DON’T MESS WITH W.O.W.

And NEVER EVER EVER EVER . . . .have a fender-bender . . .

. . . by a truck (or a car) backing into your rear side passenger door and back fender in the Kroger Parking Lot in Thompson Station (or anywhere).

First a Williamson Country sheriff’s deputy comes and makes his report; gets all the info, DL, insurance, et cetera et cetera. For both parties. He tells you there is nothing you need to do, just wait to hear from "her" insurance company. NOT.

Three weeks later when you have heard nothing you mention it to your D-I-L, a former deputy, who tells you, "Oh, I know that cop; he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. You need to call and report the accident to your insurance company."

So I did. Next day my insurance rep calls and gives me the name of "her" insurance guy (Allstate) who will handle the claim. Sends follow up email. I call him. He arranges for an estimator to come out. A few days later, the estimator comes by and makes his report and leaves me with his damage estimate.

So now I take the car to friend of Tom’s who does his body work. Honest good guy. He comes up with almost identical estimate, tells me to bring car back on Nov 12^th and it will take 4-5 days for him to get the work done.

Yesterday a.m. I call Allstate to make sure they are going to pay for a rental car. Daniel (Allstate rep handling my claim) tells me to call Enterprise. He has already set up an order # with them for the rental. They will pay up to $24.95 per day for the rental.

I call Enterprise. They tell me to come at 4 p.m. when they will have a rental available. They tell me on the phone to bring driver’s license, credit card, and car insurance card.

I drive to Tom’s in Mt. Pleasant. Tramp drives me to drop off my car at Buzz’s Body Shop in Mt. Pleasant and later drives me over to Enterprise in Columbia.

Enterprise asks what my deductible is. I don’t understand the need for the question and that info doesn’t appear on insurance I.D. card. Enterprise rep explains they need to know if I have car rental insurance. I tell them Allstate rep, Daniel, asked me the same thing and when I said I didn’t know for sure without checking my policy but it was my understanding that I did have rental car coverage because I always asked my rep when renewing, "so the coverage I have means I am covered whatever car I’m driving, right? And they always answer, "right." Daniel then said, "Well, it doesn’t matter. We have accepted full liability for the accident, we will take care of it. So if Enterprise tries to talk you into buying insurance, don’t do it."

Great.

So now Enterprise tells me the order faxed over from Allstate doe not include car rental insurance. So I try to call Daniel at Allstate and get a recording that says, "this number is no longer in service."

WHAT? I dial again. Same thing. Enterprise employee dials and gets same thing.

What is going on? Is "Daniel" some scam artist in cahoots with Allstate to pretend they are taking care of me . . . til time to pay?

Enterprise calls the 800 number printed on my Allstate Claim Estimate. Gets thru but agent says Daniel is not available but they will give him the message to call.

So we wait . . .

We wait til 5 p.m. when everyone is closing up shop and Tramp offers to drive me home. He is my guardian angel . . . for today, at least.

So he drives me back to Spring Hill and then goes to P/U his prescription in Columbia and then drives home to Mt. Pleasant.

Next day
Tom calls and I try and give him the "short" version of my sad tale. Then I call Allstate 800 number again (Daniel’s direct line still says, "not in service".) She tells me she will walk down to Daniel’s office and give him the message but Allstate’s policy is NOT to pay for rental insurance. The complete opposite of what Daniel told me yesterday morning.

I am sure that when I talk to Daniel, since he specifically said, "we will pay" and "don’t let Enterprise talk you into purchasing their insurance coverage" there will be no problem. He will stand by his word.

NOT.

In the meantime, I call Anne and she reminds me that most credit cards offer car rental insurance IF you pay for the car rental with their card. Ta-Da! A solution.

When Daniel finally does call me back he tells me I misunderstood; he was saying Allstate would pay for the car rental. Since I now know rental insurance will be covered and neither I nor Allstate will be out any money I do not protest further. Even though that’s not what he said.

So now I call Enterprise and tell them I will pay for the car rental with my Master Card and Allstate will reimburse me. Enterprise says they must have proof in writing that I have car rental insurance.

I call Master Card and speak to agent who tells me to call a different number for validation of my benefits. I call that number and representative puts me on hold to verify. She returns to say I do, in fact, have car rental insurance if I use their card to pay for the car rental. YEAY!

I ask her to email me a statement to this effect. She emails me a statement that says,

"This letter confirms that your Platinum MasterCard Card provides MasterRental coverage. Therefore, vehicles rented with your card are eligible for coverage in United States. Please note that the coverage is subject to the terms and conditions of the MasterRental program.

Please refer to the MasterRental Guide to Benefits for a complete listing of the terms, conditions and exclusions associated with this program. This letter is in effect for 60 days from the date of issuance."

WHAT????

I can hear Enterprise now. "THAT is not proof of anything."

So now I go online to their website. After searching for 15 minutes looking for MasterRental Guide to Benefits, I find a page that says:

CAR RENTAL COLLISION DAMAGE WAIVER INSURANCE
Pays for covered damages (physical damage and theft) to a rental vehicle when your eligible Master Card card is used to initiate and pay for the entire rental transaction.

HAL-LE-LU-JAH!!!

So now I call Master Card back to ask HOW do they pay for this car rental insurance? Do they credit my card or send me a check or what?

They explain only the rental car fee is charged to my card. If I were to have an accident, a claim would be submitted and they would have to pay damages.

Now I call Enterprise once again to tell them I am emailing them 2 pages of proof of insurance asking them to verify and call me back to arrange to pick me up and deliver me to their office so I can rent the car.

I wait . . . And wait . . .

Now it is 4 p.m. Again. I call Enterprise. The man who answers tells me Ryan, who I have been talking with all day, has gone home and he can’t access Ryan’s email.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

He will contact Ryan and call me back. We hang up.

This really is beyond belief . . .

My gut tells me, "to hell with Enterprise" but first . . .

I call Allstate to make sure they don’t have some exclusive contract with Enterprise. I verify that I can go to any car rental company I want, pay for the rental on my card, and Allstate will reimburse me for the cost of the rental.

I call Hertz in Columbia and they advise their policy is similar to Enterprise. I can pay for the car rental on my credit card, they will keep my car rental insurance verification info on file . . . in case. They also will come and get me and take me to their office. So I tell them I will call them in the a.m.

Enterprise does not call back.

Moral Of The Story:    Don’t mess with W.O.W.

The . . . Sleeping . . . Injustice . . . Activist . . . Awakes . . . (it’s been awhile).

So guess who’s getting letters describing all this? Let’s see . . .

Allstate, Enterprise, my senator, my house representative, head of consumer affairs, the mayor, the prez . . . and others I can’t think of right now.

I don’t care whether it does any good or not, it makes me feel better.

It’s the P--r--i--n--c--i--p--l--e   of the matter.

And THAT'S the TRUTH!   BBLLETTTHHH!

Sarah