2011 Customer Service Hall of Shame - Farmers Insurance
'Poor' rating: 29.1%
The history of Farmers Insurance Group, as described on its website, is of two men from modest beginnings who set out to "build a business of service."
"We must keep that up forever," co-founder John C. Tyler tells agents in an audio clip. "Because if insurance isn't service, it isn't anything,"
Forward ahead eight decades and the company's modern story is peppered with complaints of poor service: dropped policies, unpaid claims, unresponsive adjusters. In one case, Washington regulators stepped in after Farmers failed to pay for auto injuries by claiming the other driver had succumbed to road rage.
In the 2011 MSN Money-Zogby poll, 29.1% of those familiar with Farmers' customer service called it "poor," earning Farmers a spot in our Customer Service Hall of Shame.
The Los Angeles company declined to answer questions, but did send a written statement in which it questioned its inclusion in the survey because the Farmers brand has exclusive agents in only 30 states. The Farmers Insurance Group sells insurance, including under different names, such as 21st Century Insurance, in every state.
Farmers "takes great pride" in its "industry-leading, face-to-face customer service," added Mark Toohey, a spokesman.
Farmers is the third-largest home and auto insurer in the country, providing 20 million policies across 50 states. Founded in 1928 to insure farm vehicles, it is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zurich Financial Services (ZFSVF) in Switzerland.
Even average service, it seems, might cost customers more.
In 2007, Farmers requested permission from the state of California to further raise its rates -- after being ordered to lower them -- because it had improved its rankings in a J.D. Power and Associates customer-satisfaction survey from "below average" to "slightly above average" over the preceding three years.
The company's request was denied and, coincidentally, later that year its ranking in the same survey plummeted.
Farmers posted operating profit in 2010 of $1.68 billion. The pay of CEO Robert Woudstra was not available.
