Antarctic Odyssey - Day zero

The last night before the trip was action packed …well, it was action packed for Bharathi.
She took one horrified look at my packing video and screamed AAAAIYOO!!! And threw me out of the room, packed my rather rustic and lumpy packing repacked everything neatly. 

She threw out half my tea sachets though :( 

Then she screamed AAAAIYYOOO again and went feverishly peck peck peck on the computer to finalise my Argentina itinerary before I left the country. She had to cancel all the Brazil bookings and re-evaluate and re-itinerise (is that a word?) and replan and rebook all the travel. 

And also she had to extend the time period of my travel insurance policy by a few days (less than a week) to cover my slightly longer overseas stay.

It sounded like a perfectly simple thing to me - the insurance company should just extend the duration of the policy by a few days and charge whatever extra they wanted. 

But since this was Tata AIG - nothing is simple. 

First we wrote to them on email - no reply. I just got an automated reply saying that they have received the mail and would ignore me immediately.

After a couple of days i started calling them - and received a baffling response - this number does not exist! 
Eh? 
I tried again - and got a dead line. WTF? 

Bharathi started going purple - but i said - ‘Chill - their switchboard software must be down with something. We will try again later.’ 
‘HOW CAN A WHOLE SWITCHBOARD BE DOWN?’ 
‘It’s Tata - anything can happen..’ 
I tried using their ‘selfcare’ on their website - and again hit a wall. No response! So much for self care.   
I tried again after a day and finally managed to get through! Hallelujah! After negoriating their confusing IVR and managed to get through to an operator - we had a long chat which began with saying that it is not possible - but then ended with - Yes sure, we will do it!’ 
Yay! I said - but Bharathi said - wait… This is not done until it is done. 
And indeed, it was not done. No reply, no confirmation, no email, so sms nothing. 

Bah. So I called them again -got a different operator - explained everything again - and he said - OK - I will send you a form. Fill it in and send it back.

How strange - when I am personally calling you, why send a bloody form? Just make the changes online and send me a payment link for any further payment you require. 

But no. Form it is. After several hours, I got a mail with a form. 

I looked at it most doubtfully. It was not a web form, it was not a proper document with a letterhead, it was just plain text in email body. It looked most unreliable. 

‘From: vikumar50
<Customerservices@tataaig.com>

Date: Thu, Dec 2, 2021 at 5:25 PM

Subject: Travel Extension

Dear Customer,


This is with reference to your telephonic conversation with our Customer Service Officer.


As per your request received, please find the below details for Travel Extension Request and send it On 
customersupport@tataaig.com  for Further Procedure.​‘

‘Listen’ I said to Bharathi ‘Why don’t just dump these idiots and take a fresh policy from someone else? See - i opened ICICI Lombard and got a very reasonable quote. Why not take that instead of wrestling with these guys?’ 

Bharathi was enraged! How dare I try and horn in on her domain! She swelled like an angry bullfrog and screamed at me ‘YOU ARE WRONG WRONG WRONG!’

‘Eh? Why? This is a fresh policy that covers the whole travel. And its half the price of the Tata quote.’

‘NO NO NO! WHAT IF YOU HAVE TO MAKE A CLAIM? WHAT IF THE TWO INSURANCE COMPANIES PASS IT FROM ONE TO THE OTHER? WHAT IF YOU NEED EVACUATION IN ANTARCTICA? WHAT IF YOU GET CHILLBLAINS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEA? WHAT IF YOUR BRAIN EXPLODES AFTER READING MY MAILS? WHO WILL COVER IT?’ 

‘Eh? But…’
‘SHUT UP!!!!! YOU ARE WRONG! WRONG WONG’ 
‘Wong?’ 
‘WRONG!’ 
‘Oh…right…’ 

So I filled out that stupid form and sent it back to Tata Aig - not to the customersupport - with whom I had been speaking…but to customerservice! The mail was very clear - send it to them, not to us. No ticket number, nothing. 
Sounds like a clear case of buck passing to me. 

And sure enough, no response from Tata AIG till now on that form.

But I did get a reply to my original mail - 4 days after I had sent them a mail. 
‘Dear Customer,
Thank you for your email.
In the view of COVID-19 we wish you and your family a Good health and stay safe.
We understand your concern and regret the inconvenience caused to you.
We wish to inform you that we have taken your request for travel extension date and our representative shall assist you within 5 working days.
Your request reference number is XXXXXXXX
Should you require any further assistance please feel free to write to us and we shall be glad to assist you.
§ Now you may also contact us through below mentioned online self-servicing options for claim registration, policy renewal, policy soft copy, and more.’ 


So much for customerservice and customersupport and self care and all that. 

Hey Tata AIG - can you see which finger I am showing you? 

​