If you are a consumer who is interested (or not interested), in purchasing a health or life insurance plan, you have likely been bombarded with phone calls, spam emails, and other unsavory customer acquisition tactics. And as bad as this is for consumers, believe it or not, it is even worse for insurance companies. You may or may not know this, but when you enter your information into a “free quote” form (not belonging to an insurance company), you may as well be checking into Hotel California. You got it - “You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.” That’s because there is a very good chance that the company who was facilitating the “free quote” or whatever other call-to-action you bit on, sold your information. And then, the company that bought your information went on to sell your information. And guess what, in 30 days, the first company sells your information again as “aged data.” And you wonder why you get so many SPAM calls.
Shouldn’t this be illegal? Well, technically it is. The TCPA, in theory, protects consumers from having their information sold and resold to companies who plan on outbound calling. In order for a company to call you using auto-dialing technology (which almost every call center has), the company must have express written (can be a digital opt-in) consent to contact you. And so, in theory, if you don’t want to speak to them, you tell them to take you off the list and you are done. Not so fast! When you tell them to take you off their list, you are taken off of that company’s list. But what about the other 15 companies who bought your information as someone interested in Insurance?
And if it couldn’t get any worse, there are data brokers who will sell insurance prospects to other business types. Suddenly, you are getting voicemails and texts for IRS tax debt, Social Security Disability, Class Action Lawsuits and other categories ripe for robocalls. And the other way around.
There must be a better way to go about shopping for and purchasing insurance. Remember, insurance requires a license to sell. Generally speaking, it is not a do-it-yourself type of purchase. The best way to go about shopping and buying insurance is to work with a knowledgeable agent whom you can have an ongoing relationship with. To find an agent in your area, go here.