State Farm Insurance Companies

Review: We have been working with our insurance agent, [redacted], for approximately 10 years and his agency provided coverage of our newly purchased home that was undergoing extensive renovation. We had mentioned issues with water that were being addressed. We were told that insurance was primarily through our builder until we "took residence." We had notified the agent's office as we were about to take primary residence in the home and the agent's assistant informed us that the changes had been noted. When asked if changes needed to be made on our insurance plan or if we should add anything further, she stated "No, everything looks fine." There was no "yearly review" of our policy that may have made us aware of a lack of coverage for sewer sump pump backup.

We experienced a flood in early May 2014 that overwhelmed our property, as our landscaping and drainage system was not yet completed by the landscaping company. When we contacted our insurance agent, he stated we had no coverage. He had not reviewed our policy until that moment. I expressed to him that although we dealt with his assistant, he was ultimately responsible for policy reviews. We complained about the lack of service (especially since we have had 6-7 policies with his office for the last 10 years), also noting that we had spent about one-hundred fold the amount of money for coverage on an extensive drainage system. Clearly we would have paid for this insurance had we realized we were not covered. We did not receive a new declarations page after changing our new home to a primary residence and did not have a discussion of our needs with our agent.

Our builder had written a letter to the agent stating his knowledge of the water issue and the extent and cost we incurred to help correct this issue. We did speak with our agent's manager who was very rude and disrespectful on the phone. An attitude of "go ahead and sue us if you want" was strongly conveyed during our conversation. We feel as though the insurance agent did not provide us with appropriate service in reviewing our policy, but rather had his assistant handle the matter as a change of address and then tried to up-sell us on further insurance policies. He admitted this should have been handled better but did not want to discuss using an "omission and error" option he has to correct this problem.

The policy we carried through him was expensive and clearly to the advantage of the insurance provider, with higher premiums and deductibles. We expected better service and trusted that our agent was providing us with standard care and review of our policy. We have since switched to another carrier and were notified of the many "costly and unnecessary" options contained in our policy with State Farm. When spoken to regarding these issues, our insurance agent admitted that "I have too many policy holders and am beginning a process to review everyone's file." One would expect the standard practice would be to review a policy as it is being sold, not after the fact. The lack of thorough review of policy changes, lack of discussion regarding our needs and the lack of decency to utilize an "omission and error" option have left us feeling cheated and taken advantage of. We feel as though the lack of coverage for water back up would not have been an issue if State Farm would have provided us with a personalized level of care.Desired Settlement: The error in policy review by our agent was a shared responsibility. We feels as though he should instate the coverage for water backup as we were consciously trying to treat the problem and an error from his assistant led us to not having coverage. Omission and error rights by him should allow him this option. His lack or responsibility and disrespectful supervisor should not be allowed to have this happen to another family.

Business

Response:

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the complaint filed with your office by [redacted].