Battling
State Farm Addendum
Many of the files displayed
here are saved PDF copies of emails converted to jpg image files. I
have cropped the emails eliminating text like "please do not reply to
this message," and other basic informational parts common to all of
the emails, like "Things you can do. Use your claims hub through our
app or online to manage your claim any time," leaving only the body of
the letter, in order to get file sizes small enough to load quickly
on the Internet.
Here are three of the four emails mentioned in the
letter, in the order they were dated. The fourth is displayed in the
letter to State Farm. It was the one that said in large bold letters,
William, we've received and approved your damage estimate. Please
contact the shop to begin repairs.
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It is, of course, a sign of the times with
computer generated communications that often no name appears to give
you sense a real person is actually watching out for you, or
providing you service. In this case each email carried the very
generic signature that it was from "claim team."
And, of course, the presumption these days always
seems to be that everyone owns a smart phone, and has instant access
to the Internet. I find it hard to believe I am the only one in the
United States of America who has neither of those things.
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I used the Battling State Farm webpage as a
template for this addendum page. When I finished the inserting
picture process for the above, the fourth email was right here
already on the page, so I decided to leave it. I find it difficult
to believe that nobody at State Farm seems to think it is not a very
good business practice to send such an email if there is any chance
they are going to change their mind the next week. Everyone else has
said they should not be sending a communication stating,
William, we've received and approved your damage estimate. Please
contact the shop to begin repairs, if they are not absolutely
committed to that statement. Apparently it is so common a happening
at State Farm, that not even my local agent's office thought it was
a peculiar way to deliver the "like a good neighbor, State Farm is
there," promise. Sometimes modern business attitudes floor me. How
do you reason with people so blind to what seems obvious to others?
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As stated in the body of my letter, on
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 my wife phoned me from up north to say Miles
from State Farm claims was trying to reach me. I spoke with "claim
team" that day, so I was prepared I would be receiving their email
telling me they changed their mind, and now "claim team" was
declaring my vehicle has been determined a total loss. On Thursday,
the day I go to a local church to use their Wi-Fi to upload my
picture of the week, and any other changes, to my website, I also
check emails. There were two from State Farm. I had told Monique
(State Farm claim supervisor) I would be challenging their
"determination," so the first was from her. It had a 15 page vehicle
evaluation attached. The second simply told me to open an
attachment. Because my time is pretty pressed just getting things
uploaded, and checking emails, I simply downloaded both of the
attachments to look at later.
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I am not going to all the trouble to reproduce a
fifteen page document in this addendum. However, there are a couple
of highlights, I would like to share. The valuation summary is
already in the letter sent to State Farm corporate, and government
agencies. Apparently, there are only three possible categories in
these appraisals. "Average Private" is pretty much as good as it
gets for an individual, and yet in every one of the ten categories
where "Average Private" is shown, not a single deduction is made for
any deficiencies on my car. Not one. Not in any category . . .
because there are none.
This comparables list stretches across two pages,
with a whole slew of options. Both comparables had deductions made
for condition. Mine had none. It strikes me that comp one got more
credit for low mileage than comp two, even though comp one had
10,000 more miles on it. But, there is no arguing with a computer,
right? Even if it does not make common sense. And by the way, did
you notice that my vehicle has almost 20,000 less miles on it than
comp two, and almost 30,000 less miles on it than comp one.
Considering the mileage on my car, that comes out to a pretty
sizeable percentage difference. You can see the final numbers for
yourself. Remember, they determined a value of only $3,797 on my
vehicle. Of the over 50 options listed, my car was missing only 7.
Comp one was missing 18. Yet, they put the value of my vehicle
closer to comp one than to comp two, even though comp two was in
poorer condition, and had almost 20,000 more miles. Even basically
just splitting the difference between comp one and comp two would
put mine at $3,838 which is still likely way short of the actual
market value. The owner of the body shop I am taking my car to said
to me you cannot even find a used car in decent condition for less
than $5,000 or $6000. And my vehicle is way above decent condition.
Of course, all this is irrelevant, because even the lowball value
which was put on my car by this vast network of modern electronic
marvels placed my repairs at just under 74% of their bogus value,
which means if 75% is the threshold, my vehicle should never have
been declared a total loss in the first place, and we would be going
through none of this.
Now, here is the attachment to the second email I
opened. As it turns out, it is a total lie. This is when I began to
realize how far State Farm might have fallen in integrity from the days
when I
was an agent. Back then, State Farm was the number one auto insurer
in the nation, always top rated by consumer organizations, and way
above the number two insurer which was Allstate. We were told how
badly Allstate treated its customers. Much like the things I am
pointing out here.
I am always amazed when companies that are lying
to you, and will not acknowledge valid documentation, have the gall to say "we
appreciate your business." As stated in the letter, I initially
believed what "claim team" said. So, I went to the body shop on
6/9/23 to arrange to bring my car home. The people at the body shop
were understandably perplexed, because there were no storage fees
being charged. Here is the signed document I mentioned in the
letter. For a company that was going to be unable to fix my car
because of the stand State Farm was taking, Gerber
showed me great good neighbor service, and exceptional courtesy and
honesty. What a contrast.
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Additional Photos From May
21, 2021
In the letter I mention I took fourteen pictures
of the engine 5/21/21 when my wife first brought the car to Michigan
after its 21 years in Florida. The photograph in the letter is an
overview. Here are four more showing a closer view of specific areas
of the engine.
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I also display an image in the letter stating it
"is the last picture taken of the car,
shot 5/30/23 two hours before the claim." That should probably say
last photo of the car undamaged. Because, I shot over one hundred
pictures of the damage to the car, and of it being loaded onto the
tow truck. The young man (20 years old) driving the tow truck also treated me with that
superb good neighbor service I thought I would be receiving from
State Farm. I already mentioned the special bracket that he used to
protect my car. Even though it took over the 55 minutes he said it
would take to get to me when he
first called, it was no big deal on such a nice day. In fact, I even
got to speak for a while with a State Police trooper after the first
45 minutes. I explained to him my circumstances, and the officer said he
would come back by in half an hour to make sure I had been taken
care of.
There is also an interesting technology story
relating to the tow. The driver called at one point to ask me again
where I was. He had just moved back to Michigan from South Carolina.
When he plugged in the address he had been given to his GPS, it took
him to a middle school in the middle of a city. I told him I was
definitely not in that area. I explained to him that there was no
address he could give to his electronic devises, because I was off
the side of the road between exit 44 and exit 46 on eastbound I-96.
I said his best bet was to get on I-96 going east at the Grand
Rapids 28th street entrance to the highway. Just drive east until
you see me, and my blue car, on the median side of the road. I
instructed further, if you get to exit 46, you somehow drove right
by me without noticing me. He finally arrived, and got things taken
care of. He asked at one point if a picture of him loading the car
would appear on my website. I said, it was not likely anytime soon,
since I was still working on getting pictures I took in 2018 into my
inventory. Little did I know. I never had a chance to write down his
name, and I cannot remember it. But, he was such a nice young man,
here is one more picture to wrap up this addendum page. I hope
somehow he gets to see it one day.
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AFTERTHOUGHTS
I received a printed copy of the State Farm reply
to my complaint to the Michigan Department of Insurance and
Financial Services dated June 28, 2023. In it Jacqueline Holmes
(Claims Manager) reiterated chronologically showing dates pretty
much everything I have said here. She concluded her letter
indicating that we had accepted the settlement. As I read her
"facts," I was struck by the fact that State Farm turned out to be
wrong on almost every point they stubbornly defended. Yet, much like
Comcast, they never admitted that they were in error at any point
along the way, or in the end. In a nice letter I received dated July
17, 2023, the State of Michigan (Paolo LoPiparo) thanked me for
allowing them to be of assistance, indicating the matter was now
concluded.
The electronic way of doing business became an
issue later in the year again when an exceptionally strong windstorm
brought a large tree down onto the top of our garage roof.
Impersonal computer estimates delayed payment sufficient to get onto
the contractor's schedule, and as I write this, it has been over
three months since the claim was filed, without any physical work
being done toward repairs other than what we have done ourselves. As
it approached two months, I wrote another long letter to State Farm.
I do not wish to spend the time detailing this claim, but below is a
link to the written communication I sent to their corporate
headquarters.
Garage Roof Claim
Letter
Both of these experiences indicate to me the
system is broken. Except at the very beginning of the auto claim,
State Farm had become essentially just a check writing service in
both instances. The burden has fallen upon us, the policyholder.
This seems to be pretty commonplace in the business world of
internet, emails, and apps these days. Where companies replace
service with apps, and recorded messages telling us "you can find
that information on our website." Supposedly for our convenience, of
course. I suspect it is also a lot less expensive than real person customer
service.
I should note that in both claims, we came out
ahead financially. In the homeowners claim, when we finally got to
adjusters who saw the bigger picture, the use of their computer
programs even added such details as gasoline and oil for my
chainsaw. Although the process, in both cases, was exceedingly
frustrating, our insurance for now remains with State Farm.
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