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By Joan Barrett Market Share

Adjuster Profile: Allen Call Allen Call is a quiet man with a kind and generous nature. When Allen Call started work at Farmers Insurance on June 29, 1989, the world of insurance was a different place. The adjusters that Frank Phillips hired and managed worked side by side in an office without a cell phone, fax machine or laptop and they all became close as they learned the business of adjusting losses from him and from each other.

Vendors walked in the unlocked doors and dropped estimates on their desks or brought lunch or cookies for the office to share. There were only three or four restoration vendors and an equal number of insurance repair contractors in those days and each did their own scope of repairs without infringing on each other’s specialty. The adjusters relied on the service providers to provide the expertise that helped them to adjust the losses properly. The contractors knew that if they were fair and honest, that fact would be honored throughout the tight-knit group, and if they weren’t- that news would travel at lightning speed. Heaven help the contractor who dared to scam this idealist group- that open door would slam shut and little could be done to open it again. When Allen joined the Metro team adjusting Sacramento losses in the field, he took his pager (still no cell phone) and worked from home, only going in to the office once a week on average. There was an opportunity to take on more responsibility for Farmers in Modesto and he moved to that valley town where he enjoyed the small town atmosphere until the Merced Regional office closed and he was forced to make a change. Allen credits the time he spent with the Mold Team as a General Adjuster valuable because the unit was the first to go paperless as part of the Claim Restoration Network (CRN) and he was able to learn the process. He preferred a more positive interaction with the customers in an area that provided more opportunities for coverage, so he was better suited to the Commercial Property Division adjusting that he transitioned into. One of the most appealing things in his job is that Allen always wanted to help people. A new management team and management philosophy was introduced at Farmers and Allen credits Jeff Losey with elevating the position of the adjuster to a more valued employee. “He encouraged us all to do our utmost and be the best in the industry”, Allen says. “I found that I was already following the ‘norms and values’ directives of how to do our jobs and live our lives, so the new philosophy felt like a great fit.” Allen sees his future at Farmers. He wants to try to accomplish the radical idea of retiring from the company that he started with and admits that he has a tendency to show perseverance and is reluctant to change. After all, he and his wife Pam met while they were in high school and working at the Round Table Pizza place. They married four years later when she was 20 and he was 23. More inspections, better customer service, better file documentation are a few of the things that Allen feels will be the norm in the years to come. Check writers have made the First Contact Settlement a reality and have raised the customer’s expectations even higher. After 18 years as an adjuster, Allen finally made the decision to become a supervisor and his team of adjusters covers commercial losses from Bakersfield to the Oregon border, concentrating on the Bay Area. Supervisors rate the adjusters on efficiency; accuracy and customer service during file reviews with heavy emphasis on keeping the policyholders informed.

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