Rating Summary
“middle of the road, it all depends on what you are looking for”
- Every day computer user, married, A realist, safe driver, an moderate investor
- Pros
- I can't think of any, Great Agents
- Cons
- Crappy computer system, for agents, billing issues, repeat mailings that don't match up, TONS OF MAIL, Random rate increases
Farmers Insurance —
As with all companies, Farmers has its good points and bad points.
I actually was a customer of Farmers, and then became an Agent with Farmers, so I have seen the penny from both sides.
As a customer, things always went smoothly, I never had a problem, except with the constant rate increases and the various "Miscellaneous Charges" that never could be explained or removed! My agent was great and was the reason I thought it would be a good idea to become one.
As an agent, I realized that the Farmers system is greatly flawed and their computers don't always synch up with the information that is input. For example, when a customer gets a renters, auto and life policy, they get a multi-policy discount. However, when the system runs it validation, if there is more than one driver in the house, but only one life policy, it will drop that discount with no warning to either the agent or the customer, until the customer gets their bill and sees a huge increase. And fixing it, well that is a complete JOKE!
Even the best agent in the district where I worked had MAJOR problems with the different systems which was highly frustrating. Also the billing, they allow you to pay monthly, even give you the option to get a discount for setting up 'Auto-Pay' but then they will charge you not only a monthly fee based on the amount billed, but also an initial 'Policy Fee', so you are actually paying MORE to pay it monthly, even with the supposed DISCOUNT they give. Also, they don't give a discount for those who pay it in full up front like some companies do.
It is also very apparent that the company has no interest in 'GOING GREEN' or even being eco-friendly. Any change, either by an agent or by the system just running, they send you all sorts of mail. A minor change, like you added a secondary phone number, they will send you the ENTIRE policy again, which can be a good 30 pages. Any billing adjustment, they send you a new bill. I had a customer that needed to make an adjustment to her policy, and it generated 14 pieces of mail in 5 business days. I actually had customers calling and asking me to STOP SENDING THEM THINGS IN THE MAIL. It was ridiculous. And there is no way to "turn off" the mail, or the constant notifications. What was frustrating more than anything though was when the customer would get 3 bills for the same billing period but with 3 totally different amounts due on each. Then when they would call me looking for an explanation, I would call the billing department and they couldn't give me an answer either.
Also there was never a way to tell a customer "This is what you will see on your bill" or "This is exactly how much you owe and you will be paid in full", because there was never a certainty it would remain consistent. Bills constantly were wrong and the way Farmers has their billing set up, there is never a time when the customer is actually "paid in full" they are either ahead or slightly behind.
It was a very illuminating experience working for them after I had been a customer for so long. Their systems and the lack of flexibility in their products were so frustrating that I removed their products from my agency and switched my insurance to State Farm.
All I got from them was constant frustrations with no answers, and uncompetitively priced, limited products to offer customers; and HUGE problems with billing or discounts.
Even for a perfect driver, you will experience rate hikes for no apparent reason. They have excellent claims department, but at the same time, they will be very stingy as what will be covered and how much they will pay. Also unless you ask the specific questions, they won't just give out answers or information.
So as a consumer when you are not a professional in that industry and don't have the time to be a professional in the industry, you are counting on the transparency and information the agent or company gives you, hoping it is the WHOLE story and not just part of it, like bait. However, with Farmers you will find, its very hard to get the WHOLE story or even the consistent story every time.
Last edited on Dec 03, 2008
Farmers Insurance
