I have been a customer of Allstate for 35 years, and have both auto and home owners. Our most recent bill was due on 8/25 and when my wife set it up to be paid online on 8/24, they said it would not get paid until 8/27. So also yesterday I get this form letter from Allstate saying my policy will be cancelled. I think this is stupid, but my wife is upset so I call some service center today and am told that yes, it has been cancelled because it was not paid by 12:01 am on 8/25, and that it cannot be reinstated. I talk to higher ups and eventually am told that I can pay by credit card and it will be reinstated. They act like they are being really nice to me. So what is up with this attitude? We always pay right before it is due, and nothing like this has ever happened before.
I am surely pissed and will cancel my 10K worth of business with them when I arrange for replacement.
A couple weeks ago I added a car to the auto part and was told that I was lucky I was with the “old company” because some discounts I got are no longer available. Evidently insurance companies routinely close books on accounts and that is called an old company. Could this attitude have something to do with wanting to make me leave this “old company” that has my business?
At least car insurance companies have to be competitive.
You want to see a REAL customer-hostile bureaucracy? Try to get medical insurance when you’re not getting it via your employer. I swear, Blue Cross did NOT want to take my money.
IMHO Answer: I think insurance companies have gotten tougher with late payments just because of the cost of grace periods and collections. And I don’t think this is just Allstate. I think all companies are doing the same no matter how good your payment record is.
Of all the companies in the world, insurance seems to be the one that would never suffer from collections. You didn’t pay, you aren’t insured. In fact, it is to their advantage. They can only accept late payment and give retro-active coverage when they know there has not been a claim. Then they get money without assuming risk. I don’t really seem where it costs them anything. And given the fact that I have always payed 6 months in advance, I don’t have much sympathy for their lost time value of money.
At least your auto insurance company did you the courtesy of telling you you’d been canceled. Others will cash your late check and not tell you you’re without insurance until you file a claim. (My friend had this experience.)
To be fair, they may return the payment if you ask for it, after denying your claim.
I can’t help the OP, but I did have a similar experience with an Insurance company.
I had home insurance with company A. Company B gave me a better price.
So I cancelled with Company A and paid the premium with Company B.
The next night I was burgled. So I claimed on Company B and naturally they were suspicious- get a policy and everything goes missing.
As it turned out, I had all the letters and faxes to provide a paper trail. And Company A, being slack, hadn’t cancelled my policy. So I was in fact, covered twice.
Don’t you have a local Allstate agent? If so, I’d call them and complain, including mentioning the 35-year customer relationship. But at the same time, it’s a reminder that big companies just don’t care how long you’ve been a customer. So shop around, and see if you can get better rates with another company. They’re not displaying any loyalty to you; why should you be loyal to them?
I do have an agent, but all this came down on Saturday, and they are closed for the weekend. While I realize that a new company might not be any better, I have every intention of switching companies. I have no doubt that I can find a better price. Maybe Geico. I like their commercials and I can always complain to Warren Buffett.
I second this. The agent may have more to lose than the company; your premium will no longer line his pockets, and it probably makes more of an impact to him than it does to a big company. He should be on your side.
I have had very good relationships with both Allstate and State Farm over many decades, and never had a problem (and I once had a large claim with Allstate that was paid without a hassle). But I always spoke to the company thru agents.
So I called to complain this morning and they said everything they did was mandated by law, essentially saying they were just following orders. While I was assured that insurance would be continuous (Maryland charges $150 per vehicle for any lapse in insurance). This whole thing sounds like a government generated scam to generate revenue. Anyway, now I will be looking for insurance that allows a grace period. I always pay my bills, but unforeseen things happen. Anyone have car insurance that comes with a grace period, or even late fees?
No, but my Allstate policy allows for partial payments, if you can’t pay the whole thing on time. But I just pay as soon as the bill arrives. (And I pay it online, using a credit card, so I can get a few frequent flyer miles out of it.)
Geico?!? <snerk giggle mmpf> If you like being jerked around and having your claims denied even more than you already are with Allstate, then, by all means, sign up with the fucking gecko. Be sure to bring your pen which has your blood for ink too.
Agreed. We have USAA (DFIL had been an Air Force officer for a while, enough to qualify him and his children), and they’re excellent for customer service, with very competitive rates.
I haven’t had any problems with Geico, and I’ve had to file one claim (granted only one) in my time with them. I also have excellent rates, but I have excellent driving history.
I was hit by a USAA insured driver and dealing with them as a victim, they were absolutely the best I can imagine. After having their estimator come to my work to see the car, they called me and asked when and where I would like to have my rental car delivered. At the time I did not even know that such a thing was possible, I never would have asked for it.
I liked them so much I tried to switch at the time, but you had to be a veteran or related to one, so, alas, I could not.
I also want to say that USAA is great. I gather that the clientele is also a cut above the rest. I was parallel parked on the street when a Colonel hit me, and he was very honorable about the whole thing and readily confessed that he hit my car and he has USAA blah blah blah. He could have gotten away with it as far as I know, but he didn’t. That says something, though I do know that a hit and run conviction would kill the career of an officer of such high rank, who is expected to be a paragon of honor.
Even then, getting them to believe you’re a 19 year old fitness instructor can be downright impossible.
Tell them “I had my doctor check my heart out once and it was fine,” and they will immediately interpret this to mean “HAS HEART TROUBLE THAT NEEDED TO BE SEEN BY A DOCTOR”, and either refuse to cover you entirely or charge you ridiculously high premiums because you’re a “risk”. (You can get them to “graciously waive” these ridiculous charges if you can track down the doctor who checked out your heart and have him sign a special form saying you’re heart is fine, but he’ll have to fill in the section for the diagnostic code EXACTLY RIGHT and they WON’T TELL YOU what that code needs to be.)