Rocky View County couple slapped with massive bill over postal code change
A simple postal code change was supposed to be a positive thing for Jim and Dianne Novak but instead, the couple has been battling their insurance company — SGI Canada — over a premium charge on their bill.
Jim says after notifying their insurance broker of the change, they received a bill in the mail for $625.
“I explained to her that we’re not paying the extra premium just for a change of address,
he said. "We didn’t move.”
The Novaks have been in the same house for 30 years, using the same PO Box.
As part of the civic addressing program, Canada Post changed the Novak’s PO Box number to a physical address.
The company says the program has been implemented in many rural regions across the country to improve the delivery system and help 911 responders locate emergencies.
The Novaks were happy to see the switch.
“We were kind of excited because a lot of companies won’t deliver mail or parcels to a PO Box but they will to a street type of address,” said Jim.
But then the couple found themselves dealing with the unexpected expense. Dianne says their broker told them it’s because of their new address and postal code, despite not physically moving.
“We are lumped in with the City of Chestermere,” said Dianne.
“Now we are all lumped into a broad area that insurance companies will use to pull their statistics from to generate their premiums.”
The Novaks say their insurance broker told them their premium would be waived for this year but they’ll be expected to pay the higher fee moving forward.
After CTV News reached out to SGI Canada, a representative said they are working on the issue and admitted the extra charge should not have happened, saying, “If there were no changes to the underlying risk then an increase of this magnitude is not typical.”
In an email, the company said the first three digits of the Novak’s postal code is used in other, already existing postal codes and their system didn’t automatically flag it as a newly created postal code, which defaulted to a high rate.
Furthermore, the company said, “Our process is to implement a temporary fix to adjust the postal code back to the original one, so the customer will not have to pay a higher rate.”
Jim says they haven’t personally heard from the company yet about the fix but they are happy to hear something is being done.
"SGI has been really good with us overall over the years," he said
"Just this surprise bill is not sitting very well."
SGI Canada says it is working to identify other customers who may be impacted by a change to their postal codes.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Trump's lawyers try to discredit testimony of prosecution's first witness in hush money trial
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
U.S. flight attendant indicted in attempt to record teen girl in airplane bathroom
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.
Powerful tornado tears across Nebraska, weather service warns of 'catastrophic' damage
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States.