American Family Insurance

I filed a claim for damage in my lower level. I called my adjuster many times with no return calls. I finally just called the customer service number and asked for claims. I'm waiting to see if they get back to me after I emailed them a final bill for my repair project. I'm very disappointed on their lack of communication. It leaves you questioning what your next step should be.

I was with American Family Insurance for home and auto insurance for over two years. I started looking into other insurance companies and found that State Farm offered the same policy as American Family. Just on the auto policy, it was over $100 cheaper a month than American Family The home insurance is $650 cheaper per year for the same policy as American Family. This brought relief to my monthly payments. The Umbrella is $10 cheaper a month. This makes me think that American Family agents are living on commissions. Auto, Home, Umbrella. I surely am saving a lot of cash each year by moving on.

I am extremely dissatisfied with the service I have received from American Family Insurance and the following are a series of issues that have led me to seek a new insurance provider at my next renewal.

In March 2025, my bank account information was compromised multiple times which lead me to change to a new banking institution. I updated American Family Insurance with the new bank account information and payments were successfully processed from the new account for four consecutive months with that new bank account. However, in July 2025, American Family inexplicably attempted to pull my monthly payment from the old, closed bank account.

When I contacted customer service, I was repeatedly informed that the payment was "returned by my bank," despite my repeated explanations that the account had been closed months prior. The lack of comprehension and inability to address the issue at hand was incredibly frustrating.

As a result of this error on behalf of American Family Insurance, I was informed that I would be required to pay both the July and August premiums to reinstate my policy, which I believe is entirely unfair given that the error originated on American Family's end. Keep in mind that these conversations were taking place in July so why should I have to pay the next month installment (August) in advance because of something American Family screwed up?!

My attempts to resolve this issue with customer service were met with significant incompetence. Despite speaking with multiple representatives and waiting on hold for 25 minutes for a supervisor who never joined the phone call, I received no resolution. Even after contacting my local agent and explaining the situation, the July payment was incorrectly attempted from the closed bank account, yet again!

During this period, my wife delivered our baby, making it difficult for me to extensively pursue and correct this situation. To compound the frustration, all policy information, including history, was removed from the American Family website during the cancellation process. This is a terrible practice by American Family Insurance because it severely hinders a customer's ability to rectify issues and make necessary payments to avoid cancellation independently. After all, the majority of the world is working remotely these days so we should have the ability to access the information online without having to call a very incompetent customer service team.

Ultimately, I was forced to make a larger-than-average payment to reinstate my policy, which significantly strained my budget and was a direct consequence of American Family's repeated errors.

Furthermore, the recent dramatic increase in my home insurance premium, leading to an over $500 monthly increase in my mortgage payment after only 14 months in my home with zero claims, is unacceptable.

Given these numerous inconsistencies, the pervasive incompetence I have encountered with your customer service, and the exorbitant premium increase, my wife and I will be moving all our policies to a different carrier at our next renewal. We will not be returning to American Family Insurance in the future.

I have been with American Family for 10 years. So far, up until this year, they have been good to me when it came to pricing for the homeowners and car insurance. This year I received information that my homeowners insurance would go up by $300. I received a call from the agency and renewed my homeowners insurance, thinking that was just how it is. When the policy was reviewed, it turned out to be almost $400 more. A few days later, my escrow account was charged the first agreed amount, leading me to think they gave me a discount. Then, a week later, another amount was deducted from my account, which disrupted my escrow account and my monthly payment. I've been trying to straighten this out for three months to return to normal, adding at least $1200 to my payments and escrow account. I am disappointed that this can happen and that people's lives, money, and escrow accounts can get messed up like this. What if someone is not knowledgeable about matters like this? You've just complicated their lives!

I was insured with American Family for about 12 years for auto and homeowners. Last year, they abruptly dropped us after we filed two water damage claims, which were totally out of our control. We had only one claim prior to that during the entire time with them. Of course, this put us in a very difficult position as we had to find a different insurer within a month, which cost us much more due to our 'high risk' status. I know that this is how these insurers operate, but this seemed especially cold and abrupt, and cost us a lot of extra time and money. I would definitely suggest avoiding American Family and looking at other insurance options.

I've had wall-in insurance on my condo for 16 years. It was fine until I had a claim. A pipe broke in the wall behind my cabinets. It was the kitchen drain pipe, so the leak was slow. The HOA covered the plumbing and the wall repair, but I was responsible for the cabinet damage since they are my upgrades to the interior of the property. This is the reason to have insurance.

My plan covers: "Accidental discharge or overflow of water or steam from within a plumbing, heating , air conditioning or automatic fire protection sprinkler system or household appliance." It seems pretty straightforward that this would cover a broken pipe leaking water.

However, my claim was denied because they say the plumbing leak was "wear and tear", and that is not covered. This denial seemed ridiculous to me. It would be "wear and tear" if I told them my cabinets are old and I want them to pay to replace them. That wasn't the case; they were damaged by accidental water leakage that no one could have reasonably prevented.

My conclusion is that they are disingenuous with what their plan documents purport to cover and the way they evaluate actual claims, and this makes their insurance useless.

Stay far away from American Family Insurance. This company treats its customers poorly and will go out of its way to push you off your policy.

They demanded proof that my roof was replaced. I provided them with an invoice from the licensed contractor who did the work. That should have been sufficient—but no. They demanded photos, so I took photos from the ground. Still not good enough. Now they're insisting that I physically climb onto the roof to take pictures myself—even after I told them I am mobility-limited and cannot do that safely.

This is outrageous, discriminatory, and feels like a direct violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. They are well aware I cannot climb onto a roof, yet they continue to threaten cancellation if I don't comply. Why isn't my contractor's invoice sufficient? Why can they send inspectors when they want to penalize homeowners, but suddenly can't send one to confirm repairs? The answer is simple: it's about money.

American Family's behavior is predatory, unsafe, and designed to trap and punish their customers. They have no interest in protecting homeowners—they're focused on forcing people out of coverage so they can avoid paying claims.

If you're considering American Family, I advise against it. They will discriminate, harass, and bully you until you give up. I would never recommend them to anyone.

I was a loyal American Family Insurance customer for over 8 years, but after a recent experience, I will never use or recommend this company again.

I submitted a vandalism claim for my vehicle while I was on military orders. Because I couldn't deliver the car myself, my spouse dropped it off at the shop. This caused a miscommunication about what damage was being claimed. That misunderstanding escalated the case to the Special Investigations Unit. Enter Dave Bell, the worst representative I have ever dealt with from any company.

He called, stating that I would receive $0 for my claim and demanded a recorded statement from me without explaining why it was necessary, what it would be used for, or what I would have to say. When I asked about how I could submit an appeal, he stated I couldn't and refused to clarify why, and instead threatened to take me to court and said I was "failing to comply with my policy." I told him I wasn't refusing but wanted more information. After more back and forth, he reiterated that I could be taken to court for failing to comply and hung up.

He later emailed asking for the statement again, so I called American Family to request a new representative due to poor communication. A few days later, Dave Bell called back, again hostile, stating, "You can't just speak to someone else just because you don't like me." I said it wasn't personal — we weren't communicating well. I asked to speak to a manager. He said no.

When I told him I had a police report stating it was vandalism, he replied, "I used to be a cop — police reports mean nothing." His entire tone was aggressive, unhelpful, and demeaning. I didn't feel like a valued customer — or even a respected human being. I had legitimate questions, and he refused to answer them.

Eventually, I resent pictures of the damages, explained exactly what I was claiming, resent the police report, and stated I would have a legal team with me for the next phone call. Conveniently, after further review with an adjuster, Dave finally stated via email that the adjuster would let me know how much I would be receiving — no apology, no further explanation.

At no point was I ever informed I was being investigated for potential fraud. That only became clear after speaking with my local agent, asking why I was being met with hostility. My agent explained that my notes stated I was being investigated for fraud. If I had known upfront, I would've understood the need for a recorded statement and approached the situation differently. Instead, I was treated like a criminal with zero transparency.

On top of that, my case manager Erica was slow to follow up. I was told I'd be contacted shortly after the investigation was resolved. Instead, I had to reach out multiple times, request multiple callbacks, and eventually speak with a manager just to get an update. This wouldn't have been as bad if I hadn't already had the terrible experience with Dave Bell.

My recommendations for American Family Insurance:
- Notify customers if their claim is being investigated as fraud.
- Retrain Dave Bell on how to speak to paying customers.
- Send a formal notification when an investigation ends.
- Improve internal communication between teams.

I understand that investigations are necessary, especially when something appears suspicious — but the lack of transparency, the poor handling of my questions, and, most notably, the rude, aggressive, and unprofessional conduct of Dave Bell made this a horrible experience.
This entire situation could've been resolved and avoided in one respectful conversation. Instead, it took a month, involved threats of court, and made me lose all trust in the company. 8 years of trust, paying on time, and comfort down the drain. It hurts to have your car vandalized; it hurts more to have your insurance company treat you like a criminal, but it's simply inexcusable to have your insurance company dehumanize you and never explain their actions while they are hostile toward you and never apologize or try to rectify the situation.

Do better, American Family Insurance. Do much better, Dave Bell.

Rachelle Bariola's agency in WI was unable to help me or offer any support for multiple issues. Not even support—first, I had a flood in the house. She wouldn't help me at all; the homeowners policy didn't include specific flood insurance (separate extra coverage). Thousands of dollars and not a finger lifted to help clean up the flooded basement and get it back to living conditions. Then, this is the latest issue because insurance companies are literally worthless. I had movers come to assist, and they stole all my diamond rings... Guess what? You are correct again; Rachelle Bariola's agency is unable to help or support. She was unable to get me money back for the stolen items because, as she said, if she did, my insurance premium would go through the roof and it wouldn't be worth getting the money back for the jewelry. Insurance companies are taking money from people and do nothing in the time of need.

I've had nothing but great experiences with Virgil Melton and his team. We moved away from the area 4 years ago, and we still have Virgil as our agent because he and his customer service representatives are always friendly, professional, and quick to help with any questions or changes to my policy. It's clear they genuinely care about their clients. Everything from setting up coverage to getting help when needed has been smooth and stress-free. I highly recommend them if you're looking for reliable and personalized service!

Apparently, my house is not good enough for American Family to insure. I was looking for a quote on my $175,000 house, but because my roof is aged, I could not get a quote. Other insurance companies prorate based on the age of the roof. Ridiculous!

I have been with American Family Insurance for over 30 years. All of our car insurance, etc., is with them. We had an incident where my dog bit my neighbor. It was an unexpected situation; she has known him for her entire life. I've talked with several veterinarians, and they all seem to believe she thought she was protecting me. I have had one homeowners' claim in the 30 years I have lived in this home, for an estimate of $800. Needless to say, American Family Insurance dropped me promptly. I am disgusted and, quite frankly, amazed that this is a legal action. Be aware that they will drop you in a heartbeat. They told me if I got rid of my dog, they would continue my insurance. Well, my kids did bad stuff, and I kept them. In my eyes, this is wrong. You're a good customer if you just pay and pay. But don't have a claim, or they will drop you.

Absolutely HORRIBLE claim handling time! It’s been almost a month and they called to see if I put new wiper blades on my totaled vehicle!!! STILL waiting for payment!! Avoid these idiots!!! Stay away from American Family Insurance!!!

American Family is a ripoff. They somehow found out that my son just got his license, and because he lives at my address, they increased my auto insurance rates from $1,200 a year to $4,800 a year. I got other quotes and obtained insurance for $1,500 a year, which is in line with what I expected. I also received a quote for identical homeowners insurance for $1,700 less. It was a no-brainer to switch and save $5,000 per year.

If you have American Family Insurance, you'd better get other quotes; you could save a lot. What a corrupt company.