Dishonorable conduct

Firstly, well done and thank you to the call centre agent for calling me on 28 September and admitting what you did was wrong and ********* (I forgot your name, sorry).

Also, well done and thank you for apologising to me (again).

Unfortunately your words have no real substance as it does nothing to prevent you from keeping up with this ********* practice and does nothing to rectify the situation.

After I told you as much during our conversation on 28 September, you promised to phone me back later that day after discussing options with your manager. This was the last time I heard anything from you, so I assume you've either forgotten about this already, or believe you've done enough to 'fix' this.

You didn't.

To add insult to injury, I received another call from your call centre earlier today, wanting to give me a quote - again!

Why would you think I want to consider you as an insurer after stating in my review above that "I won’t ever switch to you, regardless of how low you quote me."? Was I unclear, or does my case matter so little to you that you've already forgotten about this issue (in business terms, forgot to make a note against my number of "don't call under any circumstances")? At this point, I wish I could give you a negative rating, instead of just a single star on Hello Peter. This perfectly demonstrates how you perceive your customers - not as people, but rather a resource that must be stripmined to total exhaustion.

I have since given this issue some thought and would like to make a suggestion that will allow you to atone to me and everybody else that was caught out by this scheme, while still saving some face and possibly turning this into positive publicity for you.

I suggest you state, in a prominent spot on your home-page and in no uncertain terms, how you currently run your "R400" scheme and apologise for deceiving people into give you their schedules - not a "we're sorry you feel this way" apology - this is insulting and condescending and does NOT apologise for what you did.

Something along the lines of "This is what we did - we admit we were wrong and that it was ********* - this is how we've since amended this offer/we've since, in light of this, decided to stop offering this deal - this is how we intend to atone".

Once you've issued this sincere apology, you can donate my R400, along with an amount that fairly represents everybody else that you 'conned' to a worthy Non-Profit organisation. I have a soft spot for the Kitty and Puppy haven in Midrand and nominate them for the donation.

You are welcome to take full credit for this, because you've then shown some semblance of remorse and redeemed yourself. This should generate enough revenue through positive publicity and renewed goodwill for you to probably come out in the green, despite the public admission and apology.

If I find your response unsatisfactory, I’ll not only make this whole thread (more) public, but I’ll also approach the Ombudsman for Short-Term Insurance for resolution

I also ask that you never call me again for a quote – I find your business ethics utterly repugnant and pity your existing customers for obvious reasons, as well as your employees who are required by you to willfully deceive your customers.

Thanks to Anthony Bafatakis for your call and for taking the time out of a probably busy schedule to deal with my issue. The call, and subsequent admission of wrong-doing was much appreciated and goes some way to restoring my faith in your company.

Being cynical however, I fear my issue only served to identify a flaw in your call centre processes, where the agent should never admit they can't beat a quote during a recorded conversation. Please be as fair to your customers as possible and don't just instruct your call centre to admit nothing until they have the schedule.

When you do get back to them after auditing their schedule, either give them a valid and quantifiable reason for a fairly reduced rate (not R40, as was the case in my situation. This pittance gives the impression you're doing it purely to renege on the offer and generates enmity between you and the potential customer), or give them their due.

Given my impression of you after our conversation, I trust you to do the 'right' thing, as much as you're allowed to, given your position.

I understand Miway won't publically apologise for repeatedly dropping the ball.

I also understand Miway won't pay an amount that reflects their 'misrepresentation' to an NGO, as requested.

However, I appreciate the fact that you've decided to pay me the R400 and will ensure this money is payed over to the appropriate NGO.

I also appreciate your promise of coaching and training to prevent a similar situation from happening again.

I also appreciate that you've agreed to remove me from your systems and will never again call me again for a quote.