“Man, how are we ever gonna get to the next Dead show
Published 8:00 am Wednesday, November 11, 2009
“Man, how are we ever gonna get to the next Dead show without our favorite bus?”Not cool, man. Doesn’t Allstate have any PR people on staff? Does the company not understand the value of good publicity or the harm in angry customers? Apparently not. After Spokane driver Michele Squires had her excellent 1965 VW Microbus stolen in 1974, Allstate compensated her $600 for the loss, as the Times reports via AP. Fair enough. But when the wayward bus (pictured at right) was finally recovered last month in Los Angeles, it had been exhaustively, lovingly restored, with a street value estimated at $25,000. Dude! It’s vintage, a collectable!So does Allstate, an Illinois insurance titan with a market cap of $15 billion, give Squires her van back–thereby reaping great publicity and earning the love of every VW Microbus driver in the state? No. Per the L.A. Times, the company is keeping the bus, because it’s appreciated so much in value. Now it can be sold at a profit. But not to Squires, who works at a Chinese restaurant in Spokane, since it’s now beyond her budget. So instead of earning a little corporate goodwill, Allstate has now pissed off every VW Microbus owner in Washington state. Which, the way we calculate it, is half the voters who supported Mike McGinn.
