Yes, seriously…we are on Part X and week 4.  Isn’t this getting a little ridiculous?  Part I can be found here, part II can be found here, part III can be found here, part IV can be found here, part V can be found here, part VI can be found here, part VII can be found here, part VIII can be found here, part IX can be found here, and part X can be found here.

A week has gone by and still no word from State Farm. However, my body shop contact has continued to keep me in the loop. Yesterday, around 4:00 PM I got a call from him. He shared some great news. Finally, my car is ready to come back home. The ended up replacing the lower control arm and the strut. The strut tower did NOT need to be replaced. I’ll be picking it up later today and tonight I’ll recap the whole saga.

Yes, seriously…we are on Part X and week 4.  Isn’t this getting a little ridiculous?  Part I can be found here, part II can be found here, part III can be found here, part IV can be found here, part V can be found here, part VI can be found here, part VII can be found here, part VIII can be found here, and part IX can be found here.

After my great experience with the NEW State Farm claims rep I thought we were headed towards a good experience.  Well, 3 business days passed, and still I didn’t hear from them.  So I did what I’ve continued to do; I called the body shop.  The body shop contact and I talked.  The control arm did NOT solve the problem 100%.  So now they are replacing the strut as well.  The saga continues and there does not seem to be an end in sight.

Part I can be found here, part II can be found here, part III can be found here, part IV can be found here, part V can be found here, part VI can be found here, part VII can be found here, and part VIII can be found here.

Got a call yesterday from the State Farm claim office.  This time it was a different claim rep.  I got the feeling this guy was more senior than the guy I had been working with.  This claim rep was very upbeat and overly apologetic that I’ve been without my car for 3 weeks; especially considering I brought it in for a pothole collision.  He filled me in on the latest and greatest, which boils down to this:

1. The measurements are still off
2. They are going to try the simplest and cheapest fix first, which is the Control Arm
3. If that doesn’t fix the issue it’s on to the strut and then the strut tower

Part I can be found here, part II can be found here, part III can be found here, part IV can be found here, part V can be found here, part VI can be found here, and part VII can be found here.

Got a voice mail from clams rep that didn’t really answer any of the questions I left for him in my voicemail.  Specifically, all I really want to know is:

1. When will State Farm approve the work?
2. When will I get my car back? It has been over 2 weeks now

Love this new article from Marketing Sherpa.  If you’ve been following along recently about my strife with Apple and State Farm, you’ll really understand why this article hit home.  The real gem is this chart that clearly shows the perceptions – reality gap between the company and the consumer when it comes to reasons customers leave.

Part I can be found here, part II can be found here, part III can be found here, part IV can be found here, part V can be found here, and part VI can be found here.

As has been the normal course of action, I called State Farm yesterday afternoon.  Instead of getting my claims rep, I got voice mail. Despite my feelings about voice mail, I left a message anyway.

Following that call I called the body shop and left a message for my contact there. He called me back about 2 hours later and let me know the following:

1. Their belief is it’s the strut and not the strut tower
2. They’ve submitted all the needed paperwork to State Farm
3. State Farm will need to send an adjuster out to the body shop to double check the situation; talk about redundancy
4. Assuming everything checks out, the body shop can do the work

Part I can be found here, part II can be found here, part III can be found here, part IV can be found here, and part V can be found here.

Talked with claims representative this morning at 10:30-ish.  He spoke with the body shop finally.  Apparently the issue isn’t the strut tower, but the actual struts themselves.  The amount of money to handle the struts and the under suspension problems is over the deductible.  They don’t know how much it’s going to cost though yet.  Supposed to know more today.  Not holding my breath.

Part I can be found here, part II can be found here, part III can be found here, and part IV can be found here.  Got a call from the State Farm claims manager this morning.  This is the same guy who called me previously.  He started explaining the current situation to me and then I asked a question based on the information I received from the body shop yesterday.  My question made him pause, re-check his work, and question the information he was providing me.

He ended up conferencing me into a call with the body shop.  My body shop contact wasn’t there.  The State Farm claims manager apologized for clearly not being prepared and has indicated he will call me back with the real story.  To be continued.

Part I can be found here, part II can be found here, and part III can be found here.

Got a call from the body shop today at 4:55 PM.  They informed me that State Farm has authorized the car to be put on a frame measurement tool.  This tool will demonstrate that the camber issues are beyond normal part damage and are clearly related to the strut towers.  Assuming those measurements indicate that, State Farm will approve the body work to be done.  The saga continues.

Part I can be found here and part II can be found here.  Called the body shop this afternoon to see if the State Farm adjuster had visited.  My service technician was not in the office, but the person answering the phone indicated a State Farm claims adjuster did visit.  It would have been nice of State Farm to keep me in the loop instead of me having to call.  That goes double for the body shop.

Additionally, my local State Farm office (option 2) contact me today.  She indicated she had been out of the office the past few days and wanted to follow up with me.  A few issues here:

1. Why didn’t she change her voice mail message so I’d know she was out of the office?
2. Why didn’t she check with one of the other people in the office before calling me?