policyholder54321
New Member
- 3
Hi all. What brings me here is an effort to (hopefully) gain more true knowledge from people I've never met in my life! :-) However, based on what I've read on other threads, there seems to be a good amount of knowledgeable & helpful people here, so here goes:
I live in the state of Ohio, and I recently bought a vehicle at the end of September. For no good excuse, it took a good month and a half to finally call to have the insurance switched over from the car I traded in for the replacement vehicle. So, I call my State Farm agent yesterday, and they start going into gathering information; the make and model, VIN, etc...and we get to the time that I bought the vehicle. The agent's response was this huge gasp of shock, followed by several minutes of them lecturing me (a 37 year old adult) about how lucky I am that I didn't get a random check letter in the mail for insurance coverage and if caught without insurance how huge the fine is, etc. I mean it was to the point where I had to say "I get it...I understand that I would be in quite the situation if I got a letter. However, I did not get the letter, and I need to know how we proceed from here". So, the result of me being 3 weeks beyond their cut-off to call??? Me being labeled 'high-risk', thus DOUBLING my rate!!
I will be the first to say that what I did was risky and I take full responsibility for the risk I put upon myself. While I appreciate the agent informing me about how risky my situation was, I did NOT appreciate how this agent talked down to me in the way they did. Nor do I feel that this should put me as a high risk policyholder. I'm sure there are far worse things that insureds have done that put them at risk, over forgetting to make a phone call to transfer coverage. I also feel that it might also be clear to my agent that had they checked their database on us, that we have been long time policy holders for over 21 years (16 of them with this agent), great credit, and never missing a payment. What I then discovered after deciding that I would not tolerate this type of treatment and me searching for another agent, was that other agents were telling (with other insurance companies) that they've never heard about being placed at high risk for this type of error, and I then confirmed with another State Farm agent that while this is a "State Farm thing", a simple call to underwriting would have this waived...especially with a client in good standing like us.
As I was typing this short novel, I just got a call from another State Farm agent who is willing to have our business, and confirmed with their underwriting that the surcharge resulting from my late call to transfer would be waived.
I'm beginnig to feel that we might be able to get past this hurdle with increased surcharges, however I am still very much disappointed in the original agent, and would like to take some sort of action against them by way of a complaint, or other form of report stating our dissatisfaction in how they handle their customers. Escalation departments or an executive with State Farm, or complaint with the State of Ohio?? I don't want to be just another letter that some office gets that's buried in with the others. I would plaster this on billboards all over town if I knew it wouldn't back fire and bring them business (lol)! Any suggestions on how to take action against this agent would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance...and thanks for reading!
I live in the state of Ohio, and I recently bought a vehicle at the end of September. For no good excuse, it took a good month and a half to finally call to have the insurance switched over from the car I traded in for the replacement vehicle. So, I call my State Farm agent yesterday, and they start going into gathering information; the make and model, VIN, etc...and we get to the time that I bought the vehicle. The agent's response was this huge gasp of shock, followed by several minutes of them lecturing me (a 37 year old adult) about how lucky I am that I didn't get a random check letter in the mail for insurance coverage and if caught without insurance how huge the fine is, etc. I mean it was to the point where I had to say "I get it...I understand that I would be in quite the situation if I got a letter. However, I did not get the letter, and I need to know how we proceed from here". So, the result of me being 3 weeks beyond their cut-off to call??? Me being labeled 'high-risk', thus DOUBLING my rate!!
I will be the first to say that what I did was risky and I take full responsibility for the risk I put upon myself. While I appreciate the agent informing me about how risky my situation was, I did NOT appreciate how this agent talked down to me in the way they did. Nor do I feel that this should put me as a high risk policyholder. I'm sure there are far worse things that insureds have done that put them at risk, over forgetting to make a phone call to transfer coverage. I also feel that it might also be clear to my agent that had they checked their database on us, that we have been long time policy holders for over 21 years (16 of them with this agent), great credit, and never missing a payment. What I then discovered after deciding that I would not tolerate this type of treatment and me searching for another agent, was that other agents were telling (with other insurance companies) that they've never heard about being placed at high risk for this type of error, and I then confirmed with another State Farm agent that while this is a "State Farm thing", a simple call to underwriting would have this waived...especially with a client in good standing like us.
As I was typing this short novel, I just got a call from another State Farm agent who is willing to have our business, and confirmed with their underwriting that the surcharge resulting from my late call to transfer would be waived.
I'm beginnig to feel that we might be able to get past this hurdle with increased surcharges, however I am still very much disappointed in the original agent, and would like to take some sort of action against them by way of a complaint, or other form of report stating our dissatisfaction in how they handle their customers. Escalation departments or an executive with State Farm, or complaint with the State of Ohio?? I don't want to be just another letter that some office gets that's buried in with the others. I would plaster this on billboards all over town if I knew it wouldn't back fire and bring them business (lol)! Any suggestions on how to take action against this agent would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance...and thanks for reading!