It may be easier to simply request they remove the charge as a write off. If not, do you have the policy endorsements that would show a lack of changes over the time period?
I have changed coverage amounts by phone several times. They apply the changes to my policy instantly. Then they always send an updated document via e-mail (I went paperless a long time ago). ALWAYS. Anytime there are changes in coverage or payments, they send this. They should have a copy of this in your file. If they don’t have it…
He might even be able to ask the CSR to go look at his policy for each year going back to before the ‘change’ and verify that it’s always been the same. Between that and the (hopefully) fact that there’s no actual requests to make any changes, may help to make his case.
Also, you didn’t mention if your current agent is an actual agent for a specific company or a broker that represents multiple companies. If they’re a broker and they happen to sell GMAC as well, they might be able to help you clean this up. Hell, even if they’re a regular agent, it might be worth talking to them, just based on the fact that they know a lot more about the ins and outs of insurance than you do. Sometimes it just takes a few key words like ‘regulations’ or ‘state mandated’ or ‘such and such must be billed within X days’. I mean, I could be wrong, but IME, new agents are usually more than happy to help out a new client, even if they won’t make the call, they might point you in the right direction.
Even if you actually owed $200 from 2013, that balance owed should have appeared on subsequent bills, and any payments received should have applied to that outstanding balance first. If it didn’t appear on your July 2014 and July 2015 annual invoices, then they’re out of luck.
Call your state’s Attorney General’s office or Department of Justice. Report them and also ask which agency in your state government regulates the insurance industry. File a complaint with them as well. And tell Mr. Insurance agent you are doing so!
THEY ARE FULL OF WHOOEY!
Suggestions to lawyer up or call the AG or state DOI are a bit far fetched for this minor incident. Thinking that calling every day and becoming a nuisance would be effective seems remote as well. Those are steps of last resort. First resort should be to resolve with the company.
My suspicion is that this is some type of artifact from multiple behind the scenes systems that handle policy and billing changes. When closing your account, their systems tried to resolve the artifact and it resulted in them thinking you owe money.
I’d think they’d be able to waive or remove whatever is causing the issue upon request.
I’m going to wait and see if I receive anything in the mail like the rep said I would.
Possible this just goes away but if not I’ll go over every thing they send me carefully before choosing a plan of action.
My #1 question is why it would take 3 years before they would tell me I owe them money. Perhaps they are in cahoots with the Itallians? 
UPDATE
So I received nothing from the insurance company and no documents or letters showing how I owe anything.
Until yesterday. I received a letter from a collection agency. :mad:
I checked one of my old memo books. On July 13, 2013 I worked a 3p-11p shift. Which means on that day @ the time they said I called and upped my coverage I was sitting in roll call. No way would I have been on the phone to my insurance company. And who calls their insurance company on a Saturday, anyway?
Believe it or not, I have never, ever had anything go into collections in my entire life.
So who do I talk to? Do I call GMAC or the collection agency.
My credit rating was at 827 this morning. What kind of hit will $200 bucks make? Because I will see them in hell before I pay them 1 freaking cent.
How would you generally go about making changes to your policy? Whatever method that is (calling them, going through a local agent or broker), maybe you can convince them that either they’re closed on Saturday or, at least, the change wouldn’t have gone through until Monday.
As for collections, I’d start by contacting GMAC again. The one time I was mistakenly tossed into collections I contacted the creditor. I was surprised at how many people between the person that answered the phone and the supervisor that finally fixed the problem, as a matter of course, said ‘did you call the number on the letter you got?’. I always told them that I didn’t since it was a mistake, I didn’t owe them the money, I shouldn’t be in collections so I don’t want my voice on some recording accidentally admitting to something that can be held against me. Worse, some of them would tell me that I can juts call collections and explain the situation. I told them THEY can call collections and explain the situation. I have a friend that works at a bill collections agency, there’s literally nothing you can say to them that they won’t find a way to hold against you. The matter was eventually resolved, but even with the creditor admitting on the first call that it was totally their fault, it still took about a month and probably a dozen phone calls and as many letters to get cleared up.
For the record, you probably have 30 days from the date on the letter before your credit takes a hit. I’d call GMAC today. Either to start to make your case (as stated above) or to show that they don’t answer phones on Saturdays so you couldn’t have called.
If you can still get an official time sheet from work, that might help. It might not, but it can’t hurt.
Hmm, I’ve been called by a collection agency twice. Once, i actually did owe the money, or rather, my health insurer did. The collection agent was actually quite helpful in getting the insurer to pay. The other time they were actually looking for someone else, but the someone else had given them my phone number. It took a lot of time and persistence, but I convinced them to leave me alone.
At this point I’d also contact the state insurance commission, and let the insurer know that. They are no longer acting reasonably.
I like that idea, and since I don’t think it’s been said, document every call you make. Time, date, name of the person or people you spoke to if you can get it. That’s all helpful, people always say to do but I think a lot of people don’t actually do it. In my case, when I first called the creditor, they admitted the mistake and said they’d pull me out of collections right away. I called back a week later to check on the status. They had no record of me calling and certainly no record of being pulled out of collections (luckily this person also saw that it was an error on their side). When I mentioned when I called and who I talked to, the rep said ‘yeah, he doesn’t work here any more and he said a lot of things to a lot of people and didn’t write anything down’. Just the fact that I knew the name went a long way in establishing my credibility.
But, yeah, I’d get the ball rolling with the commissioner. Call and email and possibly send a snail mail letter just so you can CC GMAC and the collections agency.
ETA, from this link, you can place an online complaint and they will “Send your complaint to the insurance company and require them to provide an explanation for their actions” and “Tell the company to fix the problem or help you and the company communicate with one another”. I’d maybe call GMAC one more time, get ramped up to a supervisor, and suggest that if they can’t get you out of collections, you’ll ask the commissioner to step in and sort it out.
Furthermore, I wouldn’t talk to collections. Don’t respond to letters, hang up on phone calls that start with ‘this is an attempt to collect a debt’. When this is all said and done, if there is a hit on your credit report, you need to request that they remove it since it was their fault, not yours.
That would be my guess, although I can’t explain why you didn’t get a boost in regular premiums.
“Entering the wrong number” is something I have had to deal with on occasion over many years. I was once accused of passing a bad check in Florida (I’ve never been in Florida, and I’ve never passed a bad check) and had other mistakes made that could be traced to someone transposing a digit or two.
I have had various errors with my auto/home insurance that were bureaucratically-generated, but I have an excellent agent, and he is been able to clear anything up that I throw at him. After reading about your experience, I’m doubly glad to have him.
I recently got a new car, and the bureaucracy charged me an arm & a leg. One call to my agent – they were billing me for separate policies. Bundling homeowners, cars, and motorcycles gave me a substantial discount, y’bet.
Strangely, account numbers often don’t include the simplest of error-detection schemes. For example, a single check digit. Another one is to issue only every Nth possible number. If you only use every 6th number in series, 5/6 of randomly generated numbers will be invalid. Even if the clerk doesn’t compare the names as they should, these schemes will catch most of the errors right up front.
Is Wells Fargo in the insurance business or involved in any way?
Victory…maybe! (But probably).
After an hour and 38 minutes on the phone with a rep, a “specialist” (:rolleyes: ) and 2 supervisors, they figured out what happened. It’s kind of f*cked up if you ask me.
In July of 2015 I advised them that I put collector plates on the bike so the plate number had changed. I of course had to do that so it was reflected on the insurance cards.
I DID NOT in any way, shape, or form change the policy or the address where the bike was kept. Putting collector plates on the motorcycle did not change its risk factor or require any additional coverages (their words).
For whatever reason the rep I spoke to when I called to advise the plate # change put some kind of antique rider on it that isn’t usually put on vehicles but on household goods. Why she did this is beyond me or them as I did not request it. She then, “accidentally”, typed 2013 on the rider instead of 2015. Because I had already received my paperwork for 2015 (and, for whatever reason) they didn’t send me new paperwork for the attached rider, is why I never saw anything with the new rider on it. Because I cancelled in 2016 I never got paperwork for the change and wouldn’t have seen the change. The “system” then believed the change happened in 2013 and I owed and additional $200 dating back to then.
Clear as mud, right? :smack:
They put me on hold as they contacted the collection agency. I was told I’d get a letter within 21 working days confirming the account was no longer in collections. We’ll see. I have confirmation numbers and such, so if I don’t get that letter I’ll be following up quickly.
What they could not explain is why the first rep I spoke with in July of this year did not send me the paperwork and documents and such that he said he would, and instead sent the account straight to collections. Jerk! :mad:
That sounds promising.
Now, personally, I would have asked them to email/snail mail something to me confirming all of this and specifically stating that I have no debt with them, that I shouldn’t be in collections and that they’re going to remove me from collections (I know you said you’ll get one saying you’re removed, I’d want one saying that I’m going to be removed, even if the supervisor could just send a quick email along the lines of 'Dear PK, we’re sorry for the inconvenience, your balance with GMAC is $0.00 and we are sending notice to [collections agency] to have you removed from their system, you will receive a letter of confirmation when it’s taken care of").
Even though they said ‘within 21 days’. I’d call them next Wednesday ‘to check on the status’. When something similar happened to me, I called back a week later to check on the status and they had no idea at all what I was talking about. Didn’t even have a record of me calling.
Keep an eye on your credit report, I believe it can’t be touched for 30 days, but who knows when that clock started ticking. After this is all said and done, you should probably wait a few billing cycles and pull all of them, if there’s any red marks, either call them and (nicely) ask for them to be removed* or dispute them through the agency.
*Even if negative marks are from the collections agency, I’d still call GMAC, so that you’ll never have made any contact with the collectors.
Either way, at least you’ve made some progress.
Now it’s getting REALLY fucking weird!
I intended to give them the 21 days before I started calling and asking where my letter is stating the account was no longer in collections. As of Friday, October 7, 2016 I received nothing of the sort.
What I did receive today (yesterday, technically 10/07/2016) was a check from GMAC/National General Insurance was a check for $20.
WTF???
So I called them.
After 47 minutes on the phone (I was sitting in my underwear drinking beer watching TV, so it’s not like they interrupted the flow of my semi-retired day 
) they told me they are perplexed by why I would receive a check from them for $20.
Ready?
Wait for it.
They said I would be receiving another check in 10-14 days for an additional $229!
Wha…?
This has gone from me “owing” them $200 and having it go into collections to them saying they owe me $249.
Folks, in addition to me not owing them anything, in no way, shape, or form does this company owe me any money.
But according to the telephone call I had with them this afternoon, as well as the email they sent me 5 minutes later, I will be receiving a total of $249 from them! But they can’t tell me why because they don’t know why.
If any of you have stock in this company: DUMP IT!!! They have no idea what the fuck they are doing!
This is crazy! :eek: But I’d much rather they error on me getting checks than getting dings on my credit rating.
Don’t know if anyone is paying attention any more, but I’ll continue with the updates if nothing more than a warning about how fucked up this company is.
So I never received the 2nd check. This went from them trying to shake me down for money I didn’t owe them to me trying to shake them down for money they don’t owe me.
I spoke with a rep on the phone yesterday. He said the check was mailed out over 3 weeks ago to…get this…an address I haven’t lived at since 1989!:smack::eek::mad:
I moved from that address in '89, then moved again in '96, then moved again in '98. There is no reason anybody would mail me anything to that address from 1989! All of my mail, including insurance correspondences, has come to this address for 18 years.
This is just freaking crazy. I think their computer system might be Skynet and is starting out by ruining large companies! 
So now I’m told I’ll receive a newly issued check in 7 days at the correct address. I better! I don’t like waiting for money I’m not owed!
:shake:
I’m still following, this is hilarious. Please don’t forget to tell us how it ends!