Post by Larry McCullough

Excuse me, but here comes a bit of complaining…What ever happened to customer service?

I better back up a bit and start from the beginning, well not quite, but about two weeks ago…One thing I have learned from this trip is to be prepared and get all your ducks lined up so that you have as few problems as possible as events unfold.

Along those lines I wanted to talk to my boat Insurance Broker about the plans for 2020, where we plan to leave Florida in February and head to an island off of Cancun MX called Isla Mujeres, then down to Belize, Bay Islands in Honduras and through the Panama Canal. I called the broker and she asked me to fill out an itinerary sheet that included where we currently are and plans for the next year then fax it back to her. I did as requested and the next morning I received a phone call from her saying I am now cancelled because I am currently outside of the approved area for my current insurance coverage…What?!? Ok I am Irish, WHAT?!? I then proceeded to tell her that I have informed them of our entire plans for this past year last May and that we were doing ‘The Great Loop’ and I was in Demopolis AL, above latitude 32 (as instructed by the insurance company to avoid hurricanes in the Gulf). 

Insurance company’s reply; “I am sorry, but you will receive a written notice within 24 hours that you are cancelled immediately”. It didn’t take me more than 15 minutes to bombard her with 4 emails; a rider attached to the policy stating we had permission to go down the rivers we were, and are on, a copy of the policy stating we were doing ‘The Great Loop’, a map of ‘The Great Loop’, and coordinates of Demopolis, AL stating it is above latitude 32. Proving she, and the insurance company were incorrect.

I think; I showed them! Hah! Then I waited for that call where they say; “We are so sorry Mr. McCullough, our mistake, I/we apologize profusely”. Nope! No phone call, no email, just my Irish boiling.

I waited until 4 PM (they had called with the cancellation at 9:30AM), over six hours, so I give up and called ‘my broker’ who replied “I sent them the information and they acknowledged that you are in your approved coverage area and they will get a written statement out within 48 hours that you are not cancelled but they will not renew with you with your current itinerary”. Oh thank you so much for working so hard for me, for standing up for me, for checking my policy for the obvious errors of the insurance company…Not!

Knowing what I pay per year, and knowing that insurance brokers get about 10% commission I figure they make about $250 to $500 per hour ‘servicing’ me (nice way to put it), well not any more with this broker.

As a side note, we are now currently stuck in Demopolis, AL with the river approaching flood stage due to the recent rain and the fact that we had to wait at this latitude until November 1st before leaving due to the limitations placed on us by the insurance company!

I have attached a graph where you will notice the river levels, and anticipated levels, from October 31st.