Nationwide Auto Insurance ripoff, don't get into an accident while insured with Nationwide Columbus Ohio

My wife and I had a South Carolina auto insurance policy with Nationwide. My wife had an accident in December of 2005. The police officer who responded deemed the other driver at fault. He later decided that both were at fault as it was not a clear as they both made a mistake. This occured on a weekend.

The Monday following we recieved a call from our Nationwide adjuster stating the other driver's insurance company had filed a claim and that Nationwide was paying it as it was clear it was my wife's fault, no matter what the traffic cop said.

Later that month, when we got our montly bill, our insurance had went up from $75 a month to $111 a month. We called right away to see what the situation was as we were still in the middle of our policy's term so they shouldn't have went up yet. Nationwide admitted it was their mistake and asked that we go ahead and pay the $111 as they couldn't rebill and they would credit us the next month. This continued until February 2006. The last time we spoke with Nationwide in Febuary, the representative told us to ignore the bill for March as we had a credit for $110 due to the several months of overbilling.

On March 23rd 2006, our agency called and said that Nationwide was going to cancel our policy unless we paid $50 by the following Sunday. My wife explained that Nationwide told her to ignore the bill for March. The agency checked into this and said that Nationwide distributed our credit amount thru the remainder of payments for the policy. Needless to say, I had enough of the constant incompetence that they were showing.

On March 24th 2006, I obtained insurance through another auto insurance company. My wife called the local agency and asked them for the paperwork to fill out to show we had obtained other insurance and not get reported to the state of South Carolina as letting our insurance lapse. My wife had to insist as the agency said it would be easier to let it cancel for nonpayment than to do the paperwork.

Just as I thought the hassle with Nationwide was over, they had yet to be a nuisance. On April 10th 2006, I recieved a final bill for $14.78 due on April 6th and the late payment fee was already figured in for me. How sweet of them to do that.

I was confused as I canceled with a credit of $111. I called Nationwide on the 10th of April and spoke with a representative who I explained my confusion to. She asked me to fax a copy of my new policy, which I did, and she would check on this and return my call by noon on the 11th.

The 11th and 12th cane and went so I called back on the 13th of April to see what the issue was and if it was resolved. It appears that they have taken the $111 credit and applied it to charges for canceling the policy with two months left and this left me a balace of $14.78. When I asked for copies of everything I have paid and where the money went and a copy of the contract, I almost didn't get the record of money promised and I was told the contract wasn't his department.

To sum this up, we have an accident. We got treated like 3rd rate citizens by the adjuster. We get overbilled for three months. We get told not to make March payment. We get told later to make the March payment in three days or get cancelled. Then we cancel and they don't want to "fool" with the paperwork. Oh yeah, when we told the agency why we were cancelling, instead of an apology, we got the answer that we weren't perfect either." Then we cancel with a decent credit and later they want more money.

Nationwide is on their own side and nobody else's. They will never get another single penny from me. I will spend more money that the $14.78 to fight them just over the principal of the situation.

Daniel
Florence, South Carolina
U.S.A.