Business ProfileforState Farm Insurance John Shaffer

I own a hemp company that is also a bar selling beer and wine. I was insured through John Shaffer State Farm for both my restaurant policy and an auto policy. I am opening a new location in Tallahassee and prior to opening I had been working with Cade since May to get insured for our new location. Just before opening for our soft opening the first Friday of June, I called the insurance company back because I had not received any information from Cade about my insurance. He told me that I was covered under the “new” insurance plan while we were in underwriting. This ended up not being true. After our soft opening I tried reaching back out to Cade multiple times but had no luck so I called the 1-800 number. They said it looked like our policy was only in the quote phase and not underwriting at all. They said they would send a notice to the John’s agency to contact me first thing. Well I was not contacted first thing so again I called the local agency and was told Cade would call me back. He called me 1 minute before closing, I missed his call and when I called back it was the after hours line. I call 1-800 and they say it was weird but the local agency locked my account to where they had to be the ones to access it. Cade ends up calling me and tells me that they’re not going to cover our new location and my old one was getting a non-renewal. Turns out after looking for new insurance that they hurt my ability to find new insurance because they didn’t properly cover my business and never set us up for liquor liability like we needed. We are now going on a month with our bar closed at our new location and may possibly be forced to close our doors permanently, or face severe damage to our financial stability. We were forced to close our first location earlier than we expected because we couldn’t afford to pay our bills with our new location unable to function. This company has negatively impacted my ability to do business and has put the future of my company at risk.

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We apologize for any confusion or inconvenience caused during your attempt to obtain a policy for your second location. We understand that insuring marijuana-related businesses is an important need in today's market. However, as soon as we knew the intentions for your new location, we explained that we do not have the capability to provide coverage for these types of businesses. We then suggested several providers who may be able to help you and confirmed that they had been in touch with you. We genuinely value the contributions of small businesses, and we regret any negative impression you may have received. Thank you for considering us, and we hope that your business can thrive.