How's this for a nice scam? You cancel your automobile policies, and the insurance company gets pissed off at you, and continues to bill you!
Well. That's EXACTLY what happened to me. I insured my 6 cars with Farmer's Insurance (corporate office in Aurora, Illinois. Agent's office in the south suburbs, Orland Park, I think. The agent's name is ROBERT KOUBA). Here's the simple story: I insured my 6 cars with Farmer's, got fed up with my agent and the corporate office, and after 3 years with them, cancelled my policies after the current "6 month cycle" expired. I notified my agent that I would not be renewing, and figured that was it.
Back in December, one month before my policies expired, I received a computer generated "renewal notice". I called my agent, Mr. Kouba, and reiterated that I would not be continuing with Farmer's. My agent was not very receptive to my decision, but I was not going to change my mind.
February comes around, and I get a "reminder notice" to renew. Of course I ignore it, thinking it's just a mistake. A few weeks later, the $1400 renewal notice is sent to a COLLECTION AGENCY. Not wanting my excellent credit to be damaged by my insurance carrier's incompetence, I immediately called Farmer's corporate office at their "Help Point" phone number. After being put on hold several times, and transferred to 3 different people at "Help Point", I was informed that I would need to contact the local District Manager. (I believe his name is Jim Lombardo).. And was given his number.
After making several attempts to get ahold of Mr. Lombardo at his office, and leaving several messages, I finally get thru to his "assistant". I explain the situation to her, and she empathizes with my plight, telling me that she would take care of the problem herself and the collection agency would be contacted. And I would not be getting any further notices.
.. Yeah. Right...
In the ensuing 3 months, and as of this writing, I have received 3 additional collection notices from CREDIT COLLECTION SERVICES. This is the company that Farmer's Insurance uses when they want to strong-arm their customers.
The website for CREDIT COLLECTION SERVICES IS:
Www.settlementnotice.com
I have run out of patience with Farmer's Insurance and needed to tell as many people as possible about what they have done. I finally got through to Mr. Lombardo today, and spoke to him for almost 45 minutes on the phone. He told me that he would have to "look into the specifics" of the situation and would get back to me. That's all nice, but had he "looked into the specifics" of the situation when I first started calling his office back in February, the problem would have been resolved by now.
My only other recourse is to have my attorney draft a letter to Farmer's, and threaten some sort of action if they don't remove the bogus bill (and we know that attorneys don't do anything for free).. We'll see if it comes to that.
I also filed a complaint with the Illinois Department of Insurance, located in Springfield, Illinois, in hopes that this type of bullshit does not happen to anyone else.
Thanks for reading...
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