Allstate Insurance poor service and subsequent cancellation
3-4-2019: spoke to Antonio Martinez about an Auto Insurance Policy for 2 cars. After discussions, agreed to buy the policy. E-signed documents and an auto payment was deducted from checking account.
I was told to wait a day and then cancel my previous policy.
3-5-2019: cancelled my previous policy
3-5-2019: Received policy documents from assigned agent Yvonne Lau
A few days later, I received a reminder to pay a second installment. I was under the impression that the 6 month premium had already been paid. I called the agency and had a nasty customer service experience with Nathalie Galvan. I asked her to have Yvonne call me back. I did not receive a call from Yvonne so I sent an email to her. I received an auto reply acknowledging my email. Another day no return call from Yvonne. So I called the Corporate office. I was told nothing could be done about the full premium payment discount because a week had passed since the inception of the policy.
Service is very important to me and since the agent Yvonne Lau had still not returned my call, I decided to shop for another carrier.
When I received the proof of experience letter from Allstate, it showed a lapse between policies. The premium was deducted on 3-5-19 and the ID cards showed a date of 3-11-19. I tried to reach out to the agent Yvonne Lau again and received no response. So I called the corporate office again. I was told that since I had agreed to an ‘early signing’ discount, the policy was delayed by a week. I said I did not recall this ever being mentioned to me. Corporate was adamant in their stance. I now find out that the salesperson had not included this ‘early signing’ discount but rather it was the agent Yvonne Lau that did it.
I was worried about a scam and Allstate being involved in it at all levels. I cancelled my policy. Agent Yvonne Lau has still not contacted me.
By the way, her agency does not have a 5 star review, as I was told by the corporate office. She has a 2.3 star review. Upon reading some of the reviews, I do believe this practice is so when the policy comes up for renewal, the premium would go up considerably.
In 2008, Bank of America was involved in a litigation because of lack of communications between departments. We all know how this affected the financial industry, levied fines and so forth. I believe Allstate should be cognizant of these facts and do their due diligence. Regulators will eventually see through these scams and then there will be hell to pay!