Insurance Agent Ethics Issue

Hi,

Does anyone know who the contact person is at Farmers Insurance who deals with insurance agent ethics issues? My complaint against this agent is not insurance specific, but unethical behavior. I was sued by a local Farmers Insurance agent who was trying to use the legal system to prevent me from exposing him in a scandal. After a year he finally dropped his lawsuit against me after my attorney threatened to file a Motion to Compel against him to force him to produce the defamation evidence he claimed he had against me. His lawsuit against me was all about buying him some time. Some of the evidence I have at my disposal includes email exchanges between he and another private party discussing his fear of an upcoming internal audit Farmers was going to conduct on his business.

If you're trying to find a department at Farmers Insurance that deals with ethical behavior, good luck! I'm pretty sure that they don't even know what the word implies.

Bob is right on. I am an ex-agent with years of experience in looking for ethics and morals in farmers management. In my opinion, don't waste your time looking, the lack of ethics start at the top and go down through every layer of management.

In an upcoming trial, there will be a lot of evidence and testimony regarding Farmer's managements intentional withholding of evidence from the state department of insurance and farmers policy holders that will be submitted. These will include areas including, but not limited to, bad Agents, missrepresentation, failing to submit applications and money, falsifying claims just to name a few.

Don't get me wrong, there are some really good, ethical employees within the organization. Unfortunately they rarely, if ever, get to a position of power and authority.

Good luck looking.

I might be able to help you. Email me with the details of the conversation and I will tell you who in Internal Auditing to contact.

I just quit Managing an office for an extremely dishonest Farmer's Agent. I can go on for hours about all of the things she did that screwed both the company and her clients. Farmers leaves little choice if you don't want to end up in their pocket.
First off, the "Prior insurance discount" on auto policies is total bull. Farmers has different "discount tiers" that require up to five years of continuous prior insuranceinsurance. Whether a policy prices competetively is largely based on these tiers, however, to get this discount, Farmers requires that you PROVE ONLY SIX MONTHS OF PRIOR INSURANCE. My previous employer changed dates (with scissors and tape), created completely false prior insurance cards from scratch, or used the same insurance cards but changed the client's name to give this discount. She did this on almost every policy she submitted. The clients have no knowledge of this either.
She also Forged letters from other insurance companies claiming that clients' at-fault accidents on the natioinal C.L.U.E. Database were actually not at fault.
Not once did Farmers ever check/audit a single one. There were times when my employer would not even create the correct document so Farmers would reject it. She'd fix it and submit it again with her alterations, Farmers never batted an eye.
Farmers very likely IS a company with evil intent, willing to break or stretch law and ethics to steal from its employees and its customers, BUT, it also has its head so far up its a$$, that I don't think the company is even ABLE to control or monitor itself.
When I think of how perfectly lost Farmers is on every front, I think of how easily one could run scams on it. None of their math adds up in billing, and no one can even explain it; how do they even know if they've been hacked? How do they even know if someone is stealing from the company or customers? Remember the virus in Office Space? Farmers billing already adds and subtracts money without rhyme or reason. I seriously don't think that virus would ever be noticed. The best thing anyone with Farmers could do is realize this: If someone can't explain something to you in one sentance, it's illegal or they're lying to you. Act accordingly, there are other providers.

The DIAL program allows you to report your concerns 24-hours a day in an anonymous manner. By calling (800) 780-7824, you can speak with a skilled operator who will document your information and forward it to Home Office. Once received, Farmers will review the information and determine a course of action necessary to address the situation.

You can try several numbers:
Including:
Mike Molina 323-932-4744
Dorothy Purcell 323-932-3330
Both are in Marketing.
Agent ethics is usually helpful in marketing.

The best way to deal with this is contact the Dept of Insurance in your state. I used to be a claims rep with the company but have also been on the agent side. There's only two things that scares Farmers to death and that's unreported overtime and the DOI. The CA DOI is vicious and like to give out big fines especially in this economy. Agents don't technically work for Farmers, they are just obligated to offer their products first and agents are all commission. If you want to contact Farmers, I believe the Marketing Dept under Farmers Group, not Exchange, could handle your complaint. What a terrible company to work for and they hate their employees.

Best thing for you do is call state insurance commissioners office if anyone can do anything him or her can

The only way to get somewhere with this company is to have documentation. The first thing to do is find out who the District Manager is. Get the contact email, fax and phone number. As a back up plan also get the Division Marketing Manager's information (this is the D.M.'s boss). Email the district manager and request to only be contacted in writing. Many D.M.'s will receive and email but only respond by phone to avoid future legal issues.

District Managers are the agent's handler and they are the person who vouched for that agent to become appointed. So they must always comply when there is a problem.

If the D.M. does not respond within 24-48 hours then you can email the D.M.M.

In today's age you can always do a Yelp review and encourage others to do the same. Doing this will help other avoid the situation.

After reading all of the posts, my guess is we got screwed. I am an Executive Director of a small not for profit organization. We had a fund raising festival this summer which required a ton of soliciting for sponsors and vendors. A Farmers agent in University Place Washington signed an agreement to be a sponsor for $1,500. For that he had the Farmers logo on all of our marketing material as well as a huge banner that hung above a stage where we had live music. Additionally he got the prime spot for a booth which others paid up to $300 for. His check bounced, he won't return any of our calls and now just has his secretary tell us that he is unavailable. I feel like we compromised our clientele's safety by supporting farmers insurance. I'm also hesitant to post a disclaimer in our lobby because I fear reprisal. Any recommendations??

their rate cuts as well as stripping of policies is ruining career agents. agents that employee local citizen. dm's are not returning pc's or emails from distraught agents. do agents have a hotline to call in? or is it merely for customers that have a complaint?