Tesla Insurance Claim Check Bounced

[Raechris]

Here's an update just on the Bounced Check saga.

After reporting the bounced check on Wednesday of last week, I received a phone call from Mark (from an Atlanta area code). Mark told me he is with Crawford and responsible for all the claims adjusters that work on behalf of Tesla Insurance.

Mark was polite. He apologized for the error. He said Crawford isn't responsible for the Tesla Insurance bank account and that Tesla had made a "cash flow" error. He said that a check would be cut for me immediately and that I would hear from my original adjuster the next day and would also get a confirmation email. I explained that it took over two weeks to get the original check (from the date that was on the check to the time it arrived in my mailbox). Mark said that Tesla should be using bank transfers and paper checks are an slower way of doing things, but I would be getting a paper check. That didn't make me feel any better.

The next day I heard from my subrogation adjuster, not the original adjuster, who said that he was told to follow up with me. I explained the whole bounced check situation again, and he said my original adjuster would get with me to give me an update.

Finally today, I heard from my original adjuster who said that Tesla made a mistake and that they were going to be cutting checks for everyone impacted (apparently I'm not the only one), and that they should be sent out overnight express mail. I asked if it would include the NSF fee I had been charged. She said that was a good question and please send her an email so she could forward my email to someone that might know the answer.

I'm feeling very abused by this whole situation. So I've taken the advice of ComanchePilot, croman, and bvontress and I filled a California Insurance Commission complaint. I can't believe how poorly Tesla Insurance is run.

This is an unfortunate growing pain and another early adopter scenario of getting involved with Tesla insurance. Lured by the siren of lower rates and ending up with half baked systems and poor execution. A poor customer service experience, yes, but no reason to run to regulators and file complaints. This is not malicious like Progressive story laundering totaled Tesla's through TX and into the reseller market with a clean carfax. Tesla Model 3 buyer pays the price after inadvertently buying a resold wrecked unit If you want to waste more time and energy dealing with a bureaucratic government agency have at it but it won't bring you any relief. If Tesla insurance must send a paper check (my last one arrived in three days) have them overnight it.

 

[thebishop]

I would rather hope they’d do a bank transfer, so you could have the money the same or next day without lifting a finger. No?

 

[Spacep0d]

Checks are so 1970s. They should definitely give you the option of a bank transfer. Snail mail is slow (aptly named) and sometimes people steal mail.

 

[BigNick]

Too many irons in too many fires IMO.

 

[eJonny]

Tesla Model 3 buyer pays the price after inadvertently buying a resold wrecked unit If you want to waste more time and energy dealing with a bureaucratic government agency have at it but it won't bring you any relief. If Tesla insurance must send a paper check (my last one arrived in three days) have them overnight it.

The Crawford original adjuster said that the check out be sent out overnight. But she didn't say when the check would be handed over to UPS/FedEx. I reported the bounced check to Tesla one week ago today.

I do hope I get the claim amount plus the NSF charge the bank assessed me.

And I really didn't want to file the complaint with the insurance commission. But several other users recommended it. So after the third recommendation and a failure from Tesla Insurance to provide the replacement check "overnight" or even in three days, I felt like it might be good advice. The process is online and pretty straight forward in California. It seems like the California commission has good systems to track the complaint.

 

[Cleo-n-Company]

Here's an update just on the Bounced Check saga.

After reporting the bounced check on Wednesday of last week, I received a phone call from Mark (from an Atlanta area code). Mark told me he is with Crawford and responsible for all the claims adjusters that work on behalf of Tesla Insurance.

Mark was polite. He apologized for the error. He said Crawford isn't responsible for the Tesla Insurance bank account and that Tesla had made a "cash flow" error. He said that a check would be cut for me immediately and that I would hear from my original adjuster the next day and would also get a confirmation email. I explained that it took over two weeks to get the original check (from the date that was on the check to the time it arrived in my mailbox). Mark said that Tesla should be using bank transfers and paper checks are an slower way of doing things, but I would be getting a paper check. That didn't make me feel any better.

The next day I heard from my subrogation adjuster, not the original adjuster, who said that he was told to follow up with me. I explained the whole bounced check situation again, and he said my original adjuster would get with me to give me an update.

Finally today, I heard from my original adjuster who said that Tesla made a mistake and that they were going to be cutting checks for everyone impacted (apparently I'm not the only one), and that they should be sent out overnight express mail. I asked if it would include the NSF fee I had been charged. She said that was a good question and please send her an email so she could forward my email to someone that might know the answer.

I'm feeling very abused by this whole situation. So I've taken the advice of ComanchePilot, croman, and bvontress and I filled a California Insurance Commission complaint. I can't believe how poorly Tesla Insurance is run.

Am glad you're following the advice to file a complaint.

Along with everything else - the correct response from the adjuster would have been "of course we will take care of any NSF fees."

"Good question" does not work in this situation.

 

[Raechris]

@eJonny - I am sure it will all work out for you and agree you shouldn't have had this odd experience in the first place. Best wishes.

 

[alloverx]

Hopefully your credit score wont be impacted by the bounced check

 

[Raechris]

It shouldn't - deposit accounts do not have a credit history. OP did not bounce a check, my understanding is a check he deposited was not honored by the writer. Now if that deposit caused OP to bounce the next transaction (bc who would ever expect an insurance check to bounce) then the bank computer can put an internal strike against you that your friendly manager can easily remove at most institutions.

 

[mpegripper]

wow this is crazy...guess I'll skip on their insurance

 

[Magneto3]

Chiming in to share my equally terrible experience with Crawford. My original insurance adjustor went dark on me and despite me pinging them every week, I did not get a reply to my emails for TWO MONTHS. I called and a woman informed me I would get a call back, never happened. I called again and asked for a manager, the manager apologized and said the new adjustor would reach out. Didn't happen.

What I finally had to do, to get a REPLY, much less actual help, was to keep adding the manager's emails to the thread as I found them, and then also cc Tesla Support, and in an email ask Tesla for help and explain that their insurance servicer has been unresponsive for TWO MONTHS and that this is entirely unacceptable. What if I had been without a car this whole time?

That finally seemed to get them to actually spend the 15 minutes or whatever to assign a new adjustor who then called me and was able to resolve everything and process my claim in....wait for it....a single 10 minute call. That's all it took, 10 minutes of Crawford's time to complete my case and they couldn't be bothered to reply for two months.

Without parallel the absolute worst insurance experience I have ever had, and unfortunately in line with the same sort of customer service I've received from other Tesla departments (Delivery, Finance). I would not recommend Tesla Insurance to anyone, no matter how much cheaper it is. You pay for it in other ways.

 

[jeremymc7]

This is an mark as to why I still have reservations about Tesla insurance. Love the concept, love the available options to choose from; but par for course the consistently and customer service is just too varied.

 

[jphanley2]

I get the mistake but I don't get the taking 2 weeks to rectify this after they dropped the ball. You should have the check on your door at 10 am the next morning with an apology. To leave you stuck in their bureaucracy is wrong. Your too nice.

.

It does not surprise me. Tesla seema to do it best to screw the customer. A few examples. When I tried to buy a pre-owned Model S from Tesla their website stated it would have lifetime free super charging when I received the contract to sign no one on the contract did it mention free super charging and of course the car had been removed from their website. When I reached to my salesperson they were not able to confirm the car came with free super charging. Fortunately I had made a snip it of the car on their website which showed the free super charging. I had to send Tesla this proof in order for them to honor the free super charging otherwise I was SOL. After this fun experience I setup a delivery date to pick up the car in upstate N.Y. which is about a four hour drive away. The night before I was told Tesla does not have the Bill of Sale and have no idea when it will arrive so I cancelled my order. Fast forward a year after looking at pre-owned I pulled the trigger on a brand new 2019 Model 3. The day after I picked the car up Tesla sneakily starts offering 2 year free unlimited super charging or $2,500 in free options. When I contact my sales advisor they say this is not the case. Once I receive confirmation from another owner who sent the promotion they received only than did Tesla say they would honor the promotion. Keep in mind they ahvebthe 7 day return policy so I could have returned it but than would have had to purchase an upgraded or different model 3. I waited for the 2 year free super charging to hit my account but saw nothing after a month so starting reaching to my sales person. She was able to get confirmation in the form of an internal email but still no free super charging. This went for 6 months with constant following up with my sales advisor and even visiting the manager at my local Tesla store. According to them they have no way to call anyone and can only email. After six months of this BS I write letters to Tesla officers and only than did a nice Tesla employee from California reach out to me and within two days my account was updated with free unlimited super charging for two years. Most people probably would have just given up but I was not going to let Tesla get away with it. The Tesla mentality seems to be offer a lot than make sure notn

Here's an update just on the Bounced Check saga.

After reporting the bounced check on Wednesday of last week, I received a phone call from Mark (from an Atlanta area code). Mark told me he is with Crawford and responsible for all the claims adjusters that work on behalf of Tesla Insurance.

Mark was polite. He apologized for the error. He said Crawford isn't responsible for the Tesla Insurance bank account and that Tesla had made a "cash flow" error. He said that a check would be cut for me immediately and that I would hear from my original adjuster the next day and would also get a confirmation email. I explained that it took over two weeks to get the original check (from the date that was on the check to the time it arrived in my mailbox). Mark said that Tesla should be using bank transfers and paper checks are an slower way of doing things, but I would be getting a paper check. That didn't make me feel any better.

The next day I heard from my subrogation adjuster, not the original adjuster, who said that he was told to follow up with me. I explained the whole bounced check situation again, and he said my original adjuster would get with me to give me an update.

Finally today, I heard from my original adjuster who said that Tesla made a mistake and that they were going to be cutting checks for everyone impacted (apparently I'm not the only one), and that they should be sent out overnight express mail. I asked if it would include the NSF fee I had been charged. She said that was a good question and please send her an email so she could forward my email to someone that might know the answer.

I'm feeling very abused by this whole situation. So I've taken the advice of ComanchePilot, croman, and bvontress and I filled a California Insurance Commission complaint. I can't believe how poorly Tesla Insurance is run.

It does not surprise me. Tesla seems to do its best to screw the customer. A few examples. When I tried to buy a pre-owned Model S from Tesla their website stated it would have lifetime free super charging when I received the contract to sign no where on the contract did it mention free super charging. The car had been removed from their website once I bought it. When I reached out to my salesperson they were not able to confirm the car came with free super charging. It would seem they should be able to have access to the previous information that was in their website. Fortunately I had made a snip it of the car on their website before I bought it which showed the free super charging. I had to send Tesla this proof in order for them to honor the free super charging otherwise I was SOL. After this fun experience I setup a delivery date to pick up the car in upstate N.Y. which is about a four hour drive away. The night before I was told Tesla does not have the Bill of Sale and has no idea when it will arrive so I cancelled my order. Fast forward a year after looking at pre-owned I pulled the trigger on a brand new 2019 Model 3. The day after I picked the car up Tesla sneakily starts offering 2 year free unlimited super charging or $2,500 in free options. This was not advertised and only the Tesla stores were offering it. When I contacted my sales advisor they said this is not the case. Tesla is not offering this promotion. Once I receive confirmation from another owner who sent the promotion they received on the car they purchased only than did Tesla say they would honor the promotion. Keep in mind they have a 7 day return policy so I could have returned it but than would have had to purchase an upgraded or different model 3 and tj promotion was only being offered for a short time to push up the end of the 3rd quarter numbers. I waited for the 2 year free super charging to hit my account but saw nothing after a month so started reaching out to my sales person. She was able to get confirmation in the form of an internal email but still no free super charging. I had my sales advisor send me this internal email confirming the free super charging. This went on for 6 months with constant following up with my sales advisor and even visiting the manager at my local Tesla store. According to them they have no way to call anyone and can only email. After six months of this BS I wrote letters to the Tesla officers in California and only than did a nice Tesla employee from California reach out to me and within two days my account was updated with free unlimited super charging for two years. Thankfully I had the internal email confirming the free super charging. Most people probably would have just given up but I was not going to let Tesla get away with it. The Tesla mentality seems to be offer a lot than make sure not to deliver or try to get away with screwing the customer. I have heard this also happens with Tesla slowing down charging speeds for lifetime free super charging owners. Sorry to hijack your post but back to the insurance issue it just seems like another way Tesla makes it more difficult to pay you the money they owe.

On the positive side I love my Model 3.

 

[raeB etaN]

I would rather hope they’d do a bank transfer, so you could have the money the same or next day without lifting a finger. No?

Tesla refusal to wire transfer here is insane.
mainly bc Tesla tries really hard to get customers to wire transfer funds to Tesla *before* delivery now.
yeh, i know tesla is not tesla insurance but still - the irony.
wow.

 

[eJonny]

A very brief update.

This morning I received an email saying that "due to a technical error" the new check was not sent via overnight and instead would go out regular mail. I immediately emailed back asking to please cancel that check and overnight a new check, to which I got an "out of office until the 21st" automated reply.

 

[tcoombes]

I know several large insurers that only take checks for premium payments on certain lines of business. It mostly depends on the administration and claim system being used.

Insurance is a slow adopter of new technology and some insurers still use systems from the 1970s - green screen mainframe COBOL. Now they are trapped because the people that know the technology are retiring or dying and the insurers can’t successfully convert to a modern system.

You would be surprised at the big name insurers that are using antiquated systems.

 

[jeremymc7]

Yeah the last time I went to buy a car at my local Audi dealer that had a multi million dollar refurbishment; they still were using impact dot matrix printers and carbon paper for al their contracts. The company that made them still exist, and still makes similar printers but hasn’t sold them in the US for 20 years. However in South America they sell them by the truckload. They still use the same mechanism, casing, everything. BTW they cost a fortune since they’re all metal and weigh a ton. They don’t sell enough to design them and reduce the pricing. So the high price is not profit but just high cost of manufacture due to expense of material and low production. It would be cheaper for the dealer to swap out the printers and replace with multiple prints of inkjet and plain paper but as you say they’re stuff. They’re software is stuck, which means their computers are stuck, and so other comments like they’re printers. They’re burning money trying to keep something running that died decades ago.

 

[dannycamps]

This morning I received an email saying that "due to a technical error" the new check was not sent via overnight and instead would go out regular mail. I immediately emailed back asking to please cancel that check and overnight a new check, to which I got an "out of office until the 21st" automated reply.

This really is the most "Tesla" thing to ever Tesla. Clear case (again) of one hand not knowing what the other is doing. However in the case of insurance (and like others have noted), there is a.) oversight and b.) laws in place to prevent these kinds of things from happening. The excuse of 'they're new to this so cut them some slack' holds little weight here. Good move filing a complaint as that will be the only way they improve their process.

Equally good move asking for a new check to be cut. I'd also insist it be sent certified mail (as any check should be) with a tracking number provided to you over the phone.

 

[Shuribob]

I will state again: what Tesla did was illegal. Not reporting it is like watching Kitty get stabbed and scream and continuing to do the dishes.

Something is very broken for this to happen. It is illegal, so legit companies have more than one process in place to ensure they don't break the law.

What Croman said

 

[alstoralset]

Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there

Unwanted trivia: Barry Manilow wrote this jingle.