The Hartford, a Connecticut-based insurance company established in the 1800s, is widely known as a property and casualty insurance provider that helps protect business owners of all sizes. Having gone public on the NYSE in the 90s, The Hartford is owned by its shareholders–the biggest shareholders are The Vanguard Group, BlackRock, and State Street Corp. The company offers a variety of coverage options including bundled insurance plans for business owners. Various factors will determine the cost of an insurance plan with The Harford.
The Hartford Commercial Insurance Pros and Cons
The company claims that businesses of all sizes can get the protection they need for both business owners and their employees–that being said there are pros and cons that one will want to consider before committing to The Hartford.
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AdvisorSmith Rating For The Hartford
- Overall rating: [3.2] / 5 stars
- Coverage options: [4] / 5 stars
- Cost: [3] / 5 stars
- Ratings and complaints: [3]/ 5 stars
- Digital experience: [4] / 5 stars
- Customer service: [2] / 5 stars
The Hartford Commercial Insurance Coverage Options
The Hartford offers common types of commercial insurance. A Business Owner’s Policy (BOP) combines three primary coverages into one convenient policy for small business owners. In particular–it includes:
- Commercial Property Insurance: Protects your company’s physical location and business property, including: computer equipment, inventory, tools, furniture, accounts receivable.
- Commercial General Liability Insurance: Protects your business from claims of bodily injury, property damage, advertising mistakes, libel, and slander.
- Business Income Insurance: Helps replace your business’ lost revenue if you can’t open because of property damage.
The Hartford also allows for you to add optional coverages including:
- Commercial Auto Insurance: Covers you and your employees if you’re driving or operating a vehicle for business.
- Commercial Flood Insurance: Covers flood damage caused by rain, snow, hurricanes or construction runoff.
- Commercial Umbrella Insurance: Protects your business from claims that exceed your policy limits by extending your liability coverage.
- Cyber Insurance: Helps protect your company from cyber threats and attacks.
- Workers’ Compensation Insurance: Helps your employees if they suffer work-related injuries or illnesses. Coverage requirements vary by state.
- Errors and Omissions Insurance: Also known as E&O and professional liability insurance. This type of insurance helps your business if your customer sues you for financial losses due to a mistake you made in the process of doing business.
The Hartford Insurance Cost
In general, you’ll find nailing down an estimate of insurance cost without a quote a bit difficult. And The Harrford is no exception. That being said, a quote can be generated online and only takes about 10 minutes in most cases. Insurance companies look at different factors when determining your company’s commercial insurance cost, and they will want to know policy details, like coverage types and limits, your location, and your claims history. The Hartford does say that each business case is unique and doesn’t share specific price ranges per plan, but they do share survey results of eight industries and commercial insurance policies. They found that the median cost from that survey was $662 annually, or about $55 a month.
The Hartford Ratings and Complaints
According to The Hartford’s website, more than 16,000 people have given The Hartford commercial insurance a 4.8 star rating. They also share that Ethisphere has named them a World’s Most Ethical Company® 13 times.
While all of that sounds well and good, their off-site reviews relay a stark contrast, providing 1 star reviews, one after the other:
One reviewer on Trustpilot, a third party review site, had this to say about the Hartford:
“Horrible but have no choice. They definitely take their time and wait till the last minute to where you could be fired not having FMLA on file. You can only leave messages for case management and never calls back. It’s a horrible process. Companies should not be hiring them for their FMLA processes.”
There are other reviews that specifically call out FMLA issues as well as complaints related to illness and Workers Comp claims that report poor experience all around.
Another reviewer from Trustpilot labeled their review as “The Worst”.
“Lost paperwork, lack of reliable communication. I don’t understand why there is not a class-action lawsuit. This company and the examiners that falsely pretend to do their jobs, should all be held liable in a court of law. It’s like a soldier killing innocent people, but shouldn’t be attacked in defense because he/she isn’t the President that commanded the war. Make the Claim Examiners who lie accountable as well!!!! I don’t think this poor excuse of an Insurance Company should be legally operating.”
It’s troubling that there seems to be such a difference in reported experience from their onsite and off-site reviews. It leaves one to question which experience is more common and truthful than the other.
The Hartford Commercial Insurance Digital Experience
The website breaks up the insurance offerings clearly, it allows you to search by both insurance and industry type. You can click through each type of insurance and learn what it covers and what it doesn’t cover. Overall the digital experience is pleasant and straightforward. You can learn about their offerings, get a quote and file a claim online without much hassle.
The Hartford Commercial Insurance Customer Service
Like with The Hartford’s reviews and complaints, you’ll see an obvious difference between what they share on their own site and what you find elsewhere. On their site, you’ll see strings of 5-star reviews praising their customer service including this one from a verified reviewer:
“Excellent Claim Service and customer service. Been with Hartford Insurance for over 10 years and every time when we have any issues or need to file a claim the service has been excellent.”
In contrast a reviewer from Trustpilot titled their review “By far this is the worst” and went on to explain:
“By far this is the worst, unprofessional customer service I have ever dealt with. They don’t return calls nor do they answer when you call. Even though you leave messages according to their prompts.., i.e., Name, Telephone number, Claim number and a brief message. However, they still don’t return your call. This is awful service. And I wished my company had remained prudential.”
Unfortunately, this review was not a one-off and there were many others that ranked The Hartford’s customer service at 1 star.
Other Services and Features That The Hartford Offers
The Hartford allows you to tailor your commercial insurance to your business’ specific needs. This will better ensure you get the coverage you need. In addition to the traditional offerings, The Hartford’s also allows you to add on Business Interruption Insurance. This kind of plan typically covers lost income after a natural disaster or forced closure and is not considered a standard offering across all providers.
What Is The Hartford’s Claims Process?
The Hartford has an online Insurance Claims Center or you can call a customer service number that aligns with your type of coverage. They advertise easy reporting options and online claim status reporting that you can access at any time. Further they provide access to experienced claim handlers that can help you throughout the process.
How to Get Quotes From The Hartford?
The Hartford sees value in a quick quote process and claims it takes as little as 10 minutes to get a custom commercial insurance quote. You can start the process by filling out this form online. Be prepared to answer questions like:
- Where is your business located?
- How many employees do you have?
- How long have you been in business?
Once you receive a quote though, you will have to speak with an agent to complete the process.
Bottom Line: Is The Hartford a Good Company?
While the company itself is considered an authority and reputable insurance provider–off-site reviews leave us conflicted in deeming this insurance provider a “good company”.
The Hartford is not Better Business Bureau accredited, but users can still leave reviews and file complaints. One BBB review from July 2022 outlines their experience with the Hartford:
“They will do anything and everything to keep from paying your claim. They are extremely bad with communicating what is necessary and when to continue with your claim. I see they are NOT BBB accredited. They do not have your best interests in mind. If you MUST do business with them, stay on top of what forms are needed to submit and when. Make sure you contact your physicians and or anyone that you need documentation from and upload or send by other means to them. Documentation is strongly suggested of EVERYTHING, EVENTS, ETC you do with them!”
The Hartford offers a variety of coverage options and custom bundles that are attractive to a business owner. That being said, it seems that their claims process and customer service aptitude could use some improvement.
Alternatives to The Hartford Commercial Insurance
Embroker scored 4.8 out of 5 Stars on AdvisorSmith compared to The Hartford’s 3.2. Embroker delivers on customer service where The Hartford presumably fails. Embroker provides 24/7 support and multiple ways to get in touch with their customer service team as well as a personal account manager to look after their insurance needs. If you want to feel secure that you’ll have the support you’ll need when it comes time to not only get insurance but follow a claim, Embroker could be a better fit.
Or, like The Hartford, Allstate has a recognizable name. They scored 4 out of 5 Stars on our rating scale and like Embroker, they put a focus on customer service and offer similar insurance plans to The Hartford. So you can get similar coverage options, but have more confidence you’ll be taken care of when it matters most.
