Complaint Review: The Hartford Financial Services Inc.

Recently, my auto insurance was about to expire.  While I planned to renew with my current provider, State Farm, I decided to run some quotes.  Being an AARP member. I have been constantly barraged with mailings from The Hartford that they could save me money and that I should run a quote.  I had already tried Geico and found them close (less than $20) to State Farm.

Next, I called The Hartford. I read off the coverage from my current State Farm policy to rep, for which I am paying $406 annually. I did not tell her how much I'm paying to State Farm and waited to here what kind of discount The Hartford might offer. expecting that my AARP membership would possibly allow me to save some money. However, she came back with a quote that was shocking. I could not believe what I had heard, so I asked to try it again. But she came up with the same figure, $1,056, for the Hartford! I also tried to run the quote online myself, just to confirm, and sure enough, the same rate was calculated.

Of course, I wasn't going to switch insurance. However, I began to think that maybe I'm not the only one being overcharged, that The Hartford could have a million or more AARP members getting their auto insurance from them, that the rip-off could run into the $100s of millions, and that AARP was knowingly or unknowingly participating in a scam with The Hartford.

I lodged a complaint online with AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins and received an email inquiring further.  I replied with copies of the two quotes attached. The rep then said I would be receiving a call within about a week.

In the meantime I filed complaints with the Ohio Department of Insurance, which wasn't very sympathetic, and the Federal Trade Commission.  Not long after I received a call from The Hartford.  It was insulting.  All the rep did was try to explain away the difference with hollow justifications and finally in frustration I hung.

When the AARP rep called sometime after that, she was apologetic and asked me what I wanted. I told her I want her to check with the Hartford as to why they were going to charge me so much more than their competitors.  In the meantime, I found the number to the executive office of AARP and talked to a receptionist for the CEO (she said was substituting for the regular person).  The phone call did not go well but a week later, the lady who was going to follow-up with The Hartford called. This time she was not apologetic but only made excuses for The Hartford, much like The Hartford rep who had called. I pressed her on the issue but she could not give me a valid reason why The Hartford was charging so much and I hung up on her when she wouldn't admit that there might be a problem.  

So, I called the executive offices again and this time found a woman who was more open to my complaint and agreed that this the rate was inappropriate and that it potentially tarnished the reputation of AARP.  The call ended with a promise that someone from AARP would get back to me.  And that's where it sits now.

I should add that my own insurance company told me that they had heard similar complaints about The Hartford, as did the second lady in AARP's executive offices.  The Hartford's shenanigans need to be investigated and I believe it is possible that there is collusion from AARP, if not from the organization than one or more of its management executives.  Mitch Stevens, AARP's senior vice-president for financial services, has most recently worked on the contract with The Hartford.