Progressive’s tardy, tepid response slammed on social media
A Tumblr post claims Progressive’s attorneys defended the driver who killed his sister, a policyholder, in a car accident. The company corrected and clarified, but took a beating on social media for its robot-like response.
Comedian Matt Fisher isn’t saying Progressive insurance company killed his sister, but what he is saying isn’t really much better.
“The guy who killed my sister was defended by Progressive’s legal team,” he wrote Monday on Tumblr. “If you are insured by Progressive, and they owe you money, they will defend your killer in court in order to not pay you your policy.”
Progressive’s response, or lack thereof, to the accusation has been something of a disaster, say crisis communication experts.
The big picture
Fisher’s full story goes like this: Fisher’s sister Katie, a Progressive policy holder, was hit and killed by a driver who ran a red light. Progressive didn’t pay what it was obligated to pay on her policy, he says, but he wasn’t legally able to sue the company. So he sued the driver instead, and, Fisher claims, Progressive defended that driver.
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