A woman in South Carolina shared a video on TikTok wherein her experience with Progressive was rather negative. In her video, she recalls her bill being incredibly high and, upon investigation, found it was allegedly due to her job being mistakenly listed as something entirely different.
TikTok user Pineappleb991, HAM, shares a claim in a TikTok video about an encounter she had with Progressive’s customer service. It started out with a simple question: What was HAM’s occupation? According to HAM, she was listed as “forest work.” What did that mean? HAM didn’t know. “Like I just work in the forest?”
HAM does office work, so what’s going on there? She claims that the customer service rep placed the blame on AI, after saying, “We merged AI like 7 or 8 months ago.” Although no word of Progressive merging with AI software, the company has used AI in their ‘Drive Like an Animal’ ad. It is currently set to Private on YouTube (but still available to watch online).
That single error then led to the biggest bombshell, after Progressive fixed the problem: “My policy went down by a $1000,” HAM says. Yikes! And according to HAM, it was now down to “$166.” Imagine paying almost $1200 because of an error supposedly made by AI.
HAM warns in her video that anyone who has Progressive should “go talk” to “request” that their record be wiped clean of speeding tickets and accidents. “Hope this saves you money!” she says, smiling.
People Online Were Furious Over the Use of AI
The response to HAM’s TikTok video was to be expected: outright distrust of AI and confusion as to why it’s being used. Not to mention several commenters shared similar experiences. “The AI in jobs where there simply didn’t need ai drives me crazy 😭”
Naturally, a TikTok viewer asked a great question: “Did you get retro refunded for the 8 months you were overcharged? Holy smokes.” HAM admitted she did so because she was “so happy” that her payment went down. “I may have to call back and ask,” she says. Another recommendation is to get a lawyer.
One viewer made an equally terrifying claim: “Their AI also will add drivers to your policy of someone who used to live at that address. I’ve seen it done.” HAM Liked and commented on the thread. Several came forward saying the same.
The debate also centered around why Progressive would want that information anyway. “What does occupation have to do with the rate?” one commenter asked. Some argued it was because certain jobs were more dangerous; others argued it should be based on the car’s value and driving habits. It seems more trouble than it’s worth.
