Archive for May, 2008
I want my money! - Mercury of California
31 May 2008
I have been using Mercury Insurance for about four years. In 1998 my car was damaged in a minor wreck and it took much longer than the original estimate for the body shop picked by Mercury to complete the repairs.
Then in late 2001 my car was totaled in a wreck. Luckily it wasn’t my fault and no one was hurt, but now it has been over a month and I haven’t been paid. The initial investigation took a long time for no good reason, then I to fill out several rounds of paperwork with long delays in between. I had to deal with three different people at Mercury and none of them had any idea what the others were doing. The staff I spoke to were always polite, but it seems like the company’s internal processes are set up in an incompetent manner.
Considering that I have always paid on time and never had an at-fault accident or any claims for other vehicle damage I think Mercury should have treated me a lot better.
Difficult Claim, Bad Service - Commerce
31 May 2008I’ve been a driver in Massachusetts for many years and after joining AAA, I decided to try out Commerce Insurance.
I am with commerce insurance for more than 2 years and in April, my car was vandalized, one day before my overseas business trip. I decided to make the report and get my car towed to a local body shop for repairs.
When I was back from my business trip, I called the body shop and check on the status on the repairs. I was appalled to discover that the adjuster for commerce, Lester Riley gave an unrealistic estimate, and that the body shop had to contact him for every item that was damaged but costs are much lower than estimate.
Tags: commerce insurance, commerce insurance company, Insurance CompanyDiscriminatory to Minority Groups Policy Is Predatory To Handicapped - Nationwide - Auto
31 May 2008As I write this review I am still quite ill from injuries related to an accident where their insured, was at fault, and was covered by Nationwide Insurance. My vehicle a 2005 Special Construction was viewed by Nationwide Insurance after the accident on September 19, 2007. The body shop where it was located had all the information; including a copy of the title and modifications related to my handicap. The employee of Nationwide Insurance made negative comments regarding my situation, handicap, and failed to collect the accurate information regarding the vehicle. Nationwide sent me a review of vehicle that does not exist. The vehicle is repaired and Nationwide has refused payment. Nationwide wants to send someone else to evaluate the damage; it is finished, too late! I am a retired police officer and have never experienced such negative response to my physical impairment. Nationwide is on your side; not if you are a minority. If looking for insurance Nationwide would not be an option. If I was poor the actions of Nationwide would have crushed me. Based on their official response to this situation Nationwide is a company that avoids corporate responsibility. I am more then offended by Nationwide employee comments which make me seem sub human. I am college educated and certified to teach college level; I have little time for Nationwide and it’s predatory policy. I am a human being treat me like one. Nationwide fails when it comes to minorities they try to exploit life situations to their corporate advantage. I would never option to have any services from Nationwide Insurance!
Tags: nationwide insuranceGood but not cheap - Progressive Group - Auto
31 May 2008I had Progressive Auto insurance from September 2002 through February 2003. I found that actually getting the insurance was extremely easy over the phone and I got it the day I bought my vehicle. After six months I went to www.insweb.com and found other carriers that were significantly cheaper than Progressive. I found the sales people prompt and friendly and the insurance options easy to understand. I purchased Texas minimum coverage. My Texas proof of insurance paperwork came about a week later and follow up letters were sent to me with notices of expiring coverage, etc. Unfortunately I did not take advantage of the web site where they will provide other insurance quotes as well as their own. Fortunately I did not have a claim during my coverage. Overall Progressive was fine but not spectacular.
Tags: insurance quoteNot in such good hands.. - State Farm Group - Auto
31 May 2008Finally, a forum to discuss my dissatisfaction with State Farm. I’m a 20 year old male with NO driving blemishes to date. Let me just give you a short outline of the problems I’ve had. First off, when I started driving, I was on my parents account. Somehow they construed this as "Son is main driver on fathers 1998 Mustang Cobra Convertible" Being that we had automatic withdrawal from the checking account for payment, they soon got upset that the $950 a month wasn’t being paid. Finally we got that straightened out, and because of this, my parents cancelled the account and went to another insurance company. I opened my own account with State Farm, thinking it was a one time mistake. Boy was I wrong. I have a 1994 Geo Metro coupe.. Blue Book value of under $2000. Just about the cheapest car, insurance-wise, that you can buy. Well they have the nerve to charge me $115 a month. And that’s just for liability! As if that wasn’t bad enough, I have had 3 occassions recently where they’ve raised my rates for unknown reasons..not even they can give me the reasons. And because of this, and I was tired of getting my checking account over-charged, I told them I would bring them a check every month. They REFUSED to grant this, even after numerous mistakes on their part, unless I agreed to pay an extra TWO MONTHS in advance. Needless to say, my account will be gone from their money grubbing hands before too long!
Tags: Insurance CompanyLike a Good Neighbor State Farm IS There - State Farm Group - Auto
31 May 2008State Farm has been a daily word in my household my entire life. My parents, and Grandparents all used this wonderful company. Thus, I thought oh they must be the best.
Now, that I am married, and my husband and I have our own policies with our own agent: we are truly impressed! I have called on State Farm in my time of need several times, and they have always been there with a smile.
In fact, just last week my agent called me at home, on a Sunday evening just to make sure things were going okay with a claim I had. Well, they were and I was as pleased as I could be.
No tag for this post.State Farm Auto - Good Insurance, But Expensive - State Farm Group - Auto
31 May 2008I’ve had my auto insurance with State Farm since 1974; it’s covered me well through the four cars I’ve owned in that time, and all those I rented. Almost all of my experience with the company has been very positive; the only negative experience I’ve had, and it’s significant, has been the cost of the coverage.
No tag for this post.Vetsmart - Not really so smart - VetSmart
31 May 2008
Ihave 2 female cats - Eddie & Buttons that I have had since they were just a few weeks old. On Oct. 10, 1996 I took Eddie in to Vetsmart because she was limping, seemed to have a hard time using the litter box and had pain in her stomach. Let me add that before I brought her in to Vetsmart I had been giving her Petromalt. The doctor who treated Eddie did a blood workup and took x-rays of her abdomen. She recommended I put Eddie on a bland diet of boiled chicken & rice, and continue giving her the Petromalt. Two days later I rushed Eddie to the local emergency clinic. They did an exam on her and without charging us nearly $200 for unnecessary tests, they determined Eddie was constipated. She was given an enema and was feeling fine by the following day. The vet at the clinic told me however, that he was very surprised that the vet at Vetsmart had not already done this. He said it would have saved us money and our cat a few days of pain. I went home and requested Vetsmart give me copies of Eddie’s records. I was surprised to see in the notes that “there is formed stool in the colon but there is no distention to suggest constipation.” The date on these notes was Oct. 14, 1996. The previous page dated Oct. 10 stated, “distention was difficult to assess”. So, which is it? Difficult to assess or none at all? The real question though was how did they assess anything at all on Oct. 14? Eddie was taken to the emergency clinic on Oct. 12. She never was taken back to Vetsmart following the enema so they couldn’t have assessed anything on Oct. 14 without seeing her.
This wouldn’t be my last problem with Vetsmart however. On Jan. 20, 1998 I brought Buttons in to be examined. She had been coughing for about a week and I thought that she had a fur ball that she was having trouble getting up. I had been giving her Petromalt every day and it wasn’t helping. The vet came in, asked a few questions and then told me to start giving the Petromalt twice a day. For this I was charged almost $50. Three days later Buttons and I were back. She was getting worse. X-rays and blood work was taken. She was diagnosed with bronchitis or asthma. I was charged $250, $50 of which was for a radiograph interpretation, which I never received. Five days later on Jan. 28 Buttons was brought in again because she was getting much worse. The vet barely even looked at Buttons. She listened to her breathing and left the room. When she came back she prescribed a different medication and I was sent home. On Feb. 4, I brought Buttons back again because she was not improving. They suggested more x-rays and a teeth cleaning. I realize that sometimes bad breath is an underlying symptom of other health problems. But, putting a cat under anesthesia to clean her teeth when she is already having difficulty breathing is not safe. The 2nd set of x-rays showed something, which I was told, was not in the 1st set. Of course, I wouldn’t know this since I was never shown the 1st set. The vet said she felt Buttons had cancer growing at an alarming rate. I was told I would probably have to euthanize Buttons. She said she was going to send the x-rays to a radiologist for interpretation by no later than the following morning and the results would be back by no later than Feb. 6. Well, guess what? The following afternoon I called and was told that the results were not in yet but that a vet would call me back. The following day I received a call saying that the x-rays weren’t back yet due to bad weather. Bad weather? I live in CA. so this is probably the lamest excuse I’ve ever heard. After hanging up it occurred to me that I should at least find out if there were anything I should be doing for Buttons in the meantime. I called back and was surprised to find out that the x-rays had not even been sent to the radiologist yet. I was told that this could be cancer, GROWING at an ALARMING rate. Two days had already passed, the weekend was coming up and this supposed “bad weather” was preventing the x-rays from being sent back (although they hadn’t been “sent” to begin with). You’d think that time would have been crucial. I decided it was time for a second opinion. The following day, Feb. 7 I took Buttons to a wonderful cats only clinic. Let me backtrack for a minute. When I called to set up the appointment the new vet asked me to bring in the x-rays from Vetsmart for them to look at. Shouldn’t have been a problem right? WRONG! I was told that the 2nd set of x-rays had already been sent to the radiologist. What happened to the bad weather? And, why send the 2nd set without the first? I said that was fine, I would just show them the 1st set. I was told that would not be possible because a courier would have to transport the x-rays and since they used a different courier service than the new vet used it would not be possible. I was told I could however, get copies of the x-rays made at $15 per slide. They would take over a week to be copied. I needed them for the next day. I told the vet at Vetsmart that I would courier the x-rays myself. Can you believe she argued with me for over an hour about this? I paid for the x-rays. I have every right to be able to take those x-rays to another vet to look at. Finally she told me that I could come and pick them up with the promise of returning them. But, she was going to tell EVERYONE that the x-rays were MY responsibility because she was not going to lose her veterinary license just for me. Huh?
I picked up the x-rays and you won’t believe what was in the envelope. Both the 1st and 2nd sets. Funny, I thought the 2nd set had been sent out to the radiologist already?
Anyway, to make an already long story shorter it turned out that Buttons has a hernia - a birth defect she was born with which puts her heart in a slightly different place than it should be and she has an extra layer of fat around it which pushes on her lungs making it difficult to breath. She also has asthma, which is made worse due to the hernia. This explains why on every single exam report done by Vetsmart that under the category “heart” the box that said “other abnormalities noted” was always checked. I had asked them about that box being checked though and their reply was that a) probably a mistake, box checked by accident or b) was probably meant to be checked off on someone else’s pet, a computer error caused it to be checked off on my pet instead. Computers don’t make errors - people do. And, assuming that it had been checked by mistake what other mistakes and on how many other pets were being made? Vetsmart is nothing more than a “fast-food” veterinary service. I will never take my pets there again and I recommend to anyone I know who has pets to avoid them like the plague. If I had believed them rather than getting a second opinion, my cat Buttons would have been euthanized for something that was not even medically wrong with her. I still have both her and Eddie today. They are 17 years old, happy, mostly healthy and have a wonderful, knowledgeable, loving veterinarian whom I trust with their lives. Vetsmart should have been named Vetstupid as far as I’m concerned. I don’t recommend them to anyone unless of course, you don’t love your pets.
AAA Ain’t Cheap! At Least They Don’t Give Cheap Service! - AAA - Auto
31 May 2008In the last 5 years my wife & I have been customers of the Auto Club of SoCal (ACSC), the only negative aspect we call recall is the fact that AAA auto insurance doesn’t come cheap. We’ve got nearly every discount that can be applied to our policy… Except for an occasional traffic ticket, we’ve got got driving records… Yet, not much of lowering adjustments have been seen here. But, putting out more for AAA begets getting more for your money. I can recall an accident where I was ’savagely’ rear-ended in an intersection by a steaming pick-up driver… Tremendous damage was clearly visible in the GMC P/Up’s front end after it barreled into my shinny German marvel’s rear end, w/c sustained little damage from the accident. After exchanging driver, vehicle & insurance info with the opposing motorist, AAA immediately went to work FOR me from day 1! They contracted the best collision center in town specializing in that German marque… The next day, a rental car was ready for me at no cost to me, cash allowance to spare, appointments for a physical (w/c I didn’t require ‘coz I didn’t find it necessary), my car was checked into the shop, constant updates reeled in periodically that day regarding settlements between AAA and the insurance of the at-fault… The following day, all necessary reimbursements were funded between both carriers, all legalities settled, additional cash allowances bestowed upon me for taking 2 half-days off from work, updates on my car’s condition… The next day, an upgrade in my rental car again at no cost, more reimbursements to me for taking a whole day off work to visit my car in shop and take care of paperwork, extra $$$ to spare for gasoline & (my own) PCS phone usage & eating out… A full 96 hours after the accident, my car’s ready! With a new rear bumper! A new trunk lid! New plate frames! Detailed and looking brand-spanking-new! I drove into the shop that 4th day after the accident and was met by the shop’s foreman and my AAA rep who both treated me like royalty… They took the rental car’s keys from me and passed it to another associate who drove it away… Gave me my keys and requested to ride shotgun with me while I test drove my reborn car… I scrutinized only to realize that my car drives better that ever! Not only was I serviced well, but my metal baby was given an extra touch or two or three as well. I didn’t have to drive home, too! My AAA agent personally chauffeured me in my ‘new’ carriage back home where he had a chauffeur of his own waiting for him. I was even offered dinner! I declined… Had a wife & child waiting with a scrumptious meal already. Took a raincheck instead. But anyway, Boy! Did they have style? AAA & all its involved contractors are pros in good service! Since then, AAA/ACSC has been continuously working to lower my rates, extend my coverage, offering a little extra "polishing" here & there at hardly any cost to me or my family. Aren’t they just great!
No tag for this post.Saving Cash! - USAA Group - Auto
31 May 2008Ever since I joined the military I have used USAA to serve my auto insurance needs. I just took them for granted because I liked the fact that they catered to the military. However, I started getting some prices quotes from other carriers and I couldn’t believe how much money I was really saving.
Even the so called Progressive couldn’t come close to what I was getting through USAA.
I also have a very good time getting through to a "live" person quickly and don’t have to spend much time on hold. They have gained me as a lifetime customer.
No tag for this post.