With "Good" Neighbors Like These, I Just Might Move
“Is it any wonder...
Is it any wonder...
Is it any wonder...
That we fuss and fight?
Neighbors, do unto strangers,
Do unto neighbors,
What you do to yourself, yourself, yourself!”
--Keith Richards and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones from the song “Neighbors,” from the album Tattoo You, 1981.
Well, I got the scary Halloween stuff out of the way, or so I thought.
Jen’s driving was actually quite remarkable, as indicated by our accident. She managed to avoid hitting a vehicle in front of us that also hit the hunk of wood, she managed to move us to the shoulder, and she managed to keep my car under control.
Having said that, we were stranded a bit in Youngstown, which is not bad as we had a great place to stay with fantastic accommodations as Mark and Mary were wonderful hosts and Mary is a terrific cook. Our room was to our liking, although I would have preferred Beatles décor as opposed to Elvis, but Mark is older so I understand his clinging to the less desirable heroes of the past, as we all know my pop culture references are not as transfixed on merely American influences.
That stated, everything was fine and we were able to relax, after Mark made some quick calls, with some minor amounts of pleas and cajoling for my sake, to have the only two Saturn Aura rims in Youngstown Ohio checked out to see if they would work. I was blessed as there are four types of rims that could have been offered and I was fortunate enough to have ruined the type that they just happened to have on hand in their parts department. I was also fortunate that the Pep Boy guys were fantastic and did quick and quality work on my car.
Suddenly the company of “like a good neighbor,” decided to shut their blinds on me and refused to answer their door.
So when I came home, a different crash occurred. I had been in contact with State Farm since the day after the accident. I reported the crash reference number I was given by the kindly State Highway Patrol Officer, explained no one was hurt, explained the exact damages on the car, was told to call State Farm when I arrived home, and thought I would receive $1200.00 of my $1700.00 back.
Then I called State Farm yesterday. The claims adjustor was quite concerned because I had the work done without their investigator there to approve it. I thought, “you must be joking…” I tried to explain that I was over 500 miles from home, I would have been docked a day of work pay if I did not make it back, and Jen had to work as well. “Well,” said the agent, “ you paid full price for a car that is two years old and we may have outsourced them from someone other than a Saturn dealership, which could have saved significant dollars.”
So I asked, “Would State Farm had paid my lost wages and the lost wages of my fiancé’ if we were forced to stay a day longer or so?”
“Well,” she drew out, “no, we cannot do that.” No kidding. She then said it could take up to three day to have an adjustor or claims expert to go to the service area of the car to figure out the costs. So if State Farm did not pay for one day of lost wages, they certainly would not pay for four, counting the extra day it would take to fix it after parts arrived and all, as I explained. “Well…that’s true," she drew out again, "but if you had rental insurance, we could have provided a car and paid distance fees.” Again, I stressed that I was eight hours from home and work, and I would have had to have taken time off to retrieve the car and still lose a day’s pay. “Well, at least you would not pay rental car fees after $100.00. Can we put you down for that in the future?”
Unbelievable: if this is “like a good neighbor,” I might move to a different neighborhood.
They actually try to sell you something else, when you make a claim? I was stunned.
I still have some minor work to check on at the Saturn in Bloomington and told her that there was still work to be done on it. “So could you send someone to the Saturn dealer tomorrow afternoon to check on it?” I asked.
“Well, typically we ask for 48 to 72 hours to check on a car…” was the response.
I exclaimed, “Yeah, but its in Bloomington, Illinois, the same town as your corporate office. Certainly you have someone available?”
“Well, sir, we have adjustors throughout the country, we cannot say if they will come from Bloomington or not,” was the response.
And we wonder why our insurance costs are so high, right folks?
--Keith Richards and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones from the song “Neighbors,” from the album Tattoo You, 1981.
Well, I got the scary Halloween stuff out of the way, or so I thought.
Jen’s driving was actually quite remarkable, as indicated by our accident. She managed to avoid hitting a vehicle in front of us that also hit the hunk of wood, she managed to move us to the shoulder, and she managed to keep my car under control.
Having said that, we were stranded a bit in Youngstown, which is not bad as we had a great place to stay with fantastic accommodations as Mark and Mary were wonderful hosts and Mary is a terrific cook. Our room was to our liking, although I would have preferred Beatles décor as opposed to Elvis, but Mark is older so I understand his clinging to the less desirable heroes of the past, as we all know my pop culture references are not as transfixed on merely American influences.
That stated, everything was fine and we were able to relax, after Mark made some quick calls, with some minor amounts of pleas and cajoling for my sake, to have the only two Saturn Aura rims in Youngstown Ohio checked out to see if they would work. I was blessed as there are four types of rims that could have been offered and I was fortunate enough to have ruined the type that they just happened to have on hand in their parts department. I was also fortunate that the Pep Boy guys were fantastic and did quick and quality work on my car.
Suddenly the company of “like a good neighbor,” decided to shut their blinds on me and refused to answer their door.
So when I came home, a different crash occurred. I had been in contact with State Farm since the day after the accident. I reported the crash reference number I was given by the kindly State Highway Patrol Officer, explained no one was hurt, explained the exact damages on the car, was told to call State Farm when I arrived home, and thought I would receive $1200.00 of my $1700.00 back.
Then I called State Farm yesterday. The claims adjustor was quite concerned because I had the work done without their investigator there to approve it. I thought, “you must be joking…” I tried to explain that I was over 500 miles from home, I would have been docked a day of work pay if I did not make it back, and Jen had to work as well. “Well,” said the agent, “ you paid full price for a car that is two years old and we may have outsourced them from someone other than a Saturn dealership, which could have saved significant dollars.”
So I asked, “Would State Farm had paid my lost wages and the lost wages of my fiancé’ if we were forced to stay a day longer or so?”
“Well,” she drew out, “no, we cannot do that.” No kidding. She then said it could take up to three day to have an adjustor or claims expert to go to the service area of the car to figure out the costs. So if State Farm did not pay for one day of lost wages, they certainly would not pay for four, counting the extra day it would take to fix it after parts arrived and all, as I explained. “Well…that’s true," she drew out again, "but if you had rental insurance, we could have provided a car and paid distance fees.” Again, I stressed that I was eight hours from home and work, and I would have had to have taken time off to retrieve the car and still lose a day’s pay. “Well, at least you would not pay rental car fees after $100.00. Can we put you down for that in the future?”
Unbelievable: if this is “like a good neighbor,” I might move to a different neighborhood.
They actually try to sell you something else, when you make a claim? I was stunned.
I still have some minor work to check on at the Saturn in Bloomington and told her that there was still work to be done on it. “So could you send someone to the Saturn dealer tomorrow afternoon to check on it?” I asked.
“Well, typically we ask for 48 to 72 hours to check on a car…” was the response.
I exclaimed, “Yeah, but its in Bloomington, Illinois, the same town as your corporate office. Certainly you have someone available?”
“Well, sir, we have adjustors throughout the country, we cannot say if they will come from Bloomington or not,” was the response.
And we wonder why our insurance costs are so high, right folks?
I mean, they could send someone from Scranton, PA to check on a car when they have a coprorate office less than four miles away from the exact dealership? As a consumer, I wonder if that is fiscally prudent (please note the sarcastic tone).
My Saturn dealership was well aware of the rigmarole that State Farm puts their customers through and the flaming hoops we must leap through to obtain service. They were helpful, said they would have exact price checks on the rims/wheels, exact estimates on the other repair needed, and would try to explain since they had just seen the car a week before, that it was in absolutely perfect condition, and that I was regular and thorough to the point of being excessive on my road checks and my routine maintenance checks on my car.
As a company, Saturn was helpful and even going beyond customer service in both my town and Youngstown, Ohio.
Now I ask the obvious question, why is Saturn going out of business, while State Farm is profiting in this market?
posted by Eric Sweetwood at 3:50 AM
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