Background: I'm about to make a cell phone payment and notice my balance is lower than it should be. Allstate took a payment from my account. Problem? I use State Farm. Bottom line is, Allstate just took money from my checking account and I have no relationship whatsoever with the company. Yes, they can (and do) do that. It happens all the time to all sorts of people all over the US. In this case an Allstate customer keyed in a bank account number to pay for their account ACH.

What about the money? Basically, I have to drive down to my bank (lost time, lost work - banker hours), sign a form (manually), and wait up to ten days for Allstate to respond and release/refund the ACH back to my bank so I can have my money. It's easier to wrongfully take the money than it is to get what's rightfully mine back. How insane.