Bristol West Insurance

We should have seen the issues coming when we were receiving our policy quote. My wife found this company and said when she spoke to the agent, he seemed nice and knowledgeable. I told her to get a quote so we could compare it to the others we received. With the quote, our situation is a little complicated as we have 2 houses and 4 vehicles, but the agent told us we could split the policies and it wouldn't be an issue. We explained which vehicles were at which houses and confirmed it with him to ensure that we did not need to make any changes. When we received the quote, the price was better than the others we received and it was a Farmers company, so we decided to purchase through them.

Due to illness I didn't drive for over six months and had my car parked therefore I canceled my insurance for that time not knowing I would be punished and have to pay higher insurance when I reinsured the vehicle. The Company Geico assigned me was Bristol West. Each month they took more out of my account and the sixth month I added a used vehicle I had purchased but they wouldn't give me a quote over the phone. Two weeks later I got a bill for $389.83 for one month of insurance for two cars and I have a perfect driving record. This is for a 2003 and 2013 vehicle. I Immediately canceled them and Farm Bureau insured the same vehicles for me at $82 a month. This Company is definitely a rip off. After I canceled, they would not tell me how much I owed to close out the account so at this point I'm waiting for more bad news. Their associates spoke broken English and were difficult to understand.

The quote given which was paid upfront wasn’t the rate applied to my policy. Deceptive means were used to raise my rates by requesting documents be submitted online that could not be completed or uploaded with the consequence of raising my rates if I didn't return them. Was told the quote given was based on a discount in being a homeowner when I clearly stated my current type of residence in the application process. Rate was also increased in saying I didn’t remit an EFT agreement even though I did sign and return it to them. Took much effort to straighten it all out but Then had the gall to add a late charge to my balance due. Totally Regret paying for a 6 month contract.

I had went with Bristol west because my ex wife dropped me. From Farmers insurance without telling me and my insurance lapsed even though I was previously with farmers insurance they wouldn’t write me a policy for farmers because they said my insurance had lapsed. The policy for Bristol west was crazy expensive. What gets me is they wouldn’t let me have farmers auto insurance but could write me a policy for renters insurance thru farmers. After six months they sent me a renewal which I had told them I wanted to cancel because it was too expensive! Well I got new insurance and a new debit card but somehow they charged my account. They didn’t cancel and I told Wesley ** from Moore that I didn’t want to renew. Well they got my money anyways with a unauthorized debit from my account.

One of their policy holders Karen ** - her granddaughter Kensley ** hit my Jeep when she was texting and driving. Her adjuster Paola ** did NOT return calls, emails, nothing. I left 5 messages. Then I get a letter. Said that my claim was not accepted, when I called to get a supervisor, I was denied by Paola **. Said that since I was prior military Bristol West does not pay on claims on vehicles that were owned by veterans. That is discrimination and poor business practices. I faxed/emailed all information to them 3 times, got told that they don't support the military and don't reimburse when the accident was by their insurance holders fault. If I was not military, they might have paid out.

I have had trouble with Bristol West since day 1. The paperwork for me to sign was prepared incorrectly and it took 2 weeks and never did get corrected (I had to have my agent email me, then I printed, signed, scanned and emailed back because it was STILL wrong). The error was that they wanted me to initial that my vehicle is NOT used for rideshare, when I CLEARLY told them I am a Doordash driver and other gig worker. NOW, I am having a payment issue because even though their supervisor admitted to me they made an error and drafted the wrong bank account, after several HOURS on the phone they will still not give me a credit for the NSF fee charged by my bank. I told them today that I am DONE and I am only staying with them because I don't have the money to go anywhere else right now, plus, after 4 more months I will be eligible to transfer to Farmers, which is a better company anyway.

After trying to cancel my policy (several times) for a car I no longer owned; Bristol West was still taking an automatic debit from my checking account. I had to get my bank to stop payments to get Bristol West to stop billing me for a car I had donated many months before. After my bank did an investigation, they refunded the automatic deductions to my account. Thank heavens because we are speaking hundreds of dollars. Note the word 'investigation' - so this is not just my say so - and yet - Bristol West sent my information to a collection agency for that same money that they wrongfully took!!! I can't get rid of these people!! DO NOT SIGN UP FOR AUTOMATIC PAYMENT!!!

Published review 12/4/20. This insurance company wanted to charge me over $300 for one vehicle. I agreed because at the time it was the cheapest option I could find. I’ve been a customer for 3 years. From the month of August this year I look at my account and my went up to $500!!! I called in and asked why? They said that my wife on the account had 2 claims. My wife has a perfect driving record. I called in Lexis Nexis and had proof that she had no claims. They said that they couldn’t do anything for that month and wanted a $500 payment for the month of August. I cancelled with them and spoke with James (the owner for Bristol West in my area) and had 2 other representatives tell me that we owed nothing 4 different times! So I was okay with this because I didn’t want to pay a bill that big.

I sent in a cancellation request and it took 2 weeks to process it and they kept telling me I was missing things every time I sent it in, now since it’s processed they’re telling me in an additional 2 more weeks to get a refund back! It’s been over a month since I sent in my cancellation request and I still nothing. The wait time for agent is about 5-10 minutes every time you call and people who work there don’t know what they are doing!!

After canceling with this company I still got charged two more months on my credit card as a recurring charge the total amount was now $727. I contacted the company. They stated that was a mistake on their end and that I would get reimbursed within 5 to 10 business days. It has now been over 3 weeks and my money is not back on my account. I have been calling the agent. She says she has no clue what is going on but there's no update. I've been calling the company directly and they just transfer me over and over to different departments. I can get an answer of where is my money. It's ridiculous. This is the worst company I have dealt with.