DO NOT USE STATE FARM - PRIVACY BREACH and INCOMPETENCE
TL;DR: State Farm just gave me full access to my uncle's State Farm account without his permission or knowledge. We have no assets in common, except we share names, partially (he is Ben, I go by Benjamin). I can see/edit 8 of his various policies that I have nothing to do with. They "cannot find my user ID" and I now have to wait for a ticket to be resolved in order to access my own account information.
I have been using State Farm for a couple of years on several homes that we have insured in Georgia. I also have a credit card with them. They have continuously had a very poor online experience, ridden with errors on their part. I have stayed with them because I was too lazy to change numerous policies.
They 'lost' my username/password, and upon calling customer support, they logged me into my uncle's account.
Here is what happened today:
- I just tried to login to pay a credit card payment, my password did not work. I tried this twice, because on the third time it blocks more attempts.
- I clicked "retrieve password", but the system did not recognize my user id & birthdate combination.
- I clicked "retrieve username" and received my username by email
- The username was in fact the username that I attempted to login with.
- I called customer support to repair access. They asked for my birthdate for verification, along with 3 security questions. That worked. They said they couldn't find my username (WHAT? You just emailed it to me). They asked if I wanted to use another username that they suggested, so I said OK. They gave me a temporary password.
- I log into my account, the system asked me to change my password, done.
- I am logged in, I don't see my property, nor my credit card. But I do see 8 other policies. They logged me into my uncles account, allowed me to change his password, and now I can tweak his account online however I wish, now I can:
- Add a driver
- Report a claim
- Change principal driver
- Change garage address
- Change coverage
- Change vehicle usage
- Change personal info
- Add additional interest
- Change coverage
- Report a claim
After I informed them of this data breach, they have hidden my uncle's policies. I still see his Agent's information, and his email address. I am now trying to pay my credit card, and they are asking me to enter my CC# and 3 digit security code in order to display my CC bill and pay it.
I am not going to enter any more information online with State Farm and will be leaving their services entirely once I find alternative home insurance products.
I don't know what other companies are better, but I find it hard to believe than anyone could be worse than State Farm at protecting your privacy and providing an easy online experience.