Most of the time, when I hear testimonials from customers about insurance companies, I tend to take them with a shaker of salt. Mostly because so many ads with testimonials for other products have itty-bitty disclaimers that often indicate “Results are not typical”, and what with companies always trying to put their best foot forward. Now, Nationwide doesn’t have a bunch of celebrities on their commercials, or cute little reptilian mascots or anything like that. What they do have is service.

I got a call from my mother a little while ago, in part asking about a friend of mine who teaches at Virginia Tech ((If you haven’t been following the news today, there have been shootings on-campus in Blacksburg, VA, with the casualty count mounting)). After assuring her that my friend was OK, she went on to tell me that she got home from work this morning, and the house was flooded. Apparently the tank on the toilet in the powder room cracked sometime between when she left for work last night and when she got home this morning. So there was about an inch and a half of water on the main level, and the basement was a lot worse off. Ruined floors, carpet, tile, etc. Frantic, she couldn’t find her homeowners policy, so called the number on her car insurance ((There are advantages to getting home/renter’s insurance and car insurance from the same company!)). After they managed to calm her down, they got the insurance info squared away, and told her that within an hour and a half or so, someone would call to arrange for a crew to come out and deal with the issues within four hours.

Well, I didn’t get a time that she got home (though I suspect it was in the 8-8:30 or so range), but when she called me just after noon, there was already a crew there cleaning up. Now, I don’t know what the normal turn-around time for the average company is on an issue like that, but that’s still a pretty impressive reaction time.

She’s had Nationwide for probably close to 25 years, and they’ve always been there, especially when my sister and I were pretty stupid teenagers with cars, with all that implies. I’ve had them myself for over 10 years, since I got my first apartment and my car. My fiancée has had them since she got her car. And we’re (my fiancée and I) are using them for our homeowners insurance on our upcoming house.

Now, this blog doesn’t have the production values of of a national television or radio spot, and I certainly receive nothing other than the normal long-term & multiple policy discounts that any other customer gets from them, but Nationwide has been there time and again, and have never given me or mine any hassles in dealing with them. And that, as a completely independent customer who’s genuinely happy with the service, speaks more highly of them than any paid-for advertising. At least, it does to me.