In late 2003, we had a little fender bender in San Francisco, going towards the Bay Bridge. This filipino guy hit us because he was on the phone. Our story began...
Since it was my roommate's car, the guy gave her his contact information sans his address, his insurance policy no. and the name of the insurance company. My roommate immediately contacted the insurance company and this lady that she first talked to was very helpful. She made sure they paid for her car repairs without question. L also informed her about back pains and she advised us to see a chiropractor. When we told her we had an initial consultation with one, she told us this doctor that we went to is know to charge exorbitant fees, but to go ahead and send her our bills later. All's well (or so we thought).
After our treatments, we were given the final bill and though we were shocked of the bottomline, we submitted our claims to the insurance company. The new adjustor called us to ask for an appointment for routinary questions. When we called him for the appointment, he told us that there wasn't any need. Then, we got a notice in the mail that our claim was denied - no further explanations!!!
Our nightmare began - we started the phone brigade with the insurance guy but he wouldn't return our calls. When he finally did, after several attempts, he was very rude and even had the nerve to say he's "protecting his client, and that we might be taking advantage of the situation". Well, helloooo - if we are, we should've hired a lawyer in the first place and not have done it ourselves. Besides, we gave them a copy of the final bill, no more, no less. If we were taking advantage, we should've asked for more money that that!
We have no choice but to file a small claims case. First, it was against the insurance company but the judge told us we can't sue a corporation. We need to sue the guy so he'd go after his insurance company. Fine, we were re-scheduled. Since my roommate wasn't given an address, we decided to do our own investigative search. We came up with several addresses - a few in Sacramento and some more in San Francisco. The phone no. that the guy gave my roommate had Sacramento's area code, we decided to go there first. We went to the sheriff's office so they can serve him the summons. We were told they needed a month to do that. With only days to go before the next hearing date, we were running out of time.
Today was our hearing so we showed up at the court and told the judge what happened. Luckily, my roommate called the San Francisco phone no. prior to our schedule today and she was told that he wasn't home, which meant that he lives in SFO (and not Sacramento). We asked the judge if we should continue to pursue the case in Napa when he lives in SFO and the accident happened there. The case was dismissed and true enough, we needed to file in SFO.
As soon as we were out of Napa Superior Court, it was a mad dashed to the city to file a small claims case and have them serve him a certified mail.
A simple accident that could've been settled out of court turned into a nightmare and a continuing saga. I still think insurance companies are high-profile crooks. You get asked to pay your insurance premiums, you pay it religiously to the point of sacrificing a few luxuries, and then they screw you just when you need them to pay up! I'm sure the poor guy who caused the accident saw an increase in his insurance premiums because he is now considered a "road hazard", while here we are, scratching our heads and are close to begging them to pay for a $4K chiropractor bill!
Lesson to everyone - if you ever end up in an auto accident, ask for the complete contact information (including address) and take photos. Cellphones now come with cameras which could prove useful should you end up in this situation. Then if you can, file a police report. This way, the "crooks" cannot deny your claim because you have it documented.
What a bitter lesson to learn! I sure hope it doesn't happen to anyone else.
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