During the time I was appointed by Allied I had no fewer than three field reps, none of whom discussed my production with me. When I was terminated I was told specifically that it was for lack of production. After my termination a letter was sent to my customers regarding the fact that I no longer represented Allied. These letters included a paragraph with the following language.Page 2 of 4. IX. Ownership of Expirations. Upon termination of this agreement by either party hereto. if Agent's account is not then delinquent and if Agent shall therafter remit to Company within forty-five days from end of the month in which business is charged to Agent, all monies due Company, the records, use and control of expiration shall be deemed the property of agent; otherwise the records, use and control of expirations shall be vested in Company,
Which I believe is clearly solicitous and in contravention of my agency contract. Over the twenty-nine years I've been in the industry this is the only company that I've had that has OPENLY solicited the customer. All other companies have terminated the policies because I no longer represented the company regardless of which party terminated the agency contract. My feeling is that the ownership of renewal information should prevent them from offering renewals because to do that they have to use my property, the expiration date, to do that. Their response to my complaint was,If you choose to continue your coverage with another company, you do not need to pay any renewal billing statement you receive from us. Please note: if you choose not to renew your policy with us, no further coverage will be provided after the expiration date set forth below. Allowing your policy to expire in this manner will not affect your ability to obtain insurance, nor will it impair your insurance record in any way
This is based on their interpretatIon of Section 746 in the Oregon Insurance Code. I communicated with the Oregon Insurance Division and their opinion is that offering a renewal, when an agency is no longer appointed to represent a company, is neither permitted nor prohibited in Section 746 but that it would be a contractual matter, between the agent and the company. Has anyone else had similar experiences with Allied or any other company?Thanks for the email. As I understand your question, Allied is in no way competing for your customers that is written with Allied. We fully acknowledge you are the owner of this business and will pursue placement of these customers in other companies. Pursuant to Oregon law, insurance carriers are obligated to provide the option to renew a policyholder if the consumer makes that choice and our non-renewal notice complies with this law.
When I spoke with DOI, they suggested I speak with an attorney. When I did the attorney responded that this was a situation where the party with the deeper pocket had the advantage in court and that it was not a case that they would take on contingency. Does anyone have any suggestions? Because of this letter many of my customers have refused to speak with because they have understood or interpreted, from the letter, that I had done something wrong and now I am not able to keep them in my agency because of Allied’s behavior.