The Good Hands People Want to Use Their Good Hands to Grab You By The . . .

Kinda Defeats the Millions Spent on All Those Commercials

If you watch the Allstate Commercials which seem to be everywhere with that nice gentleman (who played the President on a big TV show) telling all of us how wonderful Allstate Insurance is.  Unfortunately what he leaves out is pretty important.  Here is one person’s experience in Charlotte.

Gary Puffpaff was irritated when he got a letter from Allstate Insurance telling him his homeowners' policy wouldn't be renewed because he had his auto insurance with another company.

Not only did Puffpaff question whether the insurer's action was legal - which, it turns out, it is - but he also was upset because Allstate canceled his auto policies a half-dozen years ago after he filed three large claims.

"Every time I see their commercial I laugh about what they say, because I don't believe a word ... about (how) they take care of you and all that," said Puffpaff, 61, a repair technician who lives in Charlotte. "They only want your money."

It seems like in North Carolina a couple of insurance companies are using their market prowess the way most companies use market power.

This year, two of the most popular underwriters of homeowners insurance policies in North Carolina - Allstate and N.C. Farm Bureau - have adopted underwriting guidelines that link homeowners policies with auto policies across the state.

Both companies cite economics as the reason for their stance.

In the case of Allstate, if you don't have an auto insurance policy from us, they're telling customers, your homeowners policy won't be renewed.

Now these are private companies, and they have every right to run their businesses as they see fit.  But one does wonder that if instead of spending tens of millions on commercials Allstate and Farm Bureau might direct that money towards customer service.  They would be astounded how much advertising benefit they would get.