Film Emporium Insurance Services — Local services in Town of Mamaroneck

I've used Film Emporium a lot. They've always communicated well, gotten me what I needed and gave me a good deal. That's why this is a 2 star review and not a 1 star review. But I just had a horrible experience with the broker, Darren, assigned to my policy. I needed to make a change to my policy, I understand that is annoying, but it was very time sensitive and I was having to deal with the situation while at work, so it was a lot of calls back and forth to people, including Darren, on a busy day (I'm lucky my supervisor let me step away to deal with the situation, but it was stressful). I get it. Having to do anything on the fly isn't fun, but there's no need to talk to a long time customer like they're beneath you. I genuinely got the feeling that he was enjoying making me squirm, even though I had explained the situation I was in. Then he called after I thought the issue had been resolved and very nearly berated me over the phone, saying things like, "the office closed 2 hours ago and I'm still waiting on your payment! You said you would Zelle it! I don't understand! You said you had people waiting to pick up gear!!!" When HE was the one who condescendingly told me, "I can't tell you when the paper work will be ready." Also, according to Film Emporium their office closes at 5:30 and it wasn't even 5pm at that point. I literally had to talk him down because he was getting so agitated (like, "whoa, ok, Darren, I'm sorry..." levels of talking down) and I actually cried afterwards. I will never use Film Emporium again. If this is their customer service, then...

I've teamed up with Film Emporium for several feature film productions of ALL varying budget/logistical sizes, and they always pull through with a quote that's incredibly affordable (trust me, I've shopped around - they crushed our other quotes) and they've provided our productions with not just broad coverage, but also smart coverage, for total peace of mind for the whole filmmaking journey. But perhaps the most important point to me, is that the human beings running Film Emporium are just flat-out AMAZING. Laird has overseen productions for me as well as Vincent - both gentlemen are fantastic! On one production, we hit a logistical snafu on the day we were going into insurance coverage as the first round of equipment was getting picked up and crew was flying directly out with it - you know, one of those indie film nightmares. Vincent went so far over, above and beyond to make sure that we had our proper coverage in place so we could get the COI's, grab the gear and jump on planes that very day. We, quite literally, could not have done it without Vincent's gusto and awesome breadth of production insurance knowledge. And again, Vincent just sticking with us and being a helping hand every step of the way, through thin and super duper thick, was the most touching part of the whole experience. Film Emporium is always going to have a place on any set where I have a say, that's for sure :) THANKS...

I spent an entire day going back and forth With them to get insurance on Friday because I had a last minute scene for a low budget performance music video on Saturday. They initially quoted me $1000. No stunts. No animals. No car chases. I had no other options by the end of the day. after A full day I finally found out I could get a lesser policy for $700. Still insane. But I had no other options.

They emailed me ways that I could pay for my insurance policy, and Zelle was an option. I sent the money. They said they didn’t receive it and that I needed to send it with a credit card and they would send me the Zelle back. I told them I didn’t have the extra money to send a double payment, I even sent them 3 separate proof of payments and they would not accept them. I had no other options. I sent another $700 to secure the policy so we could shoot the scene.

It’s now Monday morning. I still haven’t received the Zelle payment back. My personal account is dry. I have to pay people.

I feel like a foreign prince swindled $1400 out of me and it has seriously negatively impacted me and my production. I’m not making a commercial with a multi million dollar budget. I’m making a micro budget...