Ontario Market Penetration Continues; New Allstate Insurance

SCARBOROUGH, ON, May 12 /CNW/ - Today, Chris Kiah, President and CEO, Christianne Dostie, Executive Vice President and Tim Currie, Assistant Vice President, Allstate Canada, were on hand to celebrate the official grand opening of the new Allstate Insurance Agency in Scarborough. Earlier today, the Allstate officials were in Ajax, Ontario attending the opening of another new Agency.

"Having over 20 years experience in an Allstate Neighbourhood Office in the Scarborough East Community, it gives me great pleasure to manage a new, highly-visible location in the new Scarborough Morningside Crossing Plaza. We now have a team of experienced and knowledgeable Agents to better respond to customer expectations and to deliver the best customer service and support in the industry," said Charles Patlakas, the agency manager at the Scarborough location.

In 2007, Allstate announced that it was going to enhance its agent distribution model to better serve consumers and introduced the new Allstate Insurance Agency.

"Our focus is on the customer - in every interaction and at every step of the transaction process, we strive to deliver an exemplary customer experience. We are pleased to be making consistent inroads into the GTA market with what we firmly believe is a business model tailored to meet consumer needs and an emphasis on service designed to beat expectations," Kiah said.

The new Allstate Insurance Agency creates a consistent delivery model by providing consumers with access to a team of experienced and knowledgeable Allstate agents who will each be accountable for managing specific aspects of a customer's needs. In each Agency there will be:

-An Allstate Agent who will create and develop the relationship at new

business;

-An Allstate Agent who will expand the relationship by identifying

additional features to meet changing and evolving insurance needs;

and

-An Allstate Agent who will strengthen the relationship at renewal and

provide customer service and support.

"I literally grew up in Allstate offices: from my uncle's office in the 70's at Victoria Park and Ellesmere, to my father's office in the Pickering Town Centre in the 80's, and then in the following decade at two Scarborough locations along Markham Road. So, I've witnessed many changes over the years in the ever-evolving insurance marketplace - especially now when the race is on to deliver a superior customer experience. And through the specialized training of our insurance professionals, we've created the optimum environment to conduct business, and to meet and greet customers, existing and new. My team is very proud to play an active role in the Ajax community, and ready to provide protection and peace of mind through our extensive line of insurance products & services," said Jason Foroglou, agency manager at the Ajax location.

Currently, 94% of the new agencies have been opened and upon the project's completion later this year, there will be 93 new Agencies across Canada, with more than half in Ontario alone.

Allstate Insurance Company of Canada produces and distributes home and auto insurance products right across Canada. The "Good Hands Network" enables consumers to contact Allstate through one of our over 500 exclusive community-based agents, directly on-line at www.allstate.ca, and through the Customer Contact Centre at 1-800- ALLSTATE.

(c) 2009 Canada Newswire. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.