I have new insurance. It’s not always fun changing insurance companies, but when you take a new job, it’s often part of the drill. One of the manual issues involved with changing your insurance is dealing with prescriptions. You may have two refills left with your current insurer, but the new insurance company wants their form and an original paper prescription from your doctor. So, you schedule new appointments, get paper scripts, and fill out forms. It’s a pain, but it‘s all part of the deal.
My new insurance uses OptumRx as their prescription service, so I sent in my form and paper script for a daily medication. About a week later, I received a call from OptumRx saying they needed to speak with me before they could complete my order. When I called, it turned out the address they had on file (my office address) was different than what I had put on the order form (my home address). This was quickly sorted out, and all seemed well again–then the rep asked me for my credit card info.
Immediately, I thought, Why is he asking for my credit card information? I put all of that on the form. When it comes to personal data security, you should never, ever give up information to someone who calls you. After all, just because they said they were OptumRx and their caller ID identified them as such, how could I know for sure?
I told the rep, “You have my credit card information on the form; just use the information I provided.” The rep apologized but said he didn’t have access to my order form (are you ready?) for security reasons. So, to clarify, they don’t allow their customer service reps to see the forms because it has my personal information on it, yet he needed me to give him that very information in order to complete my order–see the incongruity?
Now, I have been in situations like this before, where the rep has blatantly stated, “We will not process your order without you providing us this information,” but this call was different. He immediately said he understood my point and wanted to make sure my medication was not delayed. He offered to send me the medication and a bill so I would not have to give him my card information. I couldn’t have been more impressed with the way he handled my inquiry and the professional way he addressed my concerns about card data security.
What processes does your organization have in place that enable support personnel to innovatively handle issues like the one I described above? Are you putting support reps in a position where they are fighting customers for information, or do your policies and procedures support and uphold important issues like data security? The way your frontline staff handles these issues ultimately makes the difference in overall customer satisfaction.