did buy some of the policies. It sounded a real bargain and maybe it really is a bargain but I always ended up cancelling them after paying the policy for a few months. I don't know if it's a sickness of what, but no matter how they explained to me how the policy works, I still find myself in the clouds. Yes, I actually bought them even though I'm not 100% sure what it does.

My mind just went numb and I ran out of questions during these phone calls. However, I smarten up over time and managed to fend of these 'telemarketers' easily. I hope that I did not offend anyone with similar job nature but it really is quite annoying. Heck, I remembered reading an article somewhere that a woman sued the telemarketing company for calling during dinner and hence, disrupting her precious family get together time. Of course, they did ask if it is alright for them to continue and I always says yes. The reason is, I'm a nice guy :P. I can say that I'm busy, but they will phone back at another time... without fail. Thus, I'm being the good guy in letting them know that I don't want to buy anything from them and hence they can move on to other people, saving both our time.

Most of the time, they did not really push me to buy the various policies they have at their disposal. However, this phone call I got is really persuasive and determined. I don't know how their system works but I supposed they would have very low basic salary and will get incentives for every person they call who buy the policies from them. But this guy, whom I shall call John (I didn't pay attention when he said his name :P) sounded really sincere.

He said that since it is my birthday, (hello... that was like 20 days ago) his company decided to give me this out of the world (not his exact words) offer to me. He said something about normally that I would have to pay the policy for 25 years but for me, I need to pay for 10 years only... or was it 15? :P Anyway, this is the most expensive policy I ever encountered that is offered through the phone. I need to pay RM100++ every month for 10 / 15 years for the 25 year policy. Also, I only need to pay for 11 months only per year! As a result of that, I would be covered with each and every sickness that is and will be available on Earth, except AIDS. Again, I didn't remember how much they will pay me if I got critical illnesses but it's supposed to be really huge amount. Also, if I didn't claim any money at all, they will return back all the money I have given them at the end of the 25 year period with an interest rate of 5% per annum!

Frankly speaking, I was quite attracted to it. The strange thing with insurance policies is that it is usually more attractive to the lower income group than the high income group. And the irony is, the lower income group cannot afford the additional burden. Well, paying an extra RM100++ per month is still affordable for me but I prefer to save them and use them in whatever way I find fitting.

Thus, I started to refuse the offer. Another thing that really irks me is the way those 'telephone people' works. They would explain the thing they are selling and ask if you have any question and then go straight to asking your details to register you for the policy. They won't ask like "Do you want this policy?". They would just say "So, now I would register you to this policy. May I have your IC number please?"

Anyway, when this guy said something like that, I politely declined the offer. Sure enough, he asked for a reason. I know that they do need to write a report or something for failing to coax someone to buy the policy... which will in turn be used as a reference where they'll come up with great and solid counterattack if this reason is used again in the future. So, I go with the basic reason, "I'm not interested in this policy."

And he asked why and I said that I don't need it... which triggered him into a lengthy explanation furore. He talked about how different it is from the normal policies what they don't cover and what his policy covers, etc. etc. I did not pay even a single attention. Again, after the explanation, he immediately wanted to register me as a policy holder, which I again declined.

He asked for a reason again and I said I think that if I got a critical illness which is not covered by my current policy and I failed to cough up with some several hundred thousand of cash, I would be a really pathetic person... meaning that I don't think coughing up several hundred thousand is a problem to me. I know, I know, I sounded very haughty. Well, I thought this would be a closure and again, he went into this windy explanation, which again, I did not pay attention.

Again, he tried to register me and again, I declined. By now, I was already sweating... in an air-cond room! He went on saying that the policy would leave some money for my loved ones like my wife, children, parents, etc. and I went on to say that I have no wife, no children, no girlfriend and no close relatives! 

And he said I will have a wife in the future and I said I will get one when I do get a wife. He retorted that if I get a policy by then, I would have to pay much more than what I need to pay now. By now, I have already run out of answers and reasons... so I had to resort to saying that I don't want the policy and I don't want to tell him the reason. I acted like I have a very good but very dark secret reason for not wanting the policy.

Again, he pushed for the reason again and I stood firm on not wanting to tell him the reason. At last, after our 20 minute conversation, he gave up! Phew! However, I did not feel happy at all. I had to resort to such barbaric method to get rid of him! It is just a step above from slamming the phone on him and I will not use such uncivilized method.

I'm sure that most of you would have gotten a similar phone call at one time or another. So, if you have a very good, persuasive reason that I can use to fend off these people, please do tell me. I'm not sure if I can survive another encounter unscathed.