Here's a story of something unbelievable that happened to me earlier this summer. The following is a letter that I wrote to the RIBO (Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario) complaints moderator. Its a bit of a long story, but worth reading. Again, I would avoid dealing with this company in any way possible...
To the RIBO Consumer Complaints Officer,
I never thought that I would have to write a letter like this, but I feel it is necessary, if for no other reason to protect others who may find themselves in my situation.
On Friday, June 16, I called a number of insurance brokers to get a quote for insuring a Honda motorcycle. The best price I was quoted came from a company called "Earl Shaw Insurance Brokers Ltd" (2001 Hwy 15, Kingston, ON, K7L4V3, 613-542-6573). After taking my information over the phone, they quoted me a price of $250/year (the next best price I found was $350/year), and I decided to go with their coverage.
On Monday, June 19, I called to confirm the price with the agent, as I was planning to purchase the coverage that afternoon. The agent (named "Jeff"...I'm afraid I don't know the last name for certain, but it may be Cadke) informed me that their system was not able to connect to the internet, and so he could not get me a definite exact price. Since my next best quote was $100 higher, I asked Jeff if the final price would at least be within $100 of the $250 quote he had given me. His answer was "Certainly". He told me that even though they couldn't connect to the internet, he could still sell me the policy. He said that they could charge me $250 at that point, and if the final actual price came out a few dollars more, I would be billed accordingly, and if the price came out a few dollars cheaper, they would simply issue a cheque. I decided this would be satisfactory, and made an appointment to visit the office later that afternoon to purchase the policy.
When I arrived, Jeff took me into his office and started to put together the policy. I apologize if the next part of this email seems somewhat disjointed, but the main reason for this is that it was a very confusing hour for me as Jeff was very quickly rattling off numbers of every description, except for the $250 he had quoted over the phone. At no point did he explain to me that he wouldn't be able to do the $250 he had quoted me, instead he started writing up a policy with a cost of $427/year. When I asked him about the $250, he stated that he could instead give me the policy for $227, but for 6 months. When I asked again about the $250, he pointed at his screen that the policy would be $241 based on someone else with a similar vehicle and coverage, but that he couldn't do it for me because the system could not connect to the internet. I asked him about the agreement that we had made over the phone, about selling me the policy for $250, and then either billing or refunding me later. At this point he seemed to get very agitated, and stated that he "hadn't agreed to that at all", even though it is exactly what we had discussed earlier. All I was asking for was an explanation as to why he couldn't do what he had promised over the phone, but everytime I asked, he became very agitated and told me that the "system was down" and that the premium would be $427. He did try to call the underwriter (Kingsway), but they put him on hold, and he gave up after a few minutes.
Finally he seemed to come to a (somewhat exasperated) decision, and decided to write up the policy anyways and charge me the $250 we had agreed on. He wrote up the policy, which I signed, and then we went to the front desk so I could pay (via Interac). I asked him to make me a copy of the policy, and he started to do it, but then told me to come back into his office. At this point, he took the policy from me, and literally tore it up in front of my eyes. He said that he could "lose his license", and that I wasn't worth "his children going hungry". At this point, after essentially wasting my time for an hour, he said that I should just go. I took my papers and left, in a very upset and disbelieving state, in that I couldn't believe what had just happened to me.
************
Anyways, thats my story. Apparently, RIBO performed an investigation, but since I didn't have any hard proof, the guy basically got off. I guess I never really expected justice, but at the very least, I guess writing the letter itself made me feel better.
Hopefully the lot of you have better experiences!
Have a good one,
Mike
