Discover Card’s Hard Sell

I have a friend. Her mother, sadly, has Alzheimer’s and lives in a nursing home, so my friend manages her mother’s finances for her. For convenience, my friend often answers the phone as her mother when her mother’s financial institutions call. Otherwise, she spends several minutes explaining the situation to a confused phone rep.

So recently my friend got a call from her Mom’s Discover card about a large charge. No problem; it was a proper charge. But then the Discover representative asked if she wanted to sign up for some extended insurance plan. My friend politely declined.

My friend was then subjected to a hard sell that went on for minutes. The Discover rep kept insisting that she really did want this insurance plan, using phrases like, “You want to be protected, don’t you? You want to keep your money safe, don’t you?”

My friend was frankly astonished at this tactic, which is clearly aimed at preying on old peoples’ fears of losing their money. And it just went on and on. We all know how quickly one can wear down an old person’s resistance. It was remarkably unprofessional, especially from a financial institution.

It’s a terrible discovery about Discover.

(OK, sorry, bad pun.)