A long, long time ago (April 2011), our brand spanking new (to us) Rav4 was hit was some really, really bad hail damage. I took it to Geico so they could create an estimate so we could get it fixed. We were told it was going to cost over $4,000 to get it fixed because of the hail damage on the roof and on the side of the windows. Good thing we weren't having to pay for it ourselves!
The estimate included paint repair. As we know, Ron has a Toyota dealership and is very familiar with claims and body work. He advised we should take it to another body shop to see if they were about to do it without getting any paint repair done to it. Paint repair depreciates the car faster than it does with just dent repair.
Lucky for us, the Toyota dealership said they could get it fixed without having to do paint work. A month later, my car is beautiful again and all is happy. Even better, because there wasn't paint repair there was a $1000 left from the Claims check that wasn't used. I was told by the guy at the dealership that there are many insurance companies that issue the difference back to the owners.
I was curious, so I called before we had it fixed at the Toyota dealership. I called Geico not once, but twice, about assuring the money would get sent back to us (meaning Ryan and I and Toyota Financial) and not Geico. Stupid me didn't record the dates or the names of the people I talked to, so now it's turned into a he said, she said battle, and we've lost.
My frustrations are this:
-We were mislead. We shouldn't of been told that we would receive the difference from multiple people at Geico.
-I've called the Claims rep, Victor, for 2 months. I left messages, and when I did get a hold of him, he would write down my name and Claim number and would tell me he would call me back. He never did. Not once.
-After telling Victor's supervisor my frustrations with having to keep following up with this, he proceeds to tell me that it's my responsibility to call him if I can't get in touch with Victor. Ummm....what?? Am I going crazy here? What's wrong with this picture?
-I explained to Victor that I work with customers and manage a team, and if one of my reps told a customer something, I would honor it, even if it wasn't correct policy. It's called good customer service and doing what's right. Because he's choosing to fight instead of checking into our account in more detail, he's going to lose 2 customers. Basic math = is an $1100 check worth a loyal customer of 2 years paying $130/mo? It's definitely worth it for us to go somewhere who will honor what they say in case something like this happens again.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!
Who can recommend some excellent car insurance companies??? I've heard good things about State Farm & Farmer's Insurance, yes? I'm thinking we should get a local agent who can handle these kind of disputes themselves!
I'm done venting now. :)
