What
does PPI stand for?
Pay
per incident?
Not
in this case.
PPI
= Payment protection insurance = credit card
insurance, loan repayment insurance and so on.
Does
this mean that every time I get a call regarding this, someone owes
me money?
No.
What it means is that there is a need for an investigation first.
That's
the reason you are asked to fill in the documentation you've been
sent, if you give your consent.
I
am not the right person to speak about bureaucracy or money, though. I bet all of you know so much more about this subject.
My
reason for this post is different and you'll see in a minute.
While
I was living in Romania and Italy I have never received any of these
types of calls.
Just
sales or opinion polls.
I
didn't even know what were they talking about.
At
first, I've got quite scared. I thought I did something I didn't
know about.
---
A car incident you say? When? In Italy or Romania?
No...
.
How
many PPI calls do you receive a day?
Two,
four, seven?
Do
you get angry? Even better: How angry do you get?
Do
you scream, shout, insult these people?
Take a minute and reflect.
Have
you ever thought that they are just doing their job?!
Have
you ever considered that a friend, a sibling or even you could be the
person calling?
How
would you react if it was your father calling?
Would
you still shout and offend?
Being
an advisor, a seller or working in customer services is a very
difficult job.
--- Have
you ever tried any of these jobs?
You
say you would never, don't you?
I
say the same.
But
why do we think that? Why do we say we would NEVER do it?!
Simple.
Because
when we get these calls, we just shout and insult without considering
that on the other side, there is a person JUST like us. A person who
needs to earn a living.
Here
is a fragment of the second conversation I had with a PPI advisor
(from India I assumed).
Advisor:
Hello, miss, how are you?
Me:
I am ok, thank you. What about you?
A
very, very long pause
Advisor:
Ah... hmmm ... Ok?!?
He
was seriously confused and almost ignored my question.
I
am guessing it was not on his script.
The
third conversation. India again. - My name was pronounced... hmmm ...
a little different, but it doesn't matter.
Advisor:
Hello, miss Gherghel, how is your day going so far?
Me:
Great, thank you. What about yours?
Advisor:
Mine? Not so good, but thank you SO much for asking.
Me: Oh, sorry to hear that.
Advisor:
That's ok. You know what, miss, I have been doing this job for months
now, but you are the only person who ever asked me this. Thank you.
You
may think I am an advisor and I am trying to defend them.
I
am not an advisor and I am not trying to defend them, what I am
trying to do is to ask everyone to think twice before insulting any
human being just because they are doing their job.
I
agree that they call at weird hours, while you are having dinner or
spending time with your family.
--- But
when it would be a good time to call if you are at work from 8Am to
6Pm?!
I also think that it should be illegal to call you without your
permission, but it is not, apparently. At least not for now.
And it
is not true you didn't give permission: every time you are signing
something, online (games, social networks, magazines) or on paper,
there are always phrases written in very small characters asking for your permission to share your data with third parties.
These
are the third parties they are referring to. These and many others.
Your
number is not written on the sky or published on Tv, you gave it for
free to someone.
Next
time you get a call like that, just imagine is your daughter
calling.
---- Would
you insult your daughter?
I
don't think so.
--- Would you like to be offended when doing your job?
I wouldn't.
Namaste.
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