A few months ago we were looking for new property insurance. I sat down in the Brightway Insurance – Boynton Beach office. Everything seemed to go well. I filled out a bunch of paperwork, made some payments, and understood we’d be paying lower premiums on both our homeowners insurance which many individuals acquire through websites such as www.insurancequotes.com and our umbrella policy.
I started getting notices. I’d get a notice from Florida Peninsula (the homeowners insurance) that something was missing. Then there’d be a notice from Pacific Specialty Insurance (the umbrella).
Whenever something came, I’d contact the agent and he’d say he was taking care of it. That’s the idea, right? The agent is supposed to take care of it.
So in September when I got the notice from Florida Peninsula that they were going to cancel my insurance effective October 1st, and that I was some $3500 short on the policy that was originally quoted to me as $3500 and that I had already paid, I was a little upset.
The agent at Brightway was not responding to my inquiries at this point. Not at all. I also notified the supervisor at the local Brightway office about my concerns. I got a brief response but there was no follow-up.
So I called Florida Peninsula directly. I sent them copies of the documents Brightway had failed to get them. I spoke with someone (MJ?) on September 19th.
We worked out what the correct premium was and I paid an extra $500 over the phone just to get it done. I was assured that everything would be fine and our insurance would not be canceled.
Then in early October we got the notice that our policy had been canceled. No, that’s not what I expected.
So I called today and found out that our mortgage company paid the $3500 or so that had been requested earlier. This was now an overpayment, due to the corrected papers I submitted, so they’re going to send me a refund for what the mortgage company paid. Huh?
I explained to the customer service rep at Florida Peninsula that this was not satisfying. I tried to explain that this is the kind of thing that might lead a mortgage company to cancel our mortgage. This is the kind of thing that could damage our credit rating. The rep was completely unhelpful.
I asked repeatedly to speak to a supervisor. She said no one was available but she could put me into someone’s voicemail. But I don’t want voicemail. They’re never going to get back to me. Eventually she found someone, Delisa who appeared to be competent.
I’m still not convinced that everything is resolved. I’m still worried about the notice that might be coming from our mortgage company. I’m not a happy customer.
After this experience I can recommend to everyone: Do not use Brightway Insurance and do not use Florida Peninsula. Neither of them cares about getting things done correctly. Neither of them shows any concern for the consequences when they make mistakes and how that affects the customer.
Below is an image from Brightway’s website. I have confidence alright. Confidence not to use them ever again.
