ABOUT ME:
Hello, my name is Johnathan, I am a hard working American citizen residing in Miami FL a certified Fire Fighter and Paramedic on a waitlist in the county to be notified of placement when opens up. I go to school fulltime and have a 2 year old daughter and a 5 year old son that I support while working at the hospital as an Emergency Medical Technician One thing that I dont understand is why a BIG company such as State Farm would bully and take the opportunity to squash and pulverize me. Here is my recent experience dealing with State Farm and I hope a little voice like the one I am raising can one day help others.
PURCHASED ONLINE INSURANCE:
Its MARCH 22ND 2011 I was excited that I was finally able to purchase one of the cars of my dreams (a used 2002 Mercedes CL500). Previously having had Geico, I had no problems with them but my fiance and my best friend both have State Farm, so I decided that maybe I would give State Farm a try since insurance is insurance and they are one of the biggest insurance companies.
So, I jumped onto www.StateFarm.com I filled out all of the details and questions to the best of my abilities, I even entered my Drivers License so they could see my record transparently. After I finished getting a quote, I paid with my credit card over $320 and I printed out my Policy Binder with all of the policy information. Yey, that was easy!
Perfect, so I start to drive my car with confidence that I am fully covered I install my baby daughters baby seat and start driving my daily driver CL500 =)
IN COMES THE WEEKEND!
Its MARCH 26TH 2011 Its a beautiful day for the BEACH in MIAMI and I jump into the car with my baby daughter and my friend visiting from New York for the weekend; and we head out to Miami Beach.
ACCIDENT:
On the expressway on our way to the beach, I run over a a construction metal lid on the floor of the expressway since my car is on 22 inch wheels with very thin performance tires, it leaps and hits the floor hard and the wheel bends making me lose control, hitting a curb and initiating damage on the passenger side of my vehicle. I continue to move out of the busy Miami traffic and attempt to exit to the nearest exit with my car still completely out of wack the only thing on my mind racing up and down is my 2 year old daughters safety (asking her consistently if she is ok). Finally, I am able to pull out on the exit of 8th street, still with limited control and the car pulling to the right tremendously and get out to a**ess the damage.
I get on the phone with State Farm and get a claim number. I get the car towed to a body shop close to where I live and resolve the day as an unfortunate day but thanking God that at least everyone was ok.
POST ACCIDENT:
I advise the body shop of my claim number and have them contact state farm to deal with the accident. The body shop personnel contact State Farm and are advised that the adjuster would be there the following day. Everyday almost throughout the week they got the same response from State Farm, that the adjuster would be out the next day.
NO COVERAGE:
ON APRIL FOOLS DAY (APRIL 1st 2011) I get a call late afternoon (around 3pm) from the State Farm underwriting department cold heartedly advising me that my policy has been Rescinded (never even heard of that word in my life) and that they were not going to cover the claim nor pay for any damages on my car.
My mind goes into an endless spin and I lose my breath, asking but why?
1. I tell them that I had been driving for days assured I was insured
2. I tell them that I paid, have not received refund and that they took my money
3. I tell them that they issued me a policy number, constituting coverage
4. I tell them that its been well over 9 days and I have received no calls, nor emails, nor text message, nor smoke signal regarding any intention that I was not covered
How can this be? How can you have a system that issues policy numbers to drivers, asking them for pertinent information without instantly verifying or validating the caliber of driver you are looking for? Why does your system ask for a drivers license number and social security number if you are not instantly going to validate the driver as you need to instantly?
State Farm:
- Are you falsely insuring drivers on the road with no intention of paying for the claims?
- With what heart do you turn down hard working Americans days after they have been
authorized by your system?
LAME EXCUSE AND ACTIONS TAKEN:
So I ask and the underwriter tells me that after reviewing my driving history they have decided to rescind advising that the reason behind the decision was that I was guilty of a speeding ticket back in 2008 I say, IT CANT BE I have no recollection of being guilty of any traffic violations; so she tells me that there is nothing else to be done, gives me no more information or detail and plainly says they are not covering my claim and to have a good day.
COMPLETELY CONCERNED after such a call, I check the Miami-Dade county clerk .gov site and I run my drivers license through it. I look at my history and see that I have not been deemed guilty of any traffic violations and that the even the last Adjucation Withheld was in 2005(over 6 years ago).
I call back State Farm and advise this fact they send me on a wild goose chase telling me to go and talk to the Agent to which my policy has been assigned: MATTHEW WESSLE 14653 SW 42nd Street Miami FL 33175 305-552-7003
I speak to my assigned agency pleading my case and letting them know that I filled the questionnaire to the best of my abilities and that the underwriter from State Farm told me such news. The agent says, too bad there is nothing we can do you were not truthful online State Farm made a decision so thats too bad I WAS APPALLED AND DISGUSTED why are do Agencies even exist??? Are they not there to stand up for their clients and gather facts aside from gathering money for their own benefit??? If I am assigned to their agency for service, how can it be that they would not stand up and plea my case to the higher up and ups of the BIG corporation???? They left me to lye and die alone on this one
I do research and call 800-879-2435 and speak to Rob Rose (a big honcho at State Farm) and plea my case he says he would look into it and call me back he calls me back and tells me to contact my Agency as they have information I again call and speak to my Agency and they again contact underwriting which says the same thing again The agency again tells me its out of their hands and that there is nothing they can do.
STATE FARM:
1. YOU INSURED ME ONLINE
2. YOU TOOK MY MONEY
3. YOU GAVE ME A POLICY NUMBER
4. YOU TOOK MY DRIVERS LICENSE ONLINE
5. YOU ENCOURAGED ME TO DRIVE AN EXPENSIVE CAR ON THE ROAD WITH MY LITTLE DAUGHTER IN IT WITH NO INTENTION OF TRULY COVERING ME
6. YOU SEND ME NO NOTIFICATION, EMAIL, PHONE CALL REGARDING ANY VERIFICATION OR DENIAL OF COVERAGE
7. YOU GIVE ME A CLAIM NUMBER THE DAY OF ACCIDENT
8. YOU LEAD THE BODY SHOP ON ADVISING YOU WERE SENDING ADJUSTER
10. YOU CALL THE INSURED 10 DAYS LATER AND TELL THEM AFTER AN ACCIDENT THAT YOU WILL NOT COVER THEM BECAUSE OF SOME LOOP HOLE YOU HAVE DECIDED TO FIND.
THIS IS UNETHICAL, IMMORAL, DISGUSTING, APPALLING, MEAN (IT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL!)
YOU STATE FARM
ARE A BIG BULLY!!! (COMING FROM A PERSON THAT WILL WORK TO SAVE LIVES FOR THE REST OF HIS CAREER; "I JUST DON'T KNOW HOW YOUR COMPANY CAN ENJOY TAKING THE LIVES, WILL AND SPIRIT OF PEOPLE FOR GRANTED IN ORDER FOR YOU TO MAKE AND SAVE A FEW BUCKS..." )
1. DOES ANYONE HAVE AN ANSWER ON TO HOW I CAN RESOLVE THIS?
2. CAN ANYONE RECOMMEND A GOOD LAWYER TO TALK TO ABOUT THIS?
3. SHOULDN'T THEY BE RESPONSIBLE COVERAGE UP UNTIL THEY NOTIFIED ME ON APRIL 1ST?