Mercury Insurance Group

December 9, 2015
[redacted]
RE: COVERAGE INVESTIGATION
NAMED INSURED: [redacted]
POLICY NUMBER: [redacted]
CLAIM NUMBER: [redacted]
DATE OF LOSS: November 20, 2015
Dear Ms. [redacted]:
We are in receipt of your request for assistance from the Revdex.com.
Please...

note we are investigating a coverage issue surrounding your policy, as it appears, your policy expired due to a returned payment. A second payment was received after the above referenced loss and your policy has since renewed with a lapse in coverage.
Presently, Mercury Insurance Company is working to resolve your concerns noted in your request for
assistance. A coverage decision has not yet been made and we will notify you of our decision as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Mercury Insurance Company
[redacted]
Claims Department
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Again your back tracking on what you said and I have asked for upper management to contact me as I feel your conduct was in question and I feel upper management would be able to help me more professionally.Again your $150.00 settlement offer is rejected  
Regards,
[redacted]

The Company sends Renewal offers about thirty days in advance to provide both the customer and the agent ample time to make revisions to the policy if any. Thereby, Mrs. [redacted]'s renewal offer was mailed on 2/15/17 with a renewal date of 3/18/17. Per Mrs. [redacted]'s complaint she had contacted her...

agent Imhoff Sunland Insurance one day prior to her renewal date on Friday 3/17/17. The agent Imhoff Sunland Insurance have confirmed that they received her call at 2:07 p.m. on Friday 3/17/17; therefore, the agent obtained the renewal payment for a first installment on a six installment plan in order to avoid a lapse in Mrs. [redacted]’s coverage. California Automobile Insurance Company charges a $10 installment fee on the six installment plan; therefore, the first installment fee is owed.   The agent submitted the endorsement to reduce the annual mileage on 3/21/17 and the Company processed the endorsement on 3/28/17 reducing the policy premium by $208.00. Mrs. [redacted] then paid the policy in full after the second installment was billed; therefore, a second $10 installment fee was charged.   For customer service purposes, California Automobile Insurance Company has waived the second installment fee charged and will provide a credit of $10 to the Visa credit card ending in 9238. Since the Company sends Renewal offers about thirty days in advance, we strongly encourage Mrs. [redacted] to review all policy renewal offers when first received to provide both Imhoff Sunland Insurance and the Company ample time to make revisions to the policy if any. Tell us why here...

Each time we offer renewal on a personal automobile policy
we send a letter with the renewal offer asking the customer to contact his/her
agent to provide the estimated annual mileage they expect to drive in the next
12 months.  At this time we ask for
odometer readings for all vehicles...

on the policy.   The letter states that if the customer does
not make contact with their agent to update the mileage estimate that the
renewal estimated annual miles included on the same letter will be used to rate
the policy.  We send this out approximately
30 days prior to the renewal date to give them plenty of time to contact the
agent with any policy updates.   This is actually the cover letter sent and
therefore the first page of each renewal offer. 
 
Vehicle mileage is considered a primary rating factor in
calculating the insurance premium, therefore it is imperative that we have an
accurate mileage estimates for all vehicles. 
California law requires that we periodically ask our customers to verify
the annual mileage for all vehicles on the policy and allows for the use of our
own estimates if the customer does not provide us with an update.  
 
The original inception date of this policy was
10/2/2012.  The named insured on the
policy is [redacted].  Ms. [redacted]
and a 2013 Honda Civic were added to her father’s policy effective 8/1/2013.  At this time the customer advised us that the
annual vehicle mileage was 5,000 miles per year.  On the following dates we mailed renewal
offers along with the cover letter advising the customer to contact their agent
with mileage updates:
9/3/2013, effective
10/2/2013.  The mileage remained at
5,000 per year.
3/3/2014, effective
4/2/2014.  The mileage remained at
5,000 per year.  
9/2/2014 effective
10/2/2014.  The mileage was
increased to 6,000 per year.
3/5/2015 effective
4/2/2015. The mileage was increased to 7,000 per year.
 
The reason the mileage was not updated at either the
10/2/2013 or 4/2/2014 policy renewals, was  because the most recent mileage given is used
for a year from the date it was provided to us. 
Since the customer advised us the mileage was 5,000 when the vehicle was
added on 8/1/2013, we left it that way until the 10/2/2014 renewal.  During the interim, the customer made an
address change without advising the agent of any change to the 5,000 mileage.
 
The 10/2/2014 renewal was the first time we actually
increased the mileage on the vehicle from 5,000 to 6,000.  Again, we send the renewal offer out approximately
30 days prior to the renewal date to give the customer time to contact the
agent with any updates.  Since we did not
receive any updates from the customer, the renewal mileage stayed at 6,000.   The customer paid the renewal and therefore
accepted this as the annual mileage.                                    ...⇄ /> The next renewal offer was mailed on 3/5/2015, effective 4/2/2015, along
with the estimated annual mileage of 7,000. 
At this point the customer contacted the agent and provided us with the
necessary information to amend the annual mileage on the vehicle.  This is not a change to amend the mileage
retroactively, as policy changes are made effective when we receive
notification from the customer or in the case of increasing the annual mileage,
at the policy renewal when we have not received an update from the customer.
 
 Based on this we do
not feel we have overcharged the customer and no refund is due him at this
time.

Our fees are listed in bold type on the forms we require new customers to sign and the fees will not be waived.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
[The business did not send out any documentation stating that the vehicle was taken off of the policy. I also have documentation stating that the incorrect vehicle was was removed from the policy.]
Regards,
[redacted]

We are in receipt of the insured's complaint and would like to take this opportunity to respond.  We understand Mrs. Insured is uncomfortable with her name being issued on the check and having to sign the check over to [redacted] to resolve the Emergency Water restoration work they completed to prevent further damage.  In order to honor Mrs. Insured's request, her handling adjuster, [redacted], is in the process of issueing a "Stop Pay" on the check and once completed, we will reissue the check in the name of [redacted] and send it to them directly.  We typically name the insured and the vendor on checks like these to protect the insured's interests, but due to the insured's stated concern, we will issue the check directly to [redacted] without naming the insureds on the check.In addition, Mrs. insured stated we did not determine where the water was coming form or that we would not honor her request of obtaining a second opinion on the HVAC system.  In order to determine where the water was coming from and why her HVAC system had failed, we hired HVAC Inspections to inspect her unit.  This vendor determined that her system failed due to faulty installation and as such, ultimately allowed the condensation line to not drain properly which resulted in the observed water damage to her home.  As we have a professional opinioin on the cause of the failure of the HVAC unit, we did not determine that we needed to hire a second expert to inspect the HVAC unit as we already determined the cause.  However, if the insured decides to hire another HVAC vendor to inspect the unit, she may do so at her own cost, and if the findings are different, we will have her expert and our expert speak and make sure everyone is in agreement.  We are open to reviewing additional information as to the cause of the HVAC unit's failure, but at this point have determined the believed source/reason of the unit's failure.Unfortunately, since it was determined the HVAC unit failed due to improper installation, and this is a specifically excluded cause of loss under the policy, no coverage exists for the HVAC Unit itself and a partial denial to the insured was subsequently issued.We have investigated the insured's loss and have determined the source and resulting damage that occurred. We have paid for the covered damages and excluded the non-covered items such as the HVAC unit itself. If additional information is provided that the insured wishes to have us consider, her handling adjuster, [redacted], will gladly review.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
Regards,
[redacted]  I just want to say that relocation & couch replacement were offered after I directly spoke with [redacted], supervisor of [redacted] who initially said that they contained the dust & need not be offered place to move & couch which was dry outside but water damaged the inside.  That was the time everything wad settled

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Mercury Auto Insurance Group have made no attempt to apologize for any miscommunication that may have arisen and have shown nothing but the utmost disrespectful to myself as a customer. It is highly inconvenient that the key parts of the conversation between myself and the claims adjuster, [redacted], proving the miscommunication of the deductible were "not recalled." Perhaps if all of the conversations were recorded, miscommunication would not be an issue. In regards to the signed release form from AutoPark Collision, at the time of signing, I did state my concern for signing and stated again that I did not have the deductible and it was stated to me that the repairs would be okayed prior to repair. However that part of the miscommunication as they assumed and misheard that they thought I did indeed have the deductible. At this point I expect the same outcome as I give credit to Mercury Auto Insurance Group, which is nothing.
Regards,
[redacted]

Thank you for this request for additional information. We have responded to the complainant with the attached letter. A copy has been provided for your review. If you need anything further, please feel free to contact me directly

A resident in **. [redacted] household was turning 15 so a signed exclusion was requested for this individual. We requested it to be returned to the Company by 1/26/17. It was not received by this date so a notice of cancellation was released on 2/3/17 with an effective date of...

2/24/17.  **. [redacted] signed the form on 2/14/17 and the policy was reinstated effective 2/15/17.  We then received a request to cancel on 3/6/17; however, the effective date of the cancellation was backdated to 2/25/17 as **. [redacted] provided proof that he had replaced coverage with another carrier on that same date. We received one payment in the amount of $236.76 on 1/30/17; however, **. [redacted] disputed his second installment of $209.20 that was applied to the policy on 3/1/17 with his bank so it was returned as 'customer advises not authorized'. The policy currently has an outstanding balance of $65.00 which is the remaining amount for coverage afforded up until the cancellation date of the policy/early termination fee which is equal to 10% of the unearned premium.

Per Mr. [redacted] complaint, he claimed that our website and quote process does not state that we do not conduct business in his state; however, the initial step in Mercury’s quote process requires entering a zip code. At which point the session is then linked to Everquote which states the following,...

“Mercury has partnered with EverQuote to connect you with other insurance companies, because our products aren’t currently available in your area. This is good news for you! EverQuote can help get you the lowest rates available.” Per Mercury’s Terms of Use ‘Links to other sites’: This Site contains links to other sites. Mercury provides links to other sites as a convenience to persons who visit the Mercury Site. If you choose to use the services provided by those sites, you may be asked by those sites to provide certain personally identifiable information (some of which may, on an individual or aggregated basis, be shared with Mercury). Please be aware that Mercury is not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites, even though Mercury's name or logo may appear on those sites. We encourage you to be aware of that when you leave our Site and to read the privacy policies of each and every website that you visit, as the privacy policies of those sites may differ from ours. Our Privacy Statement applies solely to this Site. Mercury is not responsible for the contents of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site.Mr. [redacted] also states that he was informed by the soliciting companies that they had purchased his information from Mercury Insurance and states that Mercury's website does not state that his information would be sold. Per Mercury’s Privacy Statement under ‘Information sharing and use’:Mercury does not sell information about you to others. If you only browse our website and do not supply any information, you will not receive unsolicited E-mail, telephone calls, or other marketing materials from Mercury as a result of your visit. This Privacy Statement applies to the following members of the Mercury Family of Companies: Arizona (Mercury Casualty Company), California (Mercury Insurance Company/Mercury Casualty Company/American Mercury Insurance Company/California Automobile Insurance Company/Auto Insurance Specialists, LLC), Florida (Mercury Insurance Company of Florida/Mercury Casualty Company/American Mercury Insurance Company), Georgia (Mercury Insurance Company of Georgia/Mercury Indemnity Company of Georgia/American Mercury Insurance Company), Illinois (Mercury Insurance Company of Illinois/Mercury National Insurance Company), Michigan (Mercury National Insurance Company), Nevada (Mercury Casualty Company), New Jersey (Mercury Indemnity Company of America/Mercury Insurance Company of Illinois), New York(Mercury Casualty Company), Oklahoma (American Mercury Insurance Company), Pennsylvania (Mercury Insurance Company of Florida/Mercury Insurance Company of Illinois), Texas (Mercury County Mutual Insurance Company/American Mercury Insurance Company/American Mercury Lloyds Insurance Company), Virginia (Mercury Casualty Company/American Mercury Insurance Company/Mercury Select Management Company, Inc.), All states with the exception of Connecticut and Maine. PoliSeek AIS Insurance Solutions, Inc.Mercury’s Privacy Statement ‘Links to Other Sites’ also states, “MercuryInsurance.com contains links to other websites. These other websites are not under Mercury's direct control, and they may collect information about you that Mercury does not. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of linked websites.”MercuryInsurance.com clearly identifies the states that the Company operates in, clearly indicates that the Company does not sell the user’s information to others and contains the disclaimer that the Company’s website contains links to other websites that are not under Mercury’s control nor is Mercury responsible for their privacy practices. Mr. [redacted] will need to contact Everquote to have his information removed.Tell us why here...

Unfortunately, short of extending coverage where no coverage is owed, it appears Mercury will be unable to resolve the complaint to Mr. and Mrs. [redacted]' satisfaction. Let me address each point made in their last response:1. They allege that the Mercury Insurance website was accessed in August to make a payment. Previously, Mrs. [redacted] stated she accessed our system via phone. Either way, there would be a digital record of them accessing their policy. Despite several attempts to locate any indication that their policy was accessed, nothing was found. The [redacted]' also cannot produce any confirmation number for any transaction and have acknowledged no payment was ever debited from their account at that time.2. The Notice of Expiration has their address at the top left which will fit perfectly to a window box envelop when tri-folded. When the tri-fold is reversed, the agent address will show in the window box. The agent is copied on the Notice.3. Mercury did in fact send the FLDMV electronic notice of the cancellation (see below). Whether or not the DMV choses to contact a resident of the State or not regarding that notice is a matter to take up with the DMV.Mercury Insurance has met all of its contractual and statutory obligations in this matter and I will once again reiterate that the Company considers the matter closed.
Below is a screenshot of the data we sent to the DMV.Transaction-Type = 10 is for Cancellation/Non-Renewal; field
positions 8-9 denote this.The effective date of the transaction is 09/01/2014; field
positions 198-205 denote this.Even though there is more than one vehicle on the policy, we
only need to send one record to cancel/non-renew.

The customer signed the application stating that all information was correct; however, when we ordered his Motor Vehicle Record, we discovered that the date of birth on the application was incorrect and we must properly rate the policy with the correct information.  We are unable to issue a...

full refund as there was coverage during the time the  policy was in force; therefore, we cannot backdate the cancellation of this policy.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
[I am not satisfied with this resolution because from this message I realized Mercury once again miscalculated my total loss of wages because of the accident. After I resubmitted my medical bills I included a copy of my hours missed the week of the accident from my employer's payroll program. I missed work for two days after the accident, and I had to leave work one hour early on the third day due to back pain. So total that would be 17 hours of lost wages at $10.50/hr for a total of $178.50, not the $10.50 Mercury is claiming. This is the second time I brought this up to the Mercury claims agent. I have proof via an email conversation on 9/22/14 with the agent. These continuous mistakes is why I am asking for the $6500 now, Mercury keeps rejecting my offers to finally settle.]
Regards,
[redacted]

Since receiving the Revdex.com complaint, we have attempted to contact you on numerous occasions to discuss your concerns, to no avail. Your complaint contends that Sunset Auto Body was a Direct Repair facility that we selected. Sunset Auto Body was your choice of shop where you had...

your vehicle towed to from the tow yard. They are not part of the Direct Repair program. It appears the wire harness was on back order and had to be delivered from Germany. We have no control over the availability of parts. We did speak with the body shop on March 31, 2017 who advised the part did arrive late March 30, 2017. Your vehicle was sent to Beverly Hills BMW to install the wiring harness. We left you a message with this information. Please contact the Claims Adjuster should you have any further questions or concerns. ..

Carrier: Mercury Insurance CompanyClaim# [redacted]-[redacted]Our Insured: [redacted]Date of Loss: 04/22/2017 This is in response to Mr. [redacted] complaint which he submitted to your site on 07/12/2017.As we had advised Mr. [redacted] in the past, our insured driver disputes liability which is...

evidenced in the police report filed by him indicating the following:Our insured was driving in the northbound left turn traffic lanes of Topanga, south of Burbank. He states that he had a green arrow to proceed with his left turn when Mr. [redacted] completed an unsafe lane change from the #1 lane into the left lane which our insured was travelling in and then completely stopped sud**nly in front of our insured’s vehicle. Our insured was unable to stop and rear en**d Mr. [redacted]’ vehicle. Our insured said that Mr. [redacted] refused to share his complete information at the scene of the acci**nt and left the scene. Our insured then called the police. The officer later followed up with Mr. [redacted] regarding the acci**nt who confirmed that he left the scene without providing his information to our insured, claiming that our insured was getting very aggressive. We found this claim peculiar when our insured provi**d his personal, vehicle and insurance information to Mr. [redacted] but Mr. [redacted] refused to reciprocate. Mr. [redacted] did confirm to the officer that there was no witness to the loss. We obtained recorded interviews from both drivers who again confirmed no witnesses to the loss. We did obtain estimates and photos of both vehicles and Google viewed that area to confirm the position of each vehicles as stated by both drivers. Our current liability evaluation concludes that Mr. [redacted] was liable for this loss for an unsafe lane change. On May 22nd (a month after the loss) Mr. [redacted] called us and told us that he now has a witness who was pumping gas from the gas station across the  street who said that he witnessed this loss. Given this new information, we are continuing with our liability investigation. We have requested additional information from this witness in order to further evaluate liability and the witness is yet to return any of our calls to him.  We hope to hear back from the witness to verify if this person has any specific information to change our liability position. Currently, we find that Mr. [redacted] is the proximate cause of this loss and have denied any liability owed to him.

Per Mr. [redacted] complaint, he had requested to cancel his policy back in August 2016. Mercury’s Cancellation procedure which is outlined in the Provisions of the Policy  (page 17 #10) “Cancellation: This policy may be canceled by the named insured by mailing a written request for...

cancellation to the company or its agent. Coverage shall cease and the policy period shall end on the latest date listed below:   (1) 12:01 A.M. of the day specified by the named insured in the request for cancellation. (2) 12:01 A.M. on the day following receipt by the Company. This policy may be canceled by the company by mailing to the named insured, at the address shown in the policy, a written notice stating when, not less than 10 days thereafter, such cancellation shall be effective. The mailing of the notice shall be sufficient proof of notice. Delivery of such written notice or request for cancellation by either the named insured or the company shall be the equivalent of mailing. If cancellation is initiated by the company for underwriting reasons, earned premium shall be computed pro rata. If cancellation is for any other reason including cancellation for non payment of premium, the earned premium shall be computed in accordance with the company’s short rate table.   Since Mercury Insurance Group does not have proof of Mr. [redacted] intent to cancel his policy prior to 3/9/17 and because Mr. [redacted] would had to have sent a written request for cancellation to the Company or his agent [redacted] &  [redacted] Company; Mercury Insurance will require proof of this initial cancellation submission (examples of proof are: fax confirmation and email submissions). The Company will review the submitted proof for possible amendment to the policy’s cancellation effective date.        Furthermore, since the policy was cancelled effective 3/9/17 the refund provided was based off of the Company’s short rate table as stated above (page 17 #10). Also, in an attempt to work with Mr. [redacted] for the best possible outcome, Mercury Insurance has removed Comprehensive and Collision coverage effective 2/26/17 which is the lease return date. However, the policy cancellation effective date remains as 3/9/17.   Per Mercury’s " Automatic Payment " program authorization form which was signed by Mr. [redacted] in order to enroll for automatic monthly deductions (copy attached), the form clearly states, “Mercury will automatically debit any future installments from your account.  By signing the authorization form, Mr. [redacted] agreed to, “authorize Mercury Insurance Group to initiate monthly deductions from my bank account when payments are due for my Mercury account. Payments will be withdrawn on the payment due date or the following business day. I understand that Mercury will notify me if my debit amount changes by more than $1.00 from my previous deduction. I may terminate this agreement at any time by notifying Mercury in writing. Notification must be received by the Company at least three business days prior to the next scheduled debit date in order to prevent previously scheduled debit transactions.”   In conclusion, Mercury Insurance did not deduct an unauthorized withdrawal payment as a renewal offer was mailed to Mr. [redacted] on 1/27/17 (copy attached). Renewal offer also included an invoice in the amount of $57.96 stating, “your policy is currently set up with automatic payment. Your account will continue to be debited automatically on the same day each month.” That being so, should Mr. [redacted] have proof that a signed written cancellation request was provided to his agent or the Company prior to 3/9/17, Mercury Insurance encourages Mr. [redacted] to submit this proof. Prior to Mr. [redacted] policy cancellation, the policy had renewed effective 3/1/17. Should the proof submitted confirm that the Company or the agent [redacted] &  [redacted] Company did receive Mr. [redacted] cancellation prior to the renewal date of 3/1/17, the Company will honor the date after the cancellation request was received as the cancellation effective date along with full reimbursement of Mr. [redacted] renewal payment. Tell us why here...

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.Please see attachment. I do believe that there amy be a problem with your email system that I used in my reponse, so I have included the links that are in the attachment:



Mercury Insurance Company
[redacted]
Claims Branch Manager
[redacted]
[redacted]
 
 
Dear Mr. [redacted] ,
After some preliminary research within the local
jurisdiction, it appears that Mercury Insurance representative, [redacted],
made false statements claiming that [redacted] filed a personal injury lawsuit
against Ms. [redacted].
Clearly this was deliberately done to cause unnecessary emotional
distress. In the event that this is standard company policy procedure then
legal recourse may be in order if Mercury Insurance stands behind such industry
practice.
The unwillingness to accept any 2nd estimate from
a body shop other than [redacted] and other questionable tactics will be
forwarded to Mr. [redacted] for advise and possible representation in the
event that this matter is not resolved through this final attempt to find
resolution through the Revdex.com.
Mr. [redacted] is a friend of the family and has previously represented
me in the attached personal injury case. And although he is focusing on the
[redacted]
[redacted]
List of media experience in Napa Resource Guide / Ucla Film
& Television Archive
The Ro[redacted] Case & The [redacted].
[redacted]
Regards,
[redacted]