Med dilemma, no problem

Staff reporter

“The year 2015 has turned into a medical nightmare for me, but it could have been all the more so had I not been on the right telephone line at the right time and in the right place – which led to me discovering a personal angel,” writes online editor Ant Katz in an amusing new blog.

“Without wanting to punt any specific business or bore readers with any personal medical details, suffice it to say that I unexpectedly found myself requiring three hospital stays and a multitude of therapeutic expenses over the past four months.”

This, blogs Ant, turned him into what he calls a “pavement-stander” as he has had to rely on lifts for the past four months, which taught him a great deal about his own community and the challenges they face to keep weight down and get their fitness up. It also inspired the JR’s new PERSONALISED FAMILY FITNESS PACKAGE which is enjoying great success with readers.

But most informative and hilarious, is Ant’s account of his experience with call centres.

“And so began a myriad calls between myself and my medical aid’s call centre. Now, I am not unintelligent, and I have learned over the years that all call centres train their operators to do the following:

• Find the script relating to the question you have been asked and stick to only giving the answer printed there;
• If you are unable to find a script to match the question you have been asked, try to get rid of the caller;
• Do your level best never to offer the dreaded “Let me find out for you…”, or, worse still, “Let me escalate this call for you…”

In fact, I think that call centre operators are penalised if they escalate a call to a supervisor, even at the caller’s request. Try it yourself, ask an operator when next dealing with a call centre whether they can escalate your call – and see how many excuses you get.”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL BLOG