I thought I'd share with you folks our experience with some seriously excellent customer service from our new insurance company.
A little while ago we switched insurance companies due to poor handling of an issue my partner had before we paired up. Well we ended up with a local company that does ins/real estate. One of the owners is a classmate of my friend (they are a year younger than me) and a REAL go-getter. He first handled putting one of my friend's houses up for sale. We got to talking insurance and next thing you know my friend is having ALL his personal and farm property written with the new agent. LOTS of stuff... LOTS- I remarked that is like an empire...
He also does a quote on the shop- it's more than the other company, but he shows us all the little and not so little holes in coverage, under covered parts and so on. Okay- so he sets us up with their premier, premium underwriter for the best coverage/lowest rates and we're off... Well they drop us. Reasons being they think we are on residential property, not enough records of loss ratio- basically not enough years of being insured and not enough proof we're a good risk- well we have been around for 3 years and have precisely ZERO claims, ZERO accidents, ZERO anything. Not good enough. Underwriter will however cover us with their second tier type coverage, albeit at an increased rate. Not cool. We've already signed on, planned out blah, blah... We were not happy, because it was already a significant increase in cash outlay. So our agent stepped up to the plate and paid the underwriter out of their own pocket- in full and told us we could keep paying the first, lower rate. They forgo their commission and all their incentives until we prove ourselves to the underwriter that we are eligible for the premium coverage. Once we are, then the local agent will get their commission and whatever incentives they are due.
This guy is fricking awesome! Smart, motivated, driven. It's his dad's company, but he was not handed a job. He went through college, hired on with a claims company, did the grunt work in the trenches, then bought into dad's company years later. Looking at the walls in his office, there are several years of plaques showing multi-millions in sales. He knows realty quite well and he knows insurance well too- and he's only 35-36 years old.
After the way he handled the shop's insurance, I've switched our auto ins to him too. A touch more money, but the service is unparalleled. So next time you go to gripe about ins agent/companies, maybe try switching to a more small time, local agent/company.
Best of all, we picked up a new customer. All his stuff comes out to us. He'll drop it off and tell us basically if it needs it, I trust you- fix it.
A little while ago we switched insurance companies due to poor handling of an issue my partner had before we paired up. Well we ended up with a local company that does ins/real estate. One of the owners is a classmate of my friend (they are a year younger than me) and a REAL go-getter. He first handled putting one of my friend's houses up for sale. We got to talking insurance and next thing you know my friend is having ALL his personal and farm property written with the new agent. LOTS of stuff... LOTS- I remarked that is like an empire...
He also does a quote on the shop- it's more than the other company, but he shows us all the little and not so little holes in coverage, under covered parts and so on. Okay- so he sets us up with their premier, premium underwriter for the best coverage/lowest rates and we're off... Well they drop us. Reasons being they think we are on residential property, not enough records of loss ratio- basically not enough years of being insured and not enough proof we're a good risk- well we have been around for 3 years and have precisely ZERO claims, ZERO accidents, ZERO anything. Not good enough. Underwriter will however cover us with their second tier type coverage, albeit at an increased rate. Not cool. We've already signed on, planned out blah, blah... We were not happy, because it was already a significant increase in cash outlay. So our agent stepped up to the plate and paid the underwriter out of their own pocket- in full and told us we could keep paying the first, lower rate. They forgo their commission and all their incentives until we prove ourselves to the underwriter that we are eligible for the premium coverage. Once we are, then the local agent will get their commission and whatever incentives they are due.
This guy is fricking awesome! Smart, motivated, driven. It's his dad's company, but he was not handed a job. He went through college, hired on with a claims company, did the grunt work in the trenches, then bought into dad's company years later. Looking at the walls in his office, there are several years of plaques showing multi-millions in sales. He knows realty quite well and he knows insurance well too- and he's only 35-36 years old.
After the way he handled the shop's insurance, I've switched our auto ins to him too. A touch more money, but the service is unparalleled. So next time you go to gripe about ins agent/companies, maybe try switching to a more small time, local agent/company.
Best of all, we picked up a new customer. All his stuff comes out to us. He'll drop it off and tell us basically if it needs it, I trust you- fix it.
