AGERO not standing behind towers for damage claim--again!

[Tow411]

Topic Originally Created by Wisconsin Rocks on Tow411 in January of 2014.

 

I see we have many claims with Agero on the past topics, here is another.  I hope Agero reads these!

I have a damage claim of a 2011 F150 truck.  We were called for a tire change. It is from the clip of the plastic toolbox that the tire change tool kit sits in.  There are 2 clamps on the box.  The temperature was 20 below zero.  Bitter cold.  Agero wants $108.00.  I can buy it for $66.00.  However, we did not misuse or abuse anything.  We simply just opened it like anybody else would. The one clip broke off.  Cold conditions and plastic do not get along well. 

 

After getting the claim, I was shocked.  The adjuster is very difficult to get a hold of, you can't leave messages, you can't reply to the email because it has a no reply, and can only call during certain times.  Well, finally was able to talk to Don Nelson, the Agero claims adjuster.  We informed him if it was our fault we would not have a problem. 

 

He was given examples what would happen if one went out to jump start a car and when pulling the latch to open the hood the cable comes out?  How about when you open the door to a vehicle and upon touching the handle, the handle breaks in your hand?  There is no abuse.  Just because we touch something we should not be held liable! 

 

The only response from Don is that he has to keep his customer happy and they will deduct it from our checks.  He was asked then, our policy should be then to have the customer open the door, open their hood, open their toolbox, ect.  He said that it would be ridiculous to have a customer do that.  Then, I guess, how else could we possibly do our job if the equipment we touch of a customers breaks? 

 

He then just reiterated that it will be deducted to keep the customer happy.  He was asked to have a manager call us back before he deducts, because the case has not been resolved.  Don was also informed that a damage waiver was signed, he replied "the damage waiver, in my eyes, does not mean anything". He said he would hold that transaction and have a manager call us back.  Within 5 minutes, we called back to Agero again and spoke to Stacey and she said that the account had already been deducted.  She also said that Bob (a manager?) would call us back.  Have not heard anything.  If this is the way Agero takes care of innocent towers, I will have to rethink my business with Agero. 

 

In Memory of NationalAutow who said:

Agero is like electricity. They will always follow the path of least resistance. It is much easier and profitable for them to just demand payment from the vendor than it is to try to explain what really happened to the customer.

If they denied the customers claim then the customer would go back to whomever he paid for his contract ie: USAA or some other entity. This would NOT be good for Agero.

The path of least resistance is to just take the money away from the vendor. Hell, they've already got it in their hands. You don't stand a chance. They pay some guy in a cubicle to play a broken record about how they must keep the customer happy. Customers PAY and vendors COST. Third party logistics providers such as Agero are middle men and work both sides of the fence.

In the end, it will likely be worth it to you to just give in and let it go. This is not advice I would likely follow. It is just that for $108, sometimes the headache ain't worth it. That is what Agero hopes will be the case with you anyway. You can easily spend more than the $108 in time and trouble trying to defend your position. In the end, your position does not matter to Agero. Remember the guy in the cubicle with the recording "We must keep the customer happy".

This kind of skullduggery is one of the reasons we are no longer a contracted provider for them. We are slowly getting "even" with them for all of their short pays and garbage over the years by taking the occasional call at retailplus rates with a card for prepayment. We do not get the phony damage claims etc.

Whatever you decide to do or not do, best wishes and good luck. Please keep us updated on what they end up doing.

 

Charlie Amann said:

add services and get it back dollys skates etc etc I think u get it. beat them into submission.

 

atrmick said:

We have only had one damage claim in all the years we have worked them. As they always do they don't call just send email which is pretty chickenship. Called and talked the damage claim lady and was really helpful. I told her we would like to look at the vehicle before we made a response and she she that we have to right to do so. Contacted the customer and had them bring the vehicle in to our shop. 

Turned out that their complaint was that the door seal was leaking after we did a lockout but only when they went through the car wash. When she arrived with the vehicle it was evident that she was trying to rip us off. She driving a late 90s mustang that she had just bought for $500.00 and the whole right side was destroyed.

Driver had taken photos of the damage before the lockout so we were covered that way and we called on the damage at the time of service. We always call in if we think it may be an issue ahead of time and take photos of most of the cars we tow for them. 

I called and gave the info to the claims and they told no problem and dropped the claim.

The point is we were prepared and because we were we won. We don't do this with club tows but all tows.

 

Wisconsin rocks said:

Well, I have received an email back yesterday from the manager.  I was mad, could not even have the courtesy to call as they promised to do in the email and verbally.  Since the email from us says that we "promised to work with the customer" and so there is no dispute and to charge the vendor.  After being on hold for 2 hours, we were able to speak to the manager.  He apologized for the claims adjuster who had been working there for 2 weeks.  He was advised of the way we were treated and negotiated to paying half. 

 

Yes, this has taken more time and labor of way over $108 to solve this claim.  Was it worth the effort?   I think I would like to still look into it further because there will be more issues of merely just touching a vehicle and having a claim.  I thank you guys for your advice.  Since this case started we have called our rep and no calls back either.  But I do agree I think people are doing this to get money as well.  If they make this claim, they should get the repair, not just the money. 

 

xtremetrucking said:

I have had more damage claims this last few months than ever before but I have yet to ever had to pay one......we are told that we must go look at the vehicle so we see the damage ourselves, I have had one call me to make arrangements to see the vehicle and she was trying to get one over on the insurance because when I got there she said " I thought you were coming to just give me a check for the damages"....she didn't like it when I told her that's not the way it works, she dropped her claim, said someone else done it. All the others never call me back to view the vehicle and Agero has always had my back.....maybe its just the areas that you companies are in and the managers that you have to work with are not doing there job.