Gotcha! Insurance billing

[ohiofarmer 3,156]

  Ohio Mutual Insurance Group Cincinnati Ohio sent out a bill on 30 April, [according to their records.] i got it in the mail yesterday on May 4th. Late fee of 15 bucks after May 16th. I called my agent and they said that Ohio mutual would then cancel the policy if not paid by the 18th.  Wow

 

 So lets say that I am on vacation for two weeks when the bill hits. If my house burns down before I realize that I owe a bill and they have cancelled my insurance, does that mean I lose everything after being with these guys for years and years?

 

 i just love these bills that have zero information on them  My payment is for TNC 8515523, and that is all they tell me  So now i have to look up the policy number to find out which property the bill refers to..  It might be time for a re-bid, But then if every little thing is not perfect, it might be harder to change companies than just stay where you are.  We do have online banking,so at least we have created a file for each billing event,

 

 I am a real person and resent being treated like a number. It should be a law that bills are not due until 30 days after postmark.. Rant over

[EricF 589]

No doubt about it, a lot of insurance companies are more interested in protecting themselves, not you. If they have to pay a claim, it's a loss, for them -- so they'll do anything they can get away with to avoid paying a claim, or at least the minimum they're obligated to under the contract. Not all are that bad, but may are, including some very big names.

 

Had a situation where we were just moving into a house -- everything had been inspected and was fine. I'd even gone to check on the house before move-in day while the heating oil delivery came in. The oil guy did an inspection of the furnace and burner because it was a new account. Everything worked as it should. A few days later, we moved in on schedule and when we arrived, we discovered that the oil burner had stopped working. Cold house, frozen pipes in a hot water loop heating system.We had to stay in a hotel until the next week while the pipes were repaired. The oil company inspected the furnace again and said that the control for it had been damaged by an electrical surge, caused by a storm that happened a couple of days after they had first inspected it. The homeowners' insurance accepted the claim, but then mid-way through decided to not only deny the claim after work had started, but then cancelled the policy because the claim had happened during the first six months of the policy. Apparently, they had a company policy -- not clearly described in their contracts because it was a separate rule -- that they won't honor claims in the first six months because they consider them suspicious by default, and then they invoke the contract that says they can cancel the policy for any suspicious claim. So basically, you'd be paying for a policy that's useless during the first six months. And the state's insurance regulating department was aware of it, but couldn't do anything because this insurance company had good lawyers and already won court cases over similar incidents, so they'd made it legitimate even if it was unethical to people like you and me.

 

I've found it's better to get insurance from independent agencies instead of company franchise agents or direct sales. Whatever you might save by going more direct, you lose when you don't have somebody else in the middle to keep them honest. The agent can remind a big company that if they treat one customer badly, they can always just stop selling any more of that company's policies. That seems to keep them more honest than anything else.

[classicdmax 190]

Insurance of any type is just a fraud. Their big dollar conglomerates with law makers in their pockets

im a contractor, and have been plowing snow as a sub contractor for the town I live in for 9 seasons. Every plow season I adjust my auto policy as required by the town to commercially cover me in case of incident.....this spring my general liability insurance is now up for renual, after being with this company for 13+ years, part of their new vetting policy is to ask if you plow snow. Now I'm required to carry snow plow coverage for the entire 12 months, although I'm pretty sure I do not plow snow in July and August, but who am I to say. I still can't get a clear answer as to why I need this 12mo coverage and why all of a sudden I'm required to carry it after 9!years of not having to. From my experience and by required by town, all they require is the proper auto coverage. They create policies in which they say you MUST subscribe to or else your dropped for being a liability

they ALL can kiss my A$$

[rmaynard 14,863]

Every insurance policy that I have ever had has a 30 day payment period, then a 30 day grace period. I don't know about Ohio, but that's the way it is in Maryland. In Maryland we have the Maryland Insurance Commission. Ohio a similar government agency. Take your complaint to 

http://www.insurance.ohio.gov/Consumer/OCS/Pages/ConsCompl.aspx they might be able to help.

[Ed Kennell 35,590]

I use autopay for all my bills, so late payment is not an issue.

I did recently changed  suppliers though.  After using State Farm for vehicle coverage and Erie for homeowners for 40+ years, I was informed by Erie they were no longer issuing homeowners ins.

So I made copies of all my policies for home, autos, camper,  and boats,  and took them to 4 different agents for bids for the same coverage.  The bids varied by over $1000. 

State Farm would not enter a bid.     The least expensive was from a small independent agent 1/2 mile from my home.     He just searches for suppliers that have a good reputation and  offer the desired coverage at the best price.     In 2016, he settled my lightening strike claim for over $3000 with out any question.  I simple got electricians and appliance repair people to supply estimates to repair or replace all the damaged equipment which included   TV, garage door openers, cloths dryer, microwave, answering machine, meter base , and all new breaker panel.   I submitted all the estimates and the bills for all the service calls, and received a check 3 weeks later for the full amount.       I was amazed and glad I made the change to the local small independent agent before lightening struck.

 

[BaySide1 137]

12 hours ago, ohiofarmer said:

  Ohio Mutual Insurance Group Cincinnati Ohio sent out a bill on 30 April, [according to their records.] i got it in the mail yesterday on May 4th. Late fee of 15 bucks after May 16th. I called my agent and they said that Ohio mutual would then cancel the policy if not paid by the 18th.  Wow

 

 So lets say that I am on vacation for two weeks when the bill hits. If my house burns down before I realize that I owe a bill and they have cancelled my insurance, does that mean I lose everything after being with these guys for years and years?

 

 i just love these bills that have zero information on them  My payment is for TNC 8515523, and that is all they tell me  So now i have to look up the policy number to find out which property the bill refers to..  It might be time for a re-bid, But then if every little thing is not perfect, it might be harder to change companies than just stay where you are.  We do have online banking,so at least we have created a file for each billing event,

 

 I am a real person and resent being treated like a number. It should be a law that bills are not due until 30 days after postmark.. Rant over

time to switch Insurers