The Good, the Bad, and the Geico

Okay my very first statement about Geico will be this: They live up to their Roadside Assistance. I’ve broken down a few times in the past couple of months and they’ve been very good about getting someone out to give me a tow or jump me or whatever I needed, no questions asked, apparently no limit (though we’ll see what happens when it comes time to renew my policy with them.)

My problem with Geico lies in the insanity that goes on with their customer representatives. In an experience we had in the RV last year, we were told our RV would be fixed after it caught on fire, told we would be reimbursed for up to $1000 in expenses we incurred when we couldn’t live in it (because the claims adjuster took a week getting to us, and the RV was our house). This morning, I’m sitting in the bus with a dead battery and gave Geico a call. They wouldn’t send someone out until they could call the garage where my bus was towed to last week and verify that I’d had the repairs made. Fair enough, I understand completely: they don’t want to be towing people around who aren’t even putting the cash into their vehicles to keep from having to call Geico again. Unfortunately, it was 7:30 in the morning and the garage wasn’t open. So the representative I spoke with mentioned that she could hook me up with the towing company that Geico uses in the area, I could pay to have my bus towed, and then Geico would reimburse me for the full cost. I was very particular about those details because I had been told before that if you do it this way, that damn gecko will only cut you a check for $50 / max. That only covers the hookup fee at most places. The representative I spoke with specifically gave me a FAX number and everything, telling me I could FAX the invoice back in when I got it and they’d verified everything.

So I called back a few hours later, after having the old girl towed to my local VW mechanic, and talked to another representative. This person proceeded to give me the information I needed to get the long, arduous reimbursement process started. First thing she tells me, they don’t accept FAXes. I asked her why the other woman would have told me that Geico does accept invoices by FAX, she said she didn’t know. I asked her why their was an arcane policy of mailing invoices in when we have FAX and email and every other split second way of communicating. She had no answer that wasn’t bullshit, and so I informed her that the true reason was this: Geico only accepts original invoices. So if you send an original through the mail, there’s a chance it’ll get lost in the postal system or that they can just rip it up if they’d like. Good fat luck with that Geico, I’ll be getting tracking on my invoices, I’ll be watching your lizardy asses so carefully, you won’t finangle me like you tried to and failed last time.

I am incredibly happy with Geico 46% of the time. But anytime I have to speak to a representative and then to another one, and they are feeding me completely different shpeels, my blood begins to boil and I realize quite well that I’ll be reviewing my options come policy renewal time. I haven’t been in an accident in all of my life, never reported a claim. The only thing I’ve ever used car insurance for is towing. Bastards.