Saturday, December 6, 2008

Bad Allstate Bad

So we get a collection letter from Allstate for a policy we don't have. Are you wondering how that can happen? Well, let me tell you...

We had our car insurance through Allstate for years. Once they dropped us for no reason and we had to pay fines to the DMV for both cars. To this day we have never gotten an answer as to how this happen. For some stupid reason we stayed with them. Cue two years later to August of this year. While we were enjoying our vacation in Florida a renewal notice came in the mail. The day we got back I came across the notice and wrote a check and mailed it off the next day. Cue to September when we got a Dear John letter from Allstate's home office stating our payment was received late (by a day, so much for grace periods!) and that they were cancelling our policy. We also received with the letter, a refund for the total amount I had sent them.

My dh goes down to our local agent's office to inquire about the one day late / cancellation of our policy. Our agent tells my dh that it is what it is and gives him a quote for a new policy. This quote is outrageous to say the least. When asked why the quote was so high, our agent said that Allstate was treating this like we had no prior insurance. That's weird! Why would you think to treat a customer of 6 years like they didn't have prior insurance? Didn't you just cancel our insurance? I mean you have to have had insurance to cancel insurance, right?

Well, my dh leaves the office and comes home, we discuss the outrageousness of the whole situation and the dollar amount of the quote. Being the responsible car owners that we are, we look online for car insurance, because we have to be covered. We decide on another company, sign up and pay online, then 5 days later we have all the paperwork. We contact the DMV and the Insurance Commissioner to have the second set of fines lifted and all is good in the universe. A couple of weeks go by and we receive a bill from Allstate. A letter / bill for a new policy, so we return the letter with a reply stating that we don't want or need this new policy, didn't ask for it, nor did we sign anything or approve anything. Again Allstate sends a letter and again we reply.

Yesterday we receive a collection notice / threat letter from Allstate. This time I call Allstate, because I'm not as nice as my dh and nobody puts baby in the corner or makes her pay for something she didn't ask for. I get a nice lady in India that tells me they won't lift the collection until we send them the paper work from our new policy with the other company. Umm last time I checked that wasn't your business. Your not the insurance police and I don't owe you squat. I only have to prove my insurance with the state and any really nice law enforcement officer that may ask, plus the DMV. The woman kept demanding that I send my new policy paper work to them or they wouldn't lift the collection. Call me crazy, but I've never had an agent tell me to prove I have insurance with someone else and I find it ballsy to hit me for a policy that I didn't ask for, nor knew anything about.

I seem to attract this kind of crap, always have. Bothers me less as it use to when I was younger. There will many calls and letters to Allstate and the Insurance Commissioner, then everything will be fine. I am also shopping for insurance for our house, so we can get away from Allstate altogether!










11 comments:

Da Old Man said...

I wouldn't be surprised if Allstate can demand what they did. After all, insurance companies are huge contributors to political campaigns, and laws are tailored to make them happy.
I hope this gets resolved quickly for you.

Chelsea Van Tol said...

Arg!! I would be so mad...

Husky said...

Allstate, Bad.....yes, they're very, very bad.

We live in Florida, though not in an area statistically prone to hurricanes. We've had car insurance with them for over twenty years. There are more examples of our loyalty but I'll move on. For six years we've had our current house insured also with Allstate.

About a year ago, they canceled our homeowner's policy...just like that. There was no explanation and after some local snooping around, we learned that they were simply easing out of Florida. We've never had a claim, never missed a payment....

So, pissed beyond belief husband decides that there's no way Allstate is going to keep us as car insurance customers if they're going to yank our homeowners...So we switch.....and they suck.

Anonymous said...

Amen!

Solicity Sock Monkey said...

Let me know if that voodoo doll thing works. LOL

Your post is a deja vu!

And thanks for becoming my friend on blog catalog!

Stephanie said...

The doll picture is so funny!

Anonymous said...

I love the picture. I too have a horror story concerning Allstate which I won't try to tell here. Interesting to read your post and some of the comments here. And to think all these years I thought I was special. :)

Anonymous said...

I'm currently looking for a new company to insure my car and, thanks to this post (and the comments it's gotten), it will NOT be Allstate. I'm glad I read this because I was actually considering them.

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I worked for an auto repair service for awhile so I know who is good about treating their customers right.

The best without a doubt was Alfa Insurance , but I don't know if they write policies anywhere but in the southeast. The second best being (surprisingly) Geico.

I heard complaints that Geico might be a little difficult in some areas, but they seemed to be willing to pay for their customers to get their cars back to pre-wrecked condition. And that's more than many were willing to do.

The worst companies (in my opinion are:

Allstate
Progressive
Direct General (or was it general direct?)
Nationwide (no they did not seem to be on our side to me)

I can also tell you that it's a VERY BAD idea to take your car to any shop that your insurance recommends.

They have to pay no matter what, so take your car to a shop that you are familiar with. You want your repairman to be loyal to YOU not your insurance company.

The reason that insurance companies recommend a shop is NOT because they do good work. They want to send you to a shop who has agreed to give THEM a cut price.

This is not a good thing for the car owner.

After that little stint working in the office at the car center, I really came to believe that insurance companies are the enemy.

Hope this helps somebody.

Claire from Christmas and Holiday Menus, Parenting and Green Living

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the advice and help!!

Debbie said...

I too am a victim. Well I hope you have had a wonderful holiday!