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November 27, 2003
Wedding Trip 7 (final)
Sunday
We had made tentative arrangements with another brother to shuttle my kids and his to Questacon but I figured I had better try and sort out the insurance. Then the phone (in the hotel room) wouldn't work. Feeling like a complete Wally (a la Dilbert) I went down to reception. The guy there helpful pushed all sorts of buttons on his phone and told me to try again. If it didn't work to call him on extension 9. Well it still didn't work and I couldn't call him on extension 9 (sort of like your ISP asking you to check their help pages before calling them). So I went back (with the phone) - it wasn't easily fixed so he arranged for me to have access to another room so that I could make the calls (and they never charged for them). First up was the cops. They gave me a reference number and in the process the constable put her hand over the phone and called out to someone else: "where's that NDA from yesterday" (might have been ND something else) but that was cool because I know that an ND is "Negligent Driving" which what you normally get charged when you run up the back of someone. Anyway, the next call was to the insurance company. They were really helpful and it was nice (and this is not meant to demean outsourced tele-workers) to hear someone speaking Australian at the other end of the phone. The first thing they asked was whether we were all OK (as in people not the car) and this was not just an insurance thing because almost everyone I spoke to asked the same question which was very reassuring. We went through all the 6 million questions over the phone and the lady gave me details of what procedures would be followed (car is in a holding yard - probably in the open with rain pouring in the back where the window used to be - will be assessed on Monday morning). She then mentioned that under my policy I was entitled to a hire car to get me home.
Now here is the complicated bit. We are members of the NRMA (roadside assistance) but we do not have the highest level of coverage (called "NRMA plus"). We used to but the premiums were too high last April so we opted for the "standard" version. Our car was also insured with NRMA (Insurance) and they were effectively providing a car under the insurance banner BUT they had to put me through to the assistance people who knocked me back because I was not a plus member. I sort of figured that the insurance people had got it wrong but I rang them back just in case. Nope they still had the same story (and the same helpful attitude) so they transferred me back and I ran into the same stone wall. Then I tried insurance again and they put me through to someone who just sorted it all out. She was the most helpful of the lot and not only arranged the car but explained how much I would have to pay and how much they would pay and then she started ringing around. When she had organised it everything she called me back (on my mobile) to tell me where to pick up the car. Aussie Courier would be impressed - it is a Holden with only 3400 Km on the clock! The kids were impressed because it is fire-engine red. It is roomier than the Camry but still feels "tinny".
I hope you weren't too bored by all that and at least you know where I was ... I figure Aussie Courier should be back in a coupla weeks as well.
Posted by Ozguru at November 27, 2003 09:11 AM
Comments
Posted by: Peskie at November 27, 2003 09:11 AM
