State Farm: Hugo Gonzalez

State Farm has good rates, but an agent is only as good as his staff. Gonzalez was recommended to me by an agent in Manhattan. However, this office proved nearly impossible to get ahold of. Their hours seemed short. They did not answer their phones; they did not return my messages. When I did get ahold of an actual person, they were impolite and not very helpful. This was unacceptable because after two weeks of trying to get service from this office, my insurance was on the verge of lapsing. I eventually gave up and contacted Joe Nachbaur's office in Jersey City. His people were great. They helped me on the spot and even stayed after hours on a Friday evening to fill out my paperwork. Save yourself the annoyance and call Nachbaur instead.

NOT DISCLOSING COVERAGE UNDERSTANDABLY, SURPRISE.... YOU ARE NOT COVERED!!!! One year ago my wife and I had a flood in our apartment due to very heavy rain and the fact that they Path trains pump the water out into the Hoboken sewer system which is inadequate as it is. We were not aware of the risk of flooding because we are new to the area. The drain by our front door was backing up with water due to the overload on the sewer system. When our renters insurance came up for renewal we decided it was a good idea to get coverage for flooding. Then the following year another downpour caused the same problem despite having plumbers , contractors all come to resolve another potential flood. This time at least we had insurance coverage... or so we thought. I call up the representative at the Hoboken state farm branch to describe the situation and file a claim. The following week I receive a call stating that our FLOOD insurance DOESN'T COVER FLOODS that COME THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR!!! WTF is that!? This BS minor detail was not disclosed to us at the time of purchase. As a lay person I do not pretend to understand insurance (precisely for these reasons) so I expect the professional brokers that I go to, to clearly explain to me the coverage/exclusions that I am buying into. This never happened. I was very frustrated and explained this lack of being informed and demanded that my premiums for the FLOOD coverage be refunded immediately because I was sold something that I did not want nor did I understand and as I now understand it was misrepresented. They refused this and said that they can refund my entire policy amount prorated.... SO these people would rather let me cancel my coverage with them and loose out on my patronage then refund my few dollars that it cost to add "FLOOD" coverage.... Lousy group of individuals imo, poor business people to say the least, not just in how I was treated but in how they decided to manage their potential losses. Definitely not the kind of people I want to do business with. Buyer be ware.

State Farm increased its condo, flood, rental, and liability charges during this god awful recession. Is this how customers should be treated? As I'm not a shareholder and have no concern for their bottom line, I will take my business elsewhere.

Hugo Gonzalez, the State Farm agent assigned to our account, was not helpful in these matters.