Farmers Agents Suing Company

[AgentProvocateur]

I think I've read elsewhere on the board about Farmers using 21st century to cannibalize its agents auto insurance business, but here is an article about a lawsuit regarding the practice:

Farmers Agents Sue Carrier Over Contracts, Taking Client Info

If you are thinking about being a Farmers agent, it's another reason to think twice.

 

[pcbinsurance]

Not that much of a difference than what Allstate now has with them also owning Esurance. A company can do as they wish and if the agents don't agree, they are free to leave. Too many crybaby agents out there.

 

[Bertolinoins]

Sounds like a great company to work for.

 

[GMANPRO]

I am so happy to be out of there. Seems good on the surface but its such garbage.

 

[Dragline]

I think I've read elsewhere on the board about Farmers using 21st century to cannibalize its agents auto insurance business, but here is an article about a lawsuit regarding the practice:

Farmers Agents Sue Carrier Over Contracts, Taking Client Info

If you are thinking about being a Farmers agent, it's another reason to think twice.

The perfect example of what not to do.

 

[CaNewAgent]

Not that much of a difference than what Allstate now has with them also owning Esurance. A company can do as they wish and if the agents don't agree, they are free to leave. Too many crybaby agents out there.

The issue isn't about crybaby agents. The issue is purely ethical.

Farmers agents do not set the price of insurance they quote, the company does. They find the client, work up the quote and deliver the price to the client. If the client does not like the price, they do not complete the deal. The agent did the best they could for the client and did not make a sale.

The company now wants to take the information from the quote and complete the deal using the21st Century product. The agent found the client, spent time working with them, entered the data into the system and they don't get compensated for their efforts. This is dirty dealing and unethical. It is the same as stealing in my opinion.

What Farmers should do is allow their agents to quote using the 21st Century product line. To maintain the price, maybe lower the commission from what they pay for the Farmers branded products.

Wrong will always be wrong and Farmers is wrong.

 

[PaperHanger]

it's my understanding from the article, the Farmer's Agent DID in fact sell the policy. Farmers then passed on Current Policyholder information to 21st Century, who's lower % agent rolled them over.

Farmers/21st are actually STEALING the books of their indy P/C agents.

This is because Farmers (an agent company) bought 21st Century/AIG Auto (my former employer), and 21st is a 'Direct Writer' company, who never had an agent structure, and could offer better rates.

Farmers also created extreme new guidelines for existing agents, then soon after created easier guidelines for new agents. Part of these extreme metrics required of the veteran agents included selling products the agent had never sold before. If the veteran agent did not meet these metrics, he would be cut loose, and his entire Farmers book retained by Farmers, and seeded to these new lower % agents.

I sell FE. This would be like UHL telling me that I HAD to sell 100k per year Simplified WL, AND I had to start selling their Term and UL (which I don't). And if I didn't meet up to these new reqs, they would cut me off, take my book, stop paying my renewals, and hand my clients to newbies making half my %.

So if taking no-sale prospect info from agents and making sales with another subsidiary is wrong....

then I don't know what to call this? :(

 

[bear bryants hat]

The way it is set up is not much different from how Progressive does it with progressive casualty and progressive direct.

however progressive direct doesn't solicit the policyholders that I've written with progressive casualty. If they did, I would have a major problem with that!

I don't know about farmers contract terms but based on the above paragraph, I don't blame the agents for being cry babies. I'd complain about it also if I were in their shoes.

 

[PaperHanger]

The way it is set up is not much different from how Progressive does it with progressive casualty and progressive direct.

however progressive direct doesn't solicit the policyholders that I've written with progressive casualty. If they did, I would have a major problem with that!

I don't know about farmers contract terms but based on the above paragraph, I don't blame the agents for being cry babies. I'd complain about it also if I were in their shoes.

What you describe is how AIG Auto Direct and AIG Agency Auto were setup. One was via agents. One was via Online Direct. The rates were the same. There was no advantage for a client to switch from one to the other.

The claim in the suit is basically the same as if I walked into NY Life, stole their client list, and then went to town replaceing them.

This is not IMHO about crybabies or complaining....it's about stealing and lawsuits.

21st century suffered a lawsuit a few years ago...they had mis-classified their software employees as being exempt from overtime. As a result of the lawsuit, the ones who were re-classified as being non-exempt got back all the money the company 'stole' from them in the form of un-compensated hours and overtime.

This is a very serious issue...the words 'cry' and 'baby' don't have any place in it....anyone who read the article should realize that.

21st was shady when I worked for them...and apparently they're still shady.

Heck, i'm still upset that Martin Sullivan of AIG isn't sitting in a jail cell...he's still fat catting it at a different company.

 

[ewilkins]

I am currently a Producer for a Farmers agent and he gives me 21st Century leads to quote, but mostly for practice purposes (for cold calling and such) only. He told me that many people click on them accidentally, given the method that 21st Century uses to grab these "leads." Not saying you'll never get a sale from one, but most of the time these people don't even know what they are getting themselves into, even if they do click on a 21st Century ad on purpose.