Insurance. Ugh.

I don't know if I posted about this before, but we had some roof damage Mother's Day weekend, and it was pretty obvious that we were going to have to replace our entire roof.

Here's the basic timeline:

Wednesday, May 13 - I call our insurance company and sweetly make a claim.

Thursday, May 14 - My insurance agent calls me and tells me that the insurance adjuster will be calling soon.

Friday, May 15 - Another insurance agent with the same company calls me and tells me the insurance adjuster will be calling soon.

Tuesday, May 19 - The insurance adjuster calls. We set up an appointment for him to come by first thing in the morning.

Wednesday, May 20 - The insurance adjuster shows up, looks at the roof, tells us we'll hear back within a week.

Thursday, May 28 - Haven't heard anything, and it's more than a week later, so I call the insurance company. They refer me back to my adjuster.

Friday, May 29 - I call my insurance adjuster. His voice mail says he is on vacation and won't be back until June.

Friday, May 29 - I call the adjuster's Jackson office. They tell me he filed his report with both them and the insurance company on May 21. They tell me my insurance company has all the information they need to process my claim.

Friday, May 29 - I call the insurance company back. They can't find the report, and their computers are down. They promise to get right back to me.

It has now been three weeks since my roof was damaged, and I can get NO ONE to tell me the status of my claim or the status of the insurance adjuster's report.

By Monday, June 1, no one had called me back, and I was getting pretty hacked off. I called the insurance company again, told them that no one had followed up with me, told them I was frustrated, fed up, and had been handed off to anyone and everyone so that no one had to take responsiblity for my claim. I recounted my entire tale of woe with great dramatic effect. I then demanded that someone resolve this issue TODAY. ("TODAY!!" I screeched into the phone.) I then hung up on them and went to the restroom.

By the time I got back to my desk, I had two little desperate voicemails. The first was from my insurance agent, who told me in a rushed little speech that the Memphis office was working on my account. The second message was from the Memphis office, telling me my check for full replacement value was in the mail.

Now I ask you, WHY did I have to get so mean and nasty just to get these people to DO THEIR JOBS? I do not enjoy being mean and nasty. It has taken me a long time to learn how to control my natural meanness and nastiness, and I don't appreciate having to trot it out. (I do seem to have a certain aptitude for it, which I suppose can come in handy on occasion.) I have not been a claim-happy client for my insurance company. This is the FIRST CLAIM I have ever made, and I have been faithfully and promptly paying these folks since 1999.

Sheesh. At any rate, now that I've unearthed "Mean Nicole" for the insurance people, I might as well have her stick around to deal with the roofers. Then, it's back into long-term storage with her, if she'll consent to go.

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