• Farmer’s Insurance Scam in DFW

    Whether this is technically a scam or not, Farmer's Insurance has managed to screw over at least one family in the North Texas area. 

    Steve and Marian were looking to buy a house in the DFW metroplex. They found a nice home in Bedford and applied for a loan. During the process, Steve and Marian requested an insurance quote from Farmer's.

    Before Steve and Marian could finalize the contract, someone else came in and bought it out from under them. They were disappointed, but chose to assume that God had better plans for them elsewhere. 

    Six months later, Steve received a call from a collection agency. "You owe Farmer's Insurance $200," they told him.

    "For what?" Steve asked.

    "For insurance payments you haven't made on your home in Bedford."

    "But I don't have a home in Bedford."

    "Yes you do."

    "No, I don't."

    "It says here that you do."

    "I don't care what your paperwork says. I never purchased that home and I've been living in a different city."

    "Well, all we know is that you owe us money."

    "How do we resolve this?"

    "Send us proof that you didn't buy that house."

    "Do what?!?!? How exactly do I prove that I DIDN"T do something?"

    "…."

    "I can send you my current residence agreement, but that doesn't prove that I didn't buy a house in Bedford. Nothing will prove that I didn't buy that house in Bedford."

    "…"

    "I'm going to talk to Farmer's Insurance about this."

    "Okay. Bye."

    So that's what happened. Steve called a Farmer's Insurance branch several times. They claimed that only their main office in Austin or Houston could take the action necessary to solve this issue. After several weeks, Steve received another call from the collection agency. The issue has not been resolved to this point and Steve's credit is at risk because he can't prove that he DIDN'T purchase a home. 

    Seriously? How do you charge someone without their consent? This is wrong. Farmer's Insurance owes Steve some sort of compensation for threatening his credit for NO REASON. He was never a customer, which means they had no right to report him to a collection agency. He owes them no money, and if they damage his credit, they will owe him big time.

    The moral of this story is apparently to never automatically trust any business. There may be some better organized home insurance companies in Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas, but you don't really know until you're on the wrong side of a mess.

    Do you have any crazy stories about insurance companies? Or do you have an insurance agent that you would trust with your life? Let us know.