Economical stole our car!
by dkg on Feb 27, 2015
1 out of 5 stars
both times I was not at fault and they tried to charge me. second time my car was written off and they gave me two weeks to have a new one or they would cancel my policy and my rates would double. very rude would not listen to me hung up on me multiple times and would not call back. I know all insurance companies are bad but they really have made my life hell. my suggestion is to avoid cowan insurance brokers and economical as a company
This insurance claim has been nothing but problems. I would write a long detailed review, but I want to settle this claim first. It has been ongoing and unresolved for over three months now. I am a perfectly reasonable person, and every frustrating step of the way and every communication from them has been so painful and stressful that I'm going to seek out a lawyer this week and pay to bring and end to it. They have it set up as a pretty good racket with your 'adjuster' misinterpreting what you and repair shops say, and then passing the buck to the 'appraiser' who you are not able to talk to directly. They will request information then when you provide it, say something is missing or that's not what they wanted and ask for something completely different. Basically they have put my back so firmly against the figurative wall that I am getting a lawyer out of principle (even though it may not be the most cost effective avenue). They aren't in the least bit interested in finding a settlement, its an 'all or nothing' war of attrition for them.
If you have a good driving record in AB, you should pay around $110/month (women - $105/month and men - $113/month). Do you overpay? Get an Alberta car insurance quote to start saving.
Try suing one of Economical Mutuals clients. 4 years and counting with no end in sight. Liability has been established by Worksafe & ICBC. But Economical Mutual wants to go the distance. Unable to find suitable words.
I had an accident where the other driver was at fault and charged. My 90 year old mother was the passenger, she suffered both physical and emotional pain. The car that was cared for many years by my dad was given to me after he retied from driving was written off. Here is both myself and my mother in shock and the car (a 97 olds cutlas that i could have driven for a few more years with because of its care and mint condition low KM was written off and i was offered what they call cash value of $1500. As someone else posted here i could get another appraiser have it go to what they call and umpire ,i declined and they say they closed the file so i have nothing but i now have to come up with funds from my pocket to buy a vehicle and pay for it with what i receive from my pension.
Someone from Roger's came up my driveway to do a cold call. When the representative got back into his vehicle he backed into my deceased fathers car.
The car is a limited production car, it was signed by GM line workers who assembled the car as my father worked for GM. From the first time we spoke to a representative from Economical he told us the car will be considered a write off prior to seeing the vehicle. I have been dealing with a rep who is totally incompetent. We told them we do not want the car to be written off as it holds so much sentimental value. I have not received any calls from him since September 5, 2023. I have tried emailing him and all my emails are being returned. I have called and was told I would hear back from Mark within 24 hours and he has not called back. I then called after the 24 hours to escalate the issue. Today, September 15th 2023 a tow truck drive came to attempt to take the car to IAA which is an auto auction. Very sneaky. Needless to say, the car did not leave my driveway. If something doesnt get resolved I will be taking this to the ombudsman. I have taken the car to 3 auto shops who have all said the car is not a write off. I would never suggest this company.
Did you know that on average Ontario drivers with good driving records pay $1,805/year in auto insurance? Is your insurance rate higher? Get a free car insurance quote and start saving today.
I was a victim of fraudulent insurance by a broker named (Daniel C) a name that might be very familiar since he was all over the news in selling fake insurance. He sold me insurance from Economical which I received my package from them, then a few months later I got my cancellation package for non-payment even though I did pay this guy in full for the whole year. Right after that I called Economical and I sent them a trackable email with attachments proves that this guy got the money from me it even included audio attachments and pictures, so after speaking to them many many times and keep promising that they will escalate to the higher authority or manager or the underwriter but none of that was done. As I mentioned that the trackable email tells me how many times they opened my email, in fact, they did open it 116 times and I told them that yet all that I get from them is just promises but nothing in reality.
It started back at the very beginning of July. My vehicle was stolen from my driveway on the night of July 1st. I immediately reported it stolen to the police and called my insurance company. They informed me that if the vehicle hadn't been recovered in 2 weeks that the issue would be settled and the vehicle would be paid out after an investigation was complete. They assured me it would all be completed in a timely manner. A few days after that, I made my official statement to an employee of Sonnet Insurance Company. Two weeks rolled on by without hearing once from my assigned adjuster. I called the office, left 3 messages over 3 days. I emailed her several times over the next coming days. I still did not hear a word. I called Sonnet insurance directly as I had not heard when to return the rental they had approved. No one there seemed to want to help me, they just informed me that I must speak with my adjuster who they promised would contact me within the day. Big surprise, she did not. I asked to speak to a supervisor on another occasion, they said I had to wait up to 48 hours to hear a call back from a supervisor. No one ever called me back. I knew my policy only covered 30 days, and as this was fast approaching and passed by, I was getting worried about costs incurred to myself. Still, I had not heard from my adjuster. On day 36 of driving the rental vehicle, I decided to return it, because Enterprise called me and told me that the adjuster had called them and informed them that they would only be covering the first 2 weeks of the rental. I was shocked because my policy clearly states 30 days. Also, I was upset that my adjuster took the time to call the rental car company to cut off the rental but didn't have time to call me. If they were only planning on covering 14 days it would have been nice to know at the very latest on day 14. Not day 36. Enterprise Rental Company wanted to charge me on drop off, but we came to the solution that they would give me a week to sort things out with Sonnet, which was fair. I called and emailed Sonnet and my adjuster again, I was told I would have to talk to my adjuster directly and customer service could not do anything to help me. Finally, the adjuster emailed me, briefly apologized and asked questions that were already previously answered by me during my initial interview. She also required more documents to be filled out, but she did not address my immediate concerns about the charges for the rental vehicle. I emailed her again, I called Sonnet again, I even called the Office of the Ombudsman for Sonnet. They assured me they would have a supervisor contact me within 48 hours. Again, that never happened. We are up to August 18th at this point, and I've had no access to a vehicle, I couldn't work. Being a single mother and not being able to work was extremely difficult for me. As you can understand I have bills to pay. So, on August 18th, I get a phone call from a customer service representative in the total loss unit. He tells me he is the one in charge of deciding the worth of my vehicle for a settlement payment. We discuss payment of $8073.00, minus $500 for the deductible which was satisfactory for me. He mailed me the cheque. Meanwhile, I desperately looked around for a vehicle, found one, put a deposit of my own money down on it to hold it for when the insurance settlement came in. I received the cheque, deposited it, got a bank draft for the vehicle purchase and went out to buy it. I was so relieved that everything was finally settled and I could work again. But, I was wrong, everything was not settled. I received a call yesterday from my adjuster saying they just confirmed with the police that the vehicle had been recovered on August 12th. I had never heard a word from the police or anyone else about this. Then the adjuster informs me that they have put a stop payment on the settlement cheque because now that they have the vehicle they are going to reassess it, test it for mechanical issues. If they find it to be mechanically sound, they will be giving me back the vehicle with no payment. Also, if the vehicle is unsound, and they find it to be worthless money than they originally gave me, that's what the new cheque will be. I am furious about this. My bank account is now in an overdraft because of the cancelled cheque. How can they agree on the settlement, cut a cheque to the customer and then just change their minds? Also, how can they fairly reassess the vehicle when they have no idea the condition it was in before it was stolen? Also, last Friday I received a call from Enterprise saying they hadn't heard anything from Sonnet yet about the money owed and now they were charging my credit card $1683.00. So now, my bank account is in overdraft, I have no money, my credit card is billed $1683.00. Sonnet has screwed me for $9256.00, and according to my adjuster, now that the situation has changed I am expected to be patient and keep waiting for them to get everything sorted and figured out. If I never went out right away and bought a vehicle I would still be out of work waiting for them to figure things out. Meanwhile, I've again contacted a supervisor which, surprise, I still haven't heard from. It has been on an ongoing battle and huge stressor for me for 2 whole months now, with still no solution!
I wish I had looked into this insurance company before agreeing to have them as my Insurance company. This company currently handles my home and auto insurance. I have had auto insurance with them for approximately 10 years and have never had a claim. I have held house insurance with them for just over 5 years ( I am leaving this company but currently still use them ) This company is not on your side, their customer service is beyond the worst I have seen. I am currently in the middle of dealing with their ombudsperson. I was hit in a parking lot while exiting my vehicle by a woman with no sticker or registration. My car was off, and I was exiting my vehicle when she pulled in very fast beside me and took the door off of my car ( my foot was on the ground as I was getting out) I had a witness and video of the women who was very erratic. I never received a rental car (which is in my policy). I am still working and was carless for over a week with no answers or callbacks from anyone (including smart coverage my broker) I was then deemed 100% responsible for this claim because my car door was open. Even though I had a witness who saw me exiting my car when the woman pulled in and hit me (very fast). This happened at the end of March and I just received an email back from the ombudsman person today. They do not work for you and are not on your side. After looking and reading about this company I see how many unhappy customers they have. I have no problem admitting when I'm wrong but this claim is absolutely absurd. I have never been more disappointed or disgusted by a company. Do yourselves a favour and stay far away from these crooks
Secure and Certified
Your information privacy and security is very important to us. We use the same 256-bit encryption and data security levels as all major banks. Our practices are monitored and verified by VeriSign and Digicert.
Independent
InsurEye is not owned by any bank, insurance company, insurance brokerage or any other financial services institution. We collect, validate, and analyze insurance experiences of real consumers.
Insightful
We aspire to equip you with insights, data and knowledge to help in making informed decisions around personal finance, insurance quotes, and other important matters. We are always open for your comments.
Do not insure your car with this evil company!
Yesterday, my fiance was in a collision, thankfully he was not hurt but the car was wrecked. he was not at fault, and it says so in the police report. Since we put in a claim however Economical has given us 24 hours of hell, and I expect many more days of hell to come.
First, they refused to loan us a vehicle until they can get the police report, so they can prove he was not at fault. We gave them the incident number and the contact information of the police officer who responded to the scene. The incident number says my fiance is not at fault, they refuse to believe that, and they refuse to speak with the officer who responded to the crash. The lady who is in charge of the claim spent more time on the phone lecturing my fiance about how he doesn't have their most expensive insurance plan to compensate for this crash than actually helping. She also insisted we contact the police and get the report from them in order to speed up the claim process. Needless to say the insurance is responsible to collect the police report, so the police would not give it to us and were even horrified that the insurance asked us to collect it.
Next they asked my fiance to go to the impound by Friday (the collision happened on Wednesday) to fill out the proper release paperwork that would allow the insurance company to take the car from the impound lot. We get a call from the impound lot an hour later stating that the Economical has informed them that they would be picking up the car the next morning. They impound lot called us because they thought it was strange, because no paperwork had been signed yet to release the car, which had just came into the lot that day. My fiance said he would be there in the morning to sign said paperwork, remove the licence plates, and collect our belongings.
This morning he goes to the impound lot only to find out Economical had sent a tow to collect the car in the morning before he had gotten there. Somehow they had taken the car without the paperwork filled out and took our licence plates and belongs with them! They essentially have stolen the car because we did not have the paperwork filled out that gave them permission to take the vehicle. Now we are fighting them to get our belongs and licence plates back! The people we have spoken to on the phone have been nothing but rude and awful to us, essentially saying it's our fault they took the car without our consent.
On top of that the lady in charge of the claim won't answer our phone calls. I am outraged! Do not get insurance with this company and save yourself the stress and horror we are going through now.