Time for Another Open Letter
This is an open letter to Mr. Edward B. Rust, Jr. He is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company as well as the other family of companies under the State Farm umbrella. His father and grandfather led the company before him.
Dear Mr. Rust,
I've been a loyal client of your company for more than a quarter-century. I've been extremely happy and satisfied with the service and support I've received throughout that time, until now. Now, thanks to your company's inexcusable bungling of my coverage and a loss claim, I will be finding another insurance carrier just as soon as I have finished with this claim and purchased a replacement vehicle.
I purchased a disability policy, auto insurance and renter's insurance from your company back in 1989. Through May of 2010 I'd been involved in three automobile accidents, none of which were my fault. One of them involved me being rear-ended by another client of State Farm and your adjusters worked together to make that the easiest claim situation I'd ever seen. The other two were also handled extremely well by your people. In May of 2010 I fell ill and was hospitalized and unable to drive again until late 2011/early 2012. At that time I called the office of the broker I'd used throughout those 20 plus years and asked that my coverage be reinstated, with lower maximum coverage levels but with every other item being the same. I assumed that since I'd always had rental car coverage in case of an accident, I was getting that coverage once again.
Then in May of this year I was involved in a solo accident where my car became a total loss. No problem I thought, State Farm is there, just like a good neighbor. Except you weren't. Your claims department steered me away from where I wanted to take my car, to one of your "preferred" vendors. It was over a month before I was advised that my car was a total loss. Paperwork was sent to me via UPS overnight and received on a Friday. I completed all of it, including going to the body shop and releasing my car for salvage the following Monday and tracking data shows your offices received the signed paperwork on Tuesday.
Thursday I got a call from someone telling me that the paperwork your people had sent to me had the wrong VIN number on it, and that it would have to be redone. I was assured I'd receive it on Friday. Well, Friday has arrived and I do not have the paperwork. I suppose if I'm lucky, I'll get it by Monday, you'll get it by Tuesday and if I'm really, really lucky I might have a check by a week from today so I can go out and purchase a replacement vehicle. I'm out at least one more week of costs to continue renting a car because of the bumbling nincompoops who somehow manage to screw up a VIN number on paperwork.
I have to wonder, considering that it appears one of the primary sources of automobile insurance company profits is the "float" you get on claims payments you hold in limbo from the time the claim is made until it is paid, if such errors aren't encouraged to increase the earnings from the float period. Is State Farm profiting a bit more on the backs of its customers like me by a serious of errors that extend that float period?
Now let's talk about that rental car a bit more. Your preferred vendor sent me to Enterprise Rent-A-Car with promises of a "great discount rate." That rate turned out to be $25.99 per day and because it was through the vendor you sent me to, it doesn't transition to the weekly rate like an ordinary rental would. So rather than paying four weeks of weekly rental at $125 per week, I'm out an extra $95 a week for four weeks. Between you and Enterprise (who will get a separate letter from me announcing the end of a business relationship lasting more than 20 years), you've cost me well over $500 extra in rental car costs during this very stressful period.
While I'm aware you hold an MBA and JD from SMU and don't need me to dumb down my language, I am going to do so anyway. Your claims department sucks like a Dyson vacuum. It could be a textbook study for anyone attempting to demonstrate the validity of the Peter Principle.
After I deal with the fallout caused by this debacle of your making, I may well begin to investigate if this kind of error isn't just an aberration, but a systemic problem that is lining your wallet.
Good day,
Dear Mr. Rust,
I've been a loyal client of your company for more than a quarter-century. I've been extremely happy and satisfied with the service and support I've received throughout that time, until now. Now, thanks to your company's inexcusable bungling of my coverage and a loss claim, I will be finding another insurance carrier just as soon as I have finished with this claim and purchased a replacement vehicle.
I purchased a disability policy, auto insurance and renter's insurance from your company back in 1989. Through May of 2010 I'd been involved in three automobile accidents, none of which were my fault. One of them involved me being rear-ended by another client of State Farm and your adjusters worked together to make that the easiest claim situation I'd ever seen. The other two were also handled extremely well by your people. In May of 2010 I fell ill and was hospitalized and unable to drive again until late 2011/early 2012. At that time I called the office of the broker I'd used throughout those 20 plus years and asked that my coverage be reinstated, with lower maximum coverage levels but with every other item being the same. I assumed that since I'd always had rental car coverage in case of an accident, I was getting that coverage once again.
Then in May of this year I was involved in a solo accident where my car became a total loss. No problem I thought, State Farm is there, just like a good neighbor. Except you weren't. Your claims department steered me away from where I wanted to take my car, to one of your "preferred" vendors. It was over a month before I was advised that my car was a total loss. Paperwork was sent to me via UPS overnight and received on a Friday. I completed all of it, including going to the body shop and releasing my car for salvage the following Monday and tracking data shows your offices received the signed paperwork on Tuesday.
Thursday I got a call from someone telling me that the paperwork your people had sent to me had the wrong VIN number on it, and that it would have to be redone. I was assured I'd receive it on Friday. Well, Friday has arrived and I do not have the paperwork. I suppose if I'm lucky, I'll get it by Monday, you'll get it by Tuesday and if I'm really, really lucky I might have a check by a week from today so I can go out and purchase a replacement vehicle. I'm out at least one more week of costs to continue renting a car because of the bumbling nincompoops who somehow manage to screw up a VIN number on paperwork.
I have to wonder, considering that it appears one of the primary sources of automobile insurance company profits is the "float" you get on claims payments you hold in limbo from the time the claim is made until it is paid, if such errors aren't encouraged to increase the earnings from the float period. Is State Farm profiting a bit more on the backs of its customers like me by a serious of errors that extend that float period?
Now let's talk about that rental car a bit more. Your preferred vendor sent me to Enterprise Rent-A-Car with promises of a "great discount rate." That rate turned out to be $25.99 per day and because it was through the vendor you sent me to, it doesn't transition to the weekly rate like an ordinary rental would. So rather than paying four weeks of weekly rental at $125 per week, I'm out an extra $95 a week for four weeks. Between you and Enterprise (who will get a separate letter from me announcing the end of a business relationship lasting more than 20 years), you've cost me well over $500 extra in rental car costs during this very stressful period.
While I'm aware you hold an MBA and JD from SMU and don't need me to dumb down my language, I am going to do so anyway. Your claims department sucks like a Dyson vacuum. It could be a textbook study for anyone attempting to demonstrate the validity of the Peter Principle.
After I deal with the fallout caused by this debacle of your making, I may well begin to investigate if this kind of error isn't just an aberration, but a systemic problem that is lining your wallet.
Good day,
posted by me at 8:41 PM
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