CANTON, Mich. – A Canton woman says she was getting double billed by Progressive for several months this year. She says she reached out to the insurance company multiple times for answers and was not getting anywhere.
LaShara Peake-Lewis reached out to Local 4 for help and now Progressive tells her they are clearing her balance.
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For months, Peake-Lewis opened up her Progressive app to see a nearly $500 bill due. The double bill covered a car she drove and one she didn’t, she says. That all changed on Friday when she got a phone call.
“Who was it from and what did they tell you?” Local 4 asked Peake-Lewis.
“Progressive,” Peake-Lewis said. “After going through this since Dec. 31, they called me and they said they were going to resolve the issue … they zeroed it all out.”
“So, now, when you log in, does it say zero for your balance?” Local 4 asked.
“It’s cleared,” Peake-Lewis said.
That all happened this week after Local 4 reached out to Progressive about her situation, but Peake-Lewis says the issue dates back to the end of last year when she turned in her old lease.
“I gave Progressive a call and it was an ‘add and delete’ - I told them I was turning in my lease and picking up my other lease and they put it on my insurance, took the other one off, supposedly, and I drove off with my car,” Peake-Lewis said.
LaShara had been leasing a Ford Explorer, but was trading it in for a new lease, a Bronco.
She had done this process in the past and assumed everything was fine. That’s until Feb. 16 came.
“I got a notification that I was getting two bills and two payments were coming out of my account,” Peake-Lewis said. “So, when I looked at it, two premiums were coming out.”
She says one premium was for the old Explorer she was no longer leasing and the other was for the Bronco.
She called Progressive.
“They were like, ‘Oh, they didn’t cancel it or they didn’t take it off your policy,’” she said.
She asked the insurance company what could be done.
They told her to stop the auto-pay, so she did. Then, they canceled the policy entirely and restarted her with a brand new policy for the Bronco, she said.
“I went through - signed all the paperwork, 20 forms and all that and I said, ‘Ok, so, am I good? Are we good with the new one? There’s nothing owed on the last one? We’re good, that’s taken care of?’ She said, ‘you’re good,’” Peake-Lewis said.
March 25 came around and she says she received the same notification.
She called and they said she hadn’t turned a form, despite her having filled out the paperwork she’d been given.
She says she then signed that extra form and expected all to finally be fine.
“Then, I get a final bill from a collection agency on June 1,” she said. “Wait a minute? This was a mistake that started out with Progressive - why am I being held responsible for a mistake that Progressive made? So, I got fed up and called you.”
She’s grateful it’s resolved now, but she says it’s been a hassle she didn’t need.
“Money is tight in this day and age – inflation is high. Everything cost more and every dime literally counts and it was very stressful,” she said.
Progressive tells Local 4 they have come to a resolution with Peake-Lewis, but can’t give details about specific policy holders.