Auto-Owners Insurance St. Joseph Claims

"Zero Stars!!!!!!!!! GO TO ANOTHER COMPANY. AUTO-OWNERS ST. JOSEPH IS ABUSIVE. Was awesome before covid... horrible post covid. We have been customers of Auto Owners for well over a decade and the first time we had a claim in 2016 our Adjuster was Christa. (PRE COVID) She was so kind and made everything easy and check came with no problems. Now (POST COVID) Holly Messenger is managing our claim. Mike Smith her boss made me cry on the phone, told me that he wasn't going to build my claim for me. I don't know how to "build a claim". He was condescending, cruel, and verbally abusive. If you like to be abused by a company you are paying for services for ... Call Mike, like a narcissistic boyfriend he will blame you, degrade you and verbally abuse you. Mike is also "out of the office a lot." Mike told us to get an estimate... we did .... total for the estimate for repair was $29K Holly paid $16k. Mike and Holly already decided what they were going to pay, but they ran us around to get an estimates anyway. I called 4 contractors, 2 said they couldn't come till next year, one didn't call back and the one that showed up... Holly wants all kinds of extra documentation and now we are going to lose him. Everything is received with resistance and constantly making us run around more and more and we are treated punitively. My apartment in our family home has not be habitable for 8 weeks, I pay rent of $750 a month. My family asked for loss of rent and Holly asked for a lease so we sent it to her. Now she wants bank statements. WELL she didn't ask for that before. She wants proof, so she wants us to surrender our personal financial bank statements... NO! She asked for a lease. We gave it to her. Its rent well below the averages for the area, it's not extravagant. The policy says that if the unit is uninhabitable "We will pay". At this point because of the low amount of the check to repair now we are about to lose our contractor. It's very hard to get a contractor in this area. Holly even said she isn't really in this county so she doesn't really understand that it's hard to get workers around here in Southwest Michigan. We also had damage to our furniture in the move into the POD. Holly was dismissive and told us to talk to Service master... Service Master is pushing us off to who ever they hired to move the stuff. We didn't even meet these people, they came into the house like a thief and tossed everything into the POD. Nothing was wrapped, pants tossed blankets tossed. We didn't even know they were coming and it was done before we knew it. We pay for insurance for damages to our personal property... because of the leak it was moved out by an Auto Owners recommended "partnered" company... Service Master... now there is damage... Mike and Holly want us to chase our tails while our home is torn apart, we can't get it done near the amount Auto's wrote the check for and now they aren't going to cover what we pay for in the policy. We are totally disgusted with the treatment and how this has been handled and when we try to get upper management to address this, we get treated with more dismissal."

"Hit a deer Monday morning and contacted my local agency (The Ken Bleeker Agency who also helped speed this along), the adjustor was out Tuesday (it was totaled), I got my title to my local agent Katie who sped it over to Blaine or Jody, I had my payment in my account by Thursday and the car was gone Friday morning. Not only that, but I got more than I expected for my car. OI had the pleasure of getting to have Blaine and Jody handle my claim and I have to say they, along with the KBA’s Connie and Katie, did a too notch job. I’d give them all more stars if I could!"

"Was insured by them for 7-8 years. No accidents, no claims, not even a speeding ticket. I have paid my insurance ahead of time in 6 months increments the past 8 years as well. I got into a collision with a deere at 50-55mph on my 07 Honda Civic SI on Apr 5, 2022. My front end was wrecked and my vehicle began leaking dark fluid and coolant, and overheating. It was covered under comprehensive due to having the car fully covered as it is a collectible car at this point. 2 weeks later I had a surveillance appointment in Indianapolis as I am a 23 year old cancer patient. They mechanic tried his best to finish the vehicle in time. Picked up the vehicle and it was still leaking fluids after driving it about 20 miles. Called them first thing and after another week and a half of back and forth phone calls with the mechanic and my adjuster Denise, I was denied any supplemental work and was told it was coincidence and unrelated to the accident. Seemed like every time I talked with Denise she was more eager to get off the phone than she was to help a customer of almost 8 years. Our last conversation she refused to hear me out and felt the need to interrupt me multiple times over the phone. Made me feel like they did not care about doing the right thing and my needs went through one ear and out the other. I do not have the money or time to fight the denial with an attorney, even though I would win it's not worth it. I would rather put it into the car they lacked the ability to fix properly so I get my wheels back. This company has great rates, but gives you the hardest time if you file a claim, and my adjuster had terrible customer service etiquette. Denise had a total disregard for emotional distress was also very rude and interruptive. If you file a claim and receive her as the adjuster I would immediately request a different one. I also would not recommend this company to anyone I care about after this awful experience that left me with a 250$ bill for a broken car and more stress. Edit: My car is now fixed. They did in fact buy me a new transmission as they should've considering it was covered. I would still not recommend them and have filed for my next 6 months of insurance with state farm. Cheaper rates for full coverage as well. Just wanted to give auto owners a final pat on the back for losing a potential life time customer over a few thousand dollars you still ended up paying me anyways. Maybe next time do the right thing from the start."

"Always so friendly and helpful. Been using them since I was a teenager, 20 years later I'm still happy with their service."