This was a great agency until Craig Frese retired, now it just feels as if I have been scammed…read more
In December 2016, I received notice from Citizens that they would not be renewing our homeowner's policy in June 2017 when the policy we had, expired. They did not give any explanation, just one paragraph saying they would be cancelling. We have never, in 20 years of being homeowners, made a claim so we were surprised, to say the least. I immediately called Allstate, unaware that Craig Frese had retired. I do not remember if I spoke with Nathan Ellsworth, Thomas Peterson or John Columbia but he assured me that they would take care of everything because "after all, that was his job as our agent". He told me that we had plenty of time to find the right fit at the right price. I felt reassured and didn't think about it again. Having medical issues and having to go out of state for several weeks, I didn't think any more about it until mid-June 2017 when I received a phone call from one of the above, still not sure which, reminding me that our policy was about due and that we needed to find another carrier. I was immediately angry at myself for letting this slip my mind but soon became angry with Allstate for not doing something sooner. Once again, I was assured that there was still time to find the right policy. I called several times between that day and June 30 to see what was going on and each time, they were still looking. I had asked to speak to Courtney, Craig's daughter, who had always worked on our policy since we first purchased our home in 2010. Each time, I was told she was out, on another line and once even told that she was at a conference but they were all working very hard to get our policy in place before the one we had expired on June 30. Finally, on June 29, 2017, Thomas called and said they found one but the cost was more than double what we had been paying. He was still looking. On June 30, 2017, I was called to go into the office to sign the new policy. It was late in the afternoon when I was called. The policy had gone from approximately. $1400 to $3200. Of course I signed it because at that point, I had no other choice. It was also at this time when I met John Columbia and he told me that Courtney had been gone from that office for about three months. This was when I decided that I would be looking for another carrier but especially another agent. We let it go for the year but have been shopping around, when time permitted. We have found a new agent and new carrier and the cost in nowhere near what we paid last year. When my husband went in to cancel the policy this past week, John asked him who he went with and after my husband told him, John said, "Oh, we write for them, we could have probably got it for you with about a 30% discount.
I find it rather amusing that not only do they write policies with the new carrier that we chose but that they could have gotten it for us about 30% less than we paid. I have to ask myself, and them actually, why couldn't they have done this last year or even this year after they knew the huge increase we had last year and that this year the carrier was raising our another $500? I am also curious as to why last year, when I called in December after receiving the cancellation notice from Citizens why did they wait until the middle of June to even start looking for a new carrier for us? Why did they lead me to believe that Courtney was still working on our policy when she had been gone from the company for at least three months?
Trust is huge; once it is gone, it is very hard to get it back.