Our Allstate Ombudsman Experience

Disclaimer:  What you read here are my recollections and opinions of events that I experienced with Allstate - and should not be considered statements of fact.  In this story of our experience with Allstate, in the interest of honesty and transparency, I include the names and titles of the Allstate employees that I interacted with.  This is not out of any sort of malicious intent but to inform other people who might have a similar experience with those customer facing employees, so that they may know that they are not alone. All links are already public knowledge as people advertise themselves on LinkedIn.

A tale of corporate indifference and avoidance

Ombudsman

The concept of an ombudsman once inspired confidence.  Originally, an ombudsman was an impartial government employee tasked with investigating and resolving complaints of maladministration, especially that of public authorities — to hold powerful institutions accountable while ensuring fairness and transparency.

This was someone independent, impartial, and dedicated to addressing complaints of injustice or systemic failure.  The ombudsman’s goal, as a citizen advocate, was to identify systemic issues leading to wrongdoing, unfairness, or breaches of people's rights.  Once a problem was identified, the ombudsman acted as a mediator to assist the parties reach a resolution.

But how does that ideal translate when the "ombudsman" is an employee of a corporation like Allstate? Can such a person ever be truly impartial? Or is this role just another bureaucratic layer to legitimize decisions already made by lower levels of customer service? After all, how can someone critique the very company that signs their paycheck?

First Contact

On November 21, Tammy Dockery passed my concerns on to the office of the Allstate ombudsman’s office and I was no longer her problem.  On November 22, I received an email from Jocelyn Flaherty, Allstate’s “Senior Manager, Strategic Transformation & Ombudsman, ACG Complaint Officer Law & Regulation.” Quite the grandiose title, dripping with authority. I asked her to clarify how an in-house ombudsman could be impartial. Her response:  "In this case, the Ombudsman is an impartial mediator that addresses complaints by conducting an investigation on the matters brought forth. They are Step 3 as part of the Complaint Resolution process."

A link to Allstate’s Complaint Resolution Process was included, but my skepticism only deepened.  What could this “investigation” achieve when my previous inquiries had gone nowhere?  I already sensed the forgone conclusion.  Now, all I had to do was wait.

The Final Position

With our insurance set to lapse in just three days, we anxiously awaited a resolution.  On November 26, we received Allstate’s “final position letter”.  In the email, I was informed:

“Please find attached, our final position letter in response to your complaint to the Ombudsman’s Office regarding policy #158XXXX.

While we can appreciate that you may have experienced a degree of frustration with your customer service experience at Allstate, we want to ensure that all interactions with our Allstate employees are conducted with respect and dignity.  As such, we kindly ask that all future interactions and communications with our employees are conducted in that manner.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Authentically,

Rosemarie

Rosemarie Davis, JD, CIPP/C
Director, Compliance & Business Conduct, Chief Compliance Officer, Law & Regulation”

Before opening the letter, I was shocked by the reprimand that I had received!  “We want to ensure that all interactions with our Allstate employees are conducted with respect and dignity. As such, we kindly ask that all future interactions and communications with our employees are conducted in that manner.”   First, Allstate did not treat me with respect and dignity, causing frustration, yet they demanded that I treat them with respect and dignity. This thinly veiled threat seemed more focused on policing my persistence in finding and answer than addressing the issue at hand.

Frustration:  the feeling of being upset, annoyed, discouraged, because of an inability to change or achieve something - especially when someone hinders or thwarts your efforts.

I share the letter.  Since I am not communicating with Allstate employees, I can be my genuine self when I say that I felt like Allstate had thrown yet another shovelful of corporate bullshit at me.

I persisted in asking

We had one primary concern: why was my mother, Ljubica Zidarić—a loyal customer of 30 years—being charged over double the premium I was quoted for the same property? I asked:

“Our concern is that there is an error in the "factors" that you use for your premium calculations. For that reason we asked about what the "factors" are that go into the "insurance score" on which the premium is based so that we can fix this problem.

Ponder this: When I, Zeljko Zidarić, requested an online quote, I was given a premium of $1,284 per year yet my mother has a premium of$2,859.

The property is the same, but the people are different.

What is the difference in the insurance score that my mother has and that I have?

Can you provide us with our insurance scores?

For Zeljko Zidarić and Ljubica Zidarić.

Why do I, who has never had home insurance get a low quote, but Ljubica Zidarić, a 30-year customer, have a premium that is $1,575 higher?

BTW - if you check the account history you will see that my mother has never made a late payment.

How can we feel confident that Allstate has not been overcharging Ljubica Zidarić over the last few years?

Is it that she is almost 75 years old?
Is it that she is visually impaired?

When you provide an answer to that,
then our curiosity will be satisfied.”

Instead of transparency, we received vague assurances from Tim Xu, an "Inside Service Escalation Specialist," who claimed: “In response to your concerns on the insurance score, confirming the insurance score on the policy has been explained and is correct.”   He added coldly: “Again, if payment is not received by end of business day Nov 28th 2024 , there will be no insurance coverage on the property as of November 29, 2024 (12:01 a.m.) and we will assume you have placed insurance elsewhere.”

I was flabbergasted by his statement because the insurance score was never explained to us and we were never informed about what our insurance scores are - much less why they are what they are.  I responded to Mr Xu, “I know that we have gone through your process and we are still no better informed about why my mother's premiums have skyrocketed. The "insurance score" HAS NOT been explained, the only information that I have is the information that I found by myself.”   I ended asking, “Is this how Allstate treats customers with dignity and respect?”

Ghosted

Despite numerous requests, including to Rosemarie Davis and Jocelyn Flaherty, I never received answers to our key questions:

"1. When did Allstate start using credit scores to determine insurance scores and premiums for home insurance in Ontario?

2. What weighting does the credit score have in determining the insurance score?

3. When did Allstate access the credit score of Ljubica Zidarić? (we were never made aware of this)

4. When did Allstate ask for the consent of Ljubica Zidarić to access her credit score?

5. What is the insurance score of Ljubica Zidarić?"

All that we received was silence - and pay the bill, or receive a negative mark on our insurance score, which we still do not understand.

Puffery - or a lie?

Allstate, in their own Code of Consumer Rights & Responsibilities, promises that customers have a "right to be informed":

• You can expect to access clear information about your policy, your coverage, and the claims settlement process. 
• You also have a right to know how insurers calculate price based on relevant facts.

Allstate makes promises and expects respect and dignity, but if it cannot—or will not—explain how they calculate premiums, what does their promise mean?

The next step in escalation

What kind of a son would fail to protect his mother’s interests?  In the face of injustice, I am a persistent pit-bull.  Allstate’s final position letter suggested escalating the matter to the General Insurance OmbudService (GIO) - and that is what I resolved to do.