Here’s one for the “only in 2026” file.
A recent determination by Australian Financial Complaints Authority centred on a customer who took issue with being misgendered during a call with insurer Auto & General.
The complainant argued the mistake caused significant anxiety, distress and embarrassment for both him and his husband, and pushed for compensation as a result.
To be fair, the insurer owned the mistake straight up. There were multiple apologies – verbal, written, escalated, the works. They even threw in a goodwill payment for good measure. But the complainant wasn’t having it and pushed the matter further.
AFCA took a listen to the call and, in essence, landed on a pretty grounded conclusion: it was a human error, not malice. Apologies were given, promptly and repeatedly, and that’s where it should end.
No compensation. Case closed.
Now, before anyone reaches for the keyboard – yes, getting pronouns right matters. It’s part of good customer service in a world that’s evolving fast. But this one also highlights something else: the expectation that every slip-up automatically equals a payout.
Even AFCA pointed out that customers are expected to be “moderately robust” when things go wrong. In other words, not every awkward moment is a claimable event.
There’s probably a lesson here for the industry too. Frontline staff are juggling compliance, customer expectations and increasingly complex social norms – all while trying to keep calls moving. Mistakes will happen.
The real test? How quickly and professionally you recover.
Because at the end of the day, a genuine apology still goes a long way – for most people at any rate.