Just signed up with Farmers and already having problems

I now have a weak stomach after reading this website. Our current insurance company raised our rates so high becuase my daughter (18) has 2 tickets we started looking for new insurance. Farmer's surprisingly came in very low, as long as we insured all of our cars, our home and took a life insurance policy out on our 18 year old daughter, the insurance for all of them would save us about $1,000 a year, with all of the discounts. I was astounded and thought maybe Farmer's had changed. But the story gets better. The agent comes to my house to sign papers on the polices,he has the wrong effective date, a day before I even signed the papers. When I corrected him that the policy should not start until a month later 08-25-06- He said not to worry it would be changed. Then the rates were higher by about $500.00 a year than what I was quoted originally-- he said not to worry, not all of the discounts were applied yet. I wrote him 2 checks for down payments 18.00 for the life policy and 410.00 for the auto, which they cashed 3 days later. It is now 2 weeks later and I am going thru absolute insurance HELL. First I get the homeowners policy in the mail and of course the effective date did not change. I called the agent he said not to worry it will be changed. Then, he called and said they could not find my husbands DMV record-- finally found out even though they had his license number they misspelled his first name. Then, the underwriter is "investigating" my daugther's tickets. I was told in the beginning that Farmers does not care what the violation is, they just assign a point value- so if you have 1 ticket you have 1 point, if you have 2 tickets you have 2 points. Noooooo......the agent now has requested that I submit a copy of the original citation. The DMV report evidently is not good enough. So I go down to the courthouse get a copy of the ticket (which by the way was a speeding ticket, but pleaded down to defective vehicle) and I am sure they will use that against us,even though it was pleaded down. Faxed that yesterday. Now, I get a letter in the mail that was written 3 days ago, advising me of adverse action notice due to the Motor Vehicle Report for my daughter's policy. It just says that the a decision was made to change her coverage-- doesn't say what it was changed to. Then I get another letter, that Farmers is going to do an inspection on our home and if they decide not to cover us due to what they find in the inspection they will notify us within 30 days of the inspection. Now, I just got a note from my agent that the policies went in for the wrong effective date (all of them) and they will be cancelled, but not to worry, they are still in underwriting getting corrections, discounts and the sort. By the time I know whether or not we are going to be covered on our home or what the policy changes are on the cars and what the TRUE PRICES are per month (which I am sure are going to go way up from what they quoted me) my current insurance will be due-- LUckily I haven't cancelled either one of them. I really don't need to get other insurance, but becuase my daughters was so high, we couldn't afford to have her on the same policy. I wish I would have never delved into this nightmare. Now I read your website and wonder what the heck is going to happen if we ever have a claim.... Even so, I guess I can see what happens, and decide not to take Farmer's, keep my old insurance, but I wonder how long it will take to get my money back I paid in good faith. To me this is classic bait and switch-- they should make sure it passes underwriting before they take any money or send you a policy... I bet it won't be as quick as they cashed my checks!

Today in the mail I get yet another letter from Farmer's Life insurance-- remember when I said that they talked me into buying the life policy on my 18 year old daughter becuase with discounts our home and autos would be cheaper than if I didn't (above) - well today we get a letter that states they will be conducting interviews with friends, neighbors, business associates and other with whom she may be acquainted to get info as to her personal character, general reputation and mode of living except as may be related directly or indirectly to her sexual orientation!! All for a policy I didn't need, didn't really want, but agreed to becuase it would save us money (right)

It sounds like the agent is green. I would check the dept. of insurance web site and see how long this person has been licensed, if he is licensed. If I were you I would not waste a second and cancel all those policies back to the effective date. The agent in our office has been around for awhile and would never make house calls. He has ten appointments a day that come to him. (Most of them are ex-Farmers customers) If an agent has enough time to come to your house he must be desperate and I would not buy from him.

Ive been with humphreys now for 2 years.The very first payment ,which i gave them in thier office got lost and i was driving my car not insured due to thier neglegence. I did not know this at the time. 1and a half months later when the next payment was due my notice came with a non payment written on it .I called them immediately and the girl argued with me saying,"u must not made the payment" now i also was charged late fees due to non payment. and has been a giant mess since.by the way , they eventually found the payment on someones desk and could not explain to me how or why it was sitting there.At this point my auto insurance is nothing but a joke. And the people that work there dont have a clue to what they are doing and are very rude over the phone.its been 2yrs. or more they should by now know what they are suppose to be doing ,but no they do not.Noy only do I have my vehicles insured with them or thru them but my home as well.This is the second insurance co. ive been with in the past 6 years .and now looking for #3



thanks for letting speak out,
very dissattisfied customer!

Farmers Standard Operating Procedure!
Gillob, I was employed by The Farmers Ignorance Group for 9 years (although not as an Agent). I can assure you that EVERYTHING Farmers does is corrupt and backhanded. Eventhough I cannot say for sure but, I'd still bet money that they will somehow conjure up a way to tell you, you're not entitled to a refund. Either that or they'll give you a small portion back but, I strongly doubt they will give you a full refund. They owed me reimbursement funds for travel etc...When they terminated me (for being diabetic), they told me they would give me my expense money. That was 2 years ago. I filed a Warrant in Debt and they gave me my expense money after 4 months but they didn't pay my court costs. I just filed a wage garnishment against my unethical little pinhead manager in an attempt to get my money back. What originally started as a $68.00 expense request, turned out to be $225.00 (if I get my court costs back). Now they owe me for the filing of the garnishment paperwork as well!Not a lot of money but, when you're out of work for 15 months, it seems like it is. I wasn't about to let them walk away with my money. Screw them!
Of course, my circumstances are different than yours. The point I'm trying to make, is they will find every excuse in the book to keep your money, no matter what.
If and when you get your money, RUN and then tell everybody you know to stay away from the asshole of the insurance indusry!
I wish you well.

Signed up with these jerkwads paid by check ($752.00) all the fees for home, cars (3) and motorcycle and of course right up front (they echeck to obtain payment immediately) then 2 weeks later they denied my homeowners because of the roof which was checked by 3 different contractors that indicated there was nothing wrong. I immediately canceled everything and went with another company and farmers won't refund my money. Advice to everyone, don't pay for a new homeowners policy until they have checked your house which they do...you won't get your monet back if denied. I got news for them however, I'll sue for the money + interest and attorney fees. Insurance is a dishonest racket anyway but this company takes the cake and needs to go down. They fucked with the wrong person.

Worst insurance experience ever with Farmers! Growing up my parents had American Family, first time homeowners we had Shelter, bought a bigger home and had two sons driving so shopped around on insurance; Farmers SEEMED to be the best bet.
After being billed adminsitrative fees for any change, rates always going up (and in 25 years of homeownership have NEVER filed a claim, no accidents) we decided to go back to Shelter when 3 premiums were due this summer.
Whoa! We were warned the premiums would go up since we no longer qualified for the companion policies, told our agent we had figured that would happen, but planned to switch the remaining two policies when they came due again. When these two policies came due, Farmers sent us bills for higher premiums AND retro-billed us for higher premiums! Switching our youngest driver to the most expensive vehicle to make premiums even higher on the retro portion!
We have NEVER filed a claim, home or auto, in the seven years we have had Farmers.

We will NEVER give Farmers the chance to write a policy for us again, and you can bet our sons won't either!

My husband and I also just started up with Farmers in September of this year and we are regretting it. When we went into the office we explained that we knew we would be moving from Wisconsin back to California and was assured it would not be a problem. So we signed up for car insurance and renters insurance along with roadside assistance. HUGE mistake. When we signed up for roadside assistance we specifically asked if it would cover ANY vehicle we were driving like AAA roadside does. My husband drove a work vehicle at the time and we wanted to be sure he would be covered if he broke down anywhere, we also know that when we moved back to Cali that we would be driving over 2000 miles and wanted to make sure we were covered so this was very important. We were told it would cover any vehicle we were driving or riding in. That was not the case at all. Luckily we were able to drive back to Cali with no problems but I was in my Dad's car when his battery died. I called for roadside assistance and was told that only MY vehicle was covered. Not what we were told and assured of when we signed up. When I called the agent to clear it up, she said it should be for my vehicle or any vehicle we rented but had to make a call to get more info and then call me back. She did call back the following day and said the roadside assistance was only for my vehicle and no others. Also when we signed up we were told that the policy would be mailed to us. We waited for about a month and never got it so my husband called and checked on it. We were told that it would be done that day. We waited another 2 weeks and nothing showed up so we called again and was told that we could pull it up online and print it out. Well our printer was on the fritz so we asked them to send us a copy like we were told they were going to. Another 2 weeks goes by and nothing so my husband called back again. We were told it was mailed and we should have received it but they would send it again. We finally received it about a week after that. We only went with Farmers because their price came in slightly lower than a quote for another insurance company. As soon as our policy is up we won't be using Farmers again. We have had nothing but bad information and terrible customer service since the day we contacted them.

Similar experience from Ohio. Cancelled Farmers home and auto policy after 2 monts of calling, complaining, trying to clear up the agents sloppy work etc. It all started when Farmers agent called me at home, offering a better quote than the insurance company I already had. At first it looked like a good deal saving almost $ 400 annually on combined home/auto. When the papers come in mail, I realized that my daughter is not included in auto policy, although I gave the agent her name and drivers licence number. After including her in the policy, it almost doubled with the explanation that she is a fresh driver, although no citations. So- no savings. I actually ended up paying more than I did to previous company.

Then the increase of home policy arrived in mail with the explanation that I did not provide the proof of new roof, which I did in details. I faxed the invoices for the material used, payments to contractor etc. To add the confusion, I signed the electronic fund transfer form, and they deducted both home and car policy fees from my bank account. At the same time, my home insurance policy was deducted from the escrow account, so I ended up paing the same thing twice. After numerous phone calls to customer service, I resolved some of the issue, but they still owe me money, and I doubt that I'll ever get it back.

Another thing that made me angry as well is the fact that in the official papers I got in the mail had different fees than agent told me by phone. I specifically insisted to know what is the amount of my monthly payments. I got one amount by phone, and $40-$50 montly more as a due payment in mail. No matter how much I payed them, it always looked like they are finding the new ways to decline something, adding more fees. I doubt that it is just an error. I am more and more convinced that it is the Farmers' policy.

Finally I cancelled both policies after less than 2 monts. Farmers insurance- NEVER AGAIN.

PLEASE DO NOT, AND I MEAN DO NOT GET INSURANCE WITH FARMERS. They are crooks and they will embezzle money out of your account, even if you don't give them permission to do so. They will only use a check in order to get your account number to charge you MUCH HIGHER RATES. I have a complaint against them with the State of Michigan's Depaertment of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation. They are trying to ruin my credit for a $25 charge for non-payment of insurance, and I cancelled my insurance with them, and sent them the declaration page for my new insurance company FOUR TIMES. They are still saying I owe them and I don't even deal with them. They are trying to mess with the wrong person. Once again, please do not get insurance with farmers. THEY ARE EMBEZZLING CROOKS!!!!

I agree with you TOTALLY! They messed with the wrong person here too!!! They are trying to ruin my credit for $25 because I cancelled and had my credit union to reverse the charges that they should not have charged me by going into my checking account without my authorization. I got ALL OF MY MONEY BACK, but they are still saying I owe them $25 for non-payment of insurance when I don't even have insurance with them. THEY ARE THE BIGGEST CROOKS EVER!!!! I have filed a complaiint against them with the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affirs, Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation.