A couple of Saturday’s ago one of State Farm Insurance’s customers backed into my vehicle while I waited in a bank drive-through lane. Yes, backed into me in a one-way drive-thru lane.
As a matter of course I called the local Statesboro police and asked that a police report be written up. The police responded quickly and I and the other driver were on our way in about 20 minutes.
This is where the story gets murky.
On the following Monday I call my local insurance company and stop by for them to take a look at the car. I was told I should go through State Farm.
I am not going to name names as to who I dealt with locally, because the following isn’t really their fault. However, it is about State Farms poor handling of claims at their central claims office.
I went over to the local State Farm office and before the door had closed completely I was greeted warmly and after a short introduction and explanation I was advised that (direct quote) “I would receive the best service I had ever experienced ”. At the moment I was quite happy, however, that feeling soon changed.
The claim service representative (main office I am assuming) called me the same day and asked a couple of questions and that he would call back shortly with a claim number so that I could have the vehicle repaired.
I would estimate that about 10 days past and the claims representative had not called back. Per the local office’s instructions I called them directly and received a claim number and was told to take it to one of the local State Farm “Premiere” repair shops.
Being that I had business out of town I dropped the card off and felt confident that upon my return my vehicle would be repaired.
A week later I returned and called the repair shop. I inquired about my vehicle being ready and was told that nothing had been done to the vehicle and was told “We called the claim representative and was told that the claim was on hold till further notice”.
I called the State Farm 800 number to speak with the claim representative Daniel Addis (800-578-8001 ext 4183770) and got voice mail. As you can imagine at this point I am not a very happy camper at all.
I left a stern but polite voice-mail for Mr. Addis pointing out the fact that I had a police report for the accident and that I had no problem filing a complaint with the John Oxendine’s Office (Georgia Insurance Commissioner) and if need be would take further steps to ensure that State farm repaired my vehicle.
I decided to call the State Farm 800 again and see if I could actually talk to a human being and managed to speak with another claim representative. After discussing the issues and poor customer service with her, she put me on hold to talk with Mr. Addis (he was actually in his office). After 4 or 5 minutes she advised me that the repair center would be receiving the paperwork and that work on the vehicle would begin ASAP.
As you can imagine the extremely poor customer service that I had received put a bad taste in my mouth and I would never consider buying State Farm Insurance even if it was the cheapest in town. To add insult to injury during my initial visit the local State Farm office they tried selling me insurance. Thanks, but no thanks.
I am quite happy with my insurance company and in nearly 10 years I have never had a problem or issue with claims or otherwise. You couldn’t pay me to switch. But this isn’t about them it is about State Farms lackluster customer service. Too bad they don’t understand making customers or others happy is the key to profitability and that word of mouth marketing can help or hurt depending on the situation. I have found that many large corporations forget that the customers number one.
End Note
If you can’t get results that you were expecting from an insurance company the Georgia (or other states) insurance commissioners office is a great way to get the companies attention.
Georgia Insurance Commissioner Consumer Services - (404) 656-2070 or 800-656-2298
Written by SBM Staff
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