I had the unfortunate 'privelige' of being in a minor accident 2 weeks ago - as you may remember (if you read eseries forums) the front of my car was totalled by a 4WD, and the subsequent impact of her hitting me was enough to push me into a Statesman on the other side. In the accident I got knocked out for around 30 seconds, and there was $7000 worth of damage to my car, yet only one scratch (no i am not kidding) on this womans 4WD's bullbar.
There's no point lying, I was at fault, although the 4WD owner said she was doing 70 in a 50 zone, and this was recorded in her statement given to the police at the scene, however for clarity's sake, yes I did cause the accident.
I'm 17 and this is my first accident ever, Ive held my P's and a perfectly clean record since getting them in May of 03 so that went in my favour when it came time to fine me and decide how many points I lost - $228 and 2 points, much better than a charge for neg. driving.
However, as of late this woman's insurance company (I wont name it) has been calling me on both my home phone and mobile phone at 'odd' hours (i..e anywhere inbtween 9am and 9pm), and stating in no uncertain (or friendly) terms that if I do not 'pay up' within 7 more days, they will 'proceed with legal action against me'. My car is comprehensively insured, so there is no reason why they should be contacting me asking me to pay, as my insurance company told me they would work everything out etc etc. Yet this woman's company is harassing me and continually on my back about this. They caled this morning and I really lost my temper because of it, because it has been going on for almost a week now and I have told them time and again that it will be sorted - still they insist on calling me and leaving messages on my answering machine.
I consider what they are doing to be harassment, and I told them so, to which they replied 'we are protecting our client's interests', but I'm still not happy about the situation. I just want them to leave it alone and sort it out with my insurance company, not through threatening me personally.
So what should/can I do to make them stop?
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2002 Focus CL Hatch
too slow..............for now
Last edited by back2thefutura; 01-29-2004 at 02:58.
Reason: fine was actually $228 instead of $428 - typo!
I assume you gave the woman your insurance details, do the same when they phone. If this does not work, write a letter. Find out if they have contacted your insurance company. Don't know what else.
Get onto your insrance company & tell them about the harassment. They cannot verbally demand the money from you. They need to send a letter of demand to your insurance company & then they will deal with it from there.
Even when the letter of demand is written it must give at least 14 days for the first letter and then usually a second one is send before any legal action is taken.
My suggestion is call your insurer and when you recive the next phone call from the other insurer give them your claim number & the name of your insurance company & hang up .......... Dont let them freak you out matey ....... their playing mind games ..... nothing more, nothing less ........
I find it hard to believe that their clients car is fixed as yet & they have the final repair bill anyway ..... as you said it was only 2 weeks ago .........
If they continue, find out the name of the person harassing you & go to the cops
Yes - call your insurance company and give them the name and phone number to follow up with, its not your problem technically.
Bet ya its a friend of this lady doing a shady and trying to get money as her car is probably 100% ok, and she has no insurance.
Jason
this sounds like a likely scenario. ask the caller for thier name and their 1-up managers name. then hang up. then call the insurance co and ask for the one up manager. then threaten him with a harrasment suit if he doesnt stop ringing you(thats if they really are from the company) if they are not....youll know as soon as you ask.
What exactly are they demanding ? If they are demanding a specific amount, they need to justify it with quote's etc etc etc (and this is handled by your insurance co anyway). It all needs to be in writing regardless.
As tx3dude & dellboy said, doesn't much sound like its legit.
If you establish that it is actually the insurance company calling, ask them to stop (ask if they have your insurance details). If they don't stop, document all calls (get names/dates/times etc), and make a complaint to fair trade / insurance regulator (cannot remember who that is) - possibly also the police.
Short straw is, given you have insurance, there is no reason for them to be bothering you directly, and in any case, what they are doing is over the top.
I had a similer run in myself with an insurance company, except the accident wasn't my fault.. The guy that run into me just said it was my fault. They started chasing me up for $$$, they said if I didn't pay they would take me to court, but I was only 17, which means I was a minor and they couldn't do jack shit.
They then said they'd wait till I was 18 then take me to court, but I never heard anything after that.
I think you should be pretty safe, but get details of the people that call you, and tell them that if they decide to call again you'll be taking them for harrassment and that they should be dealing with your insurance company directly. Its not right what they are doing at all.
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