West Boca Chamber: Debate Watching Party on October 22

From the West Boca Chamber:
Free event – Debate watching party at the Backstreet Grille (a sports bar) in the little plaza at the corner of Yamato and Lakeridge. Map:

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Party starts at 7:30 pm and will run late. Food and beverages are half off. Hopefully the low-cost lubrication will smooth things over, rather than exacerbate partisan rivalries.

Disastrous Experience with Brightway Insurance and Florida Peninsula

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.

Chamber Breakfast Report

The West Boca Chamber was at Boca Greens this morning for a buffet breakfast. It seemed like a big crowd, maybe over 70 people.

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We started with the buffet, with plenty of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, French toast, potatoes and more. I’m not sure why but breakfast was particularly good.
During morning intros we had a surprise: one attendee spoke out for Amendment Four on the November ballot.
It was also reported that the Chamber golf event yesterday was a success.
There is a diaper donation drive by Junior League. You can drop them off at Mission Bay Self Storage.
December 7th Seacoast Toast cocktail event at Gumbo Limbo was announced. $50 if paid before November 23 and $55 after.
The scheduled speaker, Robert Watson, was very late. This led to extra announcements stretching things out.
December 5th – save the date for the Chamber holiday event.
There was talk of a debate watching party but it’s not clear if that will happen.
There was a mini presentation on Florida’s homestead protection, which extended into power of attorney rules and interstate issues. This filler presentation went quite long, and was actually very good. Unfortunately attorneys were unable to get credit for continuing education, but it was better than many CLEs I’ve attended.

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Next meeting Nov 13. Hopefully the speaker will show up.
And hopefully Mr. Watson is okay.

Chamber Breakfast 10/9: Robert Watson

From the West Boca Chamber, announcing an upcoming event. This should be a good one.
Author, Lynn University Professor and Political Commentator, Robert P. Watson will speak about: “Debating the Presidential Debates”

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Cost: $20 per person
Date: Tuesday, October 9, 2012 Time: 7:30am-9:00am
Register directly on the Chamber’s website: www.westbocachamber.com or call Annette Levine 561-482-9333
Advanced Reservations must be made by Monday, October 8th, 2012.
Cash, check or credit card payments may be made at the door
Location: Boca Greens Clubhouse
19642 Trophy Drive (west of 441 at Kimberly)
Professor Watson has published 34 books on American political history. He is Coordinator of American Studies at Lynn University, site of the third/final presidential debate of 2012. Many regard him as a dynamic speaker irrespective of your political views.

And from outside the chamber release, we have heard that Watson is a solid speaker. If you’re into politics at all, especially as the presidential debate is coming up at Lynn, this should be a great event.

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