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Insurance Agent in Mall Allegedly Took Back Free Balloon After Realising Prospect Can’t be a Customer

2022-06-15 , 7:03 pm

While most of us might siam insurance agents whenever we see them in public simply because we don’t want to be bombarded with a never-ending series of questions, we’d probably agree that most of them are pretty harmless and just trying to do their job.

And apart from the occasional annoyance we feel, there’s usually no reason to get absolutely worked up due to an encounter with an insurance agent.

But it seems like these insurance agents from AIA might have taken it a little too far with their attempts to attract potential customers.

Woman Complained About AIA Insurance Agent on Facebook

On Monday (13 June), Facebook user Nazreen Ogisi decided to post her unpleasant encounter with two insurance agents.

Based on her post, she walked past them while she was at Century Square, a shopping mall in Tampines with her toddler.

According to her post, the female insurance agent first approached the mother-daughter duo with a penguin balloon and asked her daughter if she would like one.

“Of course this would delight a 2 year old,” she wrote.

After passing her daughter the balloon, Nazreen recounted, “The lady then asked me if she could ask me a few questions and I knew from the booth she came from she was from AIA.”

Thinking that it would just be a harmless survey, Nazreen agreed, but things soon took a turn for the worst shortly after that.

Was Told She Did Not Fit Customer Profile, Agent Took Balloon Back from Toddler

After the agent asked her a few insurance-related questions, the agent allegedly told Nazreen that she did not “fit the profile for a potential customer”.

In addition to that, she took the balloon back from Nazreen’s daughter after informing her that she did not fit the criteria for being a potential customer of AIA.

“She said sorry I need to take back the balloon and she took it from my daughter’s hand. Imagine my horror??!!” she wrote.

Another Agent Approached Them With Same Tactic

However, things didn’t just stop there.

Nazreen also added that another insurance agent, apparently a colleague of the first, also approached her and her daughter just as they were about to leave the area.

She also noted that this agent did not realise that she had been approached previously, and began the conversation by asking if her daughter wanted a balloon as well.

“I immediately told her do not tempt her only to take it back cause I dont fit her profile. She said let me ask my manager and went to ask someone only to come back to say she’s unable to give the balloon,” she added.

By then, it was obvious that Nazreen was deeply upset with the agents’ tactics.

Called Agents Out for Distasteful Actions

In her Facebook post, Nazreen called out the agents, criticising them and saying, “I can afford to get balloons for my child.”

She also commented on how the agents carried out “such a low and cheap move” in order to try and attract potential customers “for a marketing gimmick only to take back the balloons if the parents don’t fit your dumb profile”.

Apart from that, she commented that their actions were “absolutely disgusting”, especially in terms of dealing with the innocent children and the balloon situation.

She even questioned if it was right “for a child who doesn’t understand why something was offered to her and given to her only to have it snatched away”, and called the company out on its customer service standards too.

“If your customer service is so poor especially with regards to my child, do you think I will trust you to take care of my money to insure my life or family?? Think again!” she added.

She then ended her post by saying that the encounter “left a distasteful aftermath in my mind”, and that she “will NEVER recommend or take up a policy” with AIA.

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Netizens’ Reactions

After reading about Nazreen’s unpleasant encounter with the AIA insurance agents, many netizens took her side and left comments of disapproval with regards to the agents’ actions as well.

The Facebook post has since garnered over 1,400 reactions and more than 2,200 shares on Facebook, with over 460 reactions being the “Angry” reaction.

Some accused the company of being “cheapskates” and said that it impacts the company’s image, while others called the agents’ behaviour “disgusting”, “a lowly act” and “horrible”.

There was also one Facebook user who said that the insurance agents “would’ve got it good” from her if she ever encountered such agents.

One commenter even wrote, “Everytime when someone offer my kids balloon especially from FA, i always tell my kids do not accept anything from strangers as they might be dangerous and will take your money away. Just shout stranger danger.”

Another Facebook user who shared Nazreen’s post also mentioned that they will be “checking and reviewing” their policies with AIA in wake of this incident.