Woe is me?

What is it about my life?  Sometimes I wonder if there was something I did to deserve the things that happen, if I acted different, would a different thing happen?  I get so angry sometimes, wonder if I acted different when I first contact a business if things would be different.  I try to be calm, try to reason with them..

I bought my house 4 years ago, bundled my homeowners insurance with the company I had my auto insurance with, StateFarm.  The auto insurance was priced nice, I liked the service.  Had claims handled professionally and fairly.  I had moved and my old agent was 20 miles away, so I found a local agent who seemed to have his crap together.  Over the next 3 years my homeowners insurance went up about $100 a month.  Early this spring when I saw that it was $100 more this year.









SF had also pulled a couple boners, my GF had an accident which totaled her car.  The claims adjuster jerked her around a little, and our 'good neighbor' agent did not call once to see how she was, how SF did with this claim.  Also, last fall I had had a beer bottle thrown through my rear car window, no glass coverage so I had to pay for the repaid out of pocket. 

I called my SF agents office and got a quote and asked to start glass coverage on my car.  When I checked on my policies, saw that they did not add the insurance.  I know its my fault too, for not following up, but usually, one or two calls is all I need to manage my accounts.  I had been with SF for 17 years, everytime I had looked around, noone could touch the price.  But I decided it was time to start looking around for price AND customer serivce.  

I read online about USAA and their good customer service, called for a quote.  They could beat SF by about 50%, AND could keep my homeowners insurance about the same price as last year. I was nervous about switching, but I crossed by fingers and signed on with USAA in April.  Dumped SF! =)

Now USAA sent out a home inspector the next month and took photos, measured, asked me some questions about my house.  I wasn't too worried, I had been honest when getting the policy.  It sure was a suprise when I got an email alert that I had change to my insurance.  They revised my insurance, raised my premium 150 a year!  I was on vacation when I was emailed this happy information, and while USAA is rumored to have good customer service, I sure had problems when I called in to find out what was going on, basically they raised the replacement value to 275K which meant $150 more.  The advise I got from the first two phonecalls was to hire my own inspector, get a new inspection report and then they might change it.

Now I have a small house, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, about 950sq feet.  There is NO WAY IN HELL it would cost almost 300K to rebuild it.  I ranted a little and got escallated to 'executive customer support' she calmed me down a little, and I found out the home inspector had calculated my little house to be 1120sq feet!  I was promised a copy of the report, follow when I got home.  It took about 3 weeks for USAA to get their head out, but they revised the sq footage and I actually got my yearly insurance dropped a little from the initial quote!

They since my car is acting up, I thought I would see if I could get pre-approved for a car loan.  I had had a loan with capitolone auto before, so I applied online and they preapproved me for a 10% percent loan, but wanted me to jump through some hoops, like send them personal references, a photocopy of my paystub and drivers license.  It pissed me off a little so I went to my work credit union.  They offered me two options, put 25% down and get a 5.75% loan, or I could get a 7.75% loan with nothing down, just pay tax title and license..  This sounded good, but I checked with my main credit union and THEY offered me a 2.99% loan with 10% down.  I went with this, but the loan officer did not like returning my calls,  It would take a day or two for each step.  I got a 2004 Mercury Sable, pretty happy with it, but geeze, having to deal with 3 lendors, each with their own crazy rates?  Own hoops to jump through?

So I start insurance on the car and my buddy USAA gives me a good price, but then sucker punches me!  When I signed up they said they only serve active military or honorablely discharged veterans.  I gave em my info and they sent an email saying I was verified.  Well within SECONDS of the confirmation of the new insurance, they send me a notice I need to 'submit documents' online.  I log in and there is a link to 'submit documents' and nothing else on the website describes WHAT documents they need.  I had to call in and come to find that they need my discharge paperwork, DD-214, something I got and misfiled, oh TWENTY-TWO YEARS AGO!  So I do some checking and find out its pretty easy to order online from the military, but it takes 3 months.  USAA is giving me THREE WEEKSs to turn it in to them, or they will cancel or not renew my auto and home insurance policies.  If they would have asked for it in the first place I could have had it by now, but no..

So I settle down, and when paying this months mortgage see its 170 more than it should be!  I log in and see that they claim I had an 'escrow shortage'  There is no option to avoid paying, so I pay it.  I call in and wait 20 minutes to talk to the customer service rep, get put on hold several times, only to be told that they dont know why I had an escrow shortage.  My taxes went down a little, my insurance is lower.  She will research and I can call back later..  I ask why I had to pay this all in one chunk, and she offeres to spread it over 12 months, but I ALREADY PAID IT.  HAD NO CHOICE with their system.


I read some advice online where you should wait a day before complaining to a company, think I will try that.