Preferred Employers Insurance Co

Dear Ms. [redacted]:We are in receipt of the Revdex.com Complaint dated August 29*, 2015, filed on behalf of For Elyse, Inc. Preferred Employers Group takes all complaints seriously and we appreciate the opportunity to respond.We respectfully request that this complaint be reversed as it...

applies to Preferred Employers Group (PEG), based on the facts and documents included herein.By way of background, For Elyse, Inc. contracted with Preferred Employers Group in January 2014 for Workers Compensation coverage which continued by renewal until the policy was cancelled on January 30", 2015 at the request of the insured/complainant. [redacted], Account Manager of Interwest Insurance, received the following email on January 30*, 2015, “Hello [redacted], Please cancel our policy. The other bid came in lower the effective date of the new policy is January 31*, 2015. Thank you, Amber Kierig, President.”According to policy records, the first notification Preferred received requesting policy cancellation was on February 2, 2015. The notification came by way of fax and signed by [redacted] on behalf of For Elyse, Inc. The cancellation document indicates that the insured placed coverage with another carrier, Farmers Insurance, and their policy was “in effect starting 1/30/15.”Upon receipt of this notification, PEG took immediate action and cancelled the insured’s policy to the date their coverage began with Farmers Insurance. Because the policy was cancelled midterm [by the insured], a short-rate penalty of $1,165 was assessed. Page 5 of the insured’s policy explains how we assess short-rate penalties, “If you [the insured] cancel, final premium will be more than pro rata; it will be based on the time this policy was in force, and increased up to 11% by our short-rate cancellation table and procedure. Final premium will not be less than minimum premium.”

Review: On December 10th of 2013 I signed up for a workers compensation policy with Preferred Employeers. The policy was dated 1/13/14-1/13/15. In December of 2014 I contacted our account manager at Interwest Insurance and let him know that we would not renew if we could not get a more completive rate. I had found a rate that was several hundred dollars less through Farmers Insurance. I was assure by [redacted] at Interwest that he would be able to lower my rate and he would get back to me with that as soon as possible. I left numerous messages for him over the course of the next few weeks. When [redacted] finally did get back to me with a quote he apologized and said unfortunately they would not be able to beat or even meet the lower quote. He got back to me on Friday January 23rd at 4:30pm. I let him know that we were going to switch carriers so we could save the $300. He did not tell me that Preferred Employeers would be charging me a short rate penalty of $1165 for canceling. If he had I would not have canceled to save $300. Because he waited so long to get back to me, I had to wait to the following week to set up the policy with Farmers. The new policy went into effect on 01/29/15. I was shocked when I got the Final Audit that showed the $1165 penalty. I contacted them immediately to get it removed and was told that it probably would not be a problem since it only renewed for such a short time. Over the course of the last 6 months I have not been able to get them to remove the penalty. I have been told "this is a very standard practice and I should have known about it." I review the original policy and it states under the heading of Notice of Cancelation Fees that if you cancel this policy there will be up to an 11% fee. The policy that I agreed to these terms was from 01/13/14-01/13/15. That policy was paid in full and was not canceled. I should not be penalized for bad customer service, an unclear policy and deceptive business practices.Desired Settlement: I would like to have the penalty removed from my account and prevent Preferred Employeers from taking advantage of other small business.

Business

Response:

Dear Ms. [redacted]:We are in receipt of the Revdex.com Complaint dated August 29*, 2015, filed on behalf of For Elyse, Inc. Preferred Employers Group takes all complaints seriously and we appreciate the opportunity to respond.We respectfully request that this complaint be reversed as it applies to Preferred Employers Group (PEG), based on the facts and documents included herein.By way of background, For Elyse, Inc. contracted with Preferred Employers Group in January 2014 for Workers Compensation coverage which continued by renewal until the policy was cancelled on January 30", 2015 at the request of the insured/complainant. [redacted], Account Manager of Interwest Insurance, received the following email on January 30*, 2015, “Hello [redacted], Please cancel our policy. The other bid came in lower the effective date of the new policy is January 31*, 2015. Thank you, Amber Kierig, President.”According to policy records, the first notification Preferred received requesting policy cancellation was on February 2, 2015. The notification came by way of fax and signed by [redacted] on behalf of For Elyse, Inc. The cancellation document indicates that the insured placed coverage with another carrier, Farmers Insurance, and their policy was “in effect starting 1/30/15.”Upon receipt of this notification, PEG took immediate action and cancelled the insured’s policy to the date their coverage began with Farmers Insurance. Because the policy was cancelled midterm [by the insured], a short-rate penalty of $1,165 was assessed. Page 5 of the insured’s policy explains how we assess short-rate penalties, “If you [the insured] cancel, final premium will be more than pro rata; it will be based on the time this policy was in force, and increased up to 11% by our short-rate cancellation table and procedure. Final premium will not be less than minimum premium.”