I had a piece of junk mail recently, inviting me to call for a quotation for home insurance. For once, I didn’t throw it in the bin because I wondered whether I was paying too much for my existing contents insurance. I called the number and the conversation ran thus:
‘Could you give me a quote for contents insurance, please?’
‘What’s your address?’ I gave it to him.
‘Sorry, that address isn’t on our database.’
‘It must be; you sent the letter to this address.’
‘Ah, well, it might be on the marketing database, but it isn’t on the quotations database.’
‘Does it matter? Can’t you give me a quote anyway?’
‘’Fraid not. The quotations are calculated by the computer and based on your address. If it doesn’t have the address, it can’t give you a quotation. Sorry.’
‘OK, let’s recap. You send me a letter, correctly addressed, inviting me to call for a quotation, but you can’t give me one because the address you sent the letter to isn’t on your database. Is that right?’
‘Er, yeah.’
What was I saying about technology needing to be the servant, not the master? At least that one drew a wry smile.
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