Complaint Review: Columbia Insurance Group - Columbia Missouri

In January, We contacted a local agent to obtain farm insurance. She came out and looked at our farm and we discussed options, I told her several things that we needed. She gave me a quote, took my check and said I should be getting a policy in the mail.

In March I re-contacted her as we still had not recieved a policy. I was told that she had not heard back from them but she would call them and get things going.

In April I recieved a bill due/cancelation notice. Basically saying that if I did not pay by the due date (not for another 2 weeks) I would be canceled. The first correspondence from them was actually a type of cancellation notice! To me, that was pretty odd in itself.

The next day I recieved the policy. It was not anything at all like I wanted and the price was 3 times higher then the quote. I had not heard this ever from the agent. In fact, the only time I heard from the agent was when I called them. Nothing was ever said about who it would be or a change in price, in fact until now I didn't even know if we were insured.

Since the invoice contained such a forcful statement, that I would be cancelled if I did not pay, I contacted another company to get the correct type policy and felt that they should go ahead and cancel me. Thats what they said they were going to do.

Last week I recieved a letter from them saying that my account balance has not been paid and since they have not heard from me (like I ever had the option...) they are assuming that I have no questions about this amount.

They are insisting that I pay them in the next 15 days or they will be turning me over to a bill collection agency.

What happened to the "cancellation" notice.

What happened to the policy that I should have recieved, not something that was 3 times higher and excluded everything I had requested? What happened to communication? Did they intentionally wait till the last minute to send me that bill? And then send it as a cancellation notice, was that intended to happen that way? I did not get the policy until the next day. Were they counting on me not knowing what I was getting before I paid the bill?

I called them when I got the last letter. It was only for 3 months and I had already given my agent a check way back in January which should have paid me up until May even at their exorbant prices)Anyway, the customer service woman that I spoke with was EXTREMELY rude, telling me that I should have called them and cancelled before I got another company. That I didn't have a right to do that and they were going to be turning me into a collection agency. I told her if they had to do that then I would have to contact the better bussiness bureau and let them know about their customer relations. She said "go ahead" and hung up on me.

Before dealing with this company, I would suggest that anyone thoroughly read their policy - before signing anything. This is not a company I will ever recommend to anyone. We have a good, useful policy now. I'm not sure what this little company was trying to prove with their methods, but they lost this customer. Don't they realize that customers ARE people? I know they have a Customer Service Dept because that who sent the letter and answered the phone. Didn't they ever learn how to deal with customers besides threatening them? And to think I called long distance to listen to them.

Maybe if they had had something that I was looking for, I might have dealt with it all differently, but they had nothing that was even slightly useful. Basically their policy excluded everything including storms, farm equipment, all animals, all equipment and all buildings more then 250 feet from our house. Our garage would be excluded as its 300 feet from our house. The closest barn is not less then 500.

Whoever heard of farm insurance that didn't cover anything? Especially at that extreme price. We were only insuring 4 acres. His mom's farm (which is in the same location) with 300+ acres 2 barns, a machine shed, tractor, and equipment and animals was $300 less then this one. I have an excellent record with previous insurance companies. My new husband only had vehicle insurance before this, but has not had any claims against him.

Debby

clarksville, Missouri
U.S.A.