State Farm customers, Check your six

UNLike a good neighbor….

My wife and I have been long time customers with State Farm for our home insurance. We’ve only ever filed one claim in almost 20 years, due to the storms that hit the Ohio valley and the subsequent hail damage to our roof.

When we purchased our new house in 2021, we decided to keep our previous home as a rental dwelling. With our experience with State Farm not being bad (wasn’t like it was special or anything, it was just “ok”); we decided to stick with them for the new home insurance, as well as our previous home.

Speaking with our Miamisburg, Ohio based agent; the rep provided us a quote; but noted that if we switched our car insurance over as well, we’d see the largest savings. She also advised that we would need to have a “rental dwelling” policy for our Springboro house (the “Teakwood House” as I like to call it).

With the auto, home and rental dwelling under a single umbrella; our savings came to about $450/yr. This sounded great, but I asked the representative regarding flooding, pipes bursting, etc as in 2020 we had just such an issue with the Teakwood property. She affirmed that we would be covered.

Fast forward a year, and we have paid StateFarm over five thousand dollars between the two properties and the autos (also keeping in mind that we had paid them roughly two thousand a year for the sixteen years prior). We recently encountered a sewage backup. State Farm, being “a good neighbor” was one of our first calls.

Immediately we ran into trouble. StateFarm said that we did not have “A Sewage Backup” “rider” and so they would not be able to cover the damages. Further discussion with the office manager for the agent highlighted that not only were we not covered; State Farm does not provide sewage backup for homes or for rentals.

Calling out the cleanup crew and the plumber to fix the sewer issue and sanitize everything has already cost over five thousand dollars. This does not include the drywall, carpeting, painting that will also be needed to put the basement back to proper livable condition.

My experience with the office manager was pleasant but unhelpful. My experience with the claims representative was less pleasant and quite a bit more frustrating. They insisted that I call the plumber to get details that they themselves should be calling the plumber for. The claims adjuster was initially a bit sour as I was not available for his schedule, but was pleasant for the review of the damage and subsequent phone call; tho he also referred to the lack of a “rider” and notified me that State Farm has denied the claim due to “lack of coverage for sewage backups”.

This kind of makes me think; well if you don’t offer it; how am I supposed to have coverage? When a customer asks a representative whether they have full coverage, my perspective is that the question of “full coverage” that they are asking for means literally “full and complete coverage”. Additionally, why does each person I speak with at State Farm say “you don’t have a rider” if it is not an option?

I’m not terribly surprised that an insurance company is behaving in such a way, but I definitely had a higher opinion of State Farm than perhaps I should have.

I guess the days of State Farm being a good neighbor are effectively over. Perhaps they should change their slogan to “We like screwing our neighbors… with a smile on our face, but not yours…”

Moral of the story is do not trust the State Farm agents. Even the nice ones will gloss over details so that State Farms’ liability is nominal. Do not trust State Farm for anything. If we had known that we would not be covered, we obviously would have never done business with State Farm.

Good-bye State Farm, you really suck.

For employees that work for State Farm or one of their agents; I would ask you how you could work for/with such a company? If more people stood up to the executives about how they treat their customers, how they treat their employees, and why executives are so over compensated; we would be in a much better world (not just with insurance companies of course).

Keep in mind that the CEO of State Farm Insurance made $20 million dollars in 2020. This is part of the sickness we continue to see in the US where corporate boards are enriching themselves, their stock holders and their leadership teams at the expense of the employee’s, consumers and customers that fund their greed.

We can do better as a society. Our companies can do better. It starts by standing up and saying “No, that’s not right” and taking our business elsewhere. We should all put capitalism to the test by weeding out those that continue to abuse our systems.

A little further research, and it seems we’re not the only ones that State Farm is denying. Must really make that CEO worth it.

State Farm Pays Attorney’s Fees in Bad Faith Claim Filed Over Access Provision

https://www.dfwpersonalinjurylawyer.com/blog/state-farm-insurance-when-a-good-neighbor-becomes-a-bad-neighbor.cfm

StateFarm CEO Salary reference article: Link