Does shit roll downhill faster if it starts from a great height?

This is the text of an e-mail I sent to the person one position down from Bank President in the bank that owns the insurance company I pay premiums to:

I understand you are the Group Head for the group that includes insurance adjuster Elaine Cxxxxxxx.  I’m writing as an RBC Insurance customer to register a complaint regarding her service of me as a client for a recent claim I tried to make.  My policy number is XXXXXXXX, and it is a policy for contents insurance for the apartment I rent.

To be brief, my purse was stolen on March 3, 2008, with wallet, all my keys, ID, address book, credit cards, bank cards, cellphone, the works inside.   In the flurry of trying to replace all of these items, make a police report and change locks, it didn’t occur to me until March 19 to call and ask if any of this might possibly be covered by the contents insurance.  Since the purse was with me out at dinner when it was stolen, and not taken from the apartment, it was not immediately intuitive to me that it might be covered.

 
My initial call was taken by a very nice gentleman named Ben on March 19.  He looked up the policy and advised that there was coverage, with a $500 deductible for the purse contents, but no deductible for the replacement of locks and keys.  In my case, locks and keys had to be replaced at my home and workplace, since the thief had my address and business cards in the purse.   Since I didn’t expect to spend more than $500 in replacing the purse and contents, I didn’t want to make that part of the claim, but I did want to claim for the locks and keys, because that cost had run into hundreds of dollars alone.   Ben also told me that such claims were supposed to be made within 96 hours of the event, but that it was worth my while to open a claim, because my history of having made no previous claims, and the fact that it is hardly obvious that contents insurance would apply to something stolen outside of the apartment (it took him some time to find it himself in the policy) might mitigate in my favor for a successful claim.  He clearly believed and communicated that there was discretion in the system on the part of the insurance adjuster.  He took my business number, advised me my adjuster was Elaine Cxxxxxxx, and gave me her phone number as well, and told me I would hear from her within 24 hours.

Elaine Cxxxxxxxx called my home number during business hours that same day (instead of my business number, for reasons unknown).  She got my answering machine, which recorded only part of her message, but cut her off partway (right after a mention of the 96 hours).  I got this partial message that evening, and I called her the next day.  I got her voicemail and left my own message to  explain her message was cut off, and provided my work number and asked to speak to her.  She did not return my call.  I called approximately a week later, reminded her again of the cut-off message and asked for a callback and left my number again.  This was in March.  She still has never called me back. 

I work in a service organization.  This would be entirely unacceptable customer service on the part my staff.  Even if Ms. Cxxxxxxxx intended to deny my claim, at the very least, I deserved a call back with an explanation beyond a truncated answering machine message.  As a premiums-paying customer, my only contact with your company to date on my only claim to date has been one cut-off message.  This is now the face of your company to me.   Ms. Cxxxxxxxx may feel that having got the mention of the 96-hour deadline onto the tape was all the service or courtesy I required.   I feel I at least deserved a conversation and an opportunity to explain my circumstances, and even the discretion your front-line staff alluded to, to allow my claim.  A purse stolen is no less stolen more than 96 hours later. 

By the end of this month, I should have the final replacement item for all those that were stolen.   Can you replace my faith in RBC Insurance?