Month 1. I was getting ready to move to the area and found an apartment I liked that required renter's insurance. I asked about the cost, and they figured around a dollar a day. They gave me the name of this agency. I contacted them and left a message. In the meantime, I filled out an online form for multiple quotes. I heard back from the agent and was quoted a price of about half of what I expected, and agreed to the policy. I gave them my credit card number and asked that they bill me in one lump-sum for the entire year. I later heard back from other agents and discovered that the cost I'd agreed to was about 30% higher than comparable coverage through other companies. That was my own fault for not shopping around. Live and learn...
The first problem arose when they did a credit check and found a discrepancy--my address didn't match the address of the apartment I was trying to insure. They seemed to find this surprising, even though I explained that I was moving to the area from out of state. That should've been my first warning. They expected me to fix this through the credit bureau, and gave me a wrong number for said credit bureau. I never actually resolved this. The second problem came up later as I was reviewing my credit card statement online. I saw that I had been billed twice. I contacted the agent, explained the situation, but she could not find any record of a double billing. She asked for a copy of my credit card bill, which I would never, ever give out. I instead contacted my bank and disputed the second charge as a duplicate charge. They credited my account. The agent then must have noticed the double billing and also issued a credit.
Month 2. I notified the agent that I had been double billed, then double credited. I gave her my credit card number again. She never actually made the charge.
Month 3. The agent contacted me and took my credit card number a third time in order to charge me. I later found out I was double billed, again. I disputed the second charge, again, and notified the agent, again. I explained what had happened, again, and that I had disputed the second charge as a duplicate, again. They then issued a second credit, again. Later that month, they sent me a past due notice.
At that point, I cancelled my policy. I realized that if they can't handle something as simple as a lump-sum payment, which works to their benefit, then I can have no expectation that they could successfully handle any claim I might make, that would be to MY benefit. I decided to look for a competent agent.
Today, I received a bill for coverage from the time I instituted my policy to the day I cancelled it. If I were them, I would be completely mortified at how incompetently I had handled the policy. They don't seem to have any such qualms.
I can summarize all of this in three main points. (1) The price wasn't the highest, but certainly wasn't the most reasonable, either. It ended up being 31% higher than other quotes I received. (2) Their service was awful. I can't imagine an easier transaction than a lump-sum payment for a year's worth of coverage, but they somehow managed to screw it up three months in a row. (3) They seem to be completely clueless. They don't have sense enough to be completely embarrassed by the horribly incompetent customer service they subjected me to.
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