[boycott_progressive]

NEVER, EVER USE PROGRESSIVE!
I believe, Progressive inc. does a bait and switch to their loyal customers when they change addresses!
YOU BE THE JUDGE!
Timeline:
Jan 10, 2006- I move from the Santa Monica area to Pasadena
Jan 13th- My old Progressive policy EXPIRES for $620 every 6 months
Jan 14th- 2:32 pm- I log onto Progressive Direct and change my address
Jan 14th- 4:30 pm- I log back into Progressive, IT SHOWS MY NEW ADDRESS and that 6 months of

Coverage will be $620
Jan 14th- 4:35pm- I pay $620 online and receive confirmation of payment.
Feb 10th- I receive a bill for and ADDITIONAL $220 due to my change of address. I call to inform them that

My change of address happened 2 hours BEFORE I paid for my new policy. They tell me that a change of

Address can take up to 3 days and that I must pay the new amount or pay a $50 cancelation penalty.

Remember, I made this change AFTER my old policy had expired and had NO obligation to renew with them.

I could have logged in an a new customer and gotten an instant quote for the correct amount but as, an

Existing customer it takes up to 3 days to get an accurate rate??
They are able to give immediate quotes for non-customers but 2 hours to update my rate as loyal

Customer was insufficient??
At no time, before I paid, did their website tell me there was a rate change. When I went to pay, their site

Could have shown me the updated rate, said they were unable to give me a current rate or told me my that

The rate shown could change due to my recent address change, but it didn't. I feel that this deception must

Be intentional because changing your address at the end of your policy must be a common occurrence!

I challenge any representative of Progressive inc. to adequately dispute these claims!

STAY AWAY----STAY AWAY----STAY-AWAY!!

Sincerely,
A. DLC:mad:

[CaptainForest]

Call them up and yell at them on the phone.

And if they have a local office, go to it and complain in person.

If you show them how upset you are, they might waves the $220 charge (or the $50 charge)

[ScottGem]

Insurance rates do take location into account. Its not surprising to incur an increase when changing locations. However, I would be surprised at a 30% increase.

I would a) get a quote from a competing company, b) have a friend get a quote from Progressive using your info (doesn't Progressive offer to show competitive rates), c) contact the CA State Insurance Dept.

The software that prepares quotes is different from the software that manages existing customers. So its not surprising that they didn't process your change immediately or note that the change involved a different rate.

By the way this is NOT a bait and switch. Bait and switch is when one price is advertised to lure you in, but the salesperson tries to get you to buy something else.

I have no experience with Progressive as a company, but frankly, I think your diatribe against them could get YOU in trouble. I was reading recently that companies are monitoring what is said about them on the WEB and sometimes going after people who badmouth them. One bad experience does not mean the whole company is bad. Some of the things you have said here could be considered libelous (like the bait and switch comment). NYS ranked Progressive 16th overall but tops among larger companies in their ratio of complaints to premiums. So they must be doing something right.

[Fr_Chuck]

Yes rates change a lot from area to area. Each Zip code has its own rate because of the amount of claims, amount of accidents in general and theft.
Also different cars may change more or less in various zip codes,

I had almost a 40 percent decrease when I moved out of the inner city of Atlanta, to a rual farm town in TN.

Next why you would not believe that the rate would change between locations is beyond me, that is standard business practice that all insurance companies do.

And yes it takes a few days for the files to be updated and the such for your new rate to take effect.

And new customers quotes are not 100 percent but only estimates also, since they have to underwrite the new business, run drivers records, and the such, rates for people who just sign up change from the quote very often.

You ASSUMED the computer could or would do something it did not do.
This is why online is not a good thing and you should have a local agent for insurance to deal with.

They have done nothing wrong, and you really should delete this post as it complains about an issue which was more your misunderstanding than their fault.

[boycott_progressive]

ScottGem,
I was simply stating my opinion that is why the words "I believe" appear at the very beginning of my diatribe. Thank God for the first amendment!
I think I was deceived by the insurance company and no shill for the insurance company will deter me from presenting the FACTS and allowing people to judge for themselves. If a lawyer wants to try to punish me for my opinion and simply stating the facts then bring it on. I will get a news crew and try to get it on 20/20 and sue for abuse of process!

The main 2 facts that NO amount of BS can cover up is I was shown a bill for 6 months of coverage WITH MY NEW ADDRESS and NOT told at any time that that rate could change! ALL Progressive would have to do is put in 1 line of computer code saying that YOUR RATE SHOWN MAY CHANGE DUE TO YOUR RECENT ADDRESS CHANGE. They never did this and I find it very suspicious.

Fr Chuck,

Read my post carefuly, I did not ASSUME anything. They showed me a price for insurance with my NEW address and NEW term of Policy and I paid it. There were no assumptions made.

Sincerely,
A DLC

[talaniman]

Sorry Fr Chuck and Scott, I disagree with your assessment of the original post as he only points out a particular problem he has, that really shouldn't be all his fault . He did wait for his new address to be recorded before he attempted to renew his policy which is exactly as he should have. This post gives us a lesson we can all learn when dealing online with any number of companies, when we have to update our info. Doesn't anyone think it odd that money sent to any company is taken immediately and getting a refunded takes days and weeks? Hmmm. They may not be dishonest but obviously they take care of themselves better than they take care of you, and I think its true for most companies. And we consumers can always express our displeasure at what we think is a raw deal until they take care of their end. If they want to sue bring it on.

[ScottGem]

First, you need to understand the First Amendment before you wrap yourself in it. The First Amendment does not allow libel. While you did qualify the bait and switch comment, there were other comments that were statements. The name you chose alone is inflammatory.

You clearly don't know that much about programming if you think one line of code would do the job.

You may feel that the fact that they sent you a bill with your new address on it and then processsed a rate change was not kosher. I can state, with confidence, from my experience both in the insurance business and Information Technology, that what you experienced was not unreasonable and definitely neither fraudulent, deceptive, illegal or even unethical.

I wonder why you chose this venue to vent your frustration. Why didn't you go to your state's Insurance department? Why not the Better Business Bureau? Or did you try those places and were rebuffed?

I stand by my opinion that you have no legitimate case against Progressive. That your trashing the company and attempting to scare people away from them is a violation of their rights. I'm not clear if you are referring to me as a "shill" for the company, I can assure you I have no relationship with Progressive in any way.

To Talaniman,
I don't dispute that he acted reasonably in changing his address. I do dispute that Progressive acted unreasonably. I also believe that he has acted unreasonably in the way he has vented his ire. As I point out, this seems an odd way to vent frustration when there are other avenues that could result in more positive results.

[talaniman]

I admit the op is a little over the top but we all know that sales and service contracts and rules, though legal, are always slanted to the company. The part of his grievance I think is most note worthy is he contracted and sent money on a policy after he changed his info and I would expect that to be caught by the computer. It wasn't. I'm not blaming the company for their policy but he has a legitimate argument even though he can also just tell them to send his money back. He acted in good faith in my opinion even if his methods here were in anger.

[ScottGem]

The part of his grievance I think is most note worthy is he contracted and sent money on a policy after he changed his info and I would expect that to be caught by the computer.

Companies tend to compartmentalize their systems. Especially WEB based ones. Because of security and bandwidth concerns, not all functionality is placed into online systems. In this case, I suspect that Progressive has an offline system that periodically checks for address changes to apply rate changes. I don't think that is unreasonable.

The two things that I think are noteworthy are these. First, Insurance rates are based partially on locality. Its not clear whether the OP was aware of this or not. If he was then there is some basis for annoyance that the rate increase was applied afterwards. If he wasn't then the address change was entered only to make sure billing was sent correctly. The other point is, what if the address change resulted in a lower rate? Would the OP be as upset?

My problem here is that the actions taken are designed to cause damage to a company, that seems to run their business pretty well. While the OP's complaint may have some legitimacy, the diatribe and attack against this company doesn't In my opinion.

[Fr_Chuck]

Yes as one that holds property and causulty insurance licence in a few states ( used mostly in commercial dealings,

I will add with Scott Gem that while you had a true misunderstanding, if you don't like the current rate, change companies, price it out with two or three other companie and see if they are truly wrong in their pricing.

I do believe progressive is a very good company, all have various poslicies and procedures and many have claim disputes in all companies.

And yes I will agree that the post had no real question and was more inteneded to harm their business than ask a question

[educatedhorse_2005]

If you only move two houses down from your old address there is the possibility that your rates will go up.

Computers are not error proof nor are they perfect.

You have to take into account that a man programs them and we are not perfect.

If you were running a web based store and noticed you didn't bill somebody right wouldn't you expect to be paid for the mistake even if it was a little one.

No company is perfect.