came due last month. We have two cars, I paid the 6-month policy in full on the one car and because the other car was on its last leg I only paid 1/2 of that premium thinking we would either drop the insurance or have a different car within the 3-months. The insurance co. rejected my 3-month payment, sent me their refund check and said I had to pay it all. Since they had cashed my check for 1/2 the preimum, I voided out their refund check and returned it to them along with my check for the other half of the premium. The car took a dump and I called today to have the new car on the policy and remove the old one. I was told I had no coverage on either car (not even the car I paid the full premium on). I called her back told her I had the cancelled checks for the first two pym'ts but that the 3rd check had not yet cleared my bank (has been at least 2 wks). She finally acknowledged premiums paid for the first car but said I would have to pay the second premium again if I wanted coverage. I had to go into the office and pay her cash (she would not accept my check). In 12+ years with them we have never bounced a check, have had no tickets, have never filed a claim and until now have always paid the premiums in full when due. She said there has not been an agent assigned to the office for approx., a year and one would not be assigned till probably the end of the year, and she was not authorized to make decisions, if I wanted insurance I had to pay the premium again and by cash only! Since I only paid 1/2 the premium this time, would they access my CR's and if so (they are a mess) can they refuse to insure me or refuse to accept my checks based on a bad credit report? Is it legal to not have an agent in the office? Insurance is mandatory in my state (and with us, can't imagine not having it!) but if they drop us, we will be in a fix, cause we would not pass a credit approval, if we have to find another insurer. Sorry to Rant. tml
What are the time-spans involved here? Due date, date you paid 1/2, date you paid the second half? Who returned your money, the agency office, the customer service rep personally, or the company? You do have some rights here. Do they owe you any money? breeze
Hi Breeze: Policies due 7/15/01 check for car 1 pym't in full cleared bank 7/13/01. Check for car 2 (1/2 the premium) cleared the bank 7/13/01. 7/27/01 received notice from office in Washington state (I'm in Oregon) with their refund check for the 1/2 payment telling me to re-issue full pym't. I marked their refund check void, since they had already cashed the first ck on 13th and sent my check for the other 1/2 of the balance, sent that check and their voided check back to them 7/28/01. Called my bank the check sent 7/28 hasn't come in yet, as of this morning. Again the refund check was returned by I guess a main office located in Washington state. As of right now I had to pay her in cash this morning for the full premium even though I showed her the cancelled check for the 1/2 pym't. Showed her the copy of the voided refund check and letter I sent with my other 1/2 payment attn: Ms.xxxx which she tried to call but found this person is on vacation til next week. Anyway I guess until my other check is cashed I am overpaid by 1/2 the original premium. Do I make any sense???? Thanks alot Breeze tml
yes. what is the name of the company? Are you delaing with an agency office or the company's main office? I can give you a solution real quick. breeze
Breeze It is State Farm We are dealing with our local office. The gal is not an agent I guess just a receptionist. She says that an agent will be assigned to the office in December 2001. She also said no one could help me with my policies but my original agent who retired due to illness last year. I said what would happen if I had a claim if only the original agent could make decisions on my policy? I told her that ins. is mandatory and she is taking my money, selling insurance to me and she is not even an agent and then telling me if I have a claim there would be no one other than my original agent that could help me with it. She issued me a temp. ins. card to replace my current card. If she is not licensed to sell insurance why are they doing that? Anyway as usual I am very confused...LoL tml
She is probably licensed. Most of SF's office people are. If she isn't, she is breaking the law. I think you should contact the Oregon Insurance Dept. - this sounds a little wierd to me. I can't find where Oregon has a grace period - it should be in your policy. If not, you whould have gotten a cancellation notice - I see where they have to give you ten days notice. Oregon Dept. of Consumer and Business Services Insurance Division 350 Winter St. NE Room 200 Salem, OR 97310-0200 Phone numbers (503) 947-7980 Fax: (503) 378-4351 Spanish-language line: (800) 843-8086 Main site http://www.cbs.state.or.us/external/ins/index.html Online complaint form: http://www.cbs.state.or.us/external/ins/docs/consumer/comp_frm.htm Just copy and paste from your post on here. Tell them you want your old policy reinstated and the new auto added. They will contact you and help get it straight. This gal did not handle this correctly IMHO. Insurance companies jump when the bureau notifies them of a complaint, and they ask "how high?" on the way up. Let me know how it goes. breeze
Thank you so much Breeze, If she if licensed she is denying it. I never received any cancellation notice and think that maybe the second 1/2 of my payment may be still sitting on the desk of the lady that went on vacation. Again thanks for pointing me in the right direction and providing me the web sites. Yes it is weird, I am not sure what is going on with our local office. The gal told me I could change agents, by going to another office in the next town (50 miles away). She insists that no claims could be handled in our local office until an agent is assigned to it. Thank God I didn't have a claim or get stopped bc she said I was not insured! Again many thanks for your time and help. Will let you know what happens. tml
She cannot accept premium payments or give out quotes without a license. Do you have her name? I can look her up. First and Last. breeze
Breeze she did not give me a policy only a temp ins card she signed "Steve Morse", next to where it says agent and then signed "By C.????" I just can't make it out. Her first name is Christine. Last name looks like Lasiean or Hielsan, just can't make it out. If I file the complaint, will I just get cancelled in January when the policies are due again? My spouse is throwing a fit, says if I file that complaint we will end up with no insurance at all!!! The original policy says agent is Steve Snowden, so I don't know why she signed the name Steve Morse to the card. She says the new agent for the office will not finish training until December and until then we have no agent. I don't know what the H***L is going on... Again Thanks Breeze tml
NO, if you file a complaint you will be treated like royalty. They can't cancel you for complaining. Most liekly they will contact you and say "we'll do this and this and this if you will withdraw your complaint." You just say, okay, that's great. and then do it. They won't ever mess with you again. breeze
whew. State Farm. I thought they had payment plans? They're making you pay it in full? We had state farm briefly (low rates) BUT our agent was a total wench & sh couldn't tell her ass from a hole in the ground. They wouldn't let me switch agents, I cancelled the policy as soon as I could. My insurance is now through another division of the insurance company I work for (no conflict of interest--different program) & I couldn't be happier. There are still some companies that don't check credit, check around, get in before they start doing it. Ask them if they check BEFORE getting a quote.
TML, I just went through this Fiasco. Find a broker and they will help you shop around and avoid/delay pulling of credit.
I don't know the laws in your state, but here in AZ a CSR (customer service rep) in an agency doesn't have to be licensed. They can work as representatives under the authority of the licensed agent they work for, but they cannot be paid commissions unless they are licensed. They can give quotes and accept your money, though, although some insurance companies have a rule against letting unlicensed staff do their quoting. I was a CSR in an agency for almost 11 years and was never licensed. I didn't do quotes, but not because I couldn't. What seems odd to me about your situation is there being no agent in the agency. That's nuts, and in that case I would be questioning under whose authority this supposedly unlicensed representative is quoting and selling policies. As a prior poster suggested, I would contact the Department of Insurance in your state and find out about the legality of this. Also, I don't know about the weight carried by a complaint. Here in AZ (unfortunately) they are considered an inconvenience by an agency, but not necesasrily something that would get you "treated like royalty". If they know their state's cancellation laws and they are pretty sure they are in the right (legally, not necessarily morally), they probably don't care about your complaint. Also, sadly, most agents I have known do not want a customer who has filed a complaint and they like to get rid of them. And if they issued a legal notice of cancellation they are probably okay legally, whether they cashed your check or not, as long as they sent you a refund. If it makes you feel any better, though, at least here in AZ I have never heard of State Farm running credit reports. The tree I would be "barking up" would be finding out if this CSR is unlicensed and if so, under what authority is she quoting and selling? If they are in the wrong on that, you may get a quicker refund of *all* your money, which would be nice, and you can then go somewhere else for your insurance. But, like I said, all of my experience is in Arizona, where the laws may be entirely different.
When we added a third car, the secretary just typed on the computer...so you might say the computer gave the quote...IT WAS $10.00 OVER ANOTHER CAR WE HAVE THAT IS 10 YEARS OLDER...SO I SAID SOLD...she said the $10.00 was for "NEW BUSINESS"..."you won't pay that next renewal".
Very, very different laws. Arizona insurance laws are very liberal, Oregon's laws are some of the most restrictive in the country. I am licensed in both states. In OR (and WA also, where the agency is located) unlicensed personnel cannot quote rates. breeze
