Good Customer Service Rocks My Socks Off

Since it’s been almost a decade since I purchased my last house, I’m suddenly being reminded of all the “fun” stuff that comes along with a home purchase.

One of those things I forgot about is the massive amount of signing* my own name. You sign your name a bunch. And when I say a bunch, I mean you sign a freaking craptastic amount of forms. Whether it’s to put in the initial contract, secure your new mortgage or actually go through the settlement for your new home, you’d better bone up on your full signature because you’ll be signing it over and over and over again.

Ok, I’m back on track from my tangent — one of the things that slipped my mind was that I’d have to call around and get quotes for homeowners insurance.

Even though we won’t be moving until the end of the month, in order to fully process our paperwork our mortgage guy needs to know that we have insurance lined up, as well as a quote for how much to include in our escrow account total.

When I did this forever ago for my townhouse, I asked around to see if anyone was happy with their insurance. A friend highly recommended Erie Insurance (offered through Patterson Insurance in Odenton, Maryland), so I switched my auto policy over to them when signing up for a homeowners insurance policy.

Unfortunately, when my husband and I got married and wanted to merge our auto insurance plans, they wouldn’t take him because he had a couple recent tickets and accidents. We switched both of our auto policies to Geico and kept the homeowners plan with Erie since Geico didn’t offer one at that time.

When we sold our townhouse, we discontinued our homeowner’s insurance plan and instead signed up for a renter’s insurance plan through Geico which gave us a multi-policy discount. Patterson Insurance was awesome about this and promptly sent me out a refund for the remaining money in my account.

Now that we’re in the market for homeowner’s insurance again, I figured I’d quote around at a couple different places. I asked my Facebook friends for their recommendations and got a few to work with. I also checked my account page on Geico to see if they offered the plan, but gave up after looking around and not finding anything.

So, I called the first company on my list – my previous company of Erie (through Patterson). The lady who I spoke to on the phone (yes, it was a REAL PERSON with no touchtone prompts!) was both super nice and super knowledgeable.  In less than 10 minutes, we went over every aspect of the new house and answered a ton of questions so that she could determine its value. She came back with a quote that was 20% less than the mortgage guy guessed it would be. She also went the extra mile to let us know that if we switched back our auto policies (which we can now do since there are no recent tickets or accidents), we could save an additional $200 each year.

Once I got off the phone with her, she emailed me the quote within 5 minutes and included the note that she’d be happy to prepare an auto quote if I send over our VIN numbers.

SOLD!

I didn’t have to yell at a computer for 15 minutes before finally speaking to a human?
There was no pressure to buy their services?
They offered full coverage at great prices?
The lady was knowledgeable about the plans and FRIENDLY?

I don’t even feel like I need to call anywhere else to get additional quotes, since I’m perfectly happy with what they’re offering!

And THAT is how you get business.

So let me do my part to pass on the positive reviews – if you’re looking to get a quote on an auto or homeowners insurance policy, take 10 minutes and call the Patterson Insurance Company.

*I accidentally mistyped that as singing my name, which sounds even more fun. And now I’m singing my name over and over in my head…

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2 thoughts on “Good Customer Service Rocks My Socks Off”

  1. Good to know about Patterson, Julie! I’m looking to change insurance companies and had been considering Erie, since that’s who my boyfriend has. Hearing another rave review (about the agent I’d actually be going with, no less) has me pretty much sold!

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