Robert Altland

Review of Tapco Underwriters, Inc.

One star reviews are usually from people with an a...

One star reviews are usually from people with an axe to grind. Often it's their attitude that causes the bad experience they want to report. That is not the case. My agent had a similar experience, and that's supposed to be a pro-to-pro conversation. And existing reviews from others in the usual places reflect this. So I just want someone to listen up and fix this.

I made a call to what I thought was customer service, but I now think it was someone not public facing, maybe in the accounting department. I paid a full year's premium for commercial insurance. They canceled my insurance after 45 days because of a change in risk. So I'm expecting a refund. I've waited about a week and a half and haven't gotten it, so I called to learn how much that refund would be and when I could expect it.

She told me it takes 30 days. I asked her why it took so long. That's not a very long time, but my question is valid and wasn't presented argumentatively. I simply asked, but she got defensive nonetheless. Then she told me that the amount of the check was 12% less than I had expected. The reason is because of something called 25% minimum earned and policy fees. Basically, when you sign up, it doesn't matter if you're insured for 1 day or 3 years (her words), if there's a refund, they take 25%. These are "the rules" as explained to me by her. (See the last paragraph - she didn't even read the notes on the account to see that these fees had been waived.) I wasn't able to ask any clarifying questions without her getting defensive and argumentative, talking over me and telling me that I was yelling at her when I raised my voice to finish my sentences. This happened several times before I got so frustrated that I hung up on her. It's been a very long time since I've encountered anyone so rude. it's been a very long time since I've hung up on someone.

I don't like to give bad reviews, but this is necessary. Even so, before I submitted this review, I tried calling back and asking for someone who "could provide some good customer service". I got *exactly* the same treatment: defensive, argumentative, talking over me and accusing me of yelling at him when I raised my voice to try to keep him from also interrupting me while I was trying to finish my sentence, except this time he hung up on *me*. Again, he didn't even look at the account notes to see the special treatment they were giving me (waived fees).

If rank and file don't care about customer service, and management doesn't care, either, is this really a company you want to do business with? My agent recounted a similar experience, so this isn't a case of me being a jerk or a difficult customer -- this seems to be a pattern of behavior. It's like they want to fight. They'll take your money and give it back to you when they feel like it, and in an amount they feel like refunding. I'm sure there is some logic to it, but I couldn't avoid getting into an argument with anyone to try to get an answer.

And, just to be clear on my position: it's not the customer's responsibility to try to avoid an argument. A customer may be a total a$$hole to you (I wasn't except maybe for hanging up that first time), but it's the business's responsibility to not sink to the customer's level and to try to find a calm and professional way to resolve the dispute. There was absolutely no attempt at this whatsoever.

As a follow up, I finally got hold of someone who actually looked at the notes on my account and saw that there was an agreement to waive the 25% and another fee. This would have been very useful information to know during that first call, where the lady told me that these fees were the reason my refund check would be less than I expected. So now I have the concern that accounting didn't take these notes into consideration, but I have no faith that I could get through to them without more bullsh!t. I really, really, really, really don't want to talk to anyone there ever again.