Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We recently had an addition and renovation to our house. We think we have a good idea of what the replacement cost (not market value) would be and have documentation of costs (obviously, since we just paid for construction) and are willing to pay the increased cost of coverage. We said all this to the insurance agent. But the agent wants us to spend a lot of time meeting to discuss and set the value (requiring taking time off from work), subjecting us to upselling on other services, etc. Or, we can pay hundreds of $ and some time with a professional appraiser who will likely just compute the square footage and multiply it by a standard cost, which we may have to dispute. The agent claims the company requires this. Have any of you found this to be true? Because of other issues together with this, we think it may be time to shop for another insurance companies for all our policies. Thanks.
If you switch companies, you will spend a lot of time "meeting discuss and set up the value, subjecting us to upselling, or paying hundreds of $ and some time with a professional appraiser." Ask your agent if you can meet in the evening. Practice saying "no thanks" if they start talking about life insurance or annuities or whatever you're scared of them selling.
Keep in mind that although they are interested in selling more insurance, they are also interested in making sure you have enough coverage should the worst case occurance happens.
Tell your agent you can't take time off from work to accomplish this, but he can come to your house in the evening or send one of his minions to your workplace during the day. There's really no reason this can't be accomplished over the phone, I've had State Farm for many years - we renovated our entire house in NY and added about 600 square feet of living space and got our policy upgraded without ever visiting the agent. Chances are they may want their own pictures of the place anyway.
Your other alternative is to set an appointment during your lunch hour, and tell him you will have 30 minutes to do what needs to be done. All agents upsell, if you're old enough to own a home you're old enough to say NO.
We recently had an addition and renovation to our house. We think we have a good idea of what the replacement cost (not market value) would be and have documentation of costs (obviously, since we just paid for construction) and are willing to pay the increased cost of coverage. We said all this to the insurance agent. But the agent wants us to spend a lot of time meeting to discuss and set the value (requiring taking time off from work), subjecting us to upselling on other services, etc. Or, we can pay hundreds of $ and some time with a professional appraiser who will likely just compute the square footage and multiply it by a standard cost, which we may have to dispute. The agent claims the company requires this. Have any of you found this to be true? Because of other issues together with this, we think it may be time to shop for another insurance companies for all our policies. Thanks.
My last agent tried doing that. I took my business elsewhere. I do all my stuff by phone. I had one meeting with my new agent and that was for the initial set up of the accounts. He did approach me on other insurance needs but I told him I'm not interested. Everything else after that initial meeting, changes, additions, increases etc was all done by phone. I did a few remodels on rentals and I simply said I spent X amount n remodeling costs I need it covered. Done. The inspections were on the exteriors not interiors.
I still get the mass email (but that's just a mass email list all computer generated) wanting to sell me this that and the other but I just delete them. If he does call and needs a face to face it better be for what needs to be discussed. But there are very few things needed face to face as most can be done by phone and email. If there was a for and he tries using that meeting as a opening to sell me something else I will tell him to stop and not waste my time.
If you switch companies, you will spend a lot of time "meeting discuss and set up the value, subjecting us to upselling, or paying hundreds of $ and some time with a professional appraiser." Ask your agent if you can meet in the evening. Practice saying "no thanks" if they start talking about life insurance or annuities or whatever you're scared of them selling.
Keep in mind that although they are interested in selling more insurance, they are also interested in making sure you have enough coverage should the worst case occurance happens.
We said "no" before to the upselling and are capable of doing it again; we just don't like wasting time (or money) whether it's during the day, at night, or anything else. I don't believe that the company truly requires this time wasting and the reason that I am asking is to see if your company requires this; if it is an industry-wide practice, then I just have to accept it.
I'm well aware that changing companies will require a one time time investment. But if it does not require this frequently, then it's well worth it to spend the same amount of time making a one time change and work with someone and a company we like better going forward.
I articulated concerns to this agent but the agent just isn't "getting it" and simply argues with me (though she did apologize for some past behavior), or truly is bound by a company policy. Don't know which.
Our prior agent with this same company, who retired, NEVER required this type of meeting and was much more efficient about other things, e.g., change of address, request for info about something. So either the company policies have changed, or this agent is both lying and is a time/money waster.
My last agent tried doing that. I took my business elsewhere. I do all my stuff by phone. I had one meeting with my new agent and that was for the initial set up of the accounts. He did approach me on other insurance needs but I told him I'm not interested. Everything else after that initial meeting, changes, additions, increases etc was all done by phone. I did a few remodels on rentals and I simply said I spent X amount n remodeling costs I need it covered. Done. The inspections were on the exteriors not interiors.
I still get the mass email (but that's just a mass email list all computer generated) wanting to sell me this that and the other but I just delete them. If he does call and needs a face to face it better be for what needs to be discussed. But there are very few things needed face to face as most can be done by phone and email. If there was a for and he tries using that meeting as a opening to sell me something else I will tell him to stop and not waste my time.
Thanks; this is very helpful. Re: your last sentence, that's what we did the first time. This time, I'm trying to avoid having more time wasted in the first place.
Tell your agent you can't take time off from work to accomplish this, but he can come to your house in the evening or send one of his minions to your workplace during the day. There's really no reason this can't be accomplished over the phone, I've had State Farm for many years - we renovated our entire house in NY and added about 600 square feet of living space and got our policy upgraded without ever visiting the agent. Chances are they may want their own pictures of the place anyway.
Your other alternative is to set an appointment during your lunch hour, and tell him you will have 30 minutes to do what needs to be done. All agents upsell, if you're old enough to own a home you're old enough to say NO.
Thanks, very helpful. As I have said to others (sorry my original post was unclear) the problem is not an inability to say no.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
