I met Charlie Stewart through the Keller Graduate School alumni group. He is a representative of…read moreFarmer's Insurance and I decided to let him run a quote to see if he could save my wife and I some money on our bills. As it turns out, Charlie was able to save us 22%! He also made the process of switching from American Family to Farmers very easy. Not only am I saving money every month, but I recently was hit by an uninsured motorist in Aurora, IL. I did not even know I had uninsured motorist coverage, but Charlie made sure that was a part of my policy. Farmers processed the claim quickly. Charlie called to express his concern for me and guided me through the process every step of the way. That is the definition of customer service in my book, and I would highly recommend anyone take the time out to speak with Charlie Stewart!

I have been a client of Bensman Associates for well over 10 years. They write my insurance on my…read moreHome and Auto. Fortunately I have not had a lot of claims but I am pleased with the assistance I got with the few I had. ( a couple car accidents and a lost ring). Their personal lines administrators over the years have always been helpful and take care of all the minor issues I have had. Right now the woman that takes care of me is Amy and as all my past experiences with Bensman, I am pleased with her level of service. I have also bought a life insurance policy from Robert Friedman and he was helpful. It was a cheap term policy that's in place, and has not needed any servicing so I have no complaints in that area. I think it may be a little cheaper if I bought insurance over the internet but the few times I have needed service its nice to know I have one designated person that I can go to and they get things done.

As a small business owner, I value the relationships I build not only with my clients, but my…read morebusiness associates as well. Tim Maurer, managing director of commercial property & casualty, obviously doesn't feel the same way. We had arranged a phone call to discuss my insurance needs and unfortunately, something came up unexpectedly on my schedule & I was not able to call him when we had arranged. I called & emailed him early in the day letting him know something had come up and asked when we could reschedule for. After a few days of not hearing back from him, I again called and left him a VM & emailed him - still nothing. After a week of no response to multiple attempts to reach him, I reached out to a friend of mine that works in his office (different department) - explaining that Tim was MIA and asked if there was anyone else that could help me as I simply wasn't comfortable working with Tim any longer. Within minutes of my email to my pal, Tim was calling me. I was not in my office to take his call however. By the time I got his VM, it was WAY after business hours. His VM to me apologized and he said (and I quote) that he "dropped the ball" in getting back to me. I awoke to an email from him this morning saying he had left me a VM yesterday (which he did) but would be out of the office all day today. I emailed him back explaining that I simply wasn't comfortable working with him at this point and asked if anyone else was available. He responded saying he had made several attempts to contact me....a LIE! In fact, his VM clearly states that he dropped the ball and never got back to me. He "cc'd" my pal on this email and I think was trying to save face. My pal is a gem......if I were able to work directly with him on my needs, I would give Bensman Associates another try, but because he is unable, I am taking my business elsewhere. In a time when we have choices and when the economy is in such a state, I am shocked & disappointed in Bensman and especially in Tim Maurer. Maybe my business wasn't big enough for him......maybe he has so much business rolling in that he doesn't need new clients/accounts........maybe he has a bridge to sell me too. I would suggest to anyone that they NOT take their business insurance needs to Bensman Associates or Tim Maurer - not when there are so many other companies out there showing that they value the small business owner.

American family is awfulwe are you ok with paying for 30 years and we have for shit coverage bx…read morethey don't off sick coverage or rental anything. My husband's name is Derek from Illinois we are from Illinois. We will see you in court and we will be changing insurance after you at very least send the car agreement. Can't wait to see you.

John Kent eventually contacted the head office and got them to address the issue. John did the…read moreright thing. That said, the head office did not go after the party at fault and my rates have gone up since the resolution of the issue (meaning they didn't stand by their policy holder).. They also have not lobbied the state of IL to reform laws that could prevent the type of situation from occurring again. .

Unprofessional & unresponsive. Very frustrating situation that could have been resolved with proper…read morecommunication.

Disclaimer: Parthiv Patel of DIA was my client. Coming from a journalism background, I want to…read moreassure you that my review is highly objective, and doesn't affect my review at all. I had Allstate for as long as I should have insurance. Being lazy and finding the maze of auto insurance confusing enough, I always kept the same insurance. Come to think of it, the Allstate reps never did a followup with me to review my growing needs to see if my coverage needed adjustment. When I signed DIA as my client, it was then I learned that there's an "aggregate" service like it around. Parthiv was able to shop around many reputable providers and consult me on the different coverages. And get this, I was able to increase my coverage at less the cost of what Allstate would be charging me! And wouldn't you know it, a month after my new insurance took place, my car was in a hit-and-run. Thankfully, I wasn't in it. I contacted my new provider and was able to have it resolved easily over the phone and at the collision shop. Shortly after, I received a call from Parthiv who must have gotten some paperwork notification from my insurance company. He was calling to see how I was doing, if I had been hurt etc. How thoughtful was that! Being the non-savvy bean counter that I am, I happened to go over my credit card bill the other day and discovered what I thought was a "discrepancy". I called Parthiv to have him look into it. He was patient and promptly got back in touch with me IN WRITING and clarified a few things. Then again, I got into a little snafu (which I can't go much into), and solicited Parthiv's advice, and again, he was thorough and provided me the information to handle it. I highly recommend you give him a call for a no-obligation lookover of your existing coverage, and see if he can come up with a better option.