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The Almighty Buck

Journal TechnoLust's Journal: The Veritable Shitstorm of Incompetence That Is State Farm 26

Journal by TechnoLust

This all started a couple of years ago. I was very unhappy with the way my insurance company treated me when I wrecked my car. I know, no insurance company is going to hand me a blank check and tell me to go get a replacement vehicle of my liking. They are going to try to give me as little as possible. But when you LIE to me, then try to cover your ass with even more transparent lies when I bust you, then fuck you I'm no longer doing business with you. Also, I'd been offered a job working the the company FortKnox was with back then, and that necessitated a move to Cincy, and this company only had offices in TN. So I figured I needed to upgrade to a national company. Because I sure hadn't received any of that "locally owned small business" love they gave me as the reason to choose them over a larger company. (Unless, unlike me, you consider them trying bend me over without so much as a reach around "love".) National companies should have more niceties anyway, like autopay and 24/7 service, right?

So I got State Farm in Ohio. I hadn't moved up there yet, but they took my payment over the phone via credit card. I asked about auto-payments to the credit card. "No problem, we can set that right up for you! I already have all the card information since you just gave it to me to make a payment." Sweetness, no more dealing with that bill, even though it only came twice a year. 6 months later, I'm still in TN, the job fell through. (Read the JEs from back then if you want to know the details, suffice to say, their demand went down and they didn't have any work for me.)

I get a letter from State Farm saying my insurance was canceled due to non-payment of premiums. Umm... the credit card autopay should prevent that, right? I call them. "Oh, we're terribly sorry, don't know how it could have happened. We'll bill this and get you back on Autopay." Ok then.

6 months later, I'm in Atlanta, and I've switched my agent to a local Atlanta office. I also added my truck, which had been sitting uninsured since summer, because I don't drive it except to tow my boat to and from the lake/river. I get a letter saying I'm going to be dropped for non-payment. Fuck. I call them up and pay again. Tell them I REALLY REALLY don't want to have to deal with this every time, so can we make sure it works. Yes sir!

I'm still in ATL, but at a different address. A month ago, I got a letter from State Farm saying GA couldn't verify that I had insurance on my truck and if it was registered in another state, to give the VIN, Tag Number, and what state it was registered in. I sent all that back.

About 2 weeks ago, I got a cancellation notice for the car AGAIN for nonpayment. This time the bill said $42 something, so obviously they charged my card for the wrong amount. I call in fuming. I ask her why the hell the credit card autopay never works or apparently this time, didn't charge the correct amount. She looks into and finally tells me the reason it hasn't been working is because State Farm doesn't HAVE a credit card autopay system. Ok... then... nevermind. We get it fixed and I ask about the truck. What truck? The truck I have insured with you guys! You don't have a RECORD of me having insured a truck with you? Oh, it was canceled when the car was, but I didn't receive a separate notice, but you didn't charge the premium for the truck when I told you to renew. *Sigh* Well just add it back. So then I'm told that I can't add it back because it was without insurance on it for 30 days. In order to get it insured through State Farm again, I have to get insurance somewhere else, then switch back (not fucking happening.)

So yesterday I get 3 things from State Farm. 1) a bill for the full premium. 2) new cards that DON'T have the truck listed. 3) a statement saying that GA DMVS is unable to verify that I have insurance and I should send them proof. (Umm, you're my damned insurance company, you send them proof, or maybe just say "Yes he does.") Then today, I get 2 things. 1) Reinstatement notice and 2) a check for $6.06 that was an overpayment.

So, first you don't take out anything at all, and cancel me. I call in and fix it. Then you take out too little, and cancel me again. I call in an fix it. Somewhere along the way, you canceled my truck without telling me and now say it's too late to fix it, then you send me a check saying I paid too much. Now, I'm getting ANOTHER bill and only God knows how bad you'll FUCK UP this one if I stay with you. All this headache and them fucking with my money and I haven't even had a claim? God help me if I ever got in an accident. They'd probably say I didn't have insurance for that day because I cashed the $6 check and they really WASN'T an overpayment, so they just left me uninsured for that one day so they wouldn't have to bother me with another bill. Oh and if I ever want to legally drive my truck again, I have to have TWO insurance companies or do some some funky insurance company musical chairs bullshit? Or option 3, which is what I'll take, tell you to shove your incompetence up your collective ass sideways (assuming you can find room with all your heads up there) and find someone that actually knows how to run a business.

This discussion was created by TechnoLust (528463) for no Foes, but now has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

The Veritable Shitstorm of Incompetence That Is State Farm More

The Veritable Shitstorm of Incompetence That Is State Farm

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  • yeah, i work somewhere remotely related to the company in question.
    okay in the corp datacenter but thats besides the point.

    I also have SF insurance and I call my agent whenever i get a statement just to annoy the shit out of him.
    I don't trust them with anything, their website is shit.
    I've mentioned it to my mangler anytime we have a meeting discussing company issues.
    But they have "the best people in the industy working on design and function"
    sorry but Habib cant even speak english and is crosseyed.

    You seem
    • I forgot to add, even though those systems seem to be crap.
      If you get a good agent they are better than any other company i've dealt with.
      Thats why i finally switched to them after Am Fam screwed me over.
      • State Farm sucks balls. I went through almost the exact same thing with them years ago after having been with them for 10+ years. Their auto-pay is shit, even if you use the bank account thing. They are totally fucking incompetent. I like Progressive: I've never had to deal with a human being, and hope to never have to.
      • I have state farm and a great agent. They call me for every little detail I need to know. They even allowed me to bill on a monthly plan instead of a biannual plan.

        TL, go get yourself a local agent, and I bet they can clear everything up for you. Talk to them in person, get on their good side, and they'll be your best friend, I guarantee it.
        • It's the local agents that I'm having problems with. And don't say find another one, I'm on my third. YOUR agent that I worked with did go above and beyond, but even HE wasn't able to shield me from the incompetence, as I was mis-billed once while dealing with him also. If you are having good luck with them, stay with them and consider yourself lucky. I will be switching companies this month.
    • According to State Farm, they don't HAVE an credit card auto-pay. She was putting my credit card number into the account number section of the BANK DRAFT AUTO PAY. God only knows what she was putting for the routing number. Or maybe she put as many as would fit in the routing number and the rest for the account number. There's no telling. In any case, I'd rather fight 1 huge fight if I ever get in an accident, than 4 little ones every year.
  • I sent SF a car insurance payment once and they claimed to have never received it. I can verify that the money order wasn't cashed so at least they were not lying about that.

    Now I hand deliver my payment and make sure to get a receipt. Other than that one thing I feel that State Farm rocks.
    • My other thought was to start my own insurance company with myself as the only client. I'll only pay $1 a year, and if I ever get into an accident, I'll give myself the run around, until I give up. Then I'll take the THOUSANDS I saved from not having to pay some other company that would have wound up fucking me almost as bad and buy myself whatever the hell kind of car I want.
      • Texas used to be the cheapest place to start an insurance company, around 10 grand.

        With that said, I like what they do in colorado, you are insured, not just your car. AFAIK, only state to have it like that. Some states let you post a surety bond in lieu of insurance, you'll have to google for who allows that. It is possible most places though, but given the price of modern automobiles and what medical bills cost-I'd go with an insurance policy over trying to come up with enough bond to be practical.

        with th
  • 1) I've never had great luck with any insurance that has "Farm" anywhere in its name. :P
    I recommend a company with a name that doesn't make any sense. Or that offers free blow pops. (POPS!)
    2) Don't use Autopay. Some companies can't be trusted to pay themselves, let alone to not steal you blind. Online payment is a Good Thing, just make sure that you're the one hitting the OK! button. Ten minutes on a couple of websites once a month, and you know everything has been paid, because you can log in and i
    • 1) I've never had great luck with any insurance that has "Farm" anywhere in its name. :P

      I concur. Farmers blows, too. Glad I fired them.
      • I have Farmers', and I love them. I think any insurance company is going to have some bad points, but State Farm is beyond the pale. I won't even get into how both of my sisters and I have been involved in 4 separate accidents that were the faults of people insured by State Farm. State Farm agents go above and beyond the requirement of not giving a rats ass about injured parties when it comes to saving themselves a few bucks. THEY HAVE NO SOULS!

        I still dream about stabbing the bitch who insisted that I
        • I had no trouble getting money out of Farmers when my wife was rear ended at a stop sign - obviously the other girl's fault, she hit a truck that was stopped at a stop sign... and they paid to get the rear bumper replaced.

          But when I had a homeowner claim, that I could prove was covered, Farmers denied the claim and I ended up paying for a broken drain line in the slab out of my own pocket - the slab / new drain line cost me around $3000, and that's not counting the time / money it took to re-tile our foye
    • No honey... I WASN'T driving it. It was winter. I'm smart enough to stay off the lake during winter. The only people out there then are the drunk ass duck hunters and they will shoot at ANYTHING in the air, so even though I've had several wetsuits, I couldn't do any arials on the wakeboard or I'd be fish food.

      The reason for that comment was that it hadn't been insured for a while when I was looking for an insurance company. I kept the car insurance with the crappy TN company while shopping.

    • With many companies, you can get a discounted rate based on low mileage. It's also worth looking into specialist insurance from companies that expect this kind of behavior. TL should browse the trailer boating magazines for ads like this.
  • go geico.... i love them, have never had problems, and they are cheap for good drivers.

    jason

    • Yeah yeah, I gots you some GOOOOOOOD insurance right here... Cash only.

    • My GEICO has been good too. I've had two different cars in two different cities get their tops slashed, and GEICO replaced the whole top each time with no hassles at all. I do everything, including filing claims, online. I just have to see the adjustor when it's time to get the car fixed, and they haven't tried to cheat me. In fact, the adjustor tried to upgrade my plastic rear window to glass, but BMW never made a glass rear window for the Z3. My payments are a fraction of what they were with Farmers.
  • I bet they don't have an integrated system across the entire company and have little subsystems in each state instead. So when you have insurance in OH, GA doesn't have a clue what you have. Same with the truck. If you accidentally added it using their GA office, say, by calling their 800 number which autorouted you to the local office, then the OH system wouldn't know about it. I can just imagine what sort of an SQL statement some poor tech would have to type to debug this :)
  • It seems I'm the only person here who's had nothing but great experiences with State Farm--possibly it's highly regionally variable?
    • no it's agent variable.
      My experience has been great.
      One of my side jobs is supporting a Autobody shop. the claims adjuster that covers this shop is on his toes. I see him there every once in a while and he really sticks up for the policy holders. His latest rant was scolding the body shops in the area for not physically checking out all the options when totalling a car. The body shops have been relying on the software and the VIN numbers to do that and SF has had to readjust payouts.

      One thing i've learned
  • Unless you didn't know that they are the soul-sucking goo on the outside of the gum on the bottom of the insurance industry shoe.

    I don't know how anybody can hold State Farm insurance in good conscience.
  • I've used Progressive for about 7 years over the last 10. I'm pretty happy with them. Their autopay works, and even emails you reminding you the payment is going to go through. Their website is completely self service, but their call center is also very helpful. They aren't teh drop dead cheapest, but you get what you pay for. They are quick on claims, and fair about what they pay out.

    The only problem I've had with Progressive is they don't cover in NJ or MA (for obvious reasons, these two states are th

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