Like a Bad Neighbor, State Farm Is There to Make It Worse…read more
We had a sudden water emergency... we believe that water started coming out of a clogged drain overnight, seeping under the floorboards. We called it in right away, and we called the professionals - plumbers, and mitigation companies to come out hours after we observed this. We turned to State Farm, expecting the company we've trusted for years to help us through this disaster. We got our first communication with this office from Cecile Campbell who wrote in her e-mail;
"It is our job to make sure this claim goes well for you, and we want you to be completely satisfied throughout this process."
Sounds great, right? On the phone, she was the opposite - hostile, unpleasant, and dismissive. The gap between what was promised and what was delivered could not be wider. We needed someone to assure us and help us - they were now exploring all the ways of how they won't help us.
As we tried to navigate this and understand what we could do differently the experience was more and more shocking. When we called to understand how this could happen and how to prevent future coverage gaps, we spoke with Angela Williams, who, by her own admission, does not work in claims. Rather than helping us navigate the situation, she spent the entire call telling us we were "probably not covered" and, based on her seven years of experience, she believed our claim would be denied. This was unsolicited and completely unhelpful during a stressful time.
We even asked to speak to a manager because what we wanted was guidance and help on how to deal with this in the future. Instead of escalating the call, Angela hung up on us - stating she was going home and she was done with us. That's not customer service; that's outright disrespect.
What's worse, Angela admitted that although State Farm claims to review policies with customers yearly, that "did not happen" for us. Her exact words were, "Well, we intend to," which is basically an admission that they never ensured we had adequate coverage. We relied on State Farm to guide us in choosing the right coverage to avoid scenarios like this, where tens of thousands of dollars in damage we might be liable for, and they failed.
Insurance is supposed to provide peace of mind, not finger-pointing, excuses, and hang-ups.... and heaven forbid you ask for a manager, you won't get one. If you're considering State Farm, think twice. When disaster strikes, you need a partner who stands by you, not one who tells you why they won't.
