Complaint Review: Michael J. McLean Agency Inc. - Lake Mary Florida

My attempt to upgrade my insurance policy ended up with a cancelled policy, a forced insurance, unnecessary additional forced coverage at $3000 on a secondary mortgage and months of hassle with trying to fix a huge mistake and gain a new policy. McLean Insurance Agency FAILED to communicate and provide the customer service promised.

Every year for over 3 years (documented by numerous faxes) I have had to personally update my insurance coverage with my mortgage companies. I have had to call, fax and email to ensure I have coverage listed with my mortgage companies. I called the 3rd year to ensure that McLean Insurance had all my update info and that it would not allow this to happen again. (But it did.)

During that time, I spoke with Lisa to get assistance on a better policy and umbrella coverage for my rental property. I fully explained that I was not living in the country. I would need her assistance via phone, email or fax on any insurance communication or follow-up needs. She was using an inspector to obtain this new policy. She assured me that she would personally take care of this and email or call (stateside number - VOIP) with anything necessary. So I upgraded to a new policy.

The new policy was rejected as the property needed some electrical upgrades and new water heaters. This would not have been a problem to fix. However, I never received notice from McLean Insurance company as promised on the new policy. The policy was canceled without my knowledge because they did not call or email as promised.

Thus, my mortgage companies automatically placed a forced insurance policy my 1st mortgage (with much lower coverage) and an additional unnecessary forced policy for an unbelievable $3000 on my 2nd mortgage - which is NOT REQUIRED AT ALL.

I received notice from my mortgage company via phone and email to send an update of my insurance policy as I was refinancing. I contacted McLean Agency's Lisa to have my policy information resent and updated. (Exactly what she had promised that I would no longer have to do.)

At this point, Lisa claimed to send the new policy (which was actually NOT in effect) info twice that week. (Stating that the machine was having problems...) However, she never forwarded more than the cover sheet information when I requested personal copies of her communication to my mortgage companies.

ALSO, at this time she never stated that the policy had been cancelled. How was she sending the up-to-date policy information on my behalf for a policy that did not exist any longer? If it was cancelled, then there would be no information to update...

It was only via an online chat with the new insurance company that I was informed the new policy had been cancelled. This was obtained while I was attempting to get the new policy info and solve the lack of communication from insurance agency to mortgage company problem once again on my own behalf.

When my mail was forwarded several months later, I received the formal mailed messages from my mortgage company and the insurance company that my property no longer had coverage provided by McLean Agency.

After a lapse of insurance, I was automatically required to take a forced policy for a few months before being able to acquire normal insurance again. All at higher prices and excessive paperwork and inspections. Meanwhile, I was in the process of refinancing my house and this added more work to that process also.

I used McLean Insurance Agency for my home prior to this rental property. I had personally met Mike at an Orlando Chamber of Commerce networking session in Orlando. Overall, I had used his agency for about 9 years. So when I was unhappy, I contacted the office manager Sharon and Mike. Mike never responded to my complaint. Sharon basically did the basics with minimal effort to correct the errors made, find a better policy on my behalf or even keep my account.

This agency was a HUGE LET DOWN! It cost me thousands of dollars upfront in new policies (some unnecessary), months of paper chasing for refunds, new policies, etc. I had approached them for a better policy with higher premiums which should have been to their benefit. Instead, I got a huge headache!

My policy lapsed due to their unprofessionalism. They did not contact me as promised when the policy was rejected. I have had to endure many months of fixing this. A simple phone call, fax or email would have prevented this. The fact that I received no assistance in remedying their mistake was HIGHLY UNPROFESSIONAL.