The Georgia Office of Insurance and Fire Safety Commissioner has a simple online process for filing your complaint.

How the office responds to this Complaint may not be satisfying but it is important that a record is made of the insurance claims that are not properly handled.

If you are certain of your rights, follow the online complaint instructions below if you are upset with your insurance company’s treatment of your claim and have first given your insurer a fair chance to correct its previous misdeeds. As Chip Merlin has explained:

I usually call for giving the insurance company and its claims personnel a fair and quick chance to fix things because anybody can make a mistake. We should first think about Golden Rule before calling the authorities. Sometimes, those bad insurance company adjusters simply have it to coming to them, and those adjusters need to have the regulators looking more closely at them to prevent the bad apple adjusters from ruining the reputation of good and honest insurance adjusters.

If you are not certain of your insurance claim rights or if you have questions about your policy benefits, please do not hesitate to call Merlin Law Group attorneys as we have attorneys licensed in and practicing in Georgia.

Here is what you need for a Georgia Insurance Department Complaint:

Click here to create a Login and set your Password.

You can upload content (this is very helpful) about the claim and you will be given a complaint ID number. Be ready to type-in/upload the following for a property damage claim:

  • your name, address, daytime telephone number and email address
  • the exact name of the insurance company
  • the full name of any agent or adjuster who may be involved
  • your policy number
  • your claim number
  • date of your loss
  • a description of your problems
  • copies of all supporting documentation, including invoices, canceled checks, advertising materials, and any letters between you and the company or agent
  • emails about the claim

At this time, it does not appear that .JPEG photos can be uploaded, but my suggestion is to send the photos on a .PDF page.

Keep a copy of the complaint you file and your complaint number.

Policyholders can also seek to have a meeting with a regional agent representative in Georgia by clicking here.

More general questions about insurance can also be sent using this form.

Georgia still accepts the forms sent in via mail. Submit your completed form by mail at: Georgia Department of Insurance, 2 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Suite 716 West Tower, Atlanta, Georgia 30334, or by fax to: (404)-657-8542.

The Department advises that once the complaint is received, it will do the following:

  • You will receive an acknowledgment letter, advising who the investigator is and their contact information. Your Case Number shown on the letter is for the issue submitted to the Department. The case number should be used to send additional information to the Department on your case.
  • If you have future complaints you will get a new case number, acknowledgement letter and the new investigators name and contact information.
  • We will notify the company of your complaint and ask for a detailed response. We will send you a copy of the company’s response, with our formal letter regarding the completion of our investigation. Our review will result in one of the following actions:
    • If the complaint has been resolved, we will send you a letter explaining the resolution.
    • If an insurance law has been violated, we will request corrective action by the company.
    • If the company is not abiding by the policy, we will request corrective action.
    • If the insurer or producer has not responded to all questions or has not investigated the complaint thoroughly, we will require them to do so.

In practice, thus far, my clients have reported that the insurance department does contact the insurance carrier about the issues but progress, results, and/or claim satisfaction seem to fall short.

Georgia’s current insurance commissioner is very familiar with property insurance and familiar with complaints against the insurance industry. Before he was elected the insurance commissioner, Jim Beck was the General Manager for Georgia Underwriting Association. GUA is the state created insurance company. Beck also worked for Nationwide Insurance after he was the Deputy Insurance Commissioner in the 90’s. His LinkedIn page credits Jim Beck as being the author of “STANDING UP, The Georgia Consumers Insurance Survival Guide” but this publication does not appear readily available from any secure site.

When campaigning for office, Beck was federally investigated for holding state jobs while working in the private sector. His LinkedIn resume didn’t reflect the state jobs.

According to Fox 5 Atlanta:

[In] February of 2012, Beck left the Commissioner’s office and began work as the General Manager for a private insurance company – Georgia Underwriting Association. At that very same time, he took a second job with the state Prosecuting Attorney’s Council. In 2005, Beck took a job at the Department of Community Affairs. He already had a job as a registered lobbyist for Nationwide Insurance lobbying Georgia legislators. State records show he was a full-time Division Director.

Commissioner Beck was investigated but was also elected after the investigation began and holds the title: 2019 Georgia Insurance and Fire Safety Commissioner.

If you have experience with Commissioner Beck and how his office assisted with your complaint, we welcome your comments below.

Need to file a complaint with an insurance department in another state? Check out our other posts and use this link for a quick resource.