2007-12-07 email exchange with State Farm

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State Farm: 2007-12-07 email exchange

Introduction

This is the main text of an email exchange I had with State Farm. It started when I filled out their "contact us" form, as linked from the emailed version of their latest bill. The message in the bill says:

If you are experiencing difficulty accessing your bill, or have received this in error, please call 1-888-559-1922, or click here to send an EMAIL: https://online.statefarm.com/apps/contactSF/pages/technicalQuestionUnAuth.asp

...implying, I should think, that sending an email would be a viable alternative to phoning. As it turns out, however, this is not the case. -W.

Messages

Links have been added where appropriate; the original messages were text-only. The time-stamps seem to be in various different timezones; ours are EST.

2007-12-07 web form submission

From: email address redacted

Date: 12/7/2007 5:17:30 PM

To: infospam@spamstatefarmspam.spamcom

Subject: Technical Questions/Unauthenticated

Operation = Access/Login

Form = Technical Questions

Topic = Access/Login

Date/Time = 12/07/2007 11:17:29 PM

name/address redacted

How to be contacted = E-mail

Prospect/Customer Email = email address redacted

Phone Number =

Preferred time to be contacted = No preference

State Farm Customer? = Yes

Type of Operating System = Other

Browser = Other

First Time Having This Problem = No

Problem Description = I've been locked out of my account (message: "We have changed our security procedures since your last login. Please call the 24 Hour Good Neighbor Service?? team toll-free at 1-888-559-1922 to establish new security questions and restore your online access."), and I didn't even have a chance to *set* the new security questions; I certainly never got them wrong when logging in, as I have not logged in since you added this new requirement.

I really don't want to call the phone number. Could you please just reset the account so I have my chance to log in and update the security questions? My login name is [redacted]. Thank you.

2007-12-07 19:40:56 State Farm's reply

Dear Sandy Hall,

Thank you for contacting State Farm® regarding the process of viewing your State Farm products online. Additional information is needed to complete your request. Please contact us at your earliest convenience at 1-888-559-1922 for Internet technical assistance. Representatives are available 24-hours a day, 7 days a week. To have your customer ID entered for you each time you log in you can check the "Remember my Customer ID" box on the login page. Forgot your password? If you know your customer ID, try the Automatic password reset.

https://my.statefarm.com/apps/portal/portal.asp&appID=primaryHeavy

State Farm Insurance®

Internet Support Representative

2007-12-07 18:51:53 my reply to State Farm

Date: 12/7/2007 6:51:53 PM

To: infospam@spamstatefarmspam.spamcom

Subject: Re: Technical Questions/Unauthenticated [#321190]

Hi,

As I said earlier, I would really rather not call. No other online account management form I have ever used has required calling.

If there is information you need, please tell me what that information is and I will be happy to provide it.

Thank you.

Sandy Hall

2007-12-07 20:13:47 State Farm's reply

Dear Sandy Hall,

Thank you for contacting State Farm® regarding the process of viewing your State Farm products online. Additional information is needed to complete your request. Please contact us at your earliest convenience at 1-888-559-1922 for Internet technical assistance. Representatives are available 24-hours a day, 7 days a week. To have your customer ID entered for you each time you log in you can check the "Remember my Customer ID" box on the login page. Forgot your password? If you know your customer ID, try the Automatic password reset.

https://my.statefarm.com/apps/portal/portal.asp&appID=primaryHeavy

State Farm Insurance®

Internet Support Representative

2007-12-07 19:43:42 my reply to State Farm

Date: 12/7/2007 7:43:42 PM

To: infospam@spamstatefarmspam.spamcom

Subject: Re: Technical Questions/Unauthenticated [#321190]

Are you a real person, or an autoresponder?

Nick, on behalf of Sandy

2007-12-07 22:35:30 State Farm's reply

Dear Sandy Hall,

Thank you for contacting State Farm®.We would like to discuss your question. Please contact technical support available 24 hours a day at 1-888-559-1922, choose option # 1 for Internet technical assistance. State Farm Insurance® Internet Support Representative

2007-12-07 23:16 my reply

Judging from the delay between question and answer (on the one hand), plus the fact that you never actually answer my questions (on the other), I'm guessing you are a human but the software you are using does not allow you to type anything original; you have to choose your responses from a list.

Or perhaps you are heavily penalized for actually typing anything.

Either way, it's very poor policy. I'm going to post this entire exchange on the web, so that others may be amused or bothered by it while learning that this sort of treatment is one of the hazards of doing business with State Farm.

If you have the option, you might consider forwarding this to your supervisor, if s/he has the option of actually typing a response.

Looking forward to your next canned text,

Nick, for Sandy

2007-12-08 State Farm's reply

Sandy and/or Nick Hall,

The response you received previously was both auto-response and human interaction. Each response given was in accordance to the security rules in place based on the original problem reported. If your customer id is locked out from the website login, you will need to call for support.

Our website has been updated during 2007 for a stronger authentication procedure to ensure that you are protected from online fraud using the www.statefarm.com <http://www.statefarm.com> (r) website. In the most recent enhancement the strong authentication questions and answers associated to a customer id are utilized to ensure that the person who is logging into the website is the appropriate person that created the customer id and verified their identity during the registration process; upon the website security enhancement, they may be challenged with the strong Q&A options they chose for their customer id.

There is documentation on the website to assist with an explanation on this process. If you did not choose strong questions and answers prior to the most recent enhancement, you are forced to call into support to complete this step.

As you indicate you are locked out from the login options, the only choice you have to access your information using the website is to contact the internet support by phone. Whether Insurance, Banking or Mutual Fund products, you are able to contact our Internet Technical Assistance at the number provided.

While inconvenient the strong authentication was implemented in accordance with federal and industry guidelines.

Per your request, I have forwarded the exchange below to another level of support to advise them that the email interaction is not as customer friendly as we would intend for this type of problem being reported using the contact form. They will review for any improvements that we can make to our auto response/canned response to allow a better exchange with our customers. I cannot confirm whether they will contact you in regards to this suggestion.

I apologize we cannot meet your needs for assistance using email or a form for contact. To protect your insurance, mutual fund, and/or banking account information, you are forced to call for further support with the website login.

For security reasons we cannot negotiate a compromise or provide further assistance using email. This policy is in place to protect your personal information and the integrity of your product information with State Farm.

If you need further assistance please call the 24 hour Good Neighbor Service(r) support line at 1-888-559-1922 using option 1 for Internet Technical Assistance. The Internet Support Representative will be able to use a procedure in place to assist you with the website strong question and answer information and the website login for your product access.

Thanks for your time and understanding.

Respectfully Submitted-

-corey colburn

State Farm Internet Customer Support

sficsspam@spamstatefarmspam.spamcom

2007-12-08 my response

So... what you are telling me is that receiving email from the email address we have registered with you online, which is the same email address at which Sandy's password would be received if she were to reset it online, is less secure than if someone were to call you from some random phone number and claim to be Sandy Hall?

Please explain to me how this is a security improvement. (I would also be interested in any web links you may have for the industry standards you mention.)

Respectfully,

Nick, for Sandy SC#8227475