I’m miffed, if that’s even how you spell miffed. If it is, that’s what I am. I’m in insurance cancelling hell. Or was. I’m still steaming about it. Here’s the deal… I’ve been a loyal, on time premium paying customer of Nationwide Insurance for years. It goes back to 1988 when I started working for the government and Nationwide offered discounts to government employees. So, it’s been awhile. I’ve only ever had one claim, and that was when someone else hit me. All Nationwide had to do then was work with the other person’s insurance company so I could get my car fixed. Not anything too harrowing for them I’m sure.
Fast forward to April of this year. Karen and I decided, after being together for four years, owning a house together, car together, and now a dog, that we should probably combine our insurance. You know, quit paying two companies. Save a bit of cash. Given that decision we decided to go with her insurance as they also carry the homeowners policy. So, I quit Nationwide. Or so I thought. Maybe I should say I tried to quit Nationwide. I thought I quit Nationwide. I guess… I didn’t.
I sent them a letter, letting them know I was discontinuing my coverage with them and that I would be covered with someone else. I even faxed them, or I should say, Karen faxed them, the proof of insurance from the other company. I thought I was good to go, as that was the procedure that Nationwide layed out for me. Call, fax, letter, good to go.
Fast forward again just a bit and… yes, a bill from Nationwide arrives. So, Karen calls (she’s the real heavy hitter, the big gun, the more aggressive of the two of us, by far, hands down) and she is told by the not so nice and actually very surly folk at Nationwide that the bill was for my motorcycle and that we have to pay for the whole year on that policy and the bill we received was what was left of what we owed for the year. Whew… long explanation, but you get what I’m saying. The funny thing is, I was never aware that my insurance for the motorcycle was paid yearly. I made payments on it every month, like those on the Toyota, thinking that’s how it worked. They never told me any differently. But, here they were, telling us we had to pay, or it would go to collections, and to look at the fine print on the policy (I guess I should read the fine print more often). Funny thing is, when we called initially, they never said anything about us owing any more money. They said they’d cancel. They even said they’d refund part of the premium I’d already paid. Interesting.
Ah well… this is how they get us. I didn’t fight it. I sent them a check. I mean… it causes more frustration to stay in it than it does to just pay it (it wasn’t about the money anyway) and move on with our lives. So, we’ve moved on. Though I am, still, just a bit miffed…. if that’s how you spell it.
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