American Family Customer Service
Rated 1.18 of 5 Stars
Based on 11 Complaints

Contact American Family Corporate

Toll free phone number: 1-800-692-6326

American Family Insurance www.amfam.com is privately owned and focuses on property, casualty and auto insurance but also offers commercial, health, life, homeowners and retirement planning. It is comprised of 14 insurance companies and has over 7500 employees. In 2014 revenues were reported as US 7.45 billion.

If you need to contact an associate you may call 1-800-692-6326. You may also find Contact information here. To send postal correspondence to CEO, Jack Salzwedel, address him at the corporate office address of 6000 American Parkway, Madison Wisconsin 53783.

Herman Wittwer started a small insurance company in 1927. He wrote policies for farmers because he thought they were better risks than city drivers and they usually didn’t drive in inclement weather. The name Farmers Mutual was changed to American Family Insurance in 1963. Social presence may be found on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn and YouTube.


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American Family Contact Information

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  • American Family headquarters address

    • 6000 American Parkway
    • Madison
    • WI 53783
  • Company website

  • 1-800 phone number

    1-800-692-6326
  • Better Business Bureau rating

    A+

  • Customer service hours

    24 hours a day

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Top American Family Complaints

Browse more than 11 reviews submitted so far

20

I just finished writing a report directly to the American Family Insurance (AFI) directly. When I hit the "submit" button, I received a notice
that my complaint was not accepted and I should try latter. In 2018 I visited the Grandview Office of AFI. Jacob Buttram is listed as the AGENT.
Buttram was not there at the time and a younger man said he could help me. I informed the individual that I wanted Home and Vehicle
Insurance. I stated that I own the Home and there was no Mortgages on the Home. For this reason I did not want the "Replacement" cost
of insurance, but wanted to insure the Home for $100,000. I have 2 vehicles and a Motorhome I also wanted Insured. This individual stated
AFI did not Insure Motorhomes. I just recently found out this statement was wrong, and I have had to use another Insurance Company to
cover my Motorhome. I paid for one full year of Insurance for my Home and 2 vehicles. When I received my Billing Statement for the following
year, my Homeowners Insurance was now $102,000. This made a increase in my cost for coverage. I went to the Grandview AFI office and
spoke with the same individual about this increase. He informed me that the Corporate Headquarters set this amount, and that he had
nothing to do with it, and could not change it. I needed Insurance for my Home and Vehicles, so I paid this new amount. I then filed a
Consumer Complaint with the Insurance Commission. They in turn contacted AFI Headquarters. Several months went by before I received
a response. AFI instructed me to contact the Agent at the Grandview location. By this time I had received my Property Tax Bill with a large
increase. Everyone located in Jackson County, Missouri also received an increase. I had Appealed both my Home and Motorhome Taxes
before, and Won. I was busy Appealing this property tax, and helping neighbors file their Appeals. I WON the Tax Appeal and my Home
Tax is set now at $52,900. because of surrounding home values. In November, my mother passed away, and again I had other issues to
address. As mentioned before, I had returned to the AFI office in Grandview. I decided to try and find another AFI Agent. I contacted 2
separate agents, but they did not want to come between the current AFI Agent. I then called the Grandview office, and a female answered
the phone. I asked to speak with Jacob Buttram, and was informed he was in a meeting. She asked if she could help, and I stated that I had
already filed a Complaint with the Insurance Commission and they contacted AFI Headquarters, who in turn instructed me to contact the
Agent handling my Insurance. This was on March 12th around 9:30 AM. I stayed at home all day waiting for a call from Buttram. On March
13th around noon I again called the Grandview office. The same female answered the phone. When I identified myself she stated that
Buttram had reviewed my file, and he did not find any mistakes. She also stated that Buttram stated if I did not agree with the AFI, I should
find another Insurance Company. Buttram never knew about the Motorhome and I do not know if knows that I own the home with no
mortgage. I want a "Different AFI Agent" and will not deal with Buttram again. I will go to another Insurance Company before Buttram.

20

Claim #01-001-781120

Greetings:
We have been insured with your company for 20 plus years with never an accident until recently. We first were assigned an adjuster who said he would recommend auto repair shops or we can choose our own place. Very nice. Then suddenly we were reassigned another adjuster by the name of Elizabeth Kempka. She emails to let me know that she will send out a team. She notifies me that it is a total loss. She sends me isolated photos telling me that the Toyota Camry 2015 model isn’t in good shape. However, it was in very good condition prior to the accident. Sends us a lousy quote when we have researched and know the model can sell for 14,000.00 plus. My son, Jonathan, of whose property the vehicle is parked, calls Elizabeth to discuss the price and her response is to call two auto dealers and ask a price. No other evaluation. Didn’t tell us who she called.We are given a lousy price and basically an ultimatum—take it or go to court. We felt like there isn’t really a choice. We take the price. Go through the title process. The tow truck comes to take it to Copart in Moraine,Ohio. They state that they are just contracted to tow, they can not take the personal items out of the jammed (from the accident) trunk and to call Copart. I call Copart. The rep tells me that the adjuster needs to call and verify, then no problem. I call Elizabeth— she is out of the office for a number of days —which is the third time by the way in a relatively short period of working with her that she is out of the office—and refers per voice message to ext.72230 or pwilderm@amfam.com. I call Paul. Dogs are barking in the background, he is distracted and puts me on hold a number of times. Then he says everything is all set. I decided to call Copart since Paul appeared to care less. Copart said that they just got off the phone with the adjuster and everything was not set. Proper information was not given. I proceeded to update the company with the info. he should have given them.

I am very dissatisfied with your company. I am a long term customer who deserves full reimbursement for our vehicle for the proper resale lot price. I should have had the initial opportunity in checking myself with an auto repair place for a proper assessment as was first offered. I feel that Elizabeth was fairly terse in her dealings with me. After my son called, and we have been courteous, she said they made the final offer based on two phone calls, no other at site professional evaluation. And to finalize the situation, the last rep named Paul was obviously at a location outside the office, his home or wherever, and was not interested in my call, put me on hold 3 times over a total of about a 10 minute call and was fairly discourteous. He did not put things in order and if I had not called Copart my family members may have well been inconvenienced with an hour drive to retrieve my personal items out of the trunk that the tow company refused to deal with if they had driven to Copart today. And it seems that it would be preferable if those items could be sent to my son’s home versus him having to drive an hour to pick them up.
I would like to make the suggestion that you treat your customers with common courtesy, give them the option to get an evaluation themselves, give the best price for the vehicle in question, especially if they have been a long term customer with a good track record, and also that your substitute reps be
courteous and professional. We will be waiting for the reimbursement for the vehicle. No one has yet notified us on how this will be accomplished—per direct deposit or mailed to us—just that we will get it after the car is at the lot. Thank you for your time. I believe this about the second time in my life that I have ever sent a written complaint about anything but the last incident was the final straw as well as a general feeling of being ripped off by your company.

Kind regards,
Suzanne O’Shea

20

After having a collision with an American Family insured, I have spent the past 2 weeks trying to get a settlement and still have no resolution in this matter. Let me be clear that I am not the American Family consumer or insured, but I am the owner of a vehicle which was found to be not at fault at the scene of the collision as the other party admitted fault to the reporting police officer and to their insurance, American Family. Since there was no dispute as to the liable party, I believed the claim would be resolved quickly. However, it took 4 days just to get a call back from American Family after leaving messages with the claim handler. During that time, I had to rent a vehicle myself as my car was not drivable and was at a body shop for an estimate of repairs. I did call American Family about making a rental car reservation but did not receive a call back until 7/17 and was told the accident investigation was not complete yet so no reservation could be made. During that time, no attempt had been made to contact me about the accident investigation. The accident occurred on Saturday, 7/13 at approximately 12:30am. I made arrangements to get the vehicle to a shop on 7/15 as the window wouldn't roll up and the door handle was hanging off and I had no way to secure the vehicle or protect it from rain. I also called American Family rental car division on Monday 7/15 and was told that I could go ahead and rent a car with Enterprise but to request that they direct bill American Family. I did go to Enterprise to rent a car on 7/16, as again, my car was not drivable, but was told once I got there they do not direct bill insurance companies and the reservation would have to come from American Family. So I went ahead and rented the car myself but called American Family on Monday, 7/15 and again on Tuesday, 7/16 to try to get the claim complete so that the rental could be covered. I got a call back from the claim handler on Wednesday 7/17 and myself and the driver of my vehicle then spoke to the Claim handler again on 7/17 and on Thursday 7/18 in order to hopefully get the investigation completed. I then received a call from a scheduler, who notified me that the accident investigation was complete and liability had been assigned to their insured and someone would be scheduled to assess the vehicle damage on Friday, 7/19. At the time of this call, I was also notified that American Family would make a rental car reservation for me since my car was not drivable. I explained that I had already rented a car on 7/16 due to my vehicle being non-drivable and was told they would post-date the reservation so that I did not incur the cost of the rental myself since I was not the liable party. I then received a call from the damage inspector/adjustor (I apologize that I don't know the exact job titles) on Friday 7/19 in the late afternoon and he explained to me that my vehicle was a total loss although could not give me specific amounts as to the value of the vehicle, except that it was valued "around $7,200". He di let me know the damages were at least $7200 and that he realized this was lower than the body shop damage estimate which was quoted at $8800. I have not received any specifics on his damage estimate, but would like to know where the $1600 discrepancy is, at least to satisfy my own curiousity. However, I took down this info and was told my rental car would have an end date of 7/24/19 and that someone would be in touch to go over the next steps. Within approximately 5-10 minutes of this phone call, the gentleman called me back again to let me know that he just discovered the accident investigation had not yet been completed and liability not yet assigned and to disregard the rental car return date he had given me earlier. He then stated someone would be in touch with me again once the accident investigation was complete and liability had been assigned. I was confused as to why I had received a call stating that this was complete and liability had been assigned if that was not the case. Furthermore, I did not understand why they would have scheduled someone to estimate the damage or make a rental car reservation if they had not yet assigned liability. Because of these concerns, I called American Family back the following Monday 7/22 and left a message. I called again on Wednesday, 7/24 as I still hadn't heard from anyone, and found out that the original claim handler was out of the office until the following week and would not have access to voicemail or e-mail. So I spoke to someone in Customer service and explained the whole story as listed above. She explained that for some reason the claim was not closed and I needed to speak to the Claim handler. I told her that person is out of the office until the following week, so she took the information and I was told someone would get back in touch with me. I called Enterprise on Thursday 7/25 at approx. 5:40pm after not receiving a call back from anyone at American Family to ask if they had a date for my rental return. The gentleman then looked in the records and told me that at around 5:30pm on 7/25, American Family put in a last date for the car of 7/24. Again being confused, I asked if that was normal procedure to post-date a reservation ending like that especially when American Family had not settled with me yet. He explained that if no settlement had been reached, the rental car should not have an end date yet. So I called American Family again that evening, Thursday 7/25 and spoke to someone in customer service to explain this whole story again and she got me to the rental department who agreed to move the end date of the reservation to Friday 7/26. The rental dept representative did explain that the damage adjustor/representative would be in touch with me the following day to go over the numbers with me and to set a new end date on the rental car. she explained that by setting the date for the following day (Friday 7/26) this would ensure that someone looked at it and would call me to resolve the claim. No one called me on Friday 7/26, so I called again and spoke to someone in customer service and went through the story again. she got me back to the rental department who then contacted the damage department and told me that since my car was drivable, the claim was never sent on yet. During almost every conversation I have listed above, I explained that the car is not drivable as the damaged body of the vehicle is rubbing against the tire and the wheel was damanged causing safety issues on that side as well. She went back and forth with the gentleman who examined the vehicle and determined it driveable, but agreed that it didn't sound safe if the tire is actually grinding against the body anytime the wheel is turned. Not to mention that the door doesn't open, has no handle, and no window with no way to secure the vehicle. She then notified me that the gentleman who inspected the car changed his mind and would agree that it would not be safe to drive, making it "not drivable". Up until this point, I had no idea they had the vehicle listed as drivable and I have a 33 pictures of the damage to the body, tire, wheel, frame, etc.. which I though gave ample proof that it was not safe to drive. I still failed to understand how the car was listed as driveable or why this would prolong the process of settling a claim now almost 2 weeks post-accident. She then said that for some reason the claim was never sent to the "total loss department". During all these multiple converstaions over the past 2 weeks, at no time did anyone mention a total loss department that I needed to speak with. I was given the extension for the salvage department, but was then told they were not the department that could help me. At the end of the conversation today, I was told again that someone would be getting in touch with me to go over the settlement, let me know what to do next, and would set a new end date for my rental car. At this point, I have very little faith that this will happen. I have been told over the course of this ordeal that I have to speak to the original claims handler who was out of pocket, and then that I needed to resolve it with the person who actually inspected the damage, an now the total loss department, and I am beyond frustrated as I cannot pursue buying a new vehicle until this is resolved and I can let my bank know so that I can settle my loan there and get a new loan for the purchase of a different car. After 2 weeks, to not even have a settlement is very disappointing and I feel that American Family is not concerned, or they are just that unaware of the process that they are unable to navigate through this. It is unacceptable to have this issue prolonged for this amount of time.

20

I have a 2017 VW Tiguan 2.0 S 4Motion with 50K miles which Edmunds Cars estimates it value at $26,970. I have never had a claim and the car is in perfect condition. It was maintained by VW extended maintenance contract. The interior is perfect. Unfortunately it was caught in a hail storm so I took it to the claim adjustor and he totaled the car. Now I went looking for the same car and mileage and they are selling for $20,000+. He is saying the car value is $15,000 which is the lowest price listed by Kelly Blue Book for the base model. The insurance says that the threshold is 75% of the car value, but for some fine print and unexplained reason they dropped this to 60% and if you look at Edmunds your dropping below 50%. Now what I am getting is only enough to pay off the loan and my parent are giving me there old car to drive. My husband and I just bought a house 2 days before this happened and do not have the cash to by another car. We were planning to bundle our Insurance under American Family but if this is the tricks you pull not to pay we will not have anything more to do with you. I assume you are taking the car and wholesaling it or parting it out for more than your giving me. I am also going to file a complaint with the BBB and Kansas Insurance Commission. I believe this is blatant corruption to take your policy holder to the cleaner and leave them hanging. I wish I could erase the 1 star rating and make it nothing. Now when I go to get a car with no trade in I will have to pay full sales tax. I'm just really getting screwed from every direction from this company. We had a quote from a body shop for $9,500 to fix it but your adjustor ignored it and said the damage was $11,000+. I have heard you outsource your claim adjustment to a 3rd party. This 3rd party wouldn't happen to be buying the cars at salvage value????? Sound like a insurance scam/fraud to me and that's what I going to ask the Kansas Insurance Commission to look into. It's nice when you have grandmother that worked for the Kansas Corporate Commission and still have friend that can help look into this.

20

My complaint is against the fraudulent and illegal services made by Ben Roberts an agent in Taney County, Missouri. My home of 20 years, which has been in my granny's the whole 20 years, since I was 19 when I purchased my home. The Insurance, although I paid the insurance once a year in full (with my taxes) to my granny, wherein she made the payment. After the passing of my granny back in March. It looks as if Ben Roberts, has taken my already paid insurance and given my little cousin (that he has been friends with since grade school) a prorated amount of my homes insurance. Which for one can't be done. My home is still in my grandmothers name, as id the bank note. Which has to be insured through her until a name change or buy out were to happen, between the bank and I. So not only did Ben give the money I had payed away. Noe the house is no longer insured, making it impossible to get a loan on it. Not only that. Ben approved and made an account in my name, and now I have a huge bill. All of this was done without my consent. I in no manner would have ever used Ben as my agent nor would I have used American Family. I may file charges against American Family and Ben Roberts himself for doing this without my consent. IT'S MORE THAN ILLEGAL. He should not only be fined he should lose his lisence for such wrong doings as well.

20

After talking with American Family Underwriters today, I was informed that as of 4-10-18 my husband, Jeff Miller, requested that I be deleted from our auto insurance coverage without my consent or being notified of such change. Mark Lightner is the agent who has initiated this change. The new policy states Jeff Miller as the only insured driver. Therefore, I am daily driving a 2017 Acura without being listed as an insured driver. I would like my name reinstated and my daughter's name reinstated on the auto policy until this matter is resolved. I am hoping to resolve this without contacting the Missouri Department of Insurance. The court has order, Jeff Miller, to pay for insurance coverage while the car is in my possession. If this is an error on the agent's part, this can be corrected by adding my name back on the auto policy. Please contact me as soon as possible.

Thank you,

Carol Miller

20

I no longer want Barbara Hall as an American Family Agent. A while back I decided not to continue my coverage of TERM life insurance because I could not longer afford the cost. Apparently Barb Hall could not offer me Whole life so I decided I was throwing money out the window... $174.00 dollars a month throwing money out the window. Nonetheless, I called Barb and said I no longer want life insurance and she got upset said "Sandy, you need life insurance"... and hung up on me and didn't say sorry but thank you talk to you later. As a friend I decided to let it go. However, I still went through the proper procedures to discontinue my life insurance and no longer have it. Furthermore, a personal issue happened between a mutual friend of ours and I decided not to have anything to do with this person and Barb Hall and any people associated with and that included Barb. I received an advertisement in the mail with Barbs picture on it stating "Lets Talk" so I called the number and left a message to please remove my address from their records. That was about 6 months ago or less. JUST, yesterday, I received a letter from Barb Hall agency to advertise insurances AGAIN. So I called the number that Barb has on this advertisement and AGAIN, STATED I no longer want her as an agent and IF I want to obtain insurance from American Family, I will deal with another agent, but NOT HER. I am not sure if she received the message, however, I am making sure I never get another statement or advertise from Barb Hall's agency ever again! Just so you know, I have no issues with American Family as a company JUST Barb Hall. Hopefully this matter will be taken care of. Thank you for your time and have a great day.

Sandra Drinkuth

20

I had Family Insurance since Jan 2017 so I thought I had the Insurance company take out my payments out of my bank account once a month so I did not think nothing of it until last week Ive seen my statements and they had cancelled my insurance in Feb 2018 and I was not notified, called, emailed or anything .But when you guys wanted me to get your insurance you called over 50 times a week emailed me and left messages, but not this time I was really upset on how they handled this situation without notifying me, this was the office on Armitage and Kedzie in Chicago ill I want something to be done to this office because what if there was a fire or something? I here thinking that I'm fully insured and I was not please handle this situation and I'm also Filling a complaint to the attorney generals office to let them know what they did to me and maybe others. If you would like to contact me my number is 847-873-4765 Joaquin Lopez I stay at 1413 N keeler Chicago Ill 60651.

40

I am in the process of trying to file a claim for a cracked windshield with American Family claims department. American Family after calling me 3 times ordered the wrong windshield after Id waited over a week. I attempted calling the third party glass people to try and have it done at Mini Cooper of St. Louis the dealership refused to accept the claim due to past poor payments from this glass company. I had to call my local American Family agency where I attempted to try and resolve my issues at this point I had to deal with Wendy at Kenya Garners office she was rude, basically told me my source was wrong about payment and just wanted to argue with me.

I have had one other incident with her when I called to get my policy number prior to calling the glass company and she wanted to argue with me stating I didn't need it even though the recording stated I did. I have had American Family insurance for over 2 years and everyone in my family has insurance with this office. I am now going to start looking at other insurance companies.. This is someone that doesn't need to be in customer service. I asked to talk to my agent kenya garner and was told she wasn't available. I am very unhappy with the service I have received. This corporate office hasn't been the same lately.

40

I been trying to cancel my American Family disability insurance for 1 month. I have sent a written letter to my agent John to cancel this insurance and I was told that the information was sent to American Family bank. I received my car note payment booklet and still the insurance is still a part of my payment. I have been on the phone with American Family about this problem over 2 hrs. This is not right the way this company treats their customer. Please sent new payment booklet without the insurance applied!

20

I had been with American Family Insurance for quite many years now. I had a surgery last month and needed to file a claim. I contacted them and the executive at American Family Insurance was very pleasant to deal with.

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