OT - Warning about 21st Century Insurance

[Newgene McMensa]

I promised the 21st Century Insurance rep on the phone today that I would spread the word about how poorly the company has performed and how difficult it has been to deal with for the past 12 months.

First, thanks to 21st for forcing me to shop around!!

After being with 21st for over 25 years, service went down and premiums went up the moment Farmers purchased the company.

My first negative experience was about 3 years ago, when a tow picked up my car on a flat bed, then instead of dropping it off at the garage 2 miles away, made several other stops. When I called the garage 4 hours later, they had not seen the car. A call to the tow company revealed that the driver was at a donut shop about 2 miles from the garage "working on another call." 15 minutes later he dropped off my car at the garage. Contact with 21st was a waste of time. Then next time I needed a tow, they used the same service, only this time I refused it.

Geico, Progressive and AAA premiums are all LESS THAN HALF the price of

21st Century! So one year's saving almost pays for the extra costs that I incurred due to 21st Century's failure to answer the call to provide towing even after calling repeatedly for 45 minutes, and for its refusal to reimburse even a part of the $75 charge that I paid instead.

Also, I made double payments last spring because of planning to be out of town for the 2nd payment. Instead of applying them to 2 payments as requested, they deposited the payment as one payment, and then canceled the insurance after the deadline for the 2nd payment. And then, charged a cancellation fee and a reinstatement fee.

Finally, when I let my insurance expire earlier this month, they promised to invoice me for another cancellation fee.

[Newgene McMensa]

"Newgene McMensa" wrote in message news:z7mdnelr3YqPxGTFnZ2dnUU7-b [e-mail]... I promised the 21st Century Insurance rep on the phone today that I would spread the word about how poorly the company has performed and how difficult it has been to deal with for the past 12 months.

First, thanks to 21st for forcing me to shop around!!

After being with 21st for over 25 years, service went down and premiums went up the moment Farmers purchased the company.

My first negative experience was about 3 years ago, when a tow picked up my car on a flat bed, then instead of dropping it off at the garage 2 miles away, made several other stops. When I called the garage 4 hours later, they had not seen the car. A call to the tow company revealed that the driver was at a donut shop about 2 miles from the garage "working on another call." 15 minutes later he dropped off my car at the garage. Contact with 21st was a waste of time. Then next time I needed a tow, they used the same service, only this time I refused it.

Geico, Progressive and AAA premiums are all LESS THAN HALF the price of

21st Century! So one year's saving almost pays for the extra costs that I incurred due to 21st Century's failure to answer the call to provide towing even after calling repeatedly for 45 minutes, and for its refusal to reimburse even a part of the $75 charge that I paid instead.

Also, I made double payments last spring because of planning to be out of town for the 2nd payment. Instead of applying them to 2 payments as requested, they deposited the payment as one payment, and then canceled the insurance after the deadline for the 2nd payment. And then, charged a cancellation fee and a reinstatement fee.

Finally, when I let my insurance expire earlier this month, they promised to invoice me for another cancellation fee.

===

PS -- I forgot one thing... I called 21st three months ago asking what the premium would be if I dropped one of my 2 cars. The "savings" was about $5 for 6 months. So I did not drop the coverage. Within a couple of weeks, I got a letter from DMV saying that "because you no longer have coverage".... asking for a "non-operation" certificate. That's all I needed -- fun with DMV. That also meant having to pay for another 2nd smog certificate.

A word to the wise.... Stay away from Farmers & 21st Century.

[Ed Pawlowski]

You need a more reliable car. You can also save making one payment instead of monthly payments with a $6 add on.

It pays to shop around.