u/raf_semen

Hey all, planning to make a trip to Costa Rica in late June/ early July for about 10 days. I'm in my early 20s, I would be solo travelling. I plan to fly into SJO and make my way down to Jaco the day after I land (late arrival time). Any recs on where to stay that night? Seems like the popular consensus is not worth hanging around San Jose. My idea is to find a rideshare that can take me from SJ to Jaco the day after I land.

Additionally, I plan to stay in hostels my entire time there in hopes of making friends and joining a group. From my research, it seems like the busy travel times are December-April. Will I meet other young adults my age during this time of the year? Would appreciate insight on what the social scene & demographics are like there this time of year. This is kinda the biggest factor for me... I'd hate not meeting anyone during my time there.

Was thinking of splitting my trip to spend half my time in Jaco, which seems to be a tourist beach town with access to active nightlife, and the other half in a more nature/greenery/laid back area. La Fortuna seems like the go-to, but not sure how I'd get there considering the time/distance between each location. Would also need to head back to SJO to catch my flight back home. Any recs or advice would be much appreciated.

Also, if you'd like to join or meetup I'd love to make new travel buddies!

TL;DR: My previous State Farm agent updated my policy but forgot to have me sign the Florida Uninsured Motorist (UM) rejection form. His office then permanently shut down. UM coverage was force-placed, spiking my premium. I have proof of the original quote, proof the form was excluded from the original document package, and proof I never received electronic notices. Underwriting refuses to backdate the correction. An account rep at my newly assigned agency tried to help, but her boss (the principal agent) told me to just deal with it. I want them to honor the originally quoted price.

The Background: I recently relocated from California to Miami, FL, and had my car shipped over. Initially, I just put the most basic coverage on it to make sure it was insured during the transport.

Once I was settled, I worked with an account rep at my original agency ("Agency A") on February 18th to upgrade my coverage limits to where they should be. I was quoted a monthly installment of about $260.

The Screw-Up: Agency A completely failed to provide me with the required Florida Uninsured Motorist (UM) rejection form to sign when we made these changes. Because the form wasn't signed within their required window, State Farm force-placed UM coverage onto my account. This, combined with condensing the mid-term changes into my remaining billing cycles, spiked my overall premium from $469.25 to over $1,800. My monthly bills jumped to well over the $260 I was quoted.

The Runaround: Shortly after this mess was created, Agency A's office permanently shut down and went out of business. I was automatically reassigned to a new office ("Agency B").

I contacted Agency B to figure out why my bill was so high. I started working with a very helpful account rep there. On March 30th, she realized Agency A never had me sign the form. She sent it to me, I signed it immediately that same day, and she petitioned Underwriting to backdate the form to the February 18th policy change to clear the extra charges.

Underwriting pushed back. They refused to backdate it to Feb 18th, claiming they mailed me physical notices (which I never received). They only agreed to backdate the adjustment to March 30th (the day I signed it). This leaves me holding the bag for the higher premium during that window, with upcoming installments still sitting around $361-$379 instead of the $260 I agreed to.

My Evidence:

• I have the original email from Feb 18th with the quotation document showing the agreed-upon $260 monthly rate. The email clearly lists the attachments included, and the UM rejection form is not one of them.
• I have a screenshot of the "Messages and Documents" section of my State Farm portal proving I never received any electronic notices about a missing form.
• Agency A's sudden business closure points to serious administrative issues on their end.

The Breaking Point: Because the helpful account rep was stuck waiting on Underwriting, I escalated this to the principal agent at Agency B (the actual business owner), hoping for some advocacy. Instead, she was incredibly annoyed, offered absolutely zero help, and flat-out told me that there is nothing they can do and I just need to "pay it and deal with it."

I also called the 1-800 corporate number and tried live chat, but corporate just keeps bouncing me back to this unhelpful principal agent.

My Goal: I just want the original ~$260/month price honored retroactively. This was an error made by an agency that is no longer in business, and the owner of the agency assigned to fix it is refusing to help.

My Questions:

1. Is my next best step filing a formal complaint with the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR)? Will that force State Farm to provide proof of mailing for these supposed physical notices?
2. Does the fact that the original agent's office completely shut down give me any extra leverage with corporate or the OIR?
3. How do I bypass an antagonistic principal agent who refuses to advocate for me, and get to an Executive Escalation team at corporate?
4. Does Florida statutory law regarding UM rejection forms offer me any protection here given the agent's documented failure to provide the form on Feb 18th?