Smith Insurance Group VERY POOR SERVICE Sarasota Florida

Re: Smith Insurance Group - Very Poor Service

I was notified by my Home Owners Insurance carrier that I needed to replace my roof or my insurance would be cancelled.  I received this notice about 8 months before my renewal.  I went ahead and had my roof replaced with a metal roof, secondary water barrier and fortified to today’s code.  Still with plenty of time for the renewal, I provided all of the necessary information to the agent (Alexis Smith)regarding the completed roofing project.

Her last email to me was "I will get this sent to the company and we will see what it saves you. Let's give it a few weeks and then we can follow-up, but you will be getting a new declaration page in the mail as well."

I was waiting for this declaration page to come in the mail and never received it.  When I followed up with Alexis, I find out that I had been dropped by the carrier.  I was NOT even notified of this by Smith Ins Group.  It was my follow-up that spurred them to look into it.  Meanwhile, I was without insurance for the month of Sept - Hurricane Season in Florida!!

I was first surprised at their response, which was blaming the carrier (St Johns) and I let them know that was not my concern - Smith is my agent and they should be on top of this, especially communicating back to me.  She then dusted that over by quickly getting me into another company who offered me a good rate, but appeared to be a bait and switch because the long and short of it - I was now paying about $1,000 MORE after replacing my old roof...

Lastly, I went back to Alexis (to offer a chance for retribution) and find out why the amount was so much higher now, as this was nowhere close to the quotes she provided originally and she said they were the best she could do.  I let her know this was unacceptable, especially since the reason (I felt) the insurance was so much higher was because I had a lapse in coverage.  She again refused to take responsibility and even stated "they are not babysitters"...

I would highly recommend anyone looking for a Home Owners Insurance Agency to NOT use Smith Insurance Group unless you are looking for problems and poor service.  Not only are they not "babysitters" - but they don’t do their jobs!