Geico Direct - poor Customer Service experience regarding claim

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on November 1, 2002:

From: RE: Geico Direct - poor Customer Service experience regarding claim

I made the "switch" to Geico last week and got my policy started on 10/30/02...on that day I also ended my policy with Progressive insurance company whom I was with for 4 years. Anyways, with my 4 years with Progressive, I never filed a claim or anything and now under my new company, Geico, I got into a fender-bender yesterday, 10/31/02....a day after I switched to them....

well as you can imagine, they are not too happy about it...so I did the claim over the phone and was instructed to take my car to the collision shop of my choice and call Geicos car rental department to arrange for my rent-a-car...for which I do have coverage for. So I did as I was told and called them after giving my car to the collision shop. When I called them, they said that now they can not give me a rental because my policy is "new"...I reminded them, that a contract is a contract...

they are supposed to take care of me as soon as the contract goes into affect...no waiting period or nothing...well they did not have any sympathy for me on that....and I spent 1 hour on the phone with them all they told me was sorry...and on top of that they want me to prove the time and date of the incident...I was like anyone in their right mind knows that I can not get my hands on a police report for about 5 days, especially in Atlanta. So that was another excuse they had....

well after speaking to my third rep at Geico, she said that not until the appraiser goes out there to the shop, I can not get a car...so I made myself clear, that I do not have a car now and Geico must do something to take care of me. At the end, she suggested I go to Enterprise, who has an account with them and get a "cheap" car and after a settlement has been reached (when an appariser goes to see my car), then they will take over the rental reservation...

they have given me such a hard time over the phone...its pissed me off...that is no way to take care of your customers...and most all misinforming me about it. I was like why did your rep, who took down my claim, instruct me to call the Rental department, if you guys were not going to be able to get a car for me....I told the rep...

If I do not listen to what you say, I get in trouble, if I do listen to what you say, I still get in trouble...does not make any sense...anyways..I got my rental from Enterprise, which was pleasant experience, and am now waiting on the appraiser to go see my car. Hopefully, they can make the process more smoother from here on and make up for the hassle and aggravation they have put me through...SHAME ON YOU GEICO!!

Comment On This

First of all, I can tell you as a claims adjuster at GEICO (And I work in the same department you called in to report your claim) We handle roughly 50+ calls on any given day. There is nobody at GEICO who is going to be "unhappy" with you for filing a claim. Accidents happen and that is the point of insurance. Second, a claim made a day after the policy is purchased is a red flag a.k.a fraud indicator. I am sure you are a honest person and perfectly legit but you need to realize alot of people are not. It is unfair to comment when all the details are not known. Did you have a police report to prove the date and time of the loss? So we can verify it happened after you bought the policy. As you can imagine alot of people have accidents and then purchase a policy. So, we need to verify the actual accident. Also, how was your policy paid for? Sometimes we have to hold off on a claim to ensure the check cleared the bank. Some people write bad checks. I am sure you do not, but some do. So these are not "excuses" but very legit concerns. ANY insurance company would have acted accordingly. I am sorry you had such poor luck as to purchase a policy and then crash your car the next day...

Comment On This

It's unlikely you would have gotten any better service from Progressive...........read the complaints on this site about Progressive, you'll see that this happens to most people any time we are forced to actually file a claim for any reason. You WILL become the guilty party in the eyes of the insurance industry, it's their creed to minimize their liability at the expense of their clients. Take the time to read some of the responses to these complaints, obviously they are adjusters themselves, and most likely, this site is actually maintained by the insurance industry!!! Insurance companies constantly complain that they are always sued, there's a reason why........because you need a lawyer to deal with them, reasoning and truth are not part of the insurance industry vocabulary!!!