BUYERS BEWARE. I went to purchase auto insurance from this company and the company quoted me a price for a specific policy. When I bought the policy and paid them apparently the person who sold me the policy did not do what they said they would and entered it in incorrectly. The price of the policy was then altered AFTER our agreement and AFTER money changed hands. Six days later the company told me that I owed them more money for THEIR mess-up. This was of course unacceptable. We had already agreed upon a price with the terms stated and based on the (apparently false) pretenses of the agreement I had left another company that I had been with for a couple of years. I of course called the agency in charge of this policy—Ivan J Hauser Insurance Inc—expecting an easy solution to an easy problem. The difference in the price was only $23 divided over six months. I had FOUR interactions with the agency and each time all they could say was, “We’ll check with the underwriters.” I could not believe my ears. After the first attempt by the agency to “call the underwriters” the underwriters of course did not alter the price of the policy. I was not happy with accepting the cost of mistake after the agreement and each time I talked with the agency all they could say or do was “call the underwriters”. If calling the underwriters did not work the first time, why would it three more times? On the third call I was told that they could suggest that the person who set up the policy with me be “counseled”. That, too, is unacceptable. I was not after someone’s job; I simple wanted what was right to be done. The company should not pass off the cost of the company’s mistakes on to the customer. It was a simple fix; the agency could have simply taken the $23 divided over 6 months upon themselves and not pushed it onto their customer. Any problems between the agency and the company is just that; between the agency and the company. It is just good business sense. Finally Ivan himself called, “to see what could be done about my policy.” And do you know what he said to me? “Let me call the underwriters to see what we can do.” Outrageous. Then he called back and, naturally, the underwriters could do nothing. He then proceeded to tell me that this was not his fault, it was the fault of the person who set up the policy and mistakes happen because nobody is perfect. This I already understood. But the agency is the representative of the company to the customer and you cannot just try to worm your way out of responsibility because someone else in the company made a mistake. That makes you look worse and demonstrates how this agency will operate with respect to the purchaser. And now, not only was he pointing fingers and shrugging responsibility but he has missed the point entirely. Of course mistakes happen, and the mistake may not have even come from his specific agency, but the measure of an agency is not whether or not a mistake happens, but if that agency is able to deal correctly with that mistake (and not push it off on the the purchaser). An insurance agency is more than underwriters, at least it should be. That same day I cancelled my policy and switched to another insurance company who offered the same policy price. I refuse to have my auto insurance held by an agency that is so impotent that they cannot or choose not to deal with mistakes, cannot or chooses not to broker between the company to do what is right, and does not even have or chooses not to use the good business sense to take on $23 over 6 months to correct the wrong. I had never asked for more than for the company and agency to simple honor the original deal that I bought. Buyers beware.
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