Current Events > Just had a woman wait 15 minutes in the Billing queue to...

(+) Yeah! (+)

Argue about a $1.00 difference in her insurance premium because of how the system rounds its premium amount to a whole dollar amount. She thought it should have been rounded down in her favor instead of rounding up like how we always do it when it's $.50 or more.

For reference, her total insurance premium is 1050.00.

Jesus christ.

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that was probably the highlight of her week

Stop trying to rip people off you monster!

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Well, she got her $1.00 reimbursement, so that's a victory in her book.

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Eh, it is kinda bullshit.

"Oh its only 49 cents" well if you got 30 million clients that adds up fast

Reminds if that woman who keeps suing Walmart (and winning) because they falsely advertise some of their deals as .99 but then it comes up as a whole dollar.

They literally make millions of dollars by doing that, intentionally or not
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UnfairRepresent posted...

Eh, it is kinda bullshit.

"Oh its only 49 cents" well if you got 30 million clients that adds up fast

Reminds if that woman who keeps suing Walmart (and winning) because they falsely advertise some of their deals as .99 but then it comes up as a whole dollar.

They literally make millions of dollars by doing that, intentionally or not

Yeah but if they round up and down, it should wash out over time for both the customers and the company.

YellowMustard69 posted...

it should wash out

Sure let's just take a corporations word on that.
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UnfairRepresent posted...

Eh, it is kinda bullshit.

"Oh its only 49 cents" well if you got 30 million clients that adds up fast

Yeah, I think it's safe to say that we should have more of a problem with a company deciding to charge people extra on the assumption that most people won't really care if they even notice than the random people who do notice and complain about it. Trusting, of all things, an insurance company to not take advantage of people to make a few extra million...

UnfairRepresent posted...

Eh, it is kinda bullshit.

"Oh its only 49 cents" well if you got 30 million clients that adds up fast

Reminds if that woman who keeps suing Walmart (and winning) because they falsely advertise some of their deals as .99 but then it comes up as a whole dollar.

They literally make millions of dollars by doing that, intentionally or not

Ok but she's just one person not 30 million, so the net effect to her is 49 cents

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eston posted...

Ok but she's just one person not 30 million, so the net effect to her is 49 cents

Yeah and shes clearly a slag

But the complaint Is valid
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UnfairRepresent posted...

Yeah and shes clearly a slag

But the complaint Is valid

Is the complaint that the company profits off of something that has almost no impact on individual customers? Not sure I follow you here

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eston posted...

Is the complaint that the company profits off of something that has almost no impact on individual customers? Not sure I follow you here

"Almost no impact " is a BS reason to overcharge someone for something they has no reason to pay for

What you're describing there is salami slicing, which is illegal
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These ridiculous people are why I became so cynical working in a billing department. Like holy shit, the amount of people who bitch about literal cents difference in price changes was insane. I hate people.

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I'm sorry, but a "we round to the nearest dollar" policy is by no means unethical or illegal.

YellowMustard69 posted...

I'm sorry, but a "we round to the nearest dollar" policy is by no means unethical or illegal.

Yet they refunded her money when questioned

Its defo unethical. Whether it's legal will just depend on whether its challenged but intentionally overcharging people on the hope they wont notice is salami slicing
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YellowMustard69 posted...

I'm sorry, but a "we round to the nearest dollar" policy is by no means unethical or illegal.

Of course it is you utter dunce. Premiums are always whole numbers. It makes no difference as long as it's applied consistenty.

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Also, I can only see 4 posts in this topic besides my own. Why in the fuck are the trolls commiting fuckery in my topic?

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After a certain amount, you have to ask yourself if 15 minutes is worth 50 cents to you. Seeing as how a minimum wage jobs pays more than that, you'd just be better off working another hour.

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@No_U_L7 you and her should hook up.

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3PiesAndAFork posted...

@No_U_L7 you and her should hook up.

I would have cut to the front of the line
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UnfairRepresent posted...

Yet they refunded her money when questioned

Gosh, how unethical of them.

Once when I was living with my parents I went to the hardware store to buy I think it was paint and clear coat. Anyways, the cashier shorted me like a 1.25. Was nothing to me, but you think mom would let that go? nope, sent me back there, only for the store to be closed since it was like 10 at night, and instead of letting bygones be bygones she sent me there the next day all for 1.25.

Meanwhile a guy came to my register when I was working at a supermarket, and paid for 20 dollars worth of stuff with a ziploc bag of nickels and dimes. He had exact change but still.

BuffaloRider posted...

After a certain amount, you have to ask yourself if 15 minutes is worth 50 cents to you. Seeing as how a minimum wage jobs pays more than that, you'd just be better off working another hour.

Google salami slicing.
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I had somebody argue about a penny once.

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Sounds like tc works for a scumbag company stealing lots of quarters.

UnfairRepresent posted...

Google salami slicing.

This isn't an example of salami slicing. They round up and they round down. The business is running a risk of losing money as much as they are of gaining. And it sounds like they have it setup so that customers are informed that it's their policy to round, so that they can make an informed choice.

There is no ethics concern here. TC did not just uncover the latest insurance scandal that's going to make national headlines.

How can a company even be in business in the 21st century without computers that understand figures that aren't a whole number?

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YellowMustard69 posted...

The business is running a risk of losing money as much as they are of gaining.

Sure, given all available evidence, this is definitely how insurance companies tend to work.

/allthesarcasm

YellowMustard69 posted...

This isn't an example of salami slicing. They round up and they round down. The business is running a risk of losing money as much as they are of gaining. And it sounds like they have it setup so that customers are informed that it's their policy to round, so that they can make an informed choice.

There is no ethics concern here. TC did not just uncover the latest insurance scandal that's going to make national headlines.

Oh BS

If "we have no choice but to round to a whole dollar" then the solution would be to always round down to ensure you never overcharge anyone for no reason

But if they purposefully overcharge 30 million clients 49 cents a month then the person who tries to implement that will have to explain to the CEO and stockholders why their annual revenue is down over a 100 million dollars.

So they never do that.

The "round to the nearest dollar" is for the company's benefit, not the consumer yet they use it as justification for a revenue scheme.

The whole practice of "purposefully overcharge and hope no one notices to make profit" is shady as fuck and unethical

Imagine a 7-11 with a business model of never giving the customer change based on the hope that they won't care about paying such a small amount for nothing. Well that policy really benefits 7-11 so clearly its legal and ethical
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Let me try and explain this a little better:

Insurance companies are allowed to do this. The law specifically grants them the privilege to do so. The law is public information, so it's not a hidden thing. The insurance companies also include this in info in their disclosures/policy.

Insurance companies are not allowed to do this unless it's rounded after everything else has been calculated. They can't purposefully make their services cost a certain amount so that the total usually lands above 50 cents forcing the total to round up. So with that in mind, how can you say insurance companies are going to profit from this?

Their computer systems are capable of calculating the cost of premiums down to the 100th of a cent if they wanted to. But they don't do that because you have to round somewhere at some point. Some companies round to the penny, some round to the dollar. So if companies that round to the nearest dollar are unethical, then companies that round to the nearest penny are unethical too (just to a smaller degree). I can't get on board with that logic.

Turbam posted...

I had somebody argue about a penny once.

I've had somebody argue about a turbam once. Lol can you imagine? Over a single turbam? :v

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YellowMustard69 posted...

Let me try and explain this a little better:

Insurance companies are allowed to do this. The law specifically grants them the privilege to do so. The law is public information, so it's not a hidden thing. The insurance companies also include this in info in their disclosures/policy.

Insurance companies are not allowed to do this unless it's rounded after everything else has been calculated. They can't purposefully make their services cost a certain amount so that the total usually lands above 50 cents forcing the total to round up. So with that in mind, how can you say insurance companies are going to profit from this?

Their computer systems are capable of calculating the cost of premiums down to the 100th of a cent if they wanted to. But they don't do that because you have to round somewhere at some point. Some companies round to the penny, some round to the dollar. So if companies that round to the nearest dollar are unethical, then companies that round to the nearest penny are unethical too (just to a smaller degree). I can't get on board with that logic.

You could also consider the rounding done at the 100ths of a cent "salami slicing". At some point rounding must be done.
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Notti posted...

You could also consider the rounding done at the 100ths of a cent "salami slicing". At some point rounding must be done.

Exactly.