State Farm Home Insurance Reviews

State Farm is not "like a good neighbor...". It denied my claim for very extensive water damage caused by a shut-off ball valve leak. SF claimed the valve was old, failed because it probably was turned on and off too much and that it probably was installed incorrectly. All of these assumptions are inaccurate. Also, SF denied the claim because, according to their agents, in the fine print of its policy, it states SF does not cover most plumbing failure damages unless caused by freezing. It would cover, however, damage from a leaking old water heater, which is a case of inconsistent logic. Certainly many houses have plumbing that fails and causes damage, and obviously, owners buy insurance to cover such losses. Yet, when expected by trusting, naive clients -- this is not covered by SF. The agents refused the claim based on an analysis of the valve that SF had done by another company it hired. This was not exactly an independent analysis since State Farm hired and paid the company. And, not surprisingly, it received a report that benefited SF. The heavy duty brass ball shutoff valve in question was installed in the insulated attic of a house where it was protected from disturbances. The valve probably had never been turned off and on since installation about 10-13 years ago. It was not a particularly old valve; ball valves are very reliable and last a long time. It was installed correctly and did not leak at all. The leak probably began during the freezing cold winter when the valve froze enough to cause the valve seam to separate. Close examination of the valve reveals an uneven separation of part of the valve seal in the main body of the valve, below the handle system, that was probably caused by freezing water. The resulting very slow, drop by drop leak was not evident until a small portion of the ceiling drywall below the leak finally separated. By then, water had spread into walls. Nonetheless, State Farm did not seem to consider the uneven split valve seal seam at all and conveniently ignored this evidence to deny the claim. Bottom line, do not buy State Farm house insurance if you expect to be covered for common plumbing leak damages. There is clearly no point in buying expensive insurance if the insurer denies claims based on a policy that fine print excludes coverage of issues that consumers reasonably expect are covered. I plan to cancel my State Farm policies in the near future. I only wish I had done more research on the company and seen the numerous, well-deserved, one-star reviews. If I had, I never would have given them my money.

Thanks State Farm for taking my money my 20 years and turning your back the one time i needed you!
I've been a client of State Farm for all of my insurance needs for 19 years. Life, auto, home insurance, never made a claim until recently. My sump pump stopped working over night and flooded my basement. We called in the morning and they sent someone right away. We signed the paperwork to get the basement dried out and our ruined items sorted and organized to properly file the claim. It was a wonderful experience....EXCEPT 5 days after the flood State Farm called us and said we had no coverage. A sump pump needs a special plan for coverage. Interesting that my insurance agent never asked any questions about us having a sump pump when we got our insurance so I had no coverage. I was also stuck with the bill for thousands of dollars to the emergency clean up company. Only after 4 weeks and many many calls later did I get them to pay the emergency bill for the people they sent to my house. But I am now responsible to replace the thousands of dollars of my personal belongings the were destroyed in the flood. Thanks for nothing criminals!

Jan 2015 my home had a water line break in our main floor bathroom toilet which flooded the partial main floor and leaked down the ceiling of the basement and walls and floor etc you can imagine and we had just finished a two year project of updating the main floor and basement. We called our State Farm insurance broker George R. and he called in the claim to State Farm and then the service master people came and removed the water, contents and did a remediation. We had to call State Farm back several times to have them send a adjuster to estimate the damage. We tried to communicate with the adjuster many times by phone and email but had no reply and then we waited approx 2-3 months before we heard from our adjuster and when we heard back she told us to go and find a contractor and submit some quotes to State Farm and they would review them. I must admit I was expecting State Farm to take care of the claim and not put these responsibilities on me since this was out of my ability but State Farm was adiment that they would do nothing to assist with contractors but would only see if the quotes were cheap enough to proceed eventually we found a contractor and this pissed service master off because they were expecting the work to be given to them. The work started in may due to these delays and the amount of work put on us to find a contractor and pick out replacement parts we had to do everything to get things started. The original estimate from State Farm came in around $20,000.00 which I knew was not correct so each time we moved into the project I had to spend several hours going over the quote from State Farm to make sure the amounts covered the cost, this went on until the job was completed, I was responsible for overseeing the entire project from start to finish as well as begging State Farm for money to pay the contractors I even tried to get help from our insurance broker George R. and he was of no help at all. Another problem we had was that the mortgage company held back 10% of every cheque that was sent to me and I had to carry the cost on my own. We submitted a bill to State Farm for my time and my families time for the past year and they did not care that we had done all this work as a general contractor to oversee, scrutinize, source out contractors for various parts of the work to be done, communicate with State Farm which they were very slow to respond, book and arrange the work schedules and to recheck and make sure the work was done with the money allowed. The total cost in the end has come to around 75,000.00 plus other cost for other items and personal effects and now we are being told our time and management was worthless by our claims people Brendon S. and his manager Allison. Please keep in mind with State Farm you must be ready to do all of this work and oversee every detail rite to the end and then wait and hope you did not miss anything because it is all on your shoulders right to the end. Reviews of this type do not contain the arrogance and ongoing abuse that was put on me and my family and expressed to me during many calls for help as a consumer and policy holder I hope this will help you be careful when looking towards State Farm for coverage and help. As the cost to you will be in the tens of thousands of dollars out of your pocket for time and money while trying to keep your own job and manage the rest. State Farm is a horrible insurance company to deal with and will not recommend them or work with them in the future.

This is way too involved for 1000 words.
I will try to state facts. Paraphrase.
March 2003 .Had a full, 7 year old , 200 gallon oil barrel rupture outside my stone basement walls and pour into my clay basement.
Called SF and they brought in an environmental engineering company to remediate
Started digging before I left for my federal government job in the arctic.
When I returned home after my 4 month tour I was devastated to find that the house still smelled and that they had free poured cement into the basement to cover over the oil to "lessen the likelihood to human exposure".
This cement was poured with an 8 inch difference in grade from one corner to the opposite far corner of the basement. With thicknesses between .02m to .3m and hollow spots. The water heater was cemented around!!! With no drain tiles, drainage or headroom .
Got a lawyer, got a settlement for damages devaluing my house with a a clause that if the sight, smell etc of oil reappeared within 6 years,they would be responsible to address it.
2006, 3 years later while I was out west working the smell got so bad the wife had to go to her mothers. Had a young friend , who needed a place to stay, there to protect belongings and keep an eye on the dog tethered outside. He had to spray the basement daily with a hose to send the oil to the pump so that it seemed bearable..
called SF and they sent the very same people that covered over the "1st" 200 gallon spill to investigate. They say they cleaned everything up the 1st time.
There was black weathered oil in the basement and sump but that was ignored. It was said To be a completely new spill that may or may not have happened when a frozen pipe burst, or a release from my mismanagement ,or something released an unknown amount of oil. A new spill, a new claim.
I new better. I argued that they were responsible by agreement to clean up the oil that had resurfaced during the spring rainy season from under the free poured cement basement.
They would not consider it and I had to move to our family hunting cabin in the woods with no running water or electricity.
Even after I relented and opened a new claim they provided no support.
I tell the bank I would not pay for a house I could not live in. (they never foreclosed even after 888 days of non payment, why would they, the house was useless to them too).
They, SF, hire a different environmental engineering company to remediate the "2nd" spill . I would not allow the 1st crew on my property.
Long story short. They had to tare down my house and garage to get at the "weathered oil" left behind from the 1st 200 gallon spill that was covered over with cement in my absence back in 2003.
This is 2009 and they dig down something like 6m all over the double lot property to get at the old oil.
meanwhile I am in the woods in a 24x24 shell of a cabin with no support.
I finally get paid for the house and some additional living expenses.
It has been proven the house was uninhabitable back in 2006.
They should not have done that to my wife and I so I personally start legal action on them. On going to this day March 17th 2015.
I have caught there representatives lying under oath at discovery, have there log notes proving they new of the cover up, etc etc.

All of the costs for the house, garage, mortgage, additional expenses etc was covered from the 1st claim. They said they reopened the first claim to ensure I had enough coverage, kindness of there heart sort of thing.
So the "1st" spill of 200 gallons cost $38,000 and as far as the "2nd" a drip in the line, it was over $300,000 as far as I can tell because they will not release the actual numbers to me although they say I hired these people.
The suit goes on. It could happen to you.
The agent that sold me the policy did not even know what the $10000 land allowance was for or represented on that same policy he sold me. He denied knowing I was homeless yet I have many emails directly to him stating so.
The adjuster that over saw the 2003 remediation stated at discovery that he thought the house should still have been liveable even with 200 gallons of fuel in the basement. He could not read charts well enough to say what way was north even with a picture of an arrow with a capital N in the middle of it.
He didn't even know what weathered oil means although it is written in many reports supplied to him. Lied about not knowing an engineer when there are many emails between himself and that engineer.
The adjuster assigned to the "2nd" spill new even less. How to read charts, what weathered oil is (actually after hours of cross examination I got him to say he understood what it was), absolutely devious.

I truly could go on and on and I have the proof and will write a book when this court nightmare is over in lord knows how many years.
I have lost everything. My land in town is not fit to rebuild on and I now have made a home in the old camp, have electricity and will carry on.
Beware of your good neighbour, they are truly a wolf in sheeps' clothing.
There contracts are not worth the paper they are written on, Shame shame shame.