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To continue my insurance rant I must give a little back story. About three years ago my mother died of cancer. It wasn't unexpected, she had been suffering for around two years. We were all there to say goodbye when she went. It was the saddest day of my life. My little brothers, and my step father, who my mother had divorced several years prior to her death, were still living in my moms house. After she died, my step father was (more or less) put in charge of getting her affairs in order and continuing on since my mom had no will to speak of. We (us kids) decided that it was best for him to take over since he had seemed to redeem himself by sticking it out though the worst time of their often rocky relationship. So basically, he was to inherit the household. My mom, in spite of being the major bread winner, never had much money to put together. There was very little to divide up as far as money. It barely covered her burial. The only thing of real value she had was the equity in the home which still has several years worth to close out the mortgage. So my 26 six year old brothers and my 57 year old step father were to continue on without my mother there to mother them.
It turns out that all three really needed mothering. My step father was always a sort of um...flake. He was basically a big kid in a grown mans body. He was the last person who we should have put in charge of the situation. He was the least of three evils though. The twins were, in my opinion, a drain on my mom even towards the end. The worst of the two (I'll call him Twin1) never held down a job longer than two weeks in his life, and spends as much time in prison as out for drug related issues. The better of the two (Twin2) has a solid job as an electrician but spends all his off time in party mode. Twin2 just never grew up. In fact, up until the time of her death, never even had a checking account. He would just give my mom the money for his car payment and insurance premiums and she would write the checks. After my mother died, my stepfather inherited all these duties. I turns out he wasn't very good at keeping up.
About 6 months after my mothers death, Twin2 came home to a house that was a little more vacant than the one he left. He didn't notice it at first, but eventually wandered into my step fathers room and found it cleaned out. At first he thought it was Twin1 who went through and stole stuff for drugs as he had done in the past. After looking around, he found that it was all step fathers stuff that was missing. The safe my mom kept in the room (to keep Twin1 from stealing things from her purse) was left open. In the safe he found several opened envelopes all containing bills. Evidently, my step father hadn't been keeping up with his end of the bargain. All of the bills were unpaid. Good ol step dad had cut bait and run. This threw one hell of a wrench in the works.
None of us have ever heard from step dad again. We know he's still around because the mail delivered a couple things to the house since he left. A speeding ticket from Las Vegas and a tax form from a daily labor type work place in Arizona. Meanwhile, on the home front, there were some BIG problems. It turns out that step dad was several months behind on the house payments and hadn't paid Twin2s car note in a couple months either. My older brother and I were there to help financially as much as we could to bail Twin2 out. The problem was we couldn't help even though we wanted to. The mortgage company absolutely would not tell us how far behind we were in the payments because the house was still in my dead mothers name. We eventually called a lawyer (another group of scum-bags but I'll save that for a later blog) and all agreed to sign the property over to Twin2. We helped Twin2 when we could, and eventually he got back on top of things. I was secretly proud of Twin2 but I never got around to telling him. If he survives this next test I will definitely give him a good pat on the back.
OK now that the back story is filled in, let me get back to why I hate insurance companies.
They talk a big talk when they're trying to get your business by telling you that they're trust worthy and pay all their claims quickly. The truth couldn't be any further from the their hype. They will do everything in their power to get away with paying as little as possible and often nothing if they can get away with it. That's why they have fast claims adjusters. They get that dude out there as fast as they can to give you what you might think is a fair settlement in order to catch you off guard. Often they can seem as the white knight when you're in a situation where you have lost everything. The truth is they are just trying to catch you when you are at your lowest and get away with the minimum. So beware people. I speak from experience.
About a year ago, my moms house caught fire. Thank goodness a neighbor saw flames coming from the garage window or there is a good possibility Twin2, who was sleeping in his bed at the time, would be dead. She managed to bang on the front door till he woke up. By this time, the fire had spread from the garage to the dining room. It was already far beyond control. The fire department was already on the way but the interior and the roof of the stout brick ranch was pretty much gutted when they got there. Fast forward to the next day when my brother called the insurance company to tell them of the situation. They were very sympathetic. There would be an adjuster out to survey the damage the following day. The next day my brother is at the shell of a home that was my mothers only fiscal contribution to her four children. Reduced to ash were the personal pictures and other memories that were sentimental to us all. He waits patiently with the same smoky clothes he had on the day before because they are all he has. His cell rings (luckily he left that in the car) and on the other line is the insurance company. "We're sorry Mr. Twin2 but we are unable to process your claim because the policy was not in your name. No adjuster will be coming to your house today." The policy was still under my moms name covering the house that was now in his name. They weren't going to pay. We have to call the scum-bag (lawyer) back and here we fricking go again. Eventually the insurance company caved and agreed to pay the claim but now there are other issues. The damn company keeps sending checks out in the wrong name and now the contractors that are rebuilding the house say there might not be enough money to get the place done. Luckily my brother is an electrician so he's going to save a bundle by doing the electric himself. It looks like he might just make it after all. But not because the insurance was so easy to work with. Fucking thieves!
It turns out that all three really needed mothering. My step father was always a sort of um...flake. He was basically a big kid in a grown mans body. He was the last person who we should have put in charge of the situation. He was the least of three evils though. The twins were, in my opinion, a drain on my mom even towards the end. The worst of the two (I'll call him Twin1) never held down a job longer than two weeks in his life, and spends as much time in prison as out for drug related issues. The better of the two (Twin2) has a solid job as an electrician but spends all his off time in party mode. Twin2 just never grew up. In fact, up until the time of her death, never even had a checking account. He would just give my mom the money for his car payment and insurance premiums and she would write the checks. After my mother died, my stepfather inherited all these duties. I turns out he wasn't very good at keeping up.
About 6 months after my mothers death, Twin2 came home to a house that was a little more vacant than the one he left. He didn't notice it at first, but eventually wandered into my step fathers room and found it cleaned out. At first he thought it was Twin1 who went through and stole stuff for drugs as he had done in the past. After looking around, he found that it was all step fathers stuff that was missing. The safe my mom kept in the room (to keep Twin1 from stealing things from her purse) was left open. In the safe he found several opened envelopes all containing bills. Evidently, my step father hadn't been keeping up with his end of the bargain. All of the bills were unpaid. Good ol step dad had cut bait and run. This threw one hell of a wrench in the works.
None of us have ever heard from step dad again. We know he's still around because the mail delivered a couple things to the house since he left. A speeding ticket from Las Vegas and a tax form from a daily labor type work place in Arizona. Meanwhile, on the home front, there were some BIG problems. It turns out that step dad was several months behind on the house payments and hadn't paid Twin2s car note in a couple months either. My older brother and I were there to help financially as much as we could to bail Twin2 out. The problem was we couldn't help even though we wanted to. The mortgage company absolutely would not tell us how far behind we were in the payments because the house was still in my dead mothers name. We eventually called a lawyer (another group of scum-bags but I'll save that for a later blog) and all agreed to sign the property over to Twin2. We helped Twin2 when we could, and eventually he got back on top of things. I was secretly proud of Twin2 but I never got around to telling him. If he survives this next test I will definitely give him a good pat on the back.
OK now that the back story is filled in, let me get back to why I hate insurance companies.
They talk a big talk when they're trying to get your business by telling you that they're trust worthy and pay all their claims quickly. The truth couldn't be any further from the their hype. They will do everything in their power to get away with paying as little as possible and often nothing if they can get away with it. That's why they have fast claims adjusters. They get that dude out there as fast as they can to give you what you might think is a fair settlement in order to catch you off guard. Often they can seem as the white knight when you're in a situation where you have lost everything. The truth is they are just trying to catch you when you are at your lowest and get away with the minimum. So beware people. I speak from experience.
About a year ago, my moms house caught fire. Thank goodness a neighbor saw flames coming from the garage window or there is a good possibility Twin2, who was sleeping in his bed at the time, would be dead. She managed to bang on the front door till he woke up. By this time, the fire had spread from the garage to the dining room. It was already far beyond control. The fire department was already on the way but the interior and the roof of the stout brick ranch was pretty much gutted when they got there. Fast forward to the next day when my brother called the insurance company to tell them of the situation. They were very sympathetic. There would be an adjuster out to survey the damage the following day. The next day my brother is at the shell of a home that was my mothers only fiscal contribution to her four children. Reduced to ash were the personal pictures and other memories that were sentimental to us all. He waits patiently with the same smoky clothes he had on the day before because they are all he has. His cell rings (luckily he left that in the car) and on the other line is the insurance company. "We're sorry Mr. Twin2 but we are unable to process your claim because the policy was not in your name. No adjuster will be coming to your house today." The policy was still under my moms name covering the house that was now in his name. They weren't going to pay. We have to call the scum-bag (lawyer) back and here we fricking go again. Eventually the insurance company caved and agreed to pay the claim but now there are other issues. The damn company keeps sending checks out in the wrong name and now the contractors that are rebuilding the house say there might not be enough money to get the place done. Luckily my brother is an electrician so he's going to save a bundle by doing the electric himself. It looks like he might just make it after all. But not because the insurance was so easy to work with. Fucking thieves!
posted by Glenn at 10:57 PM
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