Goodbye GEICO
I love the commercials- the guy dancing "the robot" is funny and my favorite is the one with the death row inmate hoping for a stay of execution and watching his attorney get a phone call and celebrate, only to discover that the good news concerns a savings with GEICO insurance.
My actual experience with the company, unfortunately, is a little darker. After 20 years with the GEICO, a switchboard operator figured a way to "rate-jack" me (like "carjack," only from someone you thought you knew). It's only a few hundred dollars a year, but what I experienced was pure manipulation of the facts and disrespect. In the abstraction of GEICO WORLD, I'll bet the operator even earned some kind of commision for losing a good, long-term customer. I argued my case by email with the customer relations people and in a four-letter back-and-forth, I think each response I received was from a different person. They were all polite and professional...and unyielding. I know that actuaries determine the rates and rules and other bean-counters determine policies, but it's hard to believe that losing a 20-year customer and his two kids forever for a small rip-off is in GEICO's best interest. I have paid and paid and paid, while GEICO has only had to give back a small amount to me. I have three cars and a motorcycle that I'm taking elsewhere.
GEICO claims that they have something like a 96% customer retention rate. I'm thinking that some of that is just inertia. It's a hassle finding a new company and getting your insurance changed over, but Auto Insurance In Depth ( http://www.autoinsuranceindepth.com/getting-a-quote.html ) will give you quotes from up to five different companies from a short, quick online application. I'm negotiating with an agent who will be the one person I deal with. I'm tired of the GEICO pass-around. I once even inquired about getting GEICO homeowner's insurance, but talked with an operator who could not let go of the fact that I do not have a fire hydrant in front of my house- even though the fire house and it's hydrant and trucks are directly across the street-less than 50 yards away! He never even called me back with a quote.
I realize that my business doesn't even pay for airing 10 seconds of one of GEICO's commercials and GEICO won't suffer any loss. That's fine- I don't care about that. My thinking is that I don't even care if I pay more somewhere else, although I think I'm actually going to save a few dollars by changing. I'm just tired of the officiousness and disrespect. I've been GEICO'd for the last time!
My actual experience with the company, unfortunately, is a little darker. After 20 years with the GEICO, a switchboard operator figured a way to "rate-jack" me (like "carjack," only from someone you thought you knew). It's only a few hundred dollars a year, but what I experienced was pure manipulation of the facts and disrespect. In the abstraction of GEICO WORLD, I'll bet the operator even earned some kind of commision for losing a good, long-term customer. I argued my case by email with the customer relations people and in a four-letter back-and-forth, I think each response I received was from a different person. They were all polite and professional...and unyielding. I know that actuaries determine the rates and rules and other bean-counters determine policies, but it's hard to believe that losing a 20-year customer and his two kids forever for a small rip-off is in GEICO's best interest. I have paid and paid and paid, while GEICO has only had to give back a small amount to me. I have three cars and a motorcycle that I'm taking elsewhere.
GEICO claims that they have something like a 96% customer retention rate. I'm thinking that some of that is just inertia. It's a hassle finding a new company and getting your insurance changed over, but Auto Insurance In Depth ( http://www.autoinsuranceindepth.com/getting-a-quote.html ) will give you quotes from up to five different companies from a short, quick online application. I'm negotiating with an agent who will be the one person I deal with. I'm tired of the GEICO pass-around. I once even inquired about getting GEICO homeowner's insurance, but talked with an operator who could not let go of the fact that I do not have a fire hydrant in front of my house- even though the fire house and it's hydrant and trucks are directly across the street-less than 50 yards away! He never even called me back with a quote.
I realize that my business doesn't even pay for airing 10 seconds of one of GEICO's commercials and GEICO won't suffer any loss. That's fine- I don't care about that. My thinking is that I don't even care if I pay more somewhere else, although I think I'm actually going to save a few dollars by changing. I'm just tired of the officiousness and disrespect. I've been GEICO'd for the last time!
posted by Man of Ages at 2:28 PM
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