I’m inspired by the replies on another thread about people turning into Karens. I used the “can I speak with your manager” line for the first time last week and it was mortifying. I was so ashamed of myself, but it worked and I got the result that I wanted.

I had been contacted by a debt collection agency informing me that I needed to pay them £75 due to unpaid cancellation fee on my home insurance. The problem was, I’d never cancelled my insurance and this was the first time I’d heard that my flat was uninsured.

I renewed my insurance in November. I had received all the information documents on my online account. I checked them at the time and then got on with my life. Apparently it had been cancelled in December and I had no idea. I phoned the insurance, explained the situation, and I was back and forth with this lady for over an hour.

What had happened was that the payment hadn’t gone through so they sent me a letter in the post informing me. They continued to send letters as they escalated the situation, cancelled my policy, slapped on a £40 fine, and then increased this to £75 when I still didn’t pay. The issue was that although they had changed the flat that was insured, they hadn’t actually updated my postal address. All these letters were going to my old flat. I was none the wiser.

The lady I was speaking to was insisting that I paid and saying that there was nothing she could do. After an hour of this, I asked if there was anyone else I could speak with. She first said “I think my manager is busy, are you sure?”. I insisted. The manager solved the whole situation in under 3 minutes. The entire fee was waived, I was reinsured, and I even got two months insurance for free as a ‘goodwill gesture’.

I feel guilty for asking to speak to the manager as it probably reflects badly on the likely overworked call centre employee, but I think she probably didn’t have the permissions to do what needed to be done. By going to the manager I was able to save everyone valuable time – I only wish I’d done so sooner.

Does anyone else had a similar story? Or have you ever been on the other end and thought that the customer might have a point?