Chris Lawson – State Farm Insurance Agent

We’re currently using State Farm with Chris for our renter’s insurance. We emailed him some questions about possible mold in our apartment, specifically mentioning that we’re not ready to talk to the landlord about it out of fear of having to move without any support, and his only advice was to talk to the landlord. No explanations for why he couldn’t talk to us about it.
Later, I emailed him about getting our car set up with auto insurance through State Farm and he never emailed back! The woman I spoke to over the phone was super helpful but, unfortunately, she’s not the agent. :(

This office is horrible. They failed to report to the state when i was hit by an uninsured driver which wound up getting MY license suspended and the worst part is that I called specifically to ask if there was anything else that needed to be done. I didn’t find out until over a year later that it had been suspended. I was pulled over because I was turning right, realized it was not the correct right and went straight. No big deal the cop was just making sure I wasn’t drinking or something. He ran my info and came back and said my license had been suspended! I was shocked. Had to go to court, pay about $ 500 in tickets and when I called the office Cindy (the one who told me all the paperwork was in order) said she had never heard of having to report an uninsured accident to the state! WHAT!!! Thats insurance 101. She also added «Well you still would have been covered by us if something happened» That is a complete lie, there is no way that State Farm would have covered a claim if I was driving on a suspended license. She was just trying to downplay her mistake. So anyway I appeared before court, paid the fines and go everything good to go. I’ve now switch, to another state farm agent and magically my rate dropped by about $ 30 a month and on top of that I found out that they had the wrong make, model and VIN number for my car. DO NOT use this State Farm office. The incompetence is astounding.

We have been State Farm customers for years, so when we moved to Portland we naturally called State Farm for the insurance of our new car… unfortunately our experience so far as been terrible, the agent rarely return calls, and finally when he did the information requested (my insurance card so we could drive with proof of insurance) was never received via email or mail. We never received any confirmation or policy information in the mail, and we were rushed out of the office by the by the lady who seemed annoyed and was extremely unhelpful when we tried to get a copy of our policy from their office… I wouldn’t recommend this agency to anyone, also there is no parking close by to make the overall experience worse. We are shopping for another insurance company and agent as the customer service with this agent is abysmal.

Good to start, not so good at the end.
We had auto, home, and business insurance at one point. State Farm doesn’t cover windshields, and they only offer a fraction of car rental insurance. So we moved it to another company that had better rates and better coverage.
Our initial experience with was good. Chris was always willing to discuss our coverage and needs. We’ve been in business for 12 years. Never had a claim. When we moved our business temporarily to a storage garage, we were told that State Farm would no longer cover us. At first we were told it was because we don’t have a local retail store. Then it was because of the location.
In trying to find out what the actual reason was, I spoke with a friend who worked at State Farm in another state, and he suggested I contact another local agent to find out if our business could still be covered. I took his suggestion, contacted another SF agent. They said they were going to check into it, but instead contacted Chris to let them know I was inquiring about the issue.
Chris called me, obviously livid about my inquiry with another State Farm agent. Had I been given a straight answer from the getgo, I wouldn’t have felt the need to further investigate this. When you can’t get a straight answer, shouldn’t you be able to get a 2^nd opinion without the attitude?
I found another insurer, the one I use for home/​auto that was willing to cover the business. We have since moved from our temporary storage, and back up and running. Too bad for State Farm that they were willing to kick a long time customer to the curb.

I had homeowner’s insurance with Chris Lawson from 2013 – 2014. He was recommended by my real estate agent and, being a first time home-​buyer overwhelmed with what I had just committed to (a home!), I just went with him. Each time I have spoken with Chris he has been pleasant and knowledgeable, and thankfully I have not had to make a claim yet.
So, why the two stars?
First and foremost, without any substantial change in coverage (that I could tell) my premiums went up by more than 35% after the first year. When I called to ask «what gives» the person who answered was unprofessional. First she told me that my premium actually hadn’t gone up. Then she realized that they had gone up and gave me a quick, apparently generic, answer: «Costs rise,» or something along those lines.
Costs rise 35%?? That’s not an acceptable answer.
A second issue of concern is that the very first time I called, even before I had a policy with Chris Lawson, almost the first question I was asked by the person who I spoke with (not Chris) was: «What’s your Social Security Number?» I don’t give out my SS# easily, I didn’t give it out then, and this put me off. More off-​putting was that I was never again asked for my SS#. So WHY was I asked for it in the first place?
Third and last it appears that my coverage was more than I needed (take this with a grain of salt — I’m pretty much a novice). Basically, the value (or replacement cost) of the structures on the property is significantly less than the purchase price of the home because the purchase price includes the value of the land on which the home stands. So, where my «dwelling» coverage was ~85% of the purchase price with Chris Lawson, I’m now covered with a different insurance company at ~60% of the purchase price. My current premiums are 60% what they were BEFORE my premium went up by 35%, and I have sewer backup coverage which I didn’t with Chris Lawson.