How Geico and Synchrony let me down

[AlphaKap]

I'm pretty mad right now.

I posted in October that our boat was lost in a fire. Sucks but we have insurance so we'll buy a new one. Not so fast.

It took Geico/Boat US more than two months to issue the check. The first delay was that they were waiting for the fire report. I told them I thought some others have already been paid after 2 weeks and they said they need the fire report. I called the fire department and the report had been ready for a week already. Got it myself and sent it to them. After calling a few times and leaving voice mails for our claim processor, finally get through to him and lets me know he is waiting for notarized documents they have not yet sent.

Finally, mid December, I get the check. It's for the entire amount, about $60k and has me and Synchrony bank on it. I only owe $28k so I sign it and send it to Synchrony. Sent it certified mail so saw when it was delivered on the 28th. I talked to them before and after they got it and they tell me check should be cut to me this week.

Called today and the woman says they will cut the check first week of February because of the amount and money laundering laws. I've never heard this before but doesn't honestly surprise me. The problem is that the first two women couldn't tell me that when I asked how long till I get my money. The current lady keeps telling me it's not their fault and I let her know it is their fault if they can't communicate properly.

I ask to talk to a supervisor. For the first 3 minutes he keeps telling me he can't hear me. No issue talking to the person before him and now he is telling me I have a phone issue. Finally get to let him know how pissed I am and he lets me know how sorry he is which I could care less at this point.

So with slow-ass Geico/BoatUS, I had to pay 2 extra months on my loan. And because of slow-ass Synchrony, I won't have money in hand for this week's boat show.

I will never do business with either of them again. Worst experience ever. If you are looking for either service, insurance or loan, stay away from both. Stay far away.

 

[MattFX4]

That sucks. I had Geico on my boat when I had it. Glad I never needed it. Are you going to the Atlanta boat show? What are you thinking of replacing your lost boat with?

 

[AlphaKap]

Yeah, going on Saturday. The sales guy from Park Marine is giving us some tickets. We plan to get another Yamaha. Yamaha is just the best bang for the buck. Last year, we got a previous year demo model for a really good price so hoping for the same this year. Sales guy has one for us now but wanted to see if anything else is available or maybe we get a wild hair and get a 2019.

Another lesson learned on the insurance. We had it insured for the value of the boat and trailer Unfortunately, that did not include all the extras (live jackets, anchors, toys, etc). Maybe if we had it for a few years and it depreciated we would have come out okay but not after less than one year.

 

[MattFX4]

Nice. I'm going too. Probably go Friday after work so I can look at the boats alone without the wife and kid in tow. Trying to decide on what I am going to go with next myself.

 

[haknslash]

Synchrony likely cost me the sale of my boat because of the time they take to close out accounts. They literally told me it would be up to 30 days before the new owner could have his paperwork for the boat I would have sold him. Seller backed out because he didn’t want to wait that long, turned around and bought a newer boat the next week. Can’t say I blame him. I’ve had accounts with synchrony in the past that we’re not related to Yamaha and I want to say I had less than great experiences with them back them as well.

As for BoatUS insurance you should have added personal property to it at a set amount. I can’t recall what I insured personal property on my boat but I want to say it was 2-3 grand worth of it. That will cover phones, purses, life jackets and other misc gear you have on the boat.

 

[ACRDSPORT14]

was the 60k check was wrote out to the bank or you?

 

[Dwrat]

Re-read first post.
It was made out to both of them just as it should have been.
I personally think Geico took good care of you.
Not really there fault you own a boat you can't afford on your own.

 

[GiddYupJoe]

Glad it all worked out for ya in the long run @AlphaKap. Good luck on the search for your next water toy. I have also had issues with synchrony in the past when I need things I can’t afford . Their awful.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Never had to do any claim with Geico but they really did save me a bunch of money on car and beach wagon insurance, my girl friend swapped over to them and also saved money, but Progressive really did me right when my ski was totaled on the interstate about 4 years ago paid everything and they covered my deductible as well since it was someone else who was 100 percent at fault. Wait until the dust settles and then look back and see if maybe everything all worked out in your favor ,it often does . In hind sight.

 

[seanmclean]

OP: Sorry to hear this saga is ongoing. Two recommendations: Southeast Financial provided excellent brokering service to identify a boat loan. Ended up well below several others, and had the process complete and check in hand within a week. Preapproval can be done same day. Insurance: SkiSafe. I had a claim recently, though not a total loss it was something I expected to get at least a little pushback on. Once I got them the details and written estimate, claim was approved and paid within hours, check in hand the next day.

Re-read first post.
It was made out to both of them just as it should have been.
I personally think Geico took good care of you.
Not really there fault you own a boat you can't afford on your own.

Where are people like you coming from? Is there any need to respond the way you did? If you had half a clue how the world worked, you would understand that processing an insurance claim like that should have been done in 1-2 weeks, not months. The boat storage facility burned down, this was not an insurance scam. Perhaps we can start focusing on remedial homophone selection before we get to insurance claims.

 

[Wisefam22]

We are headed to boat show on saturday!

 

[Beachbummer]

It seems Geico could have done better, but Synchony really messed up big time! It's money in their hands already. That's pretty low class to keep your money for 2 months interest free. I would consider contacting a state regulator. There is ZERO chance there is some law that is causing them to keep that cash. Even if it turns out to not help, at least contacting a regulator will channel your pain into something actionable. Letters via snail mail work best! It will be slow, but eventually painful for them.

Try a complaint with the CFPB and their state regulator.

Best of luck!

 

[AlphaKap]

Re-read first post.
It was made out to both of them just as it should have been.
I personally think Geico took good care of you.
Not really there fault you own a boat you can't afford on your own.

You clearly do not understand economics.

Nor do you read very well. Geico failed twice. First time was when they did not follow up with the fire report and losing more than a week. The second time was not following up with me to expedite the remaining paperwork to turn the titles over to them. Not sure why you even responded.

You are going on my ignore list.

 

[Mainah]

I'm pretty mad right now.

I posted in October that our boat was lost in a fire. Sucks but we have insurance so we'll buy a new one. Not so fast.

It took Geico/Boat US more than two months to issue the check. The first delay was that they were waiting for the fire report. I told them I thought some others have already been paid after 2 weeks and they said they need the fire report. I called the fire department and the report had been ready for a week already. Got it myself and sent it to them. After calling a few times and leaving voice mails for our claim processor, finally get through to him and lets me know he is waiting for notarized documents they have not yet sent.

Finally, mid December, I get the check. It's for the entire amount, about $60k and has me and Synchrony bank on it. I only owe $28k so I sign it and send it to Synchrony. Sent it certified mail so saw when it was delivered on the 28th. I talked to them before and after they got it and they tell me check should be cut to me this week.

Called today and the woman says they will cut the check first week of February because of the amount and money laundering laws. I've never heard this before but doesn't honestly surprise me. The problem is that the first two women couldn't tell me that when I asked how long till I get my money. The current lady keeps telling me it's not their fault and I let her know it is their fault if they can't communicate properly.

I ask to talk to a supervisor. For the first 3 minutes he keeps telling me he can't hear me. No issue talking to the person before him and now he is telling me I have a phone issue. Finally get to let him know how pissed I am and he lets me know how sorry he is which I could care less at this point.

So with slow-ass Geico/BoatUS, I had to pay 2 extra months on my loan. And because of slow-ass Synchrony, I won't have money in hand for this week's boat show.

I will never do business with either of them again. Worst experience ever. If you are looking for either service, insurance or loan, stay away from both. Stay far away.

That sucks but banking regulations may be on your side with regards to the lender. As far as credit cards and mortgages are concerned Regulation Z requires banks to credit the payment as of the date of receipt except for nonconforming payments such as a mailed check in customer supplied envelope with no statement slip in which they have 5 days, or a given receipt time cut off for that day may push to the next day. Two party checks may also be considered nonconforming. The date they post the payment is a different thing. Meaning even though they get the payment on lets say January 7th it may take time to process the payment for various reason including required federal anti money laundering laws or their own anti check kiting and fraud strategies. So when they finally post the payment on lets say the 14th the as of date should still be between the 7th and 12th. Even though that process may take days or more in some cases under regulation Z the payment posting date must still be the date of receipt or less than equal to 5 days later in the case of a non-conforming payment. Not sure how this applies to boat loans but I would check on the federal reserve or CFPB websites. My guess is that while boat loans are not specifically called out in reg Z that the CFPB has at least issued guidance to be treated as a secured term loan.

Another guess that I have is that you may have been provided an address to send the check to given you were sending with tracking of some type and perhaps even a payoff quote for given date from the conversation. In this case the bank must credit the payment as of the received date even though the processing amd posting process may take some time. In which case weeks is very unusual.

The fact they will owe you money is also covered and once they post the payment and you request a credit balance refund they do also have limited time to send that refund.

One last guess is that there like are similar laws regarding insurance claims.

Best of luck to you.

 

[2kwik4u]

Just fought a similar situation with trading the wifes traverse in. The dealership told me the couldn't pay off the traverse for 45 days. I told them I had to make a payment on the new Nissan in 15 days, so I expected to not make another payment on the traverse. Took the better part of 2 hours of me sitting in the finance managers office, and making somewhat of a scene on the dealership floor to get them to issue a $4k check after making a nearly $35k purchase with them. Luckily I had the new and old loan both with the local credit union, and the same loan officer. He knew what was going on, and told me I wouldn't be on the hook for any extra payments on the Traverse due to how he wrote up the payoff paperwork.

I continue to deal with local companies as much as possible, even on large items like car loans, and insurance. Having the ability to walk down the street and talk to my neighbor about my car loan, or see my insurance agent at my boys soccer game on Thursdays is priceless. That kind of constant contact with people greases so many wheels when you end up in a bad situation and need a favor to get out without tons of fees and headaches. The key is also to earn those favors along the way, and don't call in on them any more than absolutely necessary.

 

[Dwrat]

You clearly do not understand economics.

Yep, I don't understand borrowing money for a toy I truly can't afford.
I also am not trying to impress my neighbors by living beyond my means.
I guess I am truly to odd man out here as I don't rely on the "man" to own a toy.

 

[djetok]

Yep, I don't understand borrowing money for a toy I truly can't afford.
I also am not trying to impress my neighbors by living beyond my means.
I guess I am truly to odd man out here as I don't rely on the "man" to own a toy.

Wow dude. You might want to take the cig from the kid in your avatar and chill. Why troll a person on something so uncontroversial. Maybe he has the money in the bank and would rather borrow. You have no idea of the persons financial position. It also does not affect you personally unless you are his financial manager. Which I would say you most likely are not.

 

[Neutron]

Yep, I don't understand borrowing money for a toy I truly can't afford.
I also am not trying to impress my neighbors by living beyond my means.
I guess I am truly to odd man out here as I don't rely on the "man" to own a toy.

So by your reasoning, you shouldn't have a mortgage on a house you can't afford or you shouldn't have a car loan on a vehicle you cant afford.

Everyone has different situations and chooses what to do with their money.
I don't try to impress anyone but myself.

 

[Dwrat]

Wow dude. You might want to take the cig from the kid in your avatar and chill.

Let's not drag family into postings.

 

[Dwrat]

So by your reasoning, you shouldn't have a mortgage on a house you can't afford or you shouldn't have a car loan on a vehicle you cant afford.

Everyone has different situations and chooses what to do with their money.
I don't try to impress anyone but myself.

A home mortgage is the only justifiable situation for a loan.