Chris Way Agency, Inc.

It is hard for me to write this, since my family has been with American Family Insurance (and Chris Way as our agent) for about 20 years. We’ve trusted her with all our insurance needs (home, cars, various property, special coverage, etc.) and with a couple very minor exceptions have never filed a claim.
In recent years, despite our loyalty (and steady revenue) to American Family for over two decades without a hint of risk or trouble, in my experience our insurance agent for American Family, Chris Way of the Chris Way Agency, seems to have forgotten several things that most great business embrace like religion.
Christine Way has always been available when it came to selling my family more coverage or cashing our premium payments… and is generally a very nice person.
Unfortunately, I recently learned during my first auto insurance claim that I was wrong to assume that Chris Way (or her staff) were interested in doing any ‘insurance agent’ activities beyond upselling coverage and cashing our checks over the years:
I thought she would behave like the licensed insurance agent that she is, and help me with what has become a very complex and difficult claim.
Chris Way would not, and has not, helped me with my accident claim. I tried talking to her several times about the incident in great detail, but the only sense I got was that she wanted to get me off the phone.
Since nobody else at American Family would step up to coordinate the claim for me, I have been essentially given a list of claim-​related tasks to do and a dozen phone numbers to call — and very little else in the way of claim support.
So American Family Insurance is forcing us, people who know next to nothing about insurance or the claims process, to be OUR OWN INSURANCE AGENT with a terribly complex situation in which our brand new 2012 car with less than 2,200 miles on it was hit while parked (and unoccupied) in the course of a drug deal gone bad.
And even more outrageous? We’re forced to pay a $ 1,000 deductible under our policy, and for that we get left to the wolves because our «insurance agent» tells us after the incident, «Claims aren’t my thing…»
—= — -
In desperation, I’ve called Chris Way back a couple times to tell her how stressful this is (I’m not an insurance expert… she is!), on more than a couple occasions it was clear that she didn’t even take the time to learn about the most basic facts of my claim or the incident.
When I finally let her know that I was not pleased with the level of service I was getting from her and that I expected more, she didn’t apologize or step up: Chris Way just seemed to get very defensive, and began blaming me for a variety of delays, as well as other complaints about me.
This is not only the opposite of customer service… she has been plain rude. Disrespectful. Uninterested in helping her customer. And ultimately, I am certain her unwillingness to help me or advocate on my behalf will end up costing me a lot of money, time and energy that I should not have to expend when supposedly working with a ‘licensed insurance professional’.“
Despite Chris Way’s poor showing and sub-​par everything, and the weak effort demonstrated by the AmFam Consumer Affairs people (supposedly there to advocate for the consumer!)…
There are good, professional people at American Family:
Eileen Kayfes:
Subrogation Sr Adjuster, is a 100% professional who stepped up to the plate from the moment she came into the picture (late in the process, alas). Always returned calls, always gave us straight answers, and delivered in the end. Bravo to her.
Is Eileen’s effort enough to keep us with AmFam? I can’t see how. We don’t feel safe, insured or protected by American Family after this experience. It’s time to find another carrier.