tortoise7 wrote:
First let me say i have been very pleased with Good Sam roadside service that stepped up to the plate in this accident and got me to a repair facility with the kind of excellent service I expect. However once National General Insurance Company got involved it has been a total nightmare and their tactic is to delay and stall and try to force me to pay the difference between what repair facilities estimate and what their adjusters feel is reasonable above and beyond the deductible in order to reduce their bottom line cost on each claim. I will copy and paste the most recent communication I sent to the manager of my claims adjuster as it fairly summarizes the elements of my case. I will be happy to post back when I get his reply:
Alright Neil
So I wasted another five days contacting Camping World (the first vendor on your list) and they say they can indeed do the repairs for the $4012.44 estimate Kevin wrote. However the earliest they could even give me an appointment to drop off the coach for repairs is December 3 and they said it would take a minimum of three weeks after that to perform the repairs putting us practically (considering the holidays) into January before I get my coach back. Furthermore I am rather skeptical about their time estimates because a close friend of mine has his coach in there for repairs and it has been there for two months and they have not even started the repairs. (yes he also has NGIC and was advised to take his coach there by NGIC). My friend told me that the way it works in most shops is if you bought your coach from them you go to the head of the line and everybody else can just wait especially insurance jobs. Frankly I think Camping World is just saying whatever they need to say to get the coach into their shop and they they can take their sweet time as they are noted to do.
Even if they did meet their time estimates you are asking me to wait and additional eight weeks to save your company $700 while LaMesa will likely have my coach repaired before Camping World could even start on it. There is also another consideration in that rainy season is fast approaching here in California and since the outer skin of my coach has a gaping hole i can envision additional damage from water intrusion in the area of the hole that could cause additional damage calling for more extensive repairs.
In summary it is my position that for an accident that happened on August 14 we are now over ten weeks out and effectively so far about five days of honest work at the first repair facility with three weeks wasted on delays by Diana mishandling of the claim. Now my coach has been at LaMesa and they submitted a estimate on October 3 and here we are close to four weeks later still haggling over prices. Your position seems to be that while you are prohibited by law from dictating what shop I choose to do the repairs you certainly can stall and delay and basically toss it back in my lap and say if you want to eat the $700 things can start moving quickly again. I find this totally unacceptable and feel that I have been more than patient so far but I have hit my limit so I am asking you to consider all of this carefully and find a way to authorize full payment of the $4737.72 LaMesa estimate. I bought my coach at LaMesa, know the quality of their work and have always been promptly attended to with no delays. In view of the time already wasted on this matter I do not feel I am being unreasonable in declining to wait a minimum of another eight weeks to save your company $700.
I would appreciate a reply from you by end of business tomorrow Thursday 10/26 and if you decline this final plea I will pursue other avenues climbing the chain of command at NGIC and failing that filing a formal complaint with the California Department of Insurance. In addition I have carefully documented all aspects of the mishandling of this claim my NGIC and I can assure you that I will widely publicize on popular forums such as http://www.winnieowners.com/forums/, and http://www.irv2.com/forums/ just to mention two were I am a regular and the subject of how insurance companies treat their clients is a very popular source of discussion and many new owners make the choice of what company to use based on posted reviews of users. I seriously doubt that the GoodSam organization will appreciate my reviews if this matter is not brought to a very swift conclusion. I am retired and have a lot more time than money so I can assure you it would be in the best interest of your company not to delay this matter any longer.
OK so I am now updating the status of this claim and affirming that my former respect for Good Sam is restored because by 1:00 today I had three phone calls from NGIC that I was unable to answer because I was at a professional luncheon. By the time I got home there was an email from Neil at NGIC apologizing "any perceived delays or any dissatisfaction with your claims handling, and am hopeful you find this resolution satisfactory." along with a revised estimate that was accepted by my repair facility. I suspect this sudden change of heart was related to the efforts of Ella stepping in or it could also be a secondary email I sent this morning citing the "acting in bad faith" language provided by member DownTheRoad which attached a legal name to the abuse I have been subjected to.
So my thanks to Ella and DownTheRoad for their help and as I said previously I honestly believe Good Sam tries to live up to their name and the problem is really in the culture and business tactics at NGIC. Their strategy is to delay and stall until the claimant gets tired and throws in the towel and agrees to pay above and beyond our contractual obligation of the deductable just to get their vehicle back on the road again.
Let this be a warning to all of you in the event of a claim, keep meticulous records and follow up any phone calls with an email the same day summarizing the conversation and who you spoke to. Don't waste much time with the first claims representative if they seem to be stalling and not returning phone calls: immediately move up the chain of command and talk to their manager. Also remember that as consumers we now have the upper hand with online presence and the ability to inform and warn hundreds of thousands of potential clients of poor treatment by any one company with a few mouse clicks and a few minutes of typing and that strikes fear in their heart. I don't for a minute believe NGIC acquiesced in this matter because it was the right thing to do, but instead believe it was because I posted here on the Good Sam forum and threatened to post to two much larger circulation forums that had the potential to do serious harm to their bottom line. It is a shame things are so difficult as they are merely stewards of our money that we all faithfully pay in premiums, but they act like they are doing us a big favor living up to their contractual obligations. Come to think of it that is the same problem we have with our government they collect our taxes and then act like benevolent overlords when they dole it back out to us what is left after their extravagant excesses, but that is another subject for another day on a different forum.
My best to all of you and hope you have many happy miles in your RV free of problems like I have just been through.
