Letters

Date: 20 aug 2007

I actually didn't even realize what I was in for-- I was in a grocery store parking lot and some guy ran into the side of my car while I was waiting to drive out onto the street. He backed up and SAID he was going to pull over and then gunned it for the street. I got the license plate number, and three witnesses came up and gave me their names and numbers; a couple were on the phone to the police already. The police came shortly, wrote it all up and told me the license plate number, witness name & phone would all be in the police report. Uncharacteristically for me, I tossed all scraps of paper with this information on it. My bad. Only thing I have is the police report number.
So I thought it would be a hit & run; only dependent on if the guy had insurance or not, which by his actions and condition of the car he was driving (dilapidated), I assumed he would not have insurance. Oh well, I have uninsured motorist coverage...
The next day, the fun starts. I call my agent and they tell me to call an 800 number. I tell my story to the first 800 number, she gives me a claim number and names and numbers of an aduster and a claims person. Talk to each of them The adjuster is hot to get my car into the shop the next day. So OK, I plan on taking the car in the next day. The next day he calls and says he can't get to see it that day-- it'll have to be the day after. So my car sits in the shop for a day.
Then he gets there the day after; decided the crease in the driver's side rear door needs a WHOLE NEW DOOR and writes up the business for the shop.
The shop takes about a week and a half to order the door, get it in and finish up the car.
When the car is ready, I call the claims person and they DON'T EVEN HAVE THE POLICE REPORT YET. This has been 14 days since the incident. They tell me could take unknown amount of days to get the police report and they they'll have to mail out a letter to all the witnesses and then once they hear back, determine whether they can recover from the guy who hit me or not. So I have to pay a $1000 deductible to get the car out of the shop.
I call the shop and they generously let me leave the car there for a week.
I am just lucky I have the use of another car while this is all going on.
Now today, a month later, I talk to the claims person, and he STILL does not have a copy of the police report. The shop needs my car outta there. I will have to pay the decuctible on my credit card and wait for Farmer's to reimburse me.
Here are my questions:
Why were they so quick to get my car into the shop? It only had a dent in the rear door!
Why are they so slow to get the police report?
Why didn't they TELL me how this was all going to unfold before I got caught up in all this crap?
I have so much going on in so many areas of my life and they are just adding to the hassle factor BIG TIME.
Thanks for listening.
P

Admin note: I think that you need to get the police report yourself. Getting a report can be a hassle, I'm betting your agent is sitting on it with the "I'll do it later" syndrome.

Date: 7 aug 2007

Dear Sir:
I was so happy to find your web site. All this time I thought it was just me and that I had bad karma or something.
I am currently 60 years old. I have been involved in exactly two car accidents in my entire life. Both times the other driver - the driver at fault - was insured by Farmers. Both times the other driver - the driver at fault - admitted fault at the scene of the accident. Once the person at the Farmer's collision center or whatever it's called where they "make" you take your car to be inspected said to me "Wow who plowed into you?" Both times the Farmer's agent absolutely refused to believe anything I said. Both times the case had to go to arbitration and it took over a year for them to finally repay my insurance company. Thank god I have State Farm who paid both times to get my car fixed so I wouldn't have to drive around for over a year with a badly banged up car. After the second accident the driver's side door was unable to open and I had to maneuver over the center console from the passenger side for 4 days!

In the first accident my car was standing still in a parking lot and I was backed in to. In the second accident I was proceeding at 25 miles per hour through an intersection (I had a green light) when the other driver turned left into my car. They did not have a green light, in fact, they had a red light! and they were driving a huge 4x4 truck! My car is a VW Cabriolet. I was darn lucky neither of us was going fast. That time I ended up having to see a massage therapist and chiropractor regularly for 18 months. After 8 months Farmers didn't believe I still needed treatment so sent me to a chiropractor they pay who told them I needed a LOT more treatment! HA!!!

Anyway, I pity anyone who gets hit by someone who has Farmers insurance. I would not purchase insurance from them if they were the only insurance company in the entire world. I feel sorry for anyone who works for them and I don't know how they can sleep at night.

[redacted]
Covington, WA
Date: 19 June 2007

I signed my auto insurance with Rodney J.Poole at 2020 Montrose #300, Houston Texes on 2/2/2007. It is a six-month insurance from 2/2/2007 to 8/2/2007.

1) When I signed the insurance, I already said no when the agent advertise the "Underinsured Motorist" insurance, but I continuely receive the new Declarations which include this part of insurance. I have to call and then farmers sent me letter saying it is cancled. Then another declarations came saying I have the "Underinsured Motorist" part. Totally, I received 12 declarations from farmers within 5 monthes.

2) I used the monthly pay auto draw from bank method to pay my bill. The agent told me that I can have a 10% discount for the payment if I use this payment method. But they didn't give me the discount at all until my wife found out the error, and we already continuely over payed for 4 monthes.

3) Clearly, the insurance is from 2/2/2007 to 8/2/2007, and farmers told me that I need to call the agent one week earlier before the finish date to let them know if I don't want to renew the insurance. Since I am so disppointed with the agent's service. I called about one month ago ( which is 3 monthes before the final date) and told the agent that I am not going to renew. But still I received a bill that charge me from 7/17/2007 to 8/16/2007, which is wrong because my insurance ends at 8/2/2007. I called the agent again and asked him to correct this. He firstly is very un-cooperative and then he said need send him a letter to state this. His reason is that if he doesn't have the statement, I can still claim him if there is anything wrong with my car in the future, which is completely rediculous because how can I still claim him if my insurance expire already?

This is simply his mistake or his intentional mistake and I should not do anything to let the insurance policy ends. I signed 6 monthes insuance policy, and I just need simply pay for 6 monthes. The agent has no right to continue charge me after the policy ended. Date: 14 May 2007

I am not sure what state you are in, so some of what I say may not apply to you.
     I am the Paralegal for an attorney who deals mainly with personal injury cases; unfortunately your experience with Farmers is not limited to any single insurance company. These actions are of common practice among ALL insurance companies, it is always a good idea to contact a lawyer if you have been in an accident, many insurance adjusters will manipulate and flat out lie to claimants. Allstate actually released an internal memo entitled “Fast or Fair Settlement”, essentially if you want to file a claim with Allstate you can either have it fast or fair, not both.
     I do not know if you are represented by counsel or not, but if you are and your State has an equivalent law, not only your wife has a suit for damages but you have a suit for what is called Loss of Consortium.
     I am truly sorry for the hardships you have had to endure and wish you the best of luck with your daughter.
C*****


Admin note: For what it's worth, my insurance carrier (AAA in California) has never jerked me around in this fashion. Mind you I know insurance companies are in business to make money, but they don't have to be as bad as Farmers about it. Also, as an aside, no lawyer would take this case because a) we laready talked to the insurance company and b) it was Farmers. That is specifically what we were told by a lawyer. He said anyone else they may consider taking the case in spite of "a", but with Farmers, forget it.
Date: 14 May 2007

Check this out.. HAHAH!!! I just sent him a link to your site and said nothing else... ;-)

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Farmers Insurance Opportunity- Las Vegas
Date: Sun, 13 May 2007 20:16:52 -0700
From: r*** j****
To: 'Rob B***'

Rob,
     I am a District Manager for Farmers Insurance Group looking for a successful, business-minded individual with a strong desire for personal growth, career fulfillment, and financial success. Farmers has recently begun developing new Agency business opportunities in the Las Vegas and surrounding areas.
        [blah blah blah, make money fast, recruiting blather]
If you are interested in opening your own Farmers Agency, call me directly at (702) ***-**** or email your resume to me at rj****@farmersagent.com. You may also apply online on my website at www.farmersagent.com/rj****/.

Best regards,
R**** J****
District Manager
Farmers Insurance Group

Admin note: Thank you for making my day, using this site (or this one. for that matter) is a great response if you don't want to work for them :-)
Date: 11 May 2007

To Whom It May Concern:

Congratulations on exercising your rights to FREE SPEECH. I am not only a proud twenty eight year veteran of the Farmers Organization, but an armed services veteran who helped you to maintain your rights to complain!

Isn’t this a great country?

 Rich Winters
District Manager
Farmers Insurance and Financial Services
Phone: 480.xxx.xxxx
Fax: 480.xxx.xxxx

Admin note: This arrived in a huge font (16 or so), but hey, thanks for the service Rich. Our armed service volunteers are the most important asset that our country has. Hats off to you for serving your country. I can only hope that you never get burned as other agents have. As I've noted to other agents who've e-mailed me "off the record" I really don't blame the agents so much as I blame the adjusters and corporate suits who run the company.

Date: 10 May 2007

If you think Farmers has a problem with the consumer side of business, try being an agent. We really do care about our clients, unfortunately that is not what the company wants us to do anymore, numbers only from now on. Production means service, without it you are not servicing your clients and therefore do not care about your clients. You think things are bad now, wait until all of the new agents they are hiring start writing business, it will really change the landscape! Date: 12 Apr 2007

Well, I've never been in an accident involving Farmer's (thankfully), but I did still get the shaft from them. When I was living at home (early 90s), my Mom had Farmer's. I had been driving my first car for a few months when it broke down. Not being particularly wealthy and living on a decent bus line as I did, I decided to sell the car for parts and get by without for awhile. The Farmer's agent told my Mom that I would have to surrender my license or else she would have to insure me on her car (now the only one in the family and which I wouldn't be driving). I was a kid and didn't know any better, so off to the DMV I went. When I explained the situation, they looked at me like I had a third eye but went ahead and did it anyway. Flash forward a couple of years when, like any twentysomething, I wanted a car again. I went to the DMV, stood in line, filled out the form, and all was well. I buy a car, a couple of months go by, no license. I go to the DMV, stand in line, and they tell me that it's "slow right now and I should have it in a few weeks. Next!" A few weeks later and still no license. I go back to the DMV a couple more times, each time I get the same story. Another year goes by and I've forgotten the whole thing, I just have the paper in my wallet. One day I manage to adjust someone's parking job with a company truck, and being a f***ing moron I take off. In court a couple of weeks later, I find out that not only am I in for a hit and run, but also for driving without a valid license! Turns out the system really couldn't deal with me surrendering my license and had never issued a new one. Once I explained they dropped the license charge but I've been advised that they probably would have gone easier on me about the h&r if I hadn't had two violations on the docket. Thanks, Farmers!
-J

Follow-up: Wow! What state was this in? I'd like to post your story, and since we all know how fast DMVs move I'd like to let everyone know what state to not surrender your license in. Thanks for the story,
-admin
This was in Minnesota.
-J

Date: 2 Apr 2007

Hi - I'm definitely sorry to hear your sorry. After reading your post and the other link stating how many complaints Farmers and their affiliates received, I have decided to not renew my Farmer's automobile insurance policy. In addition, I checked my state's insurance commissioner (Texas) and sure enough, Farmer receives a very high number of complaints. I will be looking at other insurance companies to renew my insurance. Thanks for sharing your story.

Admin note: Another person who's "seen the light" so to speak :-) This is all very encouraging!

Date: 23 Jan 2007

I was sorry to hear about the experience you had with Farmer's Insurance. We used them for 5 years and actually had 2 claims and they were always very good to us - the first, I was rear-ended by a guy who also had Farmer's, and they gave me a generous check within 4 days. The second time, a neighbor's drunken son was trying to throw rocks at his own truck (don't ask) and hit my car's hood causing $983 of damage. Again, check that same week. Perhaps I just had a good agent.

Anyhow, I can sympathise a bit, because though my rear-end accident had nothing to do with it, I've only ever been comfortable breastfeeding while lying down. I can sort of do it sitting, but it's much more difficult. I understand your wife's frustration in not being able to easily feed the baby while out, and in feeling trapped at home due to that.

Also, I wanted to comment on the desire for natural childbirth - I am sure she hears all the time that "it's a healthy baby that matters" and she shouldn't try to be a hero, or get a medal, by going drug-free. At least, that's what I heard from people. They act like you're a fool for wanting to avoid pain meds. I wanted to acknowledge that while a healthy baby is important, that does not mean that her feelings and her birth experience weren't important. I have been on that table and it's an incredibly vulnerable feeling and disappointing when things don't go as you hoped or expected. It sounds like you've been very supportive which is fantastic.

Anyway, here's hoping that Farmers bucks up and pays what they should. It's ridiculous that they haven't, especially since she was at 0 fault in the accident.

Emily

Admin note: Since writing this letter Emily has dropped Farmers (Yea!) and moved on to another carrier. She now spends about $45/month less for *more* coverage!

FarCry - Mollio