Barbara Janusek – State Farm Insurance Agent

I have lived in the city of Chicago for the last eight years, and I’ve worked exclusively with Barbara Janusek and her amazing team of State Farm Insurance Agents in Edgewater. Even after moving out of that area, I’ve stuck with this team because they work incredibly hard on my behalf, answer my emails so fast it sometimes seems as if I have a response before I even hit send, and they are patient with my questions.
I got a motorcycle a few weeks ago, and I didn’t even bother searching for other agents or quotes. I knew I could just email Leora Arsers, and she would give me a great price, be incredibly helpful, and make sure I had everything I needed to ride safe, and ride insured. I am not sure I could recommend their services more. If you need an agent, State Farm, and the offices of Barbara Janusek, are the way to go. Thanks Leora! You all rock!

We needed a quick quote and quickly wanted to get rid of our old carrier. The old carrier offered a lot but was asleep at the wheel. Barb’s office, with the helpful Leora, helped us get new coverage at a good price with slightly better benefits. They did this in 24 hours, with efficiency and kindness. Thank you.

I switched to a lower cost insurance company from a nationally known company when I moved to the city from the suburbs. Since I had no idea what I needed for coverage, I made a huge and expensive mistake. My car was hit while it was parked and my insurance company informed me I did not have the appropriate coverage. I called Barbara’s office on the recommendation of a friend and talked to Lisa who was extremely helpful and polite. The entire process was smooth and easy and my car is now completely covered which is a huge weight of my shoulders. I can highly recommend this office.

I have been a client of Barb’s office for over ten years. She has a wealth of knowledge from working in all sectors of the company, she is a go-​getter when needing to get things done without headache or haste. I recently switched all of my auto to her office after my rates were raised and her office was able to make the process soooo much easier.

I’ve been a State Farm customer ever since I was 16. When I had a complex situation involving property insurance, my vehicle, and my boyfriend’s vehicle being combined under one plan, I was a little concerned with going with a different office because of a move. I contacted this location and spoke with Lisa, who was EXTREMELY helpful. I know she did a lot of number crunching to find the best options to save me some $$$. I am very happy knowing I’m all set, and she was a genuine pleasure! They will definitely take care of you here!

I received quick and knowledgeable service. I appreciate the time and effort of the staff. They took time to answer my questions.

I have been a customer with this business for 16 years. Multiple cars, multiple businesses, multiple homes, and multiple referrals. I have had minimal claims during that time. Recently, I did not receive a bill for one of my accounts and State Farm put me in collections due to non payment (for a bill I didn’t receive). This has never happened to me before. To say I was anxious, is putting it mildly. I called Barb’s office for help (immediately). When trying to rectify with Barb’s office, they just referred me to State Farm’s corporate office. I was told this situation was out of their hands. I have been in contact with their corporate office multiple times, sometimes up to 30 minutes on hold. Because of this, I called Barb’s office back for more assistance. They would only re-​direct me to Corporate. Each time I spoke with Barb’s office, I let them know I wasn’t happy and needed to speak with Barb. She was always «busy» and I never received any responses from her. The resolve came today after sitting on hold (again) to speak with someone at THE CORPORATE OFFICE. They not only deferred me back to Barb’s office to make the payment, they connected the call. They were unclear why the local office directed me to corporate in the first place.
Here’s what I would have expected as a long time customer…
1. Help at the local level.
2. Empathy that I was placed in collections without ever receiving a bill.
3. A call from Barb. After all, it is her business. She is the reason i have supported her business for 16 years. I have been loyal. Until now.
4. To help me resolve the situation rather than just «passing me off to corporate».
I went to this business to support a LOCAL, FEMALE business owner in 2000. Throughout the years, they had the ability to serve and treat me as an individual customer when I’ve had an issue. Until now. It no longer pays to go to a local State Farm office thinking they will take care of your needs when you truly need them. I wouldn’t recommend using this business.

The office is extremely well run and professional. I have a number of State Farm policies; Barbara is very knowledgeable about the Claims process and the exact coverage for each policy. The Credit Card has nice benefits too; if you use your credit card points to add money to a State Farm bank account, you can get an additional 35%. Nice.

«Your mileage may vary» applies to State Farm. Janusek’s office is an exception. They’re great. Janusek’s team always responds promptly and professionally. Another State Farm office — that I shall not name — was the total PITS. I decided to leave State Farm because this other office was so unprofessional and disorganized.
One example: I sent an email to both Janusek’s office and the other State Farm agent about a change in my policy. Janusek’s team responded within 5 minutes — literally — and made the change without any hassle. The other agent’s office LOST my email and when I called to follow-​up they haggled me with sales pitches about their plans.
I wrote this review in hopes people will see that your choice in agent is actually more important than your choice in insurer. State Farm seems like one big insurer that would have a consistent offering but your local agent can make or break the relationship. In retrospect, I should have done all my business with Janusek.

Whenever I would enquire, I always received consistently impersonal, one line emails with no salutations or pleasantries. Received a call after my policy expired and it was phrased in such a way that made it seem like I had an outstanding payment to them for my new policy. Told me I needed additional coverage for my laptop when I didn’t. Go with Edwin at Mike Burton’s State Farm Office on Lawrence… much better.

I found the ad on Unilocal and it had good reviews so I called them for an estimate on the costs. I spoke with Kathleen on Friday. She was kind and we spoke of renters and car insurance. She assured me that I would get an estimate by Monday. I can understand that with the weekend that it would take a few minutes. Well, here it is Wednesday and I have yet to get a call, or get an email. Maybe they don’t need my business or possibly they don’t want to write my small policies but at least they could let me know. Very bad first impression but thank goodness there are many others out there that would help. In fact… Hartford did everything in one call.
I just wanted to share so others thinking of calling them are forewarned.

My family has been insured with State Farm — Barbara Jausek for many years, since I have been taking over my parents affairs with them I have to say their entire office staff is very friendly and helpful, when I have to call them I never hesitate for one second becuase it is a very pleasant experience…

She knows the biz. Knows how to deal with the all the headaches. She is very capable. She’s a ten. You won’t be disappointed. Shes extremely competent. We had a minor disaster and she stood toe to toe with the inside people. She fought for us and got claim paid for. She earned our respect that week. Shes a keeper!

Office is very responsive and Barbara is friendly and down to earth.

I’ve been a client of Barbara’s for the past 6 years and have my homeowners and car insurance policies with her. She’s extremely knowledgable, honest and only recommends products that make sense for my situation.
I went into her office two years ago to inquire about flood insurance… she took her time with me, going over the details. she’s not pushy but after having the details of the plan explained to me I decided to add the policy rider and am glad I did– about 7 months later my basement was flooded from one of the terrible storms we’ve had in Chicago.
Insurance is a really boring topic for most people and they don’t see the value in it– until something bad happens. I realize «State Farm» isn’t always the cheapest, but the customer service, competency and individual attention I get from Barb’s office are all worth the extra few bucks I may save with going to another provider.

Barbara and staff are awesome. Never actually gone into her office, yet bought about 7 policies from her over the years. She’s fantastic. Highly recommended.

I’ve been a customer of Barbara for many years — though I’ve never met her or gone into the office. Her staff is always a pleasure to deal with and I’m always surprised they know who I am, even though I only talk to them once or twice a year.

No one likes to buy insurance, no matter how responsible one wants to appear. Doesn’t the very idea of cataloguing your crap make you want to set yourself on fire? As fun as that might be, after considering the condition of many domiciles in Chicago (not to mention the condition of many landlord/​tenant relationships), renter’s insurance became a real good idea at some point. I think that point was when my dad simply wouldn’t ship any more of my stuff to me until I’d bought it.
The folks in this office are very friendly and helpful. They put me at ease immediately for a very low premium, which I suppose is pretty easy if you’re not worth much. The office assistant was very concerned to confirm that I was totally satisfied with the service there. More than once.
I also get frequent notices regarding State Farm’s ever-​changing privacy policy. You never know what of yours those wacky bankers are going to try to sell next!