State Farm/Amica + customer service in general

I guess we've all seen the stories about how State Farm is screwing over Hurricane Katrina victims, refusing to pay their claims because they claim the damage is from flooding and not the wind in a Category 4 hurricane.

I've been a State Farm customer for nearly 20 years, and to be honest, this really pisses me off. A few days ago, I saw something on Business Week's site about Amica Insurance and their stellar customer service. They're little-known (at least to me in the southeast since they're based in Rhode Island) but they were actually calling to check on their customers in Louisiana and Mississippi before these people even filed claims. I've done some more research and can find nothing but good things about Amica. I called to get some quotes and they're a little higher, but I'm thinking it may be worth it. Anybody else recommend Amica?

Home Depot is another company like State Farm that's been lacking in customer service. I'm battling with them now over a custom flooring contract dispute and getting absolutely crappy service from management. The other day, their new CEO, Frank Blake, responded to a column at MSN.COM by Scott Burns that criticized HD's service. Blake said he was creating a CEO Taskforce to try to win customers back. There are now nearly 6,000 messages from customers and employees, current and past, complaining about HD's lack of service over the past several (Nardelli) years.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/community/message/thread.asp?board=YourMoney&ThreadID=223248&BoardName=Hide&header=SearchOnly&Footer=Show&LinkTarget=_parent&pagestyle=money1

I hope Blake will follow through (I got a response from my email to his taskforce - wehearyou@homedepot.com saying someone would be calling me in the next few days) but if not I'll take my business elsewhwere. Lowe's is just down the street.

It's aggravating, and I know this is a problem elsewhere (Wal-Mart comes to mind) but I'm getting fed up.

 

I've also had State Farm almost 20 years. I know they're trying their best to hose Katrina victims, but I've always had good luck with them. A family member was in an accident a couple weeks ago and they've been very helpful about getting the car fixed.
Also, don't underestimate having an actual agent to help you as opposed to someone nameless person on an 800 number. The agent helped deal with the claims people and was very helpful.

 

The two auto accidents I've been in over the last 10 years involved State Farm with both other drivers, and I came out smelling like a rose both times.

Don't know how they recompense their own auto customers, but they pay the second party very well.

 

I'm going to go the other way and say it's not all that beneficial to have an actual agent. When I relocated out of state recently and switched over my insurance (it's not State Farm, but another one of the major ones), I got the local agent, right around the corner from my home. My auto insurance quadrupled - now, I realize part of that is moving to another state with higher rates, but at the same time, I had one traffic violation 38 months ago that he still included on my record, and thus, my premium, in spite of the fact that my state wipes off violations older than 36 months old. I asked him about that, he agreed that it should come off, but didn't actually take it off. On top of that, the premiums through Progressive were half of what it cost through this putz, and I mentioned that as well, and he had no answer for that, either.

Is it worth paying twice as much every year for that insurance agent around the corner? I don't think so. I'll be switching in June when my six month premium is up. (Knock on wood) I've had exactly one accident in the last five years. I'm not spending all that money for some guy who's not really looking out for my best interests.

 

I've had State Farm insurance for the last 15+ years and the two times I've had to deal with them for auto accidents, including totalling my car last year, service was fantastic and they paid me quite well for my car. It's the quality service I've received that keeps me a customer.

 

Here's a story The wife of a friend of mine was in an accident a few months ago, that totalled her car, that was the other person's fault. She had to go to the hospital for a few hours to be checked out. The other person had Progressive. By the time she got home from the hospital, Progressive had already called wanting to talk to her about a payment.

 

When I was looking for body shops after an accident a few years ago, I noticed a sign in one of them that said: "We don't take Progressive Insurance." That said plenty to me about Progressive, although I've known people with Progressive that were happy with them.

I've never really had any problems with State Farm. They've always paid my auto claims etc. But the Katrina thing got me wondering what kind of company I'm dealing with. My homeowner's policy is with them too. I don't live on the coast or in earthquake territory, so I'm probably fine. But when I read about Amica going out of their way to check on customers in NOLA, that impressed me and got me thinking.

 

I've had Amica for car insurance for 15 years. They have always had excellent customer service whenever I have called them.

 

I know this has mainly turned into a discussion about insurance. The original post though mentioned customer service at Home Depot, and that's what I wanted to complain about now. And I do this as someone who owns stock in Home Depot.

My significant other and I were in the market for some appliances. We called Home Depot to ask a simple question. We call the main store number, ask to be transfered to appliances and are put on hold for at least 10 minutes. In that time, people came back three times to ask what we were waiting for, but we still had to wait 10 minutes to get somebody in appliances to answer a simple question.

After experiencing that and seeing how much better Lowe's web site is, I was ready to sell my Home Depot stock and buy stock in Lowes.

The thing is though, right now I'm actually pretty mad at both Home Depot and Lowes. Both of them supposedly have a price match guarantee. In shopping for these appliances my significant other and I found a local store with better prices than either Home Depot or Lowes. We had hoped that Home Depot or Lowes would match the prices of the local store as they both often claim they will do. We even called and checked both Home Depot and Lowes to see what kind of proof we would need of the local stores' prices since the local store does not have big splashy newspaper ads. We then obtained the proof of the prices from the local store. So then we called both Home Depot and Lowes hoping they would match the prices. Then we could sign up for a Home Depot or Lowes card and get 10% off those prices because it would be our first purchase with the card. Both Home Depot and Lowes refused to match the prices of the local store, saying that the prices we were getting from the local store were below Home Depot's and Lowes' cost on the items. I'm sorry I must have missed somewhere in the fine print where it says we'll match anyone's prices - unless they're really good prices.

 

Definitely check out the links in my original post. I used to own stock in Home Depot too and I have a close relative that works there so I've always been pretty loyal. There are now over 6,000 posts on that MSN.com site and so many of them say the same thing: Nardelli killed the company by cutting staffing. The original column that sparked everything talked about how Home Depot is wasting everybody's time because there's no one in their stores to help you find what you need. We've experienced that too, but like I said, it's a dispute over a flooring contract (HD trying to charge us for something not in their original contract ... basic contract law) and the store management's response to the situation that has me pissed.

I'm waiting to hear from the CEO Taskforce (wehearyou@homedepot.com) If I were you, I'd email them with your concern. Some people at the MSN.com site are already reporting hearing from the taskforce and actually getting apologies and being offered gift cards.

 

I'd hit it.

Progressive's customer service did a 180 during the five or so years I had them. When I moved in 1997, there was a Progressive office right down the street from my office. I went in there, thought the rates were good and signed up. A couple years later, Progressive stopped selling insurance in NY state. You could grandfather yourself in, but rates skyrocketed and customer service was non-existent. Fuck 'em.

I joined Geico sometime in 2001 or 2002 and it's the best for reasons far beyond the commercials. I actually just jumped over to State Farm when I got a new car so that my wife (who has been on State Farm ever since she started driving) and I could be on the same insurer. But when I called Geico to cancel, the guy I spoke to spent 10 minutes trying, in a non-pushy way, to get me to stay. He even got me a rate slightly lower than the one we were paying at State Farm. I stayed with State Farm because my wife knows the agent and I'll always take personal service when I have the choice, but I'd recommend Geico to anyone.

Stay the hell away from Progressive though.