Are these b*stards going to drive my premium up?

[Benno]

I was expecting a call from my mongol rally teammates who have had a massive falling out so I had my phone with me.
Half way through the damn phone starts ringing. I answer and the conversation goes like this:

Her: Hello is this [My name]?
Me: uhh...yes
Her: [confirms my name]?
Me: Yep
Her: I'm calling from Chameleon insurance, calls may be monitored...
Me: Who?
Her: Chameleon insurance, calls may be monitored (bla bla)
Me: I'm not with Chameleon insurance...
Her: Yes you won't be. We understand you've had an accident in the past 2 years?
Me: Uhh...yes
Her: An accident in which you were not at fault.
Me: Well I got punched in the face so it wasn't really my fault.
Her: Hah yes. Has anyone else in your household had an accident in the past 2 years?
Me: Uhh...not as far as I know...
Her: OK, that's all, thank you!
Me: Wait what? Who...She hangs up

I called back and a machine voice answered telling me they work on behalf of bike insurers and that the office was closed.

What the hell just happened? I really don't appreciate my personal information (ie phone number) being thrown around to people like this. Also it seems like they're looking for ways to increase my premium.

Edited out the bit telling people I was on the toilet the whole time. You don't need to know that.

[cb1rocket]

prank?

[Benno]

[DrDonnyBrago]

I suspect you did a quote on one of those sites like gocompare, moneysupermarket etc, put your real mobile phone number down (put a fake down in future) and then declared a claim in the quote.

They sell your details on and you get calls from ambulance chasers fishing for a claim.

It's probably nothing to worry about, just put a fake phone number down in future.

[angryjonny]

"No win no fee" lawyers casting out their nets again? I can imagine how the number the call from would be set up to not accept incoming calls any time of the day.

[arry]

[chris-red]

Top tips, if someone says 'Is this...' don't answer till they have fully explained who they are, and if someone says 'have you had any X in the last X' reply with 'Fuck Off'
____________________
Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[Beez]

Probably just bought a block of 5000 numbers from GoCompare etc and are cold calling.

[cb1rocket]

yeah always do a fake number, my old one for that matter which was disconnected.

Last you want is them ringing you up every 5 mins

[Alpha-9]

[Benno]

[Imonster]

[angryjonny]

For years I used to use 999 in the "your phone number" box. I assume that's why they've had to change their number to 112.

[G]

Comparison sites are pretty likely to sell your details on (the bike insurer does even when you tick all the "don't contact me" stuff).
Insurance brokers I'd expect to in a lot of cases, hopefully less so for the insurance companies themselves.


Note from another thread - insurance companies now only pay out 106% of what they make on policies - meaning to make up that 6% as well as some actual profit they have to make money in other ways - and most of that probably comes from selling leads to claims companies trying to rip off other (and sometimes the same) insurance companies.

[Paulington]

Chameleon Insurance had been calling me every day at least once for the past month asking about my accident and asking for information about it (they got it wrong btw, mixed up my accidents) and I told them to shove it on many occasions.

They never listened, so I just kept telling them in harsher and harsher tones and now I don't get the calls.

Pain in the arse though, just tell them to shove it.
____________________
"Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul."
Current Vehicles: '89 Kawasaki KDX200, '99 Yamaha XV535, '00 Honda ST1100 Pan-European, '08 Suzuki GSX-R1000, '08 Mitsubishi Lancer GS4 2.0 TDCi, '15 BMW 1 Series 116d Sport Turbo.
CBT: 27/08/08. Theory: 04/09/09. Module 1: 16/09/09. Module 2: 01/10/09.

[janner_10]

[Bubbs]

A good number to enter into the box is a telephone number from another insurance company. If you go to saynoto0870.com you can usually find a land line number. Makes me laugh at the thought of an insurance company telephoning another insurance company and doing their heads in.
____________________
Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.

[Michael47]

I get this kind of calls all the time on my landline - it's exactly the same as the PPI scams (though legal I call them scams as they provide you a service you could do yourself in 5 minutes) - same deal on these - they call you and pretend to know you have had some sort of accident (though they have no clue) - if you reply that you have - then they try to figure out if they can get some of your due compensation money by representing you - that's it.

Best thing is to ask where they have the details from, usually they hang up when you ask.
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Q: Why Michael47? A: 0-46 was taken!

[Benno]

[Michael47]

[hellkat]

I just answer in a monotone until they get the message and go away.

It all starts out okay, "Hello is that Mrs [the lovely hellkat]?"
Yes, indeed it is, how can I help you.

I understand you had an accident ...
No mate

Well someone in your family ...
No mate

Well someone at that address ...
No mate

Okay, thank you goodbye.
Bye mate

Took me fuckin years of anxiety about why they were calling, before I realised that I don't HAVE to be polite to them.
____________________
Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[Alpha-9]

[Derivative]

Social engineering.

You can find out a lot of information about a person without them realising it - they were clearly teasing things out of you that they didn't know before.

[Benno]

[Rogerborg]