Women Clients Treated Badly - Don't Get Me Started!
Written: Dec 23 '03
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Pros: None
Even if you were an officer, as a woman, you're dogmeat to USAA!
Cons: Rips off women!
Double standards rule!
An organization of men, by men, for men.
The Bottom Line: USAA GOUGES 19-YEAR VETERAN CUSTOMER OVER $400 CLAIM! /
WHAT WOULD USAA DO TO YOU OVER A CLAIM COSTING THOUSANDS! / THEY'LL NEVER GET A CENT FROM ME AGAIN!
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| jh1221's Full Review: USAA Group - Home |
OK, I got started! Stand by for heavy rolls!
After years of faithful payments, I was treated shabbily by USAA. They not only tried to gouge me, like some fly-by-night outfit, they even flat-out lied to me! I have NO use for liars or any outfit that employs liars. You would think that an organization established by commissioned military officers would understand what truth and honor are all about! NOT! I left and I NEVER looked back.
I joined USAA as a young Naval Officer in 1976. I paid them premiums for both auto and home insurance policies for almost 20 years.
Single Accident = DOUBLE RATES!!!!
In 1995, I had one minor car accident and filed my FIRST CLAIM with USAA that was due to my actions. (In the late 70s, a drunk driver ran a stop sign and hit my vehicle. I was a passenger and USAA handled the repairs and dealt with the drunk driver's company. I also have to add that I had one fender bender and got one speeding ticket in my teens when I was covered by my parent's insurance. That was my entire driving record from 1968 to 1995.)
My 1995 accident was an accident in the true sense. I was driving a borrowed, older vehicle, one with which I was not familiar. Sitting at a drive-thru window, I dropped the change. I put the automatic gearshift in Park and opened the door to pick up the change. I took my foot off the brake to reach the coins and, without touching the gearshift, the vehicle slipped into Reverse and hit the vehicle behind me, punching a hole in the bumper. Looking back, I know I should have engaged the Emergency brake, but I had never done so in any vehicle before, always relying on the Parking brake. (I learned my lesson - now I ALWAYS set the Emergency brake before opening a vehicle door, even when the engine is off.) Luckily, there wasn't any speed involved, just a slow, short roll and a startling bump.
I would have paid for the damage out of pocket, but there was an elderly person in the passenger seat and I was concerned about possible medical claims, so, for the first time in 19 years of paying for their "services," I asked USAA to pay a claim resulting from my action.
The total amount of the claim was $400 plus change, less than $450. No medical claims ever materialized. For my next semi-annual insurance bill, MY USAA AUTO INSURANCE RATES DOUBLED to over $600 for 6 months!
When I called to complain, I was told that since I was involved in an accident, and in the first year or so afterwards I would be at risk for more accidents because of the "emotional after-effects," they raised my rates to cover this increased risk! The ONLY "emotional after-effects" I was experiencing was anger realizing that in two semi-annual payments, USAA would recoup 150% of what they had paid for my claim!
What's the point of having insurance when you pay into their scam for years, even decades, have one accident, and end up paying for that entire claim? And then some? That's like having NO insurance!
Of course, I have to wonder if the increased risk of "emotional after-effects" ONLY APPLIES TO THEIR FEMALE CLIENTS? Read on for more evidence of discrimination.
After MUCH hassle [read on], USAA offered to do a "special review" of my case and called several weeks later with their decision, but by then I had switched to GEICO, and never returned USAA's calls. In fact, I've never had any more dealings with USAA, even refusing to pay my husband's insurance bills from them. (He says he would switch, too, because whenever he's late paying them, he gets a snippy "reminder" to pay, but admits he's too lazy to switch.)
After hearing my history, GEICO gave me close to the original safe driver rate USAA had charged me before doubling their rate. GEICO said the amount of my one claim was below their threshold for increasing the premiums. I was warned by other Federal co-workers that GEICO service is lousier than USAA, BUT I HAVEN'T YET HAD TO FIND OUT, knock wood! So much for those "emotional after-effects!"
Double Standard?
Incidentally, one of my co-workers lavishly praises USAA because they ALWAYS cover her elderly husband's many accidents. Sure, her rates have risen, but, in spite of numerous costly & dangerous traffic accidents entirely due to his fault, like failing to yield while making a left turn, USAA never protested his coverage or questioned his ability to continue driving into his 80s! I have one minor accident in my 40s and USAA thinks I may have more accidents due to the "emotional after-effects?" Could a double-standard be in effect at USAA?
Doth USAA Protest Too Much?
In fact, during one of my many "discussions" with USAA in late 1995, one customer service person blurted out, out of the clear blue sky, without my even suggesting or hinting of discrimination, she said "It's not true that USAA discriminates against women!" or words to that effect! I don't know where that came from, since I hadn't even raised the issue, but I have heard rumors that USAA treats its women clients worse than its male clients. For example . . .
What's Good for the Gander Doesn't Apply to the Goose!"
While we were stationed in Hawaii in the 1980s, my husband called USAA on some business. I left the room and when he was done with his call, my husband announced that he had saved us money by combining our separate USAA automobile insurance coverages into one policy. And, to make it all better, in the interest of fairness and equality, all the automobiles were now listed on MY USAA insurance account. While this change was not the original purpose of his call, he said the USAA person he spoke with had initiated the suggestion that we combine vehicles on one policy. I didn't think too much about the move, especially since he was trying to be fair-minded as well as thrifty.
HOWEVER, in 1995, about the same time I was fighting with USAA about their rate increase, my husband and I were having severe marital problems and living apart. I called USAA to move his vehicle from my policy back to his account, which had never been closed, just inactive, and I was told by USAA that they could not do that WITHOUT MY HUSBAND's PERMISSION! NO ONE AT USAA HAD ASKED MY PERMISSION WHEN MY HUSBAND MOVED HIS VEHICLE ONTO MY POLICY. BUT WHEN I WANTED TO MOVE HIS VEHICLE BACK TO HIS OWN POLICY, USAA HAD TO GET HIS PERMISSION!!!!!!! It may have been during this conversation that the clerk blurted out "It's not true that USAA discriminates against women!"
A few weeks later, I received a "caring" letter from USAA asking me to please let them know as soon as I was divorced so they could review my policies at that time. In other words, how soon could they increase my rates? I had never mentioned to USAA that we were divorcing, or even legally separated, just living apart. USAA just ASSumed that a divorce was ensuing and started circling like vultures!
Talk about rubbing salt into a festering emotional wound! I'm supposed to be the one suffering from the "emotional after-effects" of a fender-bender, but don't let me forget to send USAA a divorce announcement as soon as they're printed! Funny, my husband never received a similar letter. Maybe USAA felt his emotions were too fragile to receive such a cold letter. Hah! Eight years later, we're still not divorced, so USAA, I'll be sure to let you know JUST AS SOON AS IT HAPPENS!
USAA, Lies, and I wish I had the Audio Tape!
At another point during this multi-faceted dispute with USAA, I realized that calling USAA's 1-800 number from the Mid-Atlantic sent the call to a USAA service center in Norfolk, Virginia. After numerous calls in 1995 about the accident, the rate increase, and the policy changes, and getting nowhere with the Norfolk office, I tried to reach USAA headquarters in San Antonio, Texas. But I found that every USAA number I called sent me back to Norfolk!
I finally insisted that SOMEONE in Norfolk put me through to the San Antonio headquarters and was given all sorts of excuses: Norfolk is delegated the authority to deal with my complaints, no one in San Antonio can help me with my questions & problems, blah, blah, blah. I asked for supervisors and kept insisting I be transferred to someone in Texas, thanks to all that Navy Assertiveness training!
Finally, a woman came on the line who said she was at USAA HQ in Texas. After some discussion, it was evident that SHE WAS LYING and she finally admitted she was in Norfolk and NOT IN TEXAS! It was only after that, that I was "supposedly" transferred to some guy with a "supposedly" Texas drawl who was "supposedly" a retired military officer and would "supposedly" look into my problems. I believe that was the FIRST TIME anyone mentioned that I could ask for a "special review" of my accident and the resulting rate increase, which I did.
I did not understand why a) I had to go through all this just to find out I could have asked the USAA Norfolk office for a "special review" and b) why the initial review of my accident did not point out the "special-ness" of the case in the first place! By "special-ness" I mean that it was a very minor accident, with minor damage and minor costs; that the circumstances were unusual, most vehicles do not pop out of Park and into gear spontaneously; and that, while I admit to not engaging the Emergency brake, it was not like I was speeding or tailgating or committing other moving violations!
But by that time, though, I was thoroughly disgusted with USAA and their devious, deceptive & duplicitous tactics. When the "It's not true that USAA discriminates against women!" lady called me back to tell me the results of the "special review," I was long gone to GEICO and never returned her call.
One Other Wasteful USAA Thing
I haven't entirely closed my USAA account because I'm waiting for USAA to try and close it and then I'm going to ask them what's up with the disparate treatment, again, why they never tried to close my husband's account when it was inactive for all those years but now they want to close mine! As a result, I still get junk mailings from USAA, though not as many mailings as my husband gets from USAA, not because he's still paying them premiums, but he's always gotten more mailings from USAA because HE's A MAN! And I'm not! That's the ONLY perceivable reason.
Years ago, at MY suggestion because I have an MBA and handle all our fiscal matters, we opened a joint mutual fund account with USAA. A JOINT account, in BOTH our names. However, financial mailings generated by this account, both advertisements and informational mailings, were routinely addressed ONLY TO HIM! I felt so strongly about this, years ago I wrote to USAA pointing out that not only was this account in both our names, so the mailings should also be, but that they're "ASSuming" the man handles all the finances, which is not the case in our situation, and perhaps in others.
I did receive a conciliatory response by letter and I noticed that gradually SOME mailings were addressed to both of us, but not all, and my husband continued to receive many more junk mailings than I ever did even when I was conducting more business with USAA, both auto & home insurance, than he was!
Not that I want more USAA junk mail. (I'm just using this junk mail example to show, once again, how USAA values and courts its male customers more than its female customers. Follow the money and you'll see what's valued in any organization!) Even today, our mailbox is ROUTINELY filled with USAA crap addressed to one or both of us.
Which brings me to my last point - WHY IS USAA WASTING ITS MEMBERS' HARD FOUGHT AND EARNED DOLLARS ON SO MANY GLOSSY ADVERTS THAT END UP IN THE TRASH? As an MBA I realize that it's all about growth, which is why USAA is no longer an "Officers Only" Club, but still one has to wonder how cost effective are these slick, expensive, daily mailings to thousands of members! And they're not only wasting members' money, time, & effort dealing with this trash, think of the trees that are laid to waste in support of USAA's continual hunt for more revenue!
Epilogue
After I dropped my USAA coverage and my husband reactivated his USAA policy, he started getting routine mailings and phone calls from USAA first asking, then DEMANDING, that my name and vehicle(s) be added to his policy. I told him I wanted NOTHING to do with USAA, so he has yet to surrender that information to them and the calls have petered out. Some of these calls sounded threatening in nature, with USAA callers asking the name of my insurer so they could contact them directly! Other than incorporating this new type of strong-arm tactic in their revenue raising strategy, I'm not sure exactly what USAA could do about this because if they get any more difficult, I will INSIST my husband switches his coverage elsewhere!
Oddly enough, USAA already HAS most of that information; they're just unable to connect the dots! If we drove each other's vehicles, I could see the need to add my name to his policy, but we don't, so USAA can pound sand. And if push comes to shove, then I'll see that he develops the energy to switch to another carrier!
ALL THIS SO USAA COULD GOUGE A 19-YEAR VETERAN CUSTOMER OVER A $400+ ACCIDENT CLAIM!
THINK WHAT USAA WOULD DO TO YOU OVER A CLAIM COSTING THOUSANDS!
USAA WILL NEVER GET A CENT FROM ME AGAIN!
GREAT REVENUE RAISING TACTIC - TICK OFF LOYAL CUSTOMERS BY DECEIVING AND GOUGING THEM!
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Epinions.com ID:
jh1221
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Reviews written: 14
Trusted by: 0 members
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