changing insurance

[colekicker]

Maybe I am getting old and hard to deal with, but I'll let you guys tell me if I am just way off base.

I had auto insurance through a company. They couldn't get my car and truck on the same bill. I requested that 4 times and they still couldn't get it done.
It was coming time to re-new and I just bought a new truck. Decided I'd get some quotes when I got ------ about getting 2 bills again. Well, the quotes I got were significantly cheaper for 6 month policy. We're talking $650 difference.
So I cancelled and went with a new company. The old company is giving me all kinds of grief about the refund amount I am due. I called and cancelled and they said they needed a signature. I emailed them. Not good enough. I emailed them a signature and still not done. Can't get them to tell me the refund amount.
3 weeks go by and I finally get a refund for my car. Yesterday I got a letter that my truck had cancelled on the due date. I guess they never processed my cancellation.
I call the big company, they say I have to speak to the agent. I call the agent, they say they don't handle it.
Now, I know we're only talking about $35, but it is more the principle. They were completely ripping me off and won't refund the money. I know they do refunds because I got one for the car. They just didn't process the truck.

 

[Jim CIn.]

Always try to do business with a local agent, if he can"t get it done, file a claim with your state insurance commissioner. You will be surprised how quick you will get a response from the company. You can do this on line.

 

[Nebraska Cowman]

If I was that close to the renewal date I'd probably have had them cancel as of that date. Life is too short to worry about little stuff. But yeah, I've switched companies lots of times because they would not provide what I wanted. The last time I changed my fire insurance it was because the company would not insure the older roof on my home. Fine, but reduce the premium accordingly but they would not so I balked.

 

[colekicker]

Sadly I was doing business with the local agent. I just don't think they really valued me as a customer and could really care less when I cancelled to file the proper paperwork. It doesn't surprise me since they didn't file it correctly the first time.

 

[massey 333]

I don't know anything about your case,but it has been at least 30-40 yrs.or more since my cars and trucks were even on the same bill or policy.Plus to cancel,had to be on correct form.(not verbally)If that is all the worry you have,then you are lucky.

 

[Goose]

Sometimes local agents are the worst to work with.

When I had an auto body shop, I had a business policy handled by a local agent I'd been in high school with. When I closed down the shop, I told the agents son (also an agent) to cancel the policy. Next month, I got a bill for the premium. I refused to pay it. Over the next couple of months, I told them at least twice to cancel it.

I figured it was a typical insurance agent. When they think they can sell you more insurance, they're all over you. When you try to cancel a policy, it takes you a year to find them.

When the premiums due hit $3,000, they took me to court. I talked to my attorney, and the big mistake I made was in not notifying them in writing to cancel the policy. If I'd gone to court, I had no way of proving I'd told them to cancel the policy. On the advice of my attorney, I finally paid it, just to get the whole schtick to go away.

 

[SweetFeet]

It is best handle cancelling a policy or a service in writing.

That said, if I did do it via phone call - I'd document the date, time of day and the name of the person I spoke to. I also jot notes regarding what I called them for... and what they said in reply.

Regarding your refund, I'd talk to the local agent AND the corporation he sells for...

I'd explain that they have two weeks to get a check to me or I am going to:
1. report them to the state insurance agency
2. report them to the better business bureau

If no check in hand by the two week deadline, I'd file both those complaint reports.

 

[ss55]

I sign for all changes to my policies. Sometimes I will make changes over the phone that take effect immediately, but I still need to sign for it within a limited number of days.

 

[ss55]

$650 - $35 = $615 that you are ahead.

 

[colekicker]

Adding a little more to the story. The agent runs worse hours than a banker. 9-4 and closed for lunch.

So, I called the 1-800 number for the company on my way to work one morning to cancel. They were to inform the agent.

To get it in writing, I sent them an email that morning after I got to work to inform them that I called earlier to cancel. They then said they needed my signature and I had it scanned into my email. Everything was in writing and they responded to them email informing them of the cancellation and requesting the refund amount due.

 

[jennifer408]

i feel your pain,
mine is small scale, but it's the idea that bothers me. i bought a neutral safety switch for my 9n right here on YTC, it is not the right switch for a 9n and it did not work, it looks really close to the real thing and since i am new to all of this, how am i to know ? anyway, i ordered the real one from amazone and it works just fine. i called YTC to get a return # and they told me that they can not find where i bought it from them and need the invoice they sent with it. the trouble is, i bought a few things at the same time, like before, i got packages from all over the country and only got an invoice for something from one that says "neutral safety switch boot", i looked thru my records cause i know i bought a boot for the massey, but that was from a different company. i looked at my bank statement and sure enough 4/2/14 bought from YTC, but it is not itemized either and i can not prove it. so now i have a pretty $24.00 switch to look at that i can never use or return cause i can't prove i bought it. by the way, i got the real one at amazone for $7.00 less. just saying

 

[Bob]

In our state, a call to the Insurance Commissioner's office gets them attention they do NOT like, and they seem to get better at getting the problem solved.

 

[ericlb]

the difference depends on what the truck is, i have 2 policys too the cars on one, and the trucks on another, well 1 truck is on the car policy but its a 1/2 ton and i consider it a car, the other 4 are 1 tons, most insurance companies consider 1 tons to be commercial vehicles regardless if its owned by a company or a private use truck, the policy is different for commercial vehicles, this is not to be confused with the million dollar commercial policy for heavy trucks which the 615 is one months payment if your lucky

 

[DaninKansas]

Just be glad you never had to handle a big nasty claim with them. If they can't even handle a simple cancellation a real claim would bow their mind.

 

[colekicker]

2010 VW Jetta Sportwagen commuter car and a 2001 Dodge Ram 2500. They couldn't get them on the same bill or even billing cycle.

 

[W_B]

(quoted from post at 15:01:02 08/01/14) 2010 VW Jetta Sportwagen commuter car and a 2001 Dodge Ram 2500. They couldn't get them on the same bill or even billing cycle.

Like someone said, the truck is probably on a commercial policy. My company (that I work for) handles them on different systems, as do most. If not commercial it should have been an easy thing to add the truck to the auto policy, (short terming it to a common expiration date on the same policy). If that's the case and they can't do that, you have an incompetent company and/or agent. It might be that the agent gets production credit for having two policies instead of just one. That's just self serving on his part and doesn't respond to what you need. Find a company that will handle you better.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

You need to check to if the cheaper policy will fully cover you if you are injured by an uninsured or under insured person.

You may save money in the short term. You may check into what they call an added blanket policy to cover above your insurance doesn't.

In a serious accident you or your passangers can be injured and you don't have enough to cover. Do you really want to take a big risk to save $?

If I add up all my insurance, health, car, home, truck, tractors, trailers, rental properties, it costs me about $1000 a month. I'm insurance poor.

 

[T in NE]

The $35 isn't what I would be concerned with. They were making a nice little pofit off you, and since you had the cajones to check with other companies, they jacked you around to put you on high risk, so it's going to cost you more anywhere, later.

I will never do business with nationwide again, after the way they treated me when I wrecked my pick-up.

And the company I had after I got another, I called the agent, and told him I need to put in a change of address, and cancel the automatic payment. He said he'd have his assistant put it in when she got back from lunch. Got a call from her that it was done.

A week later I get a notice from my old bank that my account's been charged $29 twice a day for the last week because of insufficient funds for the automatic withdrawl they were still trying to put through. I called, and the agent had only wrote down the change of address, but not to cancel the automatic payment and to mail the bill. They made some phone calls and got the returned payment fees cancelled, but left me with the bank fees. Then wanted something like $650 a month for liability upon renewal. I had new insurance that evening.

I had to make several payments to get them paid up to the date I cancelled the policy, and was getting a bill every other day that I needed to pay X amount, with the due date the day before the postmark. After a phone call to the agent about contacting the state about it, stopped that.