Monday, October 19, 2009

An open letter....

Dear State Farm,

My hubby has carried your insurance for over 42 years. We not only have 3 cars covered, but our house. We have had nothing but good service and reasonable rates since we married 38 years ago. We have had only 3 different agents, the last for only 2 years.

Now we are facing a problem with you. You have let us down. My hubby had an accident last Tuesday evening. At 8pm at night, in the rain, he topped a hill and hit a cow. Unfortunately the cow did not make it. Fortunately my hubby did. He immediately dialed *55 and had a Mo State Highway Patrolman out there within minutes. The patrolman called a wrecker and the truck was towed to his lot. Apparently that was the first mistake. We have now been told that he should have somehow contacted State Farm at 8:30pm and found out exactly where the nearest State Farm claim center was and had the truck towed there. How were we to do that? Is there a list somewhere?

We found out that the cow had insurance. We mistakenly thought that would be good news to you. You would have a way to recoup some of your money back from the cow's insurance. That seems to be the whole problem. State Farm also covered the cow. Now we have State Farm cow division fighting with State Farm auto division. Something that was promised by you to be taken care of within 48 hours has now stretched to almost 6 days. We feel like we are stuck in the middle and we shouldn't be.

State Farm auto division...please take care of our truck under our comprehensive insurance. WE are your customer and we should not be in the middle of your fight with the cow division of your own company. We will continue to do our part by paying our premiums. Please live up to your end.

Nancy

19 comments:

Pat said...

Nancy......I am appalled at how you are being treated by State Farm. However...I have heard some stories recently about others who are dissatisfied with them. I see they are good at putting TV commercials on the air about how much they care about their customers and it seems not to be the case from all I am hearing lately. Feel free to let State Farm see this comment to you and tell them that I am in Delaware and will warn people looking to change insurance NOT to go with State Farm. Maybe their CEO needs to be contacted and told about this situation. Would your husband still have been expected to call State Farm for the tow if he had been knocked unconscious? This is all beyond ridiculous and State Farm should be ashamed of THIS kind of "customer service"!!!

Beth Karese said...

Nancy, that's miserable. The insurance companies get a lot of money from us, and we expect them to be there when something happens. Best wishes that you get resolution soon!!

Sweet P said...

That is no fun! I hope State Farm steps up to the plate and takes care of your claim.

BlueRidge Boomer said...

Good Luck.....insurance....a necessary evil!!

Smile....LindaMay

ooglebloops said...

That is horrible- but I think all insurance companies today work the same way!!!We have had Allstate for years - I hated it - and now have Nationwide and Afflack.The Afflack duck is lucky he has not been hunted down by "his" insureds!! LOL Whenever we put in a claim, or the company is supposed to handle something from their end - it seems like my husband does all the work to get things accomplished!!! The insurance companies are quick enough to take their money and followup if a payment is missed or late - but when it comes to paying out - very sloooooow!!! Good luck!!!

Joanna said...

Wow what a story. You are so funny though - the cow division made me chuckle!! You'd think they'd be able to figure it out since it's all in the same company!! We have Nationwide and had no problems last year when my hubby wrecked. They paid out very quickly, even though the other driver (who was to blame) wasn't insured! We were impressed:) I really hope you have a good and swift ending to this saga:)

Dortha said...

Nancy I am so sorry that you are having such a hard time with State Farm. We have Farmers Insurance and we have had no problem with them in fact the three times that we have had a claim with them they were fast and helpful. I do agree that insurance is a necessary evil. After you pay all that money you do expect good service in return. I hope your problem is settled quickly.

Margie said...

Sorry to hear about your troubles. When I read this all I could think about was "are they taking lessons from the pre existing condition"! Seems like they will do or say anything to not pay!

Both of my son's have insurance with them and I'm going to be sure and let them know of your problems.

Hope all works out well!!!

Karen said...

I hope State Farm sees your post.

Maybe you and the cow should have had Farmer's Insurance like Dortha! LOL

I hope you get a good resolution.

Becky said...

I have had State Farm since I was 16. Won't tell you how many years that has been. But I have to tell you, with ornerniess in my voice, that he should have asked the cow which insurance company he had. State Farm is great as long as you don't have to deal with the other person/cow having state farm. For some reason that throws everything out the window. And it seems both sides get screwed. By the way, why was the cow out where it could get hit?

Brenda said...

Just wanted to say good luck with State Farm. We are beginning to have very bad luck with them also, regarding a really bad hail storm. We live in subdivision of about 50 homes. Every person insured by State Farm has been run through the ringer. All of our other neighbors have new roofs- almost within a week of the storm. It's very sad that they've become so big they can't even see their customers faces any longer. It's all about the money.

Carin said...

Dude that is insane! I hope and pray for you that this will get worked out quickly!

lesthook said...

My daughter has state farm. A couple of years ago she got hit by an 88 year old woman with alzheimers. Sounds simple right? The other driver had state farm too and it ended up in a lawyers hands! Even though the other driver was clearly at fault and the police report and witnesses stressed that. Good luck!

Sharon S said...

Nancy, State Farm should be ashamed of themselves! So much for being a loyal customer. Good luck!

Sharon (Stitches on Mars) said...

Looks like your insurance company has been taking notes from the one in "The Incredibles"
Hope it gets sorted out soon,
Hugs,
Sharon

Yuki said...

State Farm is on facebook. I think you should post your open letter there. I think we should all post and ask them why they aren't more helpful to our friend, Nancy in Mo. Maybe then they'd respond. I'd be happy to participate. We pay big dollars to insurance companies and they are way to slow to support us when we need it.

ttfn :) Yuki

Jennifer said...

I am in the same boat with my insurance company, Farmers. A lady hit me going 65 MPH and never put on her brakes. I thought it would make things easier since we were both insured by the same company... I couldn't have been more wrong. My nightmare has been going on over a year. I finally had to get a lawyer, not to sue for damages, but to deal with the ONLY insurance company involved in the case. I hope this situation is resolved for you quickly and I'm really glad your husband is OK.

And WOW! I just wrote all this when I came here to look at your quilts. ;) I do love your quilting, BTW...

Sherrill said...

We had State Farm for 35+ years and finally DITCHED them last year when we found out we'd been getting SCREWED for years (our fault cause we trusted and never checked any further!!). It's good bad you're finding out this way..hope things work out!!

Sewing Junkie said...

Obviously they are afraid they won'tr get their bonuses if they settle. We live in a Mobile Home park and upscale one and I applied for insurance for my mobile home. They said there was to many in this parlk that had their insurance and they couldn't insure us. I said it was discrimnination. If you lived in Town and had a standard home they could insure every one on the block.They agreed they could. I found an independent company that came and looked at our home and insured us on the spot. Your state has a insurance board to oversee things like this also. Inquire about this and see if you get anywhere.Contact your Congressman and tell them of the ordeal. Not Fair. Good Luck Chris