GEICO and Vote NO

I’ve just finished another bill paying session. One of the bills I had to pay was my car insurance, which has been with GEICO for about 26 years. I switched to GEICO around 1980, when I first went to work for the IRS. My partner was with another company when we first met and I switched hers over to GEICO around 1982. At some point, it made no sense for us to have two policies with the same company so we rolled my policy into hers. That was probably 20 years ago.

After I had paid the bill, I happen to notice that the insurance cards no longer had my name on them. So I called GIECO. The lady on the other end of the phone wouldn’t tell me why my name was not on the cards or the bill and asked to speak to my partner. I was, of course, livid. I get my partner on the phone and they ask her some questions and then the lady will talk to me. The excuse is that 9/11 changed the privacy rules and that’s why she couldn’t talk to me without my partner’s permission. Now, why it has taken GEICO five years to comply with any changes in privacy rules is beyond me! When the insurance renewed six months ago both names were on the policy and all of the documents. In any case, now she had my partner’s permission to list me as co-insured (something we had done at least 20 years ago!) she could talk to me. And she apologized profusely for upsetting me and ordered new insurance cards reflecting both names.

Once I calmed down (hey – wouldn’t you be upset to be erased from your insurance?), I mentioned to her that here in Virginia, things are just going from bad to worse. She said she was in Virginia as well. So I asked her about Voting NO on NOvember 7. She was unaware of the amendment, so I gave her a brief rundown. “Say what??!!” she said. She said she couldn’t state her political beliefs on her GEICO phone but she would be voting.

We have to take every opportunity to talk to people about this horrible amendment. I took mine this morning. And I think I convinced one more person to Vote NO on NOvember 7.