This particular review pertains to David Abel of Barnum Financial Group in Shelton, CT, and David alone. (If I was able to rate David zero stars, I would have in a heartbeat!) My husband and I had taken a whole life insurance policy out on our daughter when she was born 6 years ago. From the beginning, our account was being serviced by David Abel of Barnum Financial Group. In the beginning of the process when David was trying to sell us a policy, he was easy to work with. As time progressed, things became more complicated when we needed to make a simple, route update to our payment information (our longtime bank had closed so we had to open a new account, hence needing to update our account information for our monthly auto-deductions). Long story short, it appears the paperwork I completed with our new information and sent to David never went where it needed to be. David dropped the ball and I had no idea that my payments weren't being processed. The life insurance policy on my daughter ended up lapsing and I only found this out by receiving a standard FYI letter in the mail from Brighthouse. Despite the fact that he was working for me, David became belligerent and tossed me to the side when I questioned how something like this happened, making me feel as though my business did not matter. He even went as far as telling me to call the 800 number and that he was done working with me. As anyone could imagine, I was incredibly upset, especially after finding out my daughter's life insurance policy was inactive (God forbid a terrible accident would have happened and we would have not known we didn't have this policy to protect us) and by the way I was treated. I have worked in corporate American for more than 13 years and never, ever treated another or been treated the way I was by him. I am not one to write reviews, however I think it is important for others to be made aware exactly what type of person you are dealing with when it comes to such personal things as your money, investments and insurance policies. The client wants and expects a person of integrity, with values and morals, and David proved to have none in this interaction. I recommend David receive additional training on not only basic customer service skills, but also the importance of professionalism and empathy working in an industry like this. I am grateful for the MassMutual and Brighthouse teams that stepped in and rectified the situation in a matter of just a few days with compassion, empathy and respect. These women even apologized on David's behalf (what kind of man isn't able to do that himself?!). Thank you to Kara and Veronica and Tiffini for going above and beyond to rectify the situation and protect the name of your company. Rest assured, I have already submitted the paperwork to change my agent of record and I highly, highly recommend avoiding David Abel's "services" at all costs. read more

If you have questions about how to protect what is important to you these guys are the best! I was given several options and was able to compare and contrast what was best for my particular situation. They are available to answer questions and are exceedingly knowledgable. I couldn't be happier with the insurance they have helped me purchase or with the customer service they continue to provide. read more

I would give 0 stars if I could. Please avoid these people at all costs unless you wish to lose lots of money! Barnum was recommended to us by our Barnum Financial advisor. We asked for home coverage on our house for every possible risk. Our agent even sold us on an "umbrella policy." We thought we had read over the policy carefully, but the agent included a 5% deductible for wind or hail damage, which basically means if you have ANY STORM DAMAGE caused by any kind of hurricane, tropical storm, etc, you will be on the hook for a 5% deductible. This means our deductible went from $1000 to over $15,000, so now we are out over $14,000 because of an incompetent insurance agent with Barnum. So we were protected from EVERYTHING EXCEPT A TREE HITTING OUR HOUSE? IN CONNECTICUT? Nice work, guys! When I called to ask why, they said it was "to save us money." It was not required by law, but apparently has saved us $154, PER YEAR. Oh goodie! Of course "they're sorry but there's nothing they can do." AKA we're sorry we signed you up for a terrible policy that made us more money but now you're screwed. Well I'm here hoping that whoever is reading this doesn't make the same mistake as we did. Stay away from Barnum advisors, and please check your policy for the "WINDSTORM AND HAIL 5% DEDUCTIBLE" and have it removed immediately. Somebody added it into our policy without explaining it, and as young first-time home-buyers, I feel completely taken advantage of, because OF COURSE WE WANTED COVERAGE FOR THAT. Sincerely, Livid read more