I already can barely afford insurance, and my previous carrier raised my rates so I ended up switching to Direct Gen. The signup process was easy and I was in contact with one representative to handle everything for me. I submitted all of the paperwork I was asked for and got confirmation via e-mail that I had completed everything there was and I had no further action to take. My insurance kicked in about two weeks later and I assumed, as I had been told, that everything was set.

I thought it was strange that after a month of insurance coverage, I had not yet received my ID cards. for this reason I was on my mailbox every day, eagerly checking for the cards' arrival. They did finally arrive, and with them a slew of other notices from Direct Gen.

Apparently I had not turned in appropriate proof of prior insurance. I had photocopied and sent my ID cards from my prior carrier, but what they wanted was the old declarations page. Due to this, my rate was being raised. That's fair enough, but the problem I had was that I had specifically asked my agent if my paperwork was complete and she told me, in writing, that it was. If I needed to send a different document, why was I not notified at this time? Why did they wait until a month after service had begun to notify me of this missing document?

The kicker here was that I received this same day another notice, dated the day after the rate increase notice, stating that my policy was past due and now in a state of pending cancellation if I didn't pay them by X date! How could my account possibly be past due the day after I was notified of the rate increase? I could not have even physically received the first notice in the mail before they had generated me a past due/cancellation notice. This was when I decided that I no longer wanted to do business with this company. Their lack of due diligence and poor business tactics was appalling, and it didn't help that everyone over there was incompetent and spoke like we were conducting street business.

I wish I could say that this is the end of the story, but it is not. I've cancelled insurance and swapped to another carrier before, and always was able to do so quickly and easily with a prompt refund of my paid-in-advance premium. But not with Direct Gen. I spent a week trying to cancel my insurance with these people. Every time I called or e-mailed, it was like no one had any idea what was going on. Don't they have some sort of centralized case file with notes on it in their systems? Shouldn't they be able to pull up my policy and tell me the status? It was a frustrating nightmare dealing with them and I was so glad that I never had to file a claim with them.

But oh, it still isn't over. This was a month ago and I STILL haven't received my refund for five months worth of premium paid in advance. And just like cancelling the policy, no one has any idea what's going on. They swear they sent the check, but don't think they did. Their notices all got here within two days of their dates, so I'm pretty sure my check should have gotten here just as quickly. They are blaming the postal service, but the fact of the matter is that they owe me hundreds of dollars and as of tomorrow it will have been 30 days since my policy was cancelled. Every other company I've done business with has simply refunded to my credit card, the same way I paid them. No alleged checks lost in the mail. If Direct gen doesn't give me my money, there will be hell to pay.