Insurance Companies

I received a call from my insurance broker today asking me if I meant to cancel my business policy? WTF, of course not.

Apparently, they claimed that my bill was not paid in full and since I didn't respond to their email (they used an old email that was no longer valid and they were notified of that change a year ago) in time, they cancelled the policy. No phone calls, no written correspondence.

So, I went down to the broker and insisted on a conference call with this carrier. Turns out that there was a discrepancy of 50 cents on the bill. I wrote the check ending with 37 cents instead of 87 cents. I must not of had my glasses on at the time of writing checks that night. Oh, and then they used an old email address even though they had just sent me some holiday spam mail to the proper email address.

Anyway, it was all corrected after an hour of my time, a written statement that I have not had any loses since a week ago when it cancelled, and a payment of 50 cents. Then they warned me that one more cancellation and they would not renew my policy as per their terms of agreement.

I just told them that the feeling was mutual and walked out. Man I hate insurance companies.

Yeah, I'd be shopping for a new carrier.

Myself, I use one insurance company (and the same agent since I started there). They have my business, toy, auto, and homeowners, besides an inland marine policy for some equipment.

I have too much going on to be messing around with idiots.

Had similar thing with my P.O Box.
They send a renewal notice, due date, amount to pay.
I forgot about it. And was out of town for several days.
Box was locked on the 1st.
NO reminder or final notice.
Went in and chewed out the Post master. She'd been there 3 months(and was a new post master).
"I've had this box for 21 years. And at the drop of a hat your gone drop me and re rent it...." "I'm gonna be around using this for another 10 years....!"
She was speechless. Not a sorry or anything.
Some customer service that was.

I feel you about PO Boxes. In my little town, we are all required to have postal boxes as their is no home delivery. I can't tell you how many times mail ends up in the wrong box or gets sent back because they listed my street address instead of the PO Box.

It can get very frustrating.

I was cancelled one month after obtaining auto wasn't notified or given a reason why.

Due t the fires here years ago it was tough finading a company that would provide home woners insurance finally got one at twice the cost as before.

It is quite a racket.

I just had something similar happen, except without the cancellation.
There was a payment problem a couple months ago, that caused a future cancel if not brought up to date......again, being notified via old email addy., but lucky my agent and Hanover both were persistent, and they got a hold of me a couple other ways, before I was without coverage.
I also just got notified today too, letting me know my yearly premium was going down by $162, over 25% less than last year.

Isn't it amazing how fast they will drop a customer? No other industry is like that.

I ended up setting up a separate bank account and have set up an auto-pay program with my carrier on a quarterly basis. I can't let something as dumb as 50 cents put me out of business and this is the only carrier in my area that will insure a business outside of farming.

I don't normally like auto pay set-ups, but this one will give me some piece of mind over this issue.

They know, by the numbers; based on how ,long you've been with them- your risk level goes up. So your rates start to go up as their risk does. To the point, you shop and leave.
My wife's cousin handles some of my insurance. It went up and up. I shopped and got a lower premium.mcalled to tell her; she said "I understand, I'd make the change too".

My GL insurance for 2016 only has a $500 deductible. I was in a hurry to get insurance at the start of the year as it was required by the service agreements of several clients that were included in the sale of the business and I didn't give enough thought to the deductible. Now that I have looked more thoroughly at what I actually need I am seeking quotes with a $2,500 deductible.

I am concerned that if I make a small claim they will just raise the rates or even cancel the policy so it makes more sense to just go out of pocket for incidents of less than $2,500. Have any of you had similar concerns or incidents?

Wait, how come you have deductibles for GL ?? That's not right ! There shouldn't be any deductibles for liability insurance !

dp1 wrote:Wait, how come you have deductibles for GL ?? That's not right ! There shouldn't be any deductibles for liability insurance !

I'm trying to get lower rates (naturally) and am perfectly willing to be basically self insured for an incident of less than $2.5K. So far all I am getting hit with is a constant barrage of upsells that I don't want nor need, the exception being the agent that won't return calls or emails.

I pay just a little over $ 100 / month for a GL, 1 million aggregate limit, no deductibles. I'm with state farm, I actually hate my agent, he's on the aggressive side, I had to tell him one day "you need to chill". I never got another call offering me anything else after that

That's pretty cheap Dp, I am at $175, but it is for 2 mil coverage. Actually, that 2 mil. wouldn't even put a dent into the bill for some of the places that I clean.

No pressure sales though, never been confronted by a single sales call with Auto Owners.