Thursday, February 11, 2010

Do you have to contact the media before Farmers Insurance will pay your claim?

Molly McClure came home to find her heavy metal patio cover collapsed under the weight of ice and snow. The attached awning brought the backside of her roof soffitt down with it.

Molly said, “From corner to corner it’s along the whole backside of the house that’s damaged.” The real split was between Molly and Farmers Insurance after the adjustor denied her claim.

Molly said, “I’m shocked it’s not covered. I can’t believe they wouldn’t cover that because it’s obvious there is damage to the house.” The denial letter implied the awning doesn’t have walls so is not considered a structure.

Faced with $6,600 in repair costs, Molly and her father Dale have argued with Farmers Insurance representatives for three weeks. Six On Your Side contacted the media Vice President for Farmers in Los Angeles Jerry Davies, and e-mailed photos of the damage to him.

Within 12 hours Dale McClure received a call from his local agent. Dale said, “Our agent said we won which is a good thing. Its what we wanted to hear.”

Molly has been told Farmers will replace her awning, repair the soffitt and even compensate her neighbor who spent three hours helping her raise the roof soffitt.

In a statement Jerry Davies of Farmers Insurance said, “Farmers claims executives visited with the agent and went to the customer’s home for a review of the claim. After further review farmers has decided the claim will be covered. We are pleased that she is fully covered.”

However the McClures say this should be a lesson to any homeowner with a covered patio or carport. Molly said they should check their homeowner’s policy regardless of the insurance company to see if those attachments to their homes are covered.

Watch the Video

Source: wowt.com

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Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Farmers Insurance Clients' Info Hacked

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A big insurance company has a problem with its computers. Federal agents searched two middle Tennessee homes after someone hacked into Farmers Insurance customers' records.

Farmers Insurance is trying to get word out to policy holders, and the Secret Service is trying to figure out how it happened.

According to a statement sent to the Channel 4 I-Team from Farmers Insurance, someone obtained unauthorized computer access to some of their customers' information in Nashville.

Given that the information is so sensitive, Farmers became concerned and contacted the Secret Service, which investigates cyber crime along with protecting the president and other heads of state.

In the statement to the I-Team, Farmers Insurance said a former insurance agent of theirs may have accessed the information, and it is in the process of notifying potentially affected customers.

The I-Team has learned investigators want to know if an insurance agent shared that information.

On Nov. 18, Channel 4 received an e-mail from a man named Michael Brown, who runs Endless Sphere Technology, an Internet provider.

In the e-mail, Brown said a few months ago he discovered a flaw in the agent page for Farmers Insurance that allows someone to extract all the information from its database, such as insurance policies, names, addresses and Social Security numbers.

He said he tried to warn Farmers about the glitch but was ignored.

"I warned them many times that I would go to the media with this if they continued to ignore me," Brown said in the e-mail.

This week, Secret Service agents showed up at Brown's house, serving a search warrant.

Brown said he was hired by the insurance agent to extract people's personal information from the Web site. He said that when he realized it was people's Social Security numbers, he contacted Farmers but was vague with it and the Secret Service about how he obtained the information.

"I think the outcome would've been the same," said Brown when asked if he regretted not being more open from the beginning.

No one has been arrested or charged.

Along with the search warrant at Brown's house, Secret Service agents also served a warrant Tuesday at the new office of their former insurance agent.

The Secret Service would not say where that agent now works or what his name is.

Source: wsmv.com

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Friday, September 11, 2009

Republican Mike Duvall, the legislator caught boasting about his sexual escapades with his lobbyist mistresses is a Farmers Insurance Agent

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A scandal involving a family-values legislator caught boasting about his sexual escapades with his lobbyist mistresses created an embarrassing distraction for lawmakers Thursday, further diverting attention from California's major policy issues in the crucial final days of their session.

Republican Mike Duvall resigned Wednesday after a videotape surfaced in which he described to a colleague in lurid detail his sexual conquests, including a spanking fetish, the skimpy underwear of one mistress and his carrying on two affairs simultaneously. He sought to deny the affairs on Thursday.

The fallout from the scandal began to emerge, with calls for an outside investigation in addition to the internal ethics probe to determine whether the alleged affairs might have influenced his votes.

California lawmakers, who face growing public distrust and few accomplishments for the year, were hoping for a flourish of activity on major issues such as water and prison reform as their regular session drew to a close this week.

But the scandal filled the Capitol with gossip and distracted many legislative staffers from the more important business at hand, while further tarnishing the image of an institution that is seen as increasingly ineffective.

"This is a real black eye," said Derek Cressman, regional director for the government watchdog group Common Cause. "I think it's imperative that the leadership of both parties take this very seriously and address it in a fast and strong way."

The videotape shows Duvall during a break from a July 8 committee hearing detailing his extramarital exploits to fellow Republican Assemblyman Jeff Miller of Corona. He is overheard on an open microphone bragging that he slept with an energy industry lobbyist who wore "eye-patch underwear" and that he enjoyed spanking her when they hooked up. He told Miller, a longtime friend, that he also was sleeping with another lobbyist.

"Oh, she is hot!" Duvall said about the second woman.


The 54-year-old married father of two issued a statement denying he had affairs and saying his only offense "was engaging in inappropriate storytelling."

The lobbyist Duvall refers to in his comments reportedly works for Sempra Energy, a San Diego-based energy services company. The allegation that Duvall slept with a lobbyist who does business before his chief committee prompted calls for an outside investigation and tougher rules of conduct for lobbyists.

Duvall was the vice chairman and ranking Republican member of the Assembly Utilities Committee. Duvall, a Farmers Insurance agent in Yorba Linda, also was a member of the Assembly Rules Committee, whose responsibilities include overseeing lawmaker ethics and ensuring sexual harassment laws are followed within the Legislature.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, has ordered her chamber's ethics committee to investigate. On Thursday, she removed Miller from his seat on the ethics committee, saying it posed an obvious conflict for him to have a role in investigating the scandal.

Campaign finance records show only relatively small donations to Duvall from Sempra, including $1,500 to his re-election campaign in March and $1,300 to his officeholder account in 2007 and 2008. He appears to have authored only one bill on electricity rates, which never received a committee hearing.

California law requires lobbyists to register with the state, complete an ethics course and report the money and time they spend lobbying lawmakers. It does not require that they disclose how much they are paid or prohibit personal relationships with the people they are lobbying.

The liberal watchdog group Courage Campaign called on Attorney General Jerry Brown to investigate Duvall's behavior, saying an examination of a lawmaker's conduct should not be left to other lawmakers. Brown's spokesman, Scott Gerber, said the attorney general will wait for the ethics committee's conclusions before deciding whether to get involved.

While the videotape and subsequent resignation remained the talk of the Capitol, longtime observers of California's political culture were not surprised about the allegation of an affair between a lawmaker and a lobbyist. But rarely do affairs emerge in such public — and juicy — fashion and become broadcast to the world on YouTube.

"I hate to be the one to break the news, but relationships between lawmakers and lobbyists are neither uncommon nor unknown," Bill Cavala, a Democrat who worked in the Assembly speaker's office for more than 30 years, wrote in a blog Thursday. "The capitol community is like, in many ways, a combat fraternity. It is not surprising that the men and women involved in the political trenches together should be attracted on another level as well."

The scandal comes at a time of the year when politicians hop from fundraiser to fundraiser at restaurants and bars around the state Capitol, partying with lobbyists, staffers and other lawmakers. The timing of the fundraisers has raised questions in the past because it is at the end of the legislative session when lawmakers are voting on the most important bills, raising the specter of pay-to-play politics — or worse.

The public perception of a Legislature that operates like an insider's club and produces little in the way of meaningful change for California's 38 million residents has prompted several proposals for reform-oriented ballot initiatives for 2010.

Among them are measures to make the Legislature a part-time body, require that lawmakers actually understand the legislation they vote on and force lawmakers to undergo periodic drug and alcohol testing. Another movement seeks to call a constitutional convention to rewrite California's governing document.

With just one day to go in this year's session, lawmakers have left the most important parts of their agenda unfinished — on issues such as water, prisons and alternative energy.

Bass, the Assembly Speaker, tried to temper the scandal-fueled gossip and put a positive spin on the Legislature's final days in regular session.

"The Assembly has some very important policy work to complete in the next couple of days and we will not allow this situation to become a distraction," she said.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Source: google.com

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Thursday, August 27, 2009

Farmers Insurance Group One of the Lowest Rated Companies Based on Employee Satisfaction

According to Glassdoor.com, Farmers Insurance is in the one of the LOWEST RATED companies based on employee satisfaction, it is ranked number 4 and it's "Over All" rating is tied with second and third.

Comments from reviewers include:
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The workload cannot be properly managed in a 45 hour work week. You have to remember that 75% of the people you talk to are already pissed off and don't trust you (plus, most of them are lying or seriously stretching the truth, especially about their injury).
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* Management is clueless, and most of them have never even worked at the lower level positions so they have no sympathy for what you have to go through when their expectations are completely unreasonable!!
* They only care about making money, so they try and get away with paying as little as possible even if they ow more
* They say they have lots of job opportunities and you can promote in 6 months, but then they dont ever let you leave your department!
* High turnover so obviously some unsatisfied employees! It's hard to find someone at that company that has been there for more than 5 yrs, which says ALOT!
* They don't promote job development, never once had encouragement for continuing education
* If you are doing a good job then they will assume you much be cheating them somehow
* Treat their best employees like crap
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Workload, Culture of Management, Harsh Treatment, Unreachable Quantitative Expectationsm Vague Qualitative Expectations. You are expected to pressure people into settling early, and you have to make settlement offers you don't agree with. The negatives FAR outweigh any positives.
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As an agent, be prepared to make little or no money for the first couple of years until you get your book of business established. Also be wary of life production requirements as that's really all that the company cares about.
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As a reserve agent if you fail you are required to pay back all subsidy you recieved, so basically the company has no real investment in you. Their outlay is paid back if you fail and realized in agency profit if you succeed.
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Over the past two years the company has done nothing but take and take. The pension plan, long an attractant for top talent, was cut off, even for those already vested. Those with 10 years or greater of tenure were 'grandfathered' in, but in looking at when they ramped up hiring, and the fact that employees vested after 5 years, it is easy to see the company was merely looking to shirk its financial responsibility in that regard. Profit sharing, the company's fully funded version of a 401(k), is also gone after this year, replaced with a 401(k) matching 100% up to 6%. Sounds good, until you realize that under profit sharing the company put an additional 15% of your base salary into the same type of account and employees contributed nothing - there was also the possibility of up to 5% bonus in cash. Vacation/sick time have been converted into 'PTO' - good for some but not others. Overall amount of time has declined drastically, but everyone got a couple of extra days they could call 'vacation' (vs sick). Health insurance is a joke - prices shot up quite a bit, and even the $1000 'seed money' for an HSA (only available under the high deductible plan) charges $3 a month in maintenance fees.

Some of you may say that times are tough, so it doesn't seem so bad, but these changes were set in stone BEFORE the economy came crashing down. And the management has the gall to tell us that these lesser benefits are costing the company MORE. If that's they case, the person that made that decision needs to be canned, but under the good ole boy system that exists they won't. Speaking of the good ole boy system, the company has also proven at every turn it's not what you know but who you know when it comes to promotions.

The company is definitely milking the downturn for all it's worth, underrating employees on reviews to avoid higher raises, overworking salaried employees so that they don't have to pay for more (note: salaried does not equal slavery), knowing that folks won't leave until they get something else lined up. One person in upper management even had the gall to send out an email telling employees that they should just be happy they have a job and stop complaining about the way they are being treated. Not the type of company I'd like to stay with, in my opinion.
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Management who micro manage you like youre in grade school. Incompetent supervisors. Its all about popularity and who's kissing butts in the office...doesnt make any sense. YOu can be a rockstar CR but once they find something wrong with you they'll do everything in their power to hack you and make sure you're out the door by the next quarter. ITs a shame for those who put so much of their life on hold for this company. Farmers does not know how to take care of their employees. We are overworked, underpaid....no wonder there's such a high turnover in teh office!
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Management expects you to be a robot and just pump work out - but your work product must be perfect or your supervisor will be riding your ass until you get it right. They want you to be super quick - handle as much as you can in the least amount of time. But again, it must be perfect. No room for mistakes.

Everyone works off the clock (undocumented overtime) in order to finish all of the work that is put before them. Management then thinks that these adjusters have too little work and gives us more work with no overtime.

Farmers' goal is to distinguish between the highest performing and lowest performing employee. This is listed as one of their goals on a banner at the training facility.
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Source: glassdoor.com

See all Farmers Insurance Review Comments

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Monday, March 02, 2009

Farmers Insurance Company sued again

Lawsuits keep coming in Burlingame landslide
Shasta Kearns Moore / The Southwest Community Connection

HILLSDALE — Two more lawsuits have been filed in Multnomah County Court by the owners of the second home destroyed in the Burlingame Place landslide. The complaints totaling more than $1.7 million name Dave and Kathei Hendrickson, Farmers Insurance Company and the family’s insurance agent, Lynette Sanders.

Dr. Yuan Chou and his wife, Siukee Tong, barely escaped their home in the early morning on Oct. 8 when the house owned by the Hendricksons slid down the hillside and shoved their house off its foundation.

Both houses were destroyed — along with five other homes that were damaged — and the resulting debris has since been removed from the site.

Chou and Tong’s attorney, Jim Martin, said his clients are suing Farmers’ Insurance Company for not covering the damage to the home. Farmers’ Insurance has refused to pay, saying the policy does not cover earth movement.

But Martin argues that the damage to the home was not directly caused by earth movement.

“It is our position that the Hendricksons’ house is a flying object that landed on my client’s house, which is covered in the policy,” he said, adding that photographs show no mud on the Chou home. “So my client’s house was not damaged by land movement, it was damaged by a house falling on it.”

The family is also suing the Hendricksons for trespass, private nuisance and strict liability.

The complaint lists several remodels and landscaping projects that the Hendricksons undertook before the slide and argues that their negligence in performing these projects contributed to the landslide.

As stated in the complaint: “Upon information and belief, homes such as the Defendants’ home, do not slide down hillsides that has been there for 80 years without Defendants’ negligence in the care of their home, remodeling of their home and most importantly their landscaping as well as water management (sic).”

Farmers’ Insurance, who is also the Hendricksons’ insurer, has agreed to defend the them against this suit, according to their private attorney.

Burlingame Place remains closed
The section of Burlingame Place where Dave and Kathei Hendrickson’s home once stood will be closed until the shoulder can be rebuilt, say city officials.

Now a steep drop off to Terwilliger Boulevard, Bureau of Environmental Services spokesman Ross Caron said it would be too dangerous to open the street and risk damage to the road.

City engineer Doug Morgan said tests have shown the slope to be stable so far, but that it would be too risky to allow traffic on that section of road without the lateral support of a shoulder.

“Because of the steepness of the scarp, it’s not considered safe to reopen Burlingame,” Morgan said.

It is the responsibility of the homeowners to rebuild the shoulder, which could cost anywhere from $100,000 to $300,000, Caron estimated.

Caron said officials can eventually use city code to force the property owners to rebuild the hillside, but because the road closure is no longer impacting a major thoroughfare, they can afford to give the Hendricksons more time.

“It’s a delicate balancing act between being patient and compassionate and moving the process along quickly,” Caron said, adding city officials are trying to “treat them as they would like to be treated.”

Source swcommconnection.com

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Monday, February 16, 2009

Texas Farmers Insurance Co. is suing the state to block the release of documents

By RYAN McNEILL / The Dallas Morning News

Texas Farmers Insurance Co. is suing the state to block the release of documents to The Dallas Morning News that could give insight into how it charges consumers for its homeowners policies.

The lawsuit, filed Feb. 3 in Travis County, followed a decision by the state attorney general's office ordering the Texas Department of Insurance to release the documents. The insurance department was also ordered to release similar documents filed by Allstate Fire and Casualty Co., which did not sue to block the action.

The News requested rate filings and supporting documentation for the three major homeowners insurance companies in Texas – State Farm Lloyds Co., Allstate and Farmers. The insurance department released only parts of Allstate's and Farmers' filings that had not been marked "confidential" by the companies; it released all of State Farm's filings, none of which had been marked "confidential."

At issue is how much insurance companies can use trade-secrets exemptions in Texas' open-records laws to keep information from the public. The requested documents show mathematical formulas and other information the companies use as a model to determine what to charge customers.

Farmers argued that release of the documents, provided to the insurance department as agency officials sought to determine whether insurance rates were proper, would cause irreparable financial harm by making "valuable trade secrets" available to competitors.

"Essentially what we're being asked to do is like the University of Texas having to share its football playbook with Texas A&M," said Michelle Levy, a Farmers spokeswoman.


Pushing transparency?

Consumer advocates worry that transparency is at stake.

"What are they hiding here?" asked Alex Winslow, executive director of the consumer advocacy group Texas Watch. "What is it they don't want the public to know about how they're setting their rates?"

The Texas Department of Insurance initially refused to release any part of Allstate and Farmers filings that were marked "confidential" without a ruling from the Texas attorney general's office.

Winslow said his consumer watchdog group has found that "insurance companies will stamp everything they file with the Department of Insurance as proprietary and confidential, even if it's explicit in the statute as being subject to open records."

On Jan. 15, the attorney general ordered the records' release, ruling that the Legislature intended for the public to have access to the documents because they were part of the insurance department's review of insurance premiums under the state's file-and-use system.

State insurance officials insist that they release what is allowable, while upholding the law.

"When it comes to transparency, we push as much information out there as we possibly can," said Texas Insurance Commissioner Mike Geeslin.

But the executive director of the Center for Economic Justice, an Austin-based advocacy group, disagreed.

"Insurers are hiding what they're doing, and regulators are being complicit," said Birny Birnbaum.
Source: dallasnews.com

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Thursday, December 11, 2008

Portland Couple Sue Farmers Insurance Company of Oregon

Portland owners of sliding house first to sue insurance company
by Aimee Green, The Oregonian
Thursday December 11, 2008, 5:33 PM
The owners of a Southwest Portland home that slid down hill, smashing into two others Oct. 8, are suing their insurance company for at least $2 million for failing to pay up.

The suit filed by Kathleen and David Hendrickson, who lived at 6438 S.W. Burlingame Place, contends that Farmers Insurance Company of Oregon won't pay for their losses even though their insurance agent promised that their policy would provide comprehensive protection. The suit states that long before the slide the agent visited and inspected the Hendricksons' property, and told them their policy covered "earth movement." A mistake, however, was made in the written text of the policy, which said it didn't cover earth movement, the suit states.

A city investigation into the slide's cause cited backyard sprinklers and high water use as leading suspects. The suit states that the slide was caused by a "sudden discharge of water" and/or a "shaking of the earth" that happened as a stump on the property was ground up.

The Hendricksons are the first among the affected homeowners to file a lawsuit, said their attorney, Robert Bonaparte.

Two homes, including the Hendricksons', were destroyed. Another was damaged. Two others are considered too dangerous to live in.

Some of the affected homeowners have filed claims against the Hendricksons, Bonaparte said last month. The Hendricksons' insurance company has agreed to defend against those claims, he said.

-- Aimee Green; aimeegreen@news.oregonian.com

Source: oregonlive.com

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Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Farmers Insurance Ranks Below Industry Average for Auto Claims Satisfaction

According to J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Auto Claims Satisfaction Study, Farmers Insurance ranked below the Industry Average in Customer Satisfaction.

The 2008 Auto Claims Satisfaction Study is based on 11,671 responses from auto insurance customers who filed a claim within the past 12 months. The study excludes customers who only had glass/windshield, theft/stolen vehicle, roadside assistance or bodily injury claims. The study was fielded from July to August 2008.

The study finds that implementing 10 specific service practices has a considerable impact on overall satisfaction
with the claims process. They are:
• Answering all customer questions
• Managing expectations regarding the settlement
• Expressing genuine concern
• Avoiding negotiated settlements
• Providing flexible appraisal appointments
• Returning phone calls
• Sharing information between representatives
• Providing proactive updates
• Ensuring customer is at ease with claims process
• Giving customers a time line and meeting it

For details see: J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Auto Claims Satisfaction Study

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Monday, July 21, 2008

Farmers Insurance Adjuster Jeff Dunavant Hits Bicyclist Then Leaves

St. Paul girl hit on bike by insurance adjuster

A girl turned into a detective after she was hit by a car while riding her bicycle on Lexington Avenue in Shoreview.

"I was so scared I was underneath a car. I was pounding on the front of the car trying to make it stop," said 13-year-old Sydney Carlson.

Sydney said the driver stopped, got out, and even apologized to her.

"But he didn't really help me. He didn't offer to call 911 or anything and he didn't help me up," she said.


She said she turned around to call her father, but then the driver took off. Fortunately, Sydney remembered the Farmer’s Insurance logo on the side of the car.

"To leave and you're with an insurance company? It made me kind of like what the heck is wrong…I was very upset," said Sydney’s father Joel Carlson.

Joel contacted Farmer’s Insurance, who discovered the driver was insurance adjuster Jeff Dunavant.

A Farmer’s Insurance spokesperson told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, "the company is thoroughly investigating the accident and will take whatever action they deem necessary."

"They are people that should know about exchanging information and that never happened," Joel said.

Sydney was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident and only suffered scrapes and bruises.

The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department is investigating.

Story and Video at kstp.com

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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

These Insurance People (Farmers Insurance) Are Trying To Get Out Of Something

Robert Ewens awoke early Monday to find water pouring into his home.

Two days into putting a new roof on his house in the 3100 block of South 74th East Avenue, Ewens had nailed tarpaulins and waterproof sheeting to his roof after forecasters predicted rain for Monday.

The storm's high winds blew off the tarps. Then the water came in.

"Inside, it looks like someone got a hold of 1,000 gallons of water and poured it in," Ewens said. "The furniture is sopping and soaking wet. It's pitiful."

He is fighting to get his insurance company to cover the damage.

Although his situation is unusual, Ewens isn't alone. This spring's storms have damaged a record number of roofs.

"More homes are being re-roofed from this series of storms than any other time in Tulsa history," said Neil Cagle, who owns All American Roofing in Tulsa. "It's overwhelming every roofing
company in the city."

Cagle estimated that 25,000 homes in Tulsa will need new roofs, causing a two- to three-month backlog. At this time of year, the normal wait is two to six weeks. Adding to the troubles, storms across the country are driving up the demand for shingles.

"The price of shingles has risen so dramatically and so quickly," Cagle said. "We're paying over 50 percent more for shingles than we were back at the start of the year."

Because of high shingle prices and a shortage of workers, a roof that would have cost $5,000 six months ago might cost $6,800 today. Cagle said many insurers are "dragging their heels" about paying the higher cost, which is causing some homeowners to resort to lower-cost roofers who might not do as good a job.

"There's a lot of guys who just go in and out of business," Cagle said. "Do you think those people will be here after this storm is all roofed up?"

The storm damage is apparently not finished. Tulsa International Airport has received 8.17 inches of rain so far this month, compared with a June average of 4.72 inches, the National Weather Service reported.

That puts Tulsa on pace to break the June record of 14.87 inches. The weather service predicts a good chance of rain Wednesday night and Thursday.

Ewens was replacing his roof because a storm in April damaged his old one. Farmers Insurance Co. had just sent a check for the new roof, which was scheduled to be finished by Tuesday.

Ewens said a Farmers representative told him that the water damage would be added to the existing claim because the new roof was "work in progress."

However, several other Farmers employees told him later Monday that he wouldn't be covered.

"I thought it was the sickest joke you've ever heard," Ewens said. "These insurance people are trying to get out of something."

Craig Dejager, a property claims manager with Farmers Insurance, said Ewens' claim had not been denied. The company will review a recording of Ewens' initial phone conversation with a Farmers representative to see whether he was told something "inaccurate."

"If he was misled, then we'll do the right thing," Dejager said.

Under a normal policy, he said, a homeowner would not be covered unless the storm created an opening in the roof.

A temporary roof usually would not qualify under most policies, he said.

Ewens' case might have to go to mediation offered by the state Insurance Department.

Lance Thomas, a spokesman for the department, said, "A mediation scenario occurs whenever everything else fails.

"We're going to try and resolve it as best we can before it gets to there."

Ewens, who runs a handyman service, said he spent nine years and more than $30,000 remodeling his home's interior. Much of that work was lost in Monday's storm.

He said he did everything he could to protect his house.

"I don't feel like I was negligent in the slightest," he said. "I took care of my property as best as anybody would do."

Source: tulsaworld.com

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Thursday, June 12, 2008

Farmers Insurance Doesn't Care About Its Customers

This is an email we received today:

"We have left Farmer's Insurance after 34 years with the company. We had hail last summer & reported a claim. Adjuster who arrived from the south could barely walk since he was soon having surgery. He said that we didn't have hail damage. We were unaware that we could have another adjuster come out to recheck the roof. We were worried about the roof & decided to get it reroofed at our expense. This spring we noticed many houses up & down the street getting new roofs paid for by their insurance companies due to hail damage. We recontacted Farmer's Insurance & were told that they would not reconsider since we had the roof repaired at our expense. By doing that we took away their rights to reexamine the roof. One person that we talked to regarding the denial asked me if we learned something by this episode. My reply - we learned that Farmer's doesn't care about the policy holder, just doesn't want to pay claims. We leaned that Farmers didn't deserve our business any longer & we've dropped them. Meanwhile, all around us roofs are being replaced by many different insurance companies. We feel we had a bum deal & our agent wouldn't even return phone calls to listen to our concerns. Don't know how an insurance company can treat their loyal customers like that!!!!! "

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Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Farmers Insurance Agent Sentenced to 15 Months in Prison and to pay $97K

A Farmers Insurance Agent was sentenced to 15 months in prison and ordered to pay $97,800 in restitution for stealing insurance premiums. Between 2002 and 2004, George Robert Lane, an agent with Farmers Insurance Group, had clients deliver their insurance premium checks to him, not Farmers, prosecutors said. He then changed their addresses with Farmers so they'd never know they had their insurance canceled for non-payment, prosecutors said.9/25/07 stltoday.com | bizjournals.com

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Friday, January 27, 2006

Farmers Insurance Agent to be Arraigned on 16 Felony Charges

"Charles Richard “Chuck” Raschko, 39, is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 5 on 16 felony charges, including second-degree theft, first-degree theft, money laundering and forgery"..."Raschko told investigators he had fallen on hard times when he started taking insurance-renewal checks from clients and routing them to his personal bank account at the Spokane Law Enforcement Credit Union."..."“Raschko explained … he usually took money from customers who were renewing their insurance, as Farmers did not know that these customers were renewing their insurance," 11/27/06 SpokesmanReview.com | Farmers Insurance Agent License Revoked

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