I have always had great service from Orange County Teacher's Credit Union, including their help when the MB Stealership wasn't fixing my car properly at end of warranty - The credit union helped me battle the dealership to a draw on that one, and I thought they were great. This latest one involves our C230 and the Credit union.

Last December a teen driver accelerated through a red light into the side of our C230. His parents were insured through state Farm, whose agent notified us by phone after getting the repair quote to go ahead with repairs. Enterprise was to provide a rental car during the repair. 2 days after getting the rental car, the repair shop called and told us State Farm had notified them not to start the work (already in progress), as they hadn't accepted liability. I called State Farm, who said the agent wasn't authorized to have allowed us to start repairs, and would never have told us it was OK, so they wouldn't pay for the two days of rental up to that point, but would authorize a car for the next day after they accepted liability. I told them to look up the legal definition of the term 'agent', and that they would pay for the rental from day one - either now, or later in court, where they could hear the answering machine tape of the agent identifying herself and authorizing repair ('Oh, you have it on tape? Just wait a moment'). After a few minutes they proudly announced the manager would make an exception, and cover the rental.

Six days later my car was done - perfect repair by Caliber in San Juan Capistrano, another fantastic company. Enterprise had me return the car, and announced that I would have to pay, as State Farm had declined. Another phone call to State Farm, who said they never allowed me to rent a car. Repeated the names of the people who authorized it, was told 'Oh, different group, they shouldn't have done that, we can't. etc etc. Another back and forth and they said OK, we will pay just in this case as a special exemption from our manager. Back to Enterprise, who said they would verify with State Farm by phone, but there should be no problems.

2 weeks later a strange charge shows up on my credit card for an odd amount from Enterprise. Come to find out State Farm - despite California's 'comparable car' rental laws, only authorized a sub-compact rental, and I was being billed the balance between a sub and a Taurus. Back to State Farm quoting names, dates, phone conversations ('Oh, they weren't authorized...Let me check with our manager...Good news, this one time only...') and everything is going to be taken care of by them in a couple of days for the paper work to clear.

Having been down this road 3 times, I called my credit Union and challenged the charge on my credit card. Three minutes on the phone to get payment stopped. A month goes by and the CU calls me every week to see if I have heard anything from State Farm or Enterprise, as they are getting nowhere on phone calls. A partial credit showed up on my online account over the weekend, and I found out from Enterprise this AM that State Farm issued payment for all but $29.16 of the bill - the first 2 days of rental insurance from the time their agent told me I could get a car and repairs. This evening the credit union called to confirm the partial credit, and ask me if I had any details. Told them it was 2 days rental insurance, and I said I would gladly forget the $29 bucks to not have to deal with State Farm any more. They said they had thought that something like that would go on in this case, so they had already arranged to credit my account for the sum State Farm wouldn't cover, and I would see the balance change tomorrow morning!

I protested that it wasn't their bill or obligation, and the amount was trivial compared to the effort involved in recovery. They replied that they knew it wasn't their obligation, but they were calling it customer service and doing it anyway!

No wonder this CU continuously rates in the top CUs in the country - every normal transaction with them is great, but they really shine when the occasional problem crops up.

I just wish they would start an MB dealership to compete with the local ones.

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John

2003 Firemist Red/grey leather SL 500
2015 Palladium Silver/black mbtex GLK 350
1987 Smoke Silver/burgundy mbtex 300E Sportline (SOLD)

Click to see 87 300E

My wifes a teacher and we do everything through her credit union. The interest rates are insanely good too

My credit union is awesome. It took exactly one trip to get our home loan. Two, if you count the documents we forgot to bring!

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

I don't know why anyone not requiring business-type financial services would bother with "regular" banks. Some of those actually charge you to speak with a teller or for phone calls requesting information, and for ATM fees--that's right, my credit union doesn't charge for ATM fees.