Allstate Can Kiss My Ass!

Ladies and gentlemen, I must apologize. I know that Fretterverse is a guitar blog, and those of you who are loyal Fretheads come here because there is something about how and what I write about that interests you. For that I am deeply grateful and I truly appreciate your support and helping to build the community. Today, however, I must step down from my guitar pulpit and stand behind a different soapbox. This is the soapbox of frustration, the soapbox that I’m sure many of us – not just in the United States – have been trying to stand behind for a while.

As of today I’ve pretty much had it with big business, and so I beg your indulgence while I get this off my chest. I promise that tomorrow I will get back to my regularly-scheduled guitarocity, but for today I have to stand up for those of us that are responsible, bill-paying citizens.

Allstate, you have screwed me over for the last time. I have had enough. You, sirs, can kiss my ass!

I’m speaking specifically about their auto insurance policy. I also have my home’s insurance policy with them; so far that’s been okay, but I can no longer continue to be bent over the chair and smile as it pertains to their car insurance procedures.

Some Back Story

My auto insurance policy is set for auto pay. Just to make sure everyone knows, that means on the same day every month, Allstate automatically takes out my monthly insurance amount from my bank. I cannot think of a better way to ensure that you are a customer in good standing. Allstate never has to send me late payment notifications or worry about my account; it’s paid on time every month without fail.

I have also been an Allstate car insurance customer for over ten years. I have not had an accident or violation in well over 5 or 6 years.

This morning I checked my bank account to see if my monthly scheduled Allstate payment was taken out. It was not. I logged into my online account and noticed that they are trying to take out over two times the amount I would normally pay! This obviously did not make any sense to me, so I immediately got on the phone with them to find out what the situation was.

Don’t Worry, Sir, This Won’t Hurt a Bit (so long as you like to get screwed)

I asked the customer service rep why Allstate was charging me $100 more than my normal monthly amount. Apparently, according to him, Allstate has changed their policy so that at the beginning of each six-month policy cycle they will now charge you 33% of your policy up front.

THIRTY THREE PERCENT!

I was understandably upset and told the rep that this policy change was completely unacceptable. He went on to explain that it was a policy that started two months ago, and the policy change was mentioned in the renewal package. I don’t know how many of you have seen the Allstate policy package, but it’s about 20 pages long and the writing is so small you need the Hubble Telescope to read it. Now, I’m sure some of you out there will say, “Well, if it’s in the policy then it’s your fault for not seeing it.” To you I say:

Yes, screw you. First of all, this is a major policy change. Something this drastic warrants a separate letter being mailed to their customers, not just an addendum in fine print. With the economy as bad as it is, every dollar helps, and there is no excuse for Allstate to simply initiate a policy like this to take our money without properly notifying us. I’m not saying the policy itself is necessarily bad, but to not give us ample warning is underhanded and basically tells us as consumers that they really aren’t interested in keeping us as loyal customers; they just want our money quickly and to hell with what we think.

Second, because I’m on an auto-pay schedule I don’t see why they still feel the need to do this to me. I can maybe see it for people who are paying manually every month, but I like to think that I have long ago established myself as a customer in good standing. I guess paying my bill on time every month automatically is no longer good enough to earn some kind of reciprocal loyalty from big business.

So I told the customer service rep that I wanted someone higher up than him to call me immediately because this change was unacceptable. He told me that someone would get in touch with me within 24-48 hours to see what they can do. Okay, but in that 24-48 hour time period Allstate will have already taken the 33% out of my bank account, so how is that helping me? They got their money at that point, so it’s more like the customer is being served rather than the customer getting good service.

I should also mention that I was twice passed over for good driver discounts that were due to me because – conveniently – just before my discount date went into effect they raised my rates. So, for several years I made sure to be a safe driver, looking forward to the day I could get even the slightest bit of financial relief – as they promised me – to have them pull the candy from my hand once I did everything they told me I needed to do to earn it!

But we’re very sorry, Josh, we don’t give a rat’s ass that you’ve been a good customer of ours for 10 years and that you pay your bill on time; we want your money when we want it and that’s just the way it is.

Take Back Control!

And so that brings me to another point – perhaps the most important point of all. How did we get to a place in this country where we are no longer in control of our own money? How did we get to a place where we allow a company to decide how much money they can take out of our bank account? I never authorized Allstate to take more money out of my account than the minimum monthly payment, so why are they allowed to do this? Convenience doesn’t mean we should have to sacrifice our rights to manage our own money, does it? I sincerely hope it doesn’t.

As of today I’m shopping for new car insurance. Further, for the first time in my life I’m trying to figure out what the best course of action is to take this to the next level. Perhaps it’s writing my congressmen and senators; I don’t know. I just know that it’s unacceptable that a service business is allowed to do whatever they want with my money regardless of whether or not I have given them permission to take more money from me than I have authorized them to take.

To Allstate, you can kiss my ass! Sure, just saying it doesn’t mean much, but hopefully this article will encourage and inspire at least one other person to think about this and decide to do something about it. At the very least, hopefully my loyal Fretheads will help spread the word of this financial injustice and help me to be heard.