The "Farmers Insurance News-Alert" website is dedicated to providing the consumer and general public with detailed information concerning the Farmers Insurance Group. This includes fraud reports, consumer complaints, lawsuit's and other legal actions taken against this company. All information contained herein is for educational purposes only. Original sources, when known are sited.

 

Farmers Direct Insurance Company ....

Recently I was contacted by someone who has been dealing with the parent company of  Farmers Direct who is Farmers Insurance Group.  He describes to me a Hellish experience with Farmers which is still transpiring after an accident in his family.  IF you are considering insurance coverage using Farmers please read his story regarding Farmers Insurance Group and my story regarding Farmers Direct Insurance Company.

READ HIS STORY BY CLICKING HERE

To read my experience with Farmers Direct continue reading below

This is not Farmers Direct Insurance Company. This is not their web site however I was a customer of Farmers Direct for a brief period of time and soon after changed insurance companies due to many very troublesome problems.  This is our documented history of OUR problems, one after another, one on top of another. My advice to you is NOT to use Farmers Direct. Their prices may be good but the service is very poor.  If you are considering insuring yourself with Farmers Direct PLEASE read our story.  Again, I am not affiliated with Farmers Direct nor am I affiliated with any other insurance company. We are just consumers who had enough.  Enough to buy this domain name and air our experience. (I was amazed that this domain name was available even though now it makes sense considering how unorganized they are.)  We wanted to let people know a little more about what we went through while dealing with Farmers Direct Insurance Company with the hope that someone out there might benefit by being aware of their internal problems or avoiding them all together.  Already we have received e-mail from people who have had a brush with Farmers Direct as well as people just looking for insurance.  I feel there are plenty more where that came from.  I am currently interested in any experiences you may have had with Farmers Direct Insurance Company (A member of the Farmers Insurance Group of Companies) so if you are currently dealing with Farmers Direct or are thinking of doing so I would like to hear from you.

This is OUR account of Farmers Direct Insurance Companies customer service department.  This may not be your story nor might it be typical of Farmers Direct, I only have my experience to go by and the occasional email from people who have contacted me with their problems.  Some comments within this page are MY opinion although the events are not.  As we encountered these problems with Farmers Direct we began to make a log of every problem we had.  Apparently so did Farmers Direct although we later learned that Farmers Direct deleted the all problems within their log of events pertaining to my account with them.

  1. Beginning of February 1998 -   Phone call to Farmer's Direct to get general information.  Talked to a knowledgeable person who gave me rates for 3 cars to insure.
         
  2. 2/16/98 - Called again and spoke to someone else.  When confirming rates I got different rates on the identical coverage on the same 3 cars.  I asked further questions trying to understand why the rates were different but he couldn't give me an answer.  I asked him to please ask someone else (supervisor, etc) to see if he could figure out why the rates were different but he refused.  I became frustrated so I hung up on him so I could call back and deal with someone else (since he refused to talk to someone else or pass me on to someone else).
         
  3. 2/17/98 - I called back again and spoke to someone else that I had never spoken to before.  I got the same rates quoted as the first phone call so I decided to go with Farmer's Direct at this point.  I wanted to switch insurance companies immediately because the rates with Farmer's Direct were cheaper than my current insurance.   I was told I could have an automatic deduction taken out of my checking account.   I gave my account # and told them that the date should be effective as of today (today was 2/17/98).  I asked them to fax me identification cards so I had proof of insurance.
        
  4. 2/17/98- The first cards that were faxed to me had my first name spelled wrong and the effective date was 3/17/98 instead of 2/17/98.  I stated on the phone that I needed insurance immediately which is why I had an automatic deduction taken from my checking account.  This was the root of our problems.  The person who made the mistake with the date exposed a serious flaw in their system.
        
  5. I received via fax new cards with the corrected first name and corrected effective date but now my middle initial was wrong (it wasn't wrong before!).  I called AGAIN to ask for new cards AGAIN but never did receive them.  (Note: what was faxed was something that someone typed up by hand and as we later found out, did not reflect what was in their computer system.)
        
  6. Soon after received insurance forms to sign via mail.
       
  7. 2/24/98 - Sent a letter with the signed insurance forms stating the above 2 occurrences.  I asked to please be sure the effective dates are 2/17/98.  I also stated in the letter that I need the new ID cards to list both spouse names instead of just one.
         
  8. 3/9/98 - Received insurance packets for 2 of the 3 vehicles.  The effective dates were 3/17/98 and only one spouse was on the cards!  Called FD to see if their computer date was correct even though the paper date was incorrect.  Unfortunately the date that had in their computer was incorrect being 3/17/98.  3 weeks have now passed and according to FD our vehicles are not insured yet.  We cancelled our previous insurance 2/17/98 and now FD does not have us effective until 3/17/98.  According to all this our vehicles have not been insured for the past month even though the $$$ has already been taken out of our checking account.  According to PA laws, any lapse in car insurance is enough to revoke your license for a period of time.  We both would be subject to license revocation.  All because of a typo that they could not correct.  At this point we were beginning to realize there was something wrong with this so called insurance company.
        
  9. 3/9/98 (evening) - Called to explain the situation.   Spouses name was not listed and most importantly - the effective date was still incorrect.  Was told that new ID cards would be faxed to us first thing in the morning of 3/10/98.  Also new insurance packets with the corrected date would be sent in the mail. 
        
  10. 3/10/98 - ID cards were faxed late in the afternoon with the effective date corrected and spouse name added.  Spouse name not spelled correct.  IF the person who had typed it would have read the damn thing they would have realized that the name they typed wasn't even a name!  Didn't bother calling about the name typo.  At least I had the correct effective date listed on the ID cards with was THE most important thing.
  11. During the month of March my Credit Union asked for proof of insurance on Pickup truck because previous insurance company notified the lean holder (credit union) that the the policy had been terminated.   I forwarded the request to Farmers Direct so they could send proof of insurance to my credit union.  Farmers Direct sent the policy of our Ford Taurus to our Credit Union.  ?!?!?!?!  I received a notice from my credit union stating that if I didn't produce proof of insurance on the vehicle they were going to begin legal action. I had to apologize to the Credit Union and I explained my situation that I was dealing with a poor excuse for an insurance company.  I sent them a photocopy of my policy on the truck.
  12. During these few months I would call just to ask what the effective date was on my three policies with three different vehicles was.  Every time I would get the same answer...3/17/98.  Each time I would explain with frustration that this was WRONG and explain why it was important that it be corrected due to the insurance laws of Pennsylvania.  I would ask them to bring up my complaint log which I learned was being kept with my account.   They would see right from the beginning that I had been trying to get this problem of the incorrect effective date fixed without success.  Each time the customer service person would put a request into the computer to have the date corrected.   Each time the person whom I was dealing with would log my complaint into the computer.  I had been assured by every person I was dealing with that this would be corrected.  I would ask, "When do you suspect that I can call back, ask what the effective date is, and get the right answer?  Four days?  A week?"   I'd be told some time frame so I'd call back probably double what they said just to give them a little more time.  It never was corrected.  I got to the point that once I got the answer of 3/17/98 I would immediately ask for a supervisor, someone who had a little more power.  Honest to God himself, I went through THREE supervisors, each assuring me that they would take care of it.  Again, no satisfaction.  I believe they were telling me whatever I wanted to hear. I asked, "Who actually changes the records?"  They told me it was the under-writers part of the company or something like that.  I asked for a phone number and a person I can speak to directly who might be able to fix this problem.   Their answer was, "I am not authorized to give out that information."   "Well, can I speak to someone who can give me that information?"   "I'm sorry but we are not allowed to give out that information."  So I was stuck with calling week after week getting the same answer.
        
  13. March 13, 1998 (Friday the 13th)-   Bought a new Honda.  Day prior to the purchase I called Farmers Direct, asked for a supervisor, and explained I was buying a new car but I was having trouble with them and I didn't want a problem with switching insurance to my new car.  I was told, very re-assuringly that I should call the day the transaction takes place and this particular supervisor will take personal responsibility of switching vehicles and will send out a new policy ASAP. Also I was told that I have a one month grace period when I buy a new vehicle so insurance coverage is immediately on the new vehicle.    I called that day to confirm the transaction.  Two almost three weeks go by and still no policy in the mail.  I call Farmers Direct.  I ask, "What vehicle is insured under this policy?"  "A Ford Taurus."  I flipped.  I am within a week of not having insurance on my NEW CAR!!!  I wanted an answer to why my policy had not been switched to the new car the day I called like this supervisor assured me.  Her answer was she forgot.  SHE FORGOT!!!!  If I forgot to pay my insurance bill....well.  They finally switched it but IF I had not called who would have reminded her and how would I have learned of this??  Possibly the State Government telling me my license is revoked because I don't have insurance on my new car?  Or the credit union who hold the lien on my new car?  Maybe the court system when someone rear-ends me telling me I'm liable for damages because I had no insurance at the time and by the way, give me your license.

You ask....What the Hell were you waiting for??? Go with another provider!!  The main item was I wanted a copy of my three policies with the effective date of 2/17/98 just to have a hard copy that would stand up in court showing that there was no lapse in my coverage of any kind.  JUST IN CASE. Once I had that I was out of there.   I got what I wanted right around the time I bought the new car.  When I got the new car I needed a copy of that policy with the correct policy effective date too within that one month grace period but the ending date offset by the one month that they couldn't seem to fix.  It was like pulling teeth.  Finally though I got what I wanted.

I finally picked up a new provider and allowed the two policies to overlap by a few weeks just in case. Now I thought that you paid ahead on insurance.  However, I got a bill for what I owed on these three policies.  Instead of putting up a fight I was just going to pay it but first I gave them a call.  I asked, "Would it be possible to push the cancellation date back to the day after the new insurance started?"  Well of course they never heard of doing that and didn't know how.  Just out of curiosity I asked, "Can you tell me the effective date of my three cancelled policies?"   My answer was 3/17/98 not 2/17/98 as it should have been.  Not much caring at this point because I had my proof in my files, I said, "You know, I don't want to get into it but if you look at my complain record you'll see how long I tried to get that corrected because it is wrong.  The person said that they didn't see anything about the effective date in the complaint log.   Questioning a little further I learned that ALL of the complaints and problems were DELETED out of my record.  GONE.   HISTORY.  A MEMORY.  MY MEMORY.  So this must be how they deal with their mistakes.   Sweep them under the rug and move on to the next victim.. I mean customer.   No, "Sorry for the inconvienience."  No, "Here's a little discount for all the times you had to call to try to get that effective date fixed (not that it was)."   I vowed at that moment that I would put what I went through on the internet and use whatever resource I could to expose what they call customer service.  I think I even told the sales person on the phone I was going to do just that.

Well here it is Folks! 

Do what you wish with this information.  I consider this to be my contribution to consumers who are struggling to get the most for their dollar.   Keep in mind that I have been getting e-mail after e-mail from people telling me that they have been having troubles with Farmers Direct too in some capacity or another as well as from people steering clear.  All I can say is pick another company.  I don't care who it is.  Tack up a piece of paper with a dozen names and throw a dart.  Just don't get burned as I did.  It wasn't worth the money I saved one bit.  The stress along is worth having an agent to speak on your behalf.  I am happy to say I am back with my original agent who has helped me get very good rates.  Please don't make my mistake.

God only know, what if I had to use this insurance company during a crisis.   I certainly don't feel comfortable with that thought.

People who have contacted me:
WThe following are genuine e-mails that I have recieved from the web site. While these are only a few of the e-mail I received these are worth reading.

From an insurance agent:

Encounter with FD

Six months with Farmers Direct

Was going to switch to Farmers Direct

Same Kinds of Problems 7 months and fed up

Was leary after co-workers phone call to Farmers Direct about billing problem.

If you wish to contact us we can be reached at ralph@usicnet.com
Please note that we will try to answer your e-mail but due to the large number of e-mail it may take a little time.

 

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