Insurance Horror Stories: - GoFuckYourself.com

Pathfinder · 05-12-2002, 12:27 AM

Having read the other thread about how much do you pay for insurance, and thinking it sounds like some of them are being robbed. I wonder how many of you have horror stories about insurance companies?

I don't have any major horror stories but I do have a couple of stories to tell. I will relay one now.

My wife left two nine year old girls in a car for about five minutes while she went into a friends house. The car was on an incline and the girls knocked it out of gear, so it rolled backwards and hit a persons awning pole bending it. Even though the person said no big deal my wife proceeded to provide her insuarance info.

Well about six months later, we noticed that our insurance had gone up buy a significant amount. I went to our agent and asked why. He said because they paid out $198.00 for the awning pole. I asked why we were never questioned and/or notified that a claim had been filed. He said that my wife had been notified and had signed a form. I asked to see the form, immediately recgonized that it was not my wife's handwriting and told the agent so. He then said "well one of the staff must have filled out the form and signed it". I then asked what in the hell right does anyone in your office have to sign my wifes name to anything?

I then asked why our insurance went up just because they had to pay out $198.00 and how long the increase would be in affect. He told me the increase would be in affect for three years. I did some quick math and the increase over three years added up to close to $500.00

Now this is a company that I had been paying for years. They not only made the money that I paid over the years, but was going to make a profit of close to $300.00 off of a $198.00 pay out.

I cancelled that day and found another company.

hyper · 05-12-2002, 12:36 AM

people are assholes
always try to settle any damages beforehand

just tell the people i got insurance but we can take care of this.
my mom used to love hitting shit, so i had lotsa practice

vidsweb · 05-12-2002, 12:40 AM

I would have been interested in the fact that someone forged your wifes signature. That would make a nice little lawsuit.

UnseenWorld · 05-12-2002, 12:40 AM

Insurance companies are no different from any other biz: They'll make as much money as they can get away with. Are you surprised?

Pathfinder · 05-12-2002, 12:43 AM

Hyper:

Actually I told my wife she should not have provided insurance info and should have just wrote out a check on the spot. My wife told me that the person did not seem to be that concerned as the damage was not that great, and she did not think the person would file a claim, so I let the matter slip my mind.

hyper · 05-12-2002, 12:54 AM

yep, thats when it comes back and bites you in the ass

but fuck it.. at least your girls were o.k

Matt 26z · 05-12-2002, 01:06 AM

I know of someone who was totally screwed over by a construction company in the process (insurance too?), and lost his house because of it.

Lightning hit his house, and it was burned out.

He had insurance. So the construction company showed up, worked 3 days, and suddenly turned in a huge bill for doing next to nothing. I guess the construction company somewhere along the process didn't provide in the papers what they would actually be doing for this money.

So no insurance money left, and he was left with a house with no electric, plumbing, walls, windows, etc.... pretty much nothing inside.

I guess he should have hired a lawyer to oversee all of this.

Pathfinder · 05-12-2002, 08:23 AM

Another story:

I had three cars insured. I sold one of the cars. I called my insurance agent and told him to remove the car, that I had sold, from my policy.

At the time I was paying my insurance monthly and when I received my next bill it did not reflect removal of the car I had sold. I called my agent and he told me to pay the entire bill and the next bill should reflect a two car policy and a small rebate.

The next bill was for the same amount as a three car policy and of course no rebate. I called my agent again and I told him that I was only going to pay what I had been paying prior to adding the third car. He suggested that I pay the entire bill and he insured me that the next bill would reflect all of the necessary corrections. I did as he advised.

The next bill was for the same amount as a three car policy and of course no corrections had been made. I called my agent again and told him I wanted a number so that I could contact the company personally. He provided me with a number. I explained the story to them. I also told them that I was only making a payment in the amount that I had been making before adding the third car to my policy and that I wanted a rebate on the previous over payments. I was assured that my next bill would be the correct bill.

The next bill was for the same amount as a three car policy along with a dun for the amount that I had not paid the previous month as I had only paid for a two car policy.

To make this story a little shorter; I went through this procedure every month for the next two months without my bill being corrected, with me calling the company, and with me paying the bill for the amount I had been previously paying for a two car policy and with the company dunning me for full payment.

I then received notice of cancellation for non payment. Now I am really pissed so I obtained the address of the President of the insurance company. Wrote a letter of explanation, included all of my phone bills showing that I had indeed spoken to my agent several times and the company several times and in the letter told him that my next act would be to consult with an attorney.

I received a letter back telling me that my insurance had been reinstated and that I owed the company no money and would not receive any further charges, but when I came up for renewal (which was only two months away), my insurance would not be renewed with them.

HowlingWulf · 05-12-2002, 08:51 AM

How about stories where the little guy does ok?

I bought a used Jeep Grand Cherokee from a girl a couple years ago. Paid the money to her bank, who is supposed to send the title to my bank where I had my loan as per the instructions which were very clear. Instead they sent it to the seller's old address, which I later found out had been knocked down for some new strip mall or something, and it promptly disappeared. Basically it took weeks and many calls to get their ass in gear to figure out what happened. Meanwhile, my 30 day plates expired, so I rented a car (red ford mustang convertible) and told the sellers bank the situation, etc, etc. Still more weeks go by because they had to send away for a new title from the state. I finally get my title so I send the bill for my rental car to BankBoston for $900. They replied with a check for $300 and said that's all they would pay. I didn't cash it and filed in small claims court. A week before court date they paid in full. Sweet!

Pathfinder · 05-13-2002, 09:11 AM

HowlingWulf:

Winning is good.

hyper · 05-13-2002, 09:16 AM

small claims is good.
people think your bluffing until they get notice

Beastiepoo · 05-13-2002, 09:39 AM

Threatening small claims court action seems to be a good tactic all over the civilised world. It seems the prospect of paying legal fees that would amount to more than the amount of the claim tends to make companies get their fingers out of their asses and either sort the problem or settle, settle, settle.
Sorry, run on sentance there.

Kimmykim · 05-13-2002, 11:42 AM

What was your deductible on your insurance that a 198.00 bill was paid by insurance?

clickpimp · 05-13-2002, 11:45 AM

on 'six feet under' last night the bitch that demanded to see her mutilated husband's dead body ended up sueing the funeral home for mental diress ... but it all worked out for those not watching ...

Pathfinder · 05-13-2002, 12:02 PM

KimmyKim:

The deductible doesn't apply as this was property damage, not damage to my car. At the time I think I had $10,000.00 in coverage for property damage.

Pathfinder · 05-13-2002, 10:29 PM

Another story and my last personal story.

A long time ago I took out insurance with All State. I paid for the policy in cash for a year of coverage. I don't remember the exact amount of money involved as it has been to many years ago.

About two-three weeks after puchasing the policy; one evening I got a knock at the door. A scrungy looking guy, in scrungy looking clothes, and driving a scrungy looking car, was at my door.

He identified himself as being a rep for All State and wanted to ask me some questions. Since I had never saw an insurance rep look like this guy looked, or driving a clunker, I asked for proof that he was an All State rep. He gave me a business card and I told him this was not proof enough for me and I would not anwser any questions.

About a month or so later I received a cancellation notice from All State, without an explanation as to why my policy was being cancelled.

I called the company and the explanation they gave me was failure to provide additional information to their rep. I explained why I hadn't provided any information to their rep and they were not interested in hearing it. I then asked for a rebate for my policy and was told the check was in the mail.

Well the check wasn't in the mail and after many phone calls over a three month period, and threatening to get an attorney involved I received the rebate.

05-12-2002, 12:27 AM	#1
Pathfinder theking of trailer parks Industry Role: Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Tehachapi, California Posts: 2,277	Insurance Horror Stories: Having read the other thread about how much do you pay for insurance, and thinking it sounds like some of them are being robbed. I wonder how many of you have horror stories about insurance companies? I don't have any major horror stories but I do have a couple of stories to tell. I will relay one now. My wife left two nine year old girls in a car for about five minutes while she went into a friends house. The car was on an incline and the girls knocked it out of gear, so it rolled backwards and hit a persons awning pole bending it. Even though the person said no big deal my wife proceeded to provide her insuarance info. Well about six months later, we noticed that our insurance had gone up buy a significant amount. I went to our agent and asked why. He said because they paid out $198.00 for the awning pole. I asked why we were never questioned and/or notified that a claim had been filed. He said that my wife had been notified and had signed a form. I asked to see the form, immediately recgonized that it was not my wife's handwriting and told the agent so. He then said "well one of the staff must have filled out the form and signed it". I then asked what in the hell right does anyone in your office have to sign my wifes name to anything? I then asked why our insurance went up just because they had to pay out $198.00 and how long the increase would be in affect. He told me the increase would be in affect for three years. I did some quick math and the increase over three years added up to close to $500.00 Now this is a company that I had been paying for years. They not only made the money that I paid over the years, but was going to make a profit of close to $300.00 off of a $198.00 pay out. I cancelled that day and found another company. Last edited by Pathfinder; 05-12-2002 at 12:28 AM..

05-12-2002, 12:36 AM	#2
hyper Confirmed User Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mass Ass Posts: 5,294	people are assholes always try to settle any damages beforehand just tell the people i got insurance but we can take care of this. my mom used to love hitting shit, so i had lotsa practice __________________

05-12-2002, 12:40 AM	#3
vidsweb Confirmed User Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Pornland Posts: 698	I would have been interested in the fact that someone forged your wifes signature. That would make a nice little lawsuit. __________________ Just give'r

05-12-2002, 12:40 AM	#4
UnseenWorld Confirmed User Join Date: May 2001 Location: Portland, OR, USA Posts: 5,279	Insurance companies are no different from any other biz: They'll make as much money as they can get away with. Are you surprised? __________________ SIG TOO BIG! Maximum 120x60 button and no more than 3 text lines of DEFAULT SIZE and COLOR. Unless your sig is for a GFY top banner sponsor, then you may use a 624x80 instead of a 120x60.

05-12-2002, 12:54 AM	#6
hyper Confirmed User Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mass Ass Posts: 5,294	yep, thats when it comes back and bites you in the ass but fuck it.. at least your girls were o.k __________________

05-12-2002, 12:43 AM	#5
Pathfinder theking of trailer parks Industry Role: Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Tehachapi, California Posts: 2,277	Hyper: Actually I told my wife she should not have provided insurance info and should have just wrote out a check on the spot. My wife told me that the person did not seem to be that concerned as the damage was not that great, and she did not think the person would file a claim, so I let the matter slip my mind.

05-12-2002, 01:06 AM	#7
Matt 26z So Fucking Banned Industry Role: Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: ¤ª"˜¨๑۩۞۩๑¨˜"ª¤ Posts: 18,481	I know of someone who was totally screwed over by a construction company in the process (insurance too?), and lost his house because of it. Lightning hit his house, and it was burned out. He had insurance. So the construction company showed up, worked 3 days, and suddenly turned in a huge bill for doing next to nothing. I guess the construction company somewhere along the process didn't provide in the papers what they would actually be doing for this money. So no insurance money left, and he was left with a house with no electric, plumbing, walls, windows, etc.... pretty much nothing inside. I guess he should have hired a lawyer to oversee all of this.

05-12-2002, 08:23 AM	#8
Pathfinder theking of trailer parks Industry Role: Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Tehachapi, California Posts: 2,277	Another story: I had three cars insured. I sold one of the cars. I called my insurance agent and told him to remove the car, that I had sold, from my policy. At the time I was paying my insurance monthly and when I received my next bill it did not reflect removal of the car I had sold. I called my agent and he told me to pay the entire bill and the next bill should reflect a two car policy and a small rebate. The next bill was for the same amount as a three car policy and of course no rebate. I called my agent again and I told him that I was only going to pay what I had been paying prior to adding the third car. He suggested that I pay the entire bill and he insured me that the next bill would reflect all of the necessary corrections. I did as he advised. The next bill was for the same amount as a three car policy and of course no corrections had been made. I called my agent again and told him I wanted a number so that I could contact the company personally. He provided me with a number. I explained the story to them. I also told them that I was only making a payment in the amount that I had been making before adding the third car to my policy and that I wanted a rebate on the previous over payments. I was assured that my next bill would be the correct bill. The next bill was for the same amount as a three car policy along with a dun for the amount that I had not paid the previous month as I had only paid for a two car policy. To make this story a little shorter; I went through this procedure every month for the next two months without my bill being corrected, with me calling the company, and with me paying the bill for the amount I had been previously paying for a two car policy and with the company dunning me for full payment. I then received notice of cancellation for non payment. Now I am really pissed so I obtained the address of the President of the insurance company. Wrote a letter of explanation, included all of my phone bills showing that I had indeed spoken to my agent several times and the company several times and in the letter told him that my next act would be to consult with an attorney. I received a letter back telling me that my insurance had been reinstated and that I owed the company no money and would not receive any further charges, but when I came up for renewal (which was only two months away), my insurance would not be renewed with them.

05-12-2002, 08:51 AM	#9
HowlingWulf Confirmed User Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 1,662	How about stories where the little guy does ok? I bought a used Jeep Grand Cherokee from a girl a couple years ago. Paid the money to her bank, who is supposed to send the title to my bank where I had my loan as per the instructions which were very clear. Instead they sent it to the seller's old address, which I later found out had been knocked down for some new strip mall or something, and it promptly disappeared. Basically it took weeks and many calls to get their ass in gear to figure out what happened. Meanwhile, my 30 day plates expired, so I rented a car (red ford mustang convertible) and told the sellers bank the situation, etc, etc. Still more weeks go by because they had to send away for a new title from the state. I finally get my title so I send the bill for my rental car to BankBoston for $900. They replied with a check for $300 and said that's all they would pay. I didn't cash it and filed in small claims court. A week before court date they paid in full. Sweet!

05-13-2002, 09:11 AM	#10
Pathfinder theking of trailer parks Industry Role: Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Tehachapi, California Posts: 2,277	HowlingWulf: Winning is good.

05-13-2002, 09:16 AM	#11
hyper Confirmed User Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mass Ass Posts: 5,294	small claims is good. people think your bluffing until they get notice __________________

05-13-2002, 09:39 AM	#12
Beastiepoo Confirmed User Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: In a clog shop thinking about tulips Posts: 1,971	Threatening small claims court action seems to be a good tactic all over the civilised world. It seems the prospect of paying legal fees that would amount to more than the amount of the claim tends to make companies get their fingers out of their asses and either sort the problem or settle, settle, settle. Sorry, run on sentance there.

05-13-2002, 11:42 AM	#13
Kimmykim bitchslapping zebras!!!!! Industry Role: Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: In a shack by the beach Posts: 16,015	What was your deductible on your insurance that a 198.00 bill was paid by insurance?

05-13-2002, 11:45 AM	#14
clickpimp Confirmed User Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 1,159	on 'six feet under' last night the bitch that demanded to see her mutilated husband's dead body ended up sueing the funeral home for mental diress ... but it all worked out for those not watching ...

05-13-2002, 12:02 PM	#15
Pathfinder theking of trailer parks Industry Role: Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Tehachapi, California Posts: 2,277	KimmyKim: The deductible doesn't apply as this was property damage, not damage to my car. At the time I think I had $10,000.00 in coverage for property damage. Last edited by Pathfinder; 05-13-2002 at 12:06 PM..

05-13-2002, 10:29 PM	#16
Pathfinder theking of trailer parks Industry Role: Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Tehachapi, California Posts: 2,277	Another story and my last personal story. A long time ago I took out insurance with All State. I paid for the policy in cash for a year of coverage. I don't remember the exact amount of money involved as it has been to many years ago. About two-three weeks after puchasing the policy; one evening I got a knock at the door. A scrungy looking guy, in scrungy looking clothes, and driving a scrungy looking car, was at my door. He identified himself as being a rep for All State and wanted to ask me some questions. Since I had never saw an insurance rep look like this guy looked, or driving a clunker, I asked for proof that he was an All State rep. He gave me a business card and I told him this was not proof enough for me and I would not anwser any questions. About a month or so later I received a cancellation notice from All State, without an explanation as to why my policy was being cancelled. I called the company and the explanation they gave me was failure to provide additional information to their rep. I explained why I hadn't provided any information to their rep and they were not interested in hearing it. I then asked for a rebate for my policy and was told the check was in the mail. Well the check wasn't in the mail and after many phone calls over a three month period, and threatening to get an attorney involved I received the rebate.