Great Dissatisfaction with Geico

Dear Geico,

I am very dissatisfied with your company. I have been paying you about $140 a month for 6 months and in that time I have had no accidents or car trouble or anything. It was getting time to renew or replace my policy with you and as a seasonal worker between Colorado and Utah, I was thinking about moving to Utah permanently and changing my car registration and insurance policy to reflect that.

I went to your website and filled out the info and this is the quote you gave me. $62 per month. I entered all the information on the Website exactly as it is on file on your computers and as I later informed the lady I spoke on the phone with. I was excited by this low, competitive quote and today I called up a Geico representative to discuss it with them. They were polite and friendly to talk to, but they actually gave me a much higher quote- about $200. And then they said that if I did not accept this quote and permanently change my address with your company it could create 'problems later' if I had to file a claim.

Where then, did the $62 per month quote come from? I assume your company can pay for website programmers with enough skills to use the same algorithms to calculate payments as your employees use on their computers when I talk to them over the phone. Did it fall from the sky? Was it the product of a random number generator?

This all seems very absurd. Where I was living when I had the $140 quote was Durango, Colorado. I had a 73 mile round trip commute every day from my house, just south west of town off Highway 160, all the way to Durango Mountain Resort, in the mountains 28 miles North of Durango. I would have to drive home every night through herds of elk and deer, blizzards and snow storms, ice, and many other dangerous drivers who tend to drive drunk in that area. That is where I had the wreck that totaled my previous vehicle, as the roads were clear 2 days before Christmas when I was driving home at night, but then one patch of black ice on a 7.5% downhill grade with a curve on it and a bridge just happened to be waiting for me and I hit it. Anyone working for Geico who it it too would have also totaled their car. I was even driving under the speed limit at the time.

Today I live in Green River, Utah. We are a town of 900 people on I-70. It is 103 miles to the next town, Salina, on I-70. That is the longest distance between any two towns with nothing in between on the entire US interstate system. This is a town of farmers and a few river outfitters, one of whom I work for. No one leaves there doors locked at night here, and there is almost no crime.

I also drive very rarely. About 5 times a summer I will drive into Colorado to guide a trip there, and maybe an equal number of times a summer I will drive to Moab, 50 miles away, to hang out with some friends. I live where I work, at a boathouse, and do not have a daily commute. So my driving occurs very rarely.

Despite the fact that I have moved to a safer, flatter, warmed, place, where I drive less, your company has chosen to raise my policy. I have no other conclusion I can reach except for the fact that you use your company to email misleading quotes to the very customers who pay your salaries, and use that to trick them into giving one of your representatives a phone call, where they then inform you your policy must now be higher than the one you are already paying.

I am very dissatisfied with Geico today, and I will be looking at other companies in the next month who will offer me a better deal. At that point in time I will cancel my financial relationship with your company. I am also going to publish this letter on my blog, http://laughingfish.blogspot.com , and I am going to tell all of my friends and co workers about my experience with your company and encourage them never to do business with it.

Sincerely,

Christian
Geico policy number XXXX-XX-XX-XX

--- On Tue, 7/5/11, GEICO wrote:


From: GEICO
Subject: Christian, your GEICO rate quote request
To: cawright2007@yahoo.com
Date: Tuesday, July 5, 2011, 8:43 AM

GEICO
Christian,

We are pleased to provide you a personalized auto insurance quote from GEICO. Based on the information you provided NetQuote, your estimated* cost for GEICO auto insurance is:

$376.40 for 6 months of coverage.

That's only $ 62 73 per month!

Review Your Quote Buy Online

To finish the process and receive a more precise GEICO rate quote, locate your Vehicle Identification Number and then review your quote on our website. There you will simply provide a little more information, choose your desired coverages, and receive a customized quote.

If you prefer, call 1-800-841-5660 and give the knowledgeable insurance representative this reference number: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX.

As a smart consumer, you know how important it is to comparison shop for the best value on auto insurance. More than eight million drivers have chosen GEICO as their auto insurance company -- make GEICO your choice today.

We look forward to serving your insurance needs!

Sincerely,

GEICO Internet Sales


* Our estimated auto insurance quote is for a typical coverage package based on the information that you provided. Additional coverage selections are available. Your actual premium may be higher or lower depending on the additional information you provide, information we receive from other sources (such as consumer reports), the coverages, limits, and deductibles you choose, as well as any applicable discounts.

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