I can’t even count how many hours I’ve spent in the past year arguing about some BS charge, trying to get something repaired under warranty, or even trying to redeem an valid coupon that was sent to me. I’ve reached a point where I’m exhausted in trying to fight these kinds of things but I feel like I can’t just let any of it go. Sometimes I wish I could hire a Karen, it would be 100% worth it.
I was rear ended a couple of months back on the freeway. 100% not at-fault and I have the dashcam video to prove it. Anyways, I submit a claim through my insurance and I specifically asked what I should do about a rental car while mine was in the shop. I was told over the phone that if I was able I could book a rental car on my own and just submit the receipt, they will reimburse me and recover damages from the other driver’s insurance.
So, that’s what I did. I booked the rental car and after I returned it I submitted the receipt. A few hours after uploading the receipt through the claims portal, They called to inform me they weren’t going to reimburse me for the rental, and that if I wanted it to be paid back I had to submit a claim directly through the other driver’s insurance. So, I gave them a call.
The other driver’s insurance told me they absolutely weren’t going to pay for my rental car since they were already way over the property damage minimums on the policy.
So… I guess now I have to file in court against the driver directly and probably wait years to get reimbursed from someone who probably has no money to pay me anyway, just racking up more and more in court fees compounding my losses. Any attempted conversation with my insurance about how they outright lied to me just goes to an echo chamber. Emails get no response, Voicemails go unanswered, I even let my agent know about this and he followed up on my behalf. Nothing, no communication or response at all. They’re just hoping I give up it seems.
State farm customer for 15 years, no claims, no tickets, always paid premiums on-time and in full. This was the first time I so much as called them. Right out the gate I get screwed over. Time to find another provider.
This is why I always record calls with major corporations when I’m talking about money. I’ve never had to actually resort to sending them recordings, but I have used the “Well, every call made from this phone is recorded, so I can go back and pull the recording of what I’ve been told if you don’t have it in your system” line a couple times.
What do you use to do this?
I run those calls through my own phone system, which I host on a system in my basement. There are a couple main options out there, I used FreePBX for a while but now I’m using 3CX. They don’t require a ton of computing power-- mine runs on a virtual server inside a larger system, but you could run one off of an inexpensive thin client from eBay if you wanted to.
I get my phone number from VoIP.ms, which is pretty inexpensive and has worked well for me for years.
For a phone, you can either use a soft phone (an app on your computer or smartphone), or use an older IP phone off eBay (which is what I do since I also have a Plantronics wireless headset that connects to it).
It’s pretty easy to get started, but you do need to make sure you’re configuring everything correctly since selfhosted services can open up security holes in your network if you don’t know what you’re doing.
insurance is literally a scam. they’re entirely built on the business model of “provide the service you offer only when legally required”
Switch to Geico. I got rear ended a couple years ago and they took care of everything. They even offered to book a rental for me. I thankfully didn’t need it at the time, but my every interaction with them has been utterly painless. One of the few businesses I will unapologetically shill for because they legit took care of me when I needed it.
State Farm, ugh.
Our rates had been going up, so we asked our agent why they were going up and what we could do to lower them. Our agent said, oh your rates haven’t increased at all.
Yeah, the numbers on the bills sitting in front of me are just figments of my imagination.