Large Insurance Agency

Review: I took out a secondary home policy on 10/1/2012. The premium was $2880.37. I needed insurance to close escrow so I agreed to the policy. In the interim I kept shopping for better rates. I found much better rates with Allstate by bundling all my insurance with them. I cancelled all policies on 5/15/2013. The other companies immediately refunded my unused premiums. I spoke with Elizabeth Guiterrez shortly after cancelling. She was curious why I had cancelled. We did not discuss refund of premium because I assumed it was automatic. I did not hear from them and called her approx. the first of July. She said they were waiting for the figures on the exact amount owed to me and would issue a check from their office on receipt of that information. I heard nothing and called again on 7/17/2013. She informed me everything was taken care of and she would follow through to see why I had not received my unused premium refund. I have waited another two weeks and still have heard nothing. I believe 2 1/2 months is unreasonable when the other companies responded immediately. I believe that my refund should be approximately $1080 for 4 1/2 months of unused premiums. I also believe they should pay interest on that money for their refusal to promptly refund my money.Desired Settlement: I believe they should refund my unused premium with interest for not promptly refunding my money.

Business

Response:

Customer Service:

Our office was the Broker of Record for insurance purchased on a property for Harold Justice, located at 30924 Nob Hill Circle, Running Springs CA 92382. We implemented coverage through the acting General Agent-(Burns & Wilcox Insurance Services), on behalf of the insurer-(Scottsdale Insurance Company).

The insured is correct, whereas, the policy was cancelled on 5/17/13, at the insured's request. The process after a cancellation is that the insurer-(Scottsdale Insurance Company) issues a cancellation through their General Agent-(Burns & Wilcox Insurance Services). Once the cancellation is processed, the insurer sends notification to their General Agent that the policy is cancelled and the General Agent completes the transaction. We, as the Broker of Record must now wait for an actual refund from the General Agent-(Burns & Wilcox Insurance Services) to then, issue a refund to the client.

As of 7/31/13, our office had still not received an actual refund from the General Agent. In good faith, our office represented to the insured-(Harold Justice) that we would inquire as to the amount of refund. On or around the week of 7/22/13, we were advised of the refund amount - yet, still had not received it from the General Agent. As such, we decided to issue a refund to the client without any further delay from the General Agent on 7/31/13, in the amount of $877.48.

To date-(8/2/13), we have still not received the actual refund on this cancelled policy, yet, we have issued the refund amount to the insured accordingly. This is not customary, to issue refunds prior to receipt from an insurer.

This unfortunate delay was unforseen , however, our office acted in good faith when issuing this refund on 7/31/13 - when we still did not have the actual refund from the insurer.

Thank you, [redacted]