Forgot my lube today and need to vent!
I found some buckling happening to the walls of my house. UGHS! So I called my insurance adjuster (who picked up the phone for once) and told her I had additional problems and wanted to make a supplemental claim. After giving her my claim number she said, "Oh, I just finished your claim and was cutting your checks let me tell you what you are getting". *deep breath hold*
"You estimate includes, skirting, siding, the hole in your roof, the ceiling in the master bedroom, leveling your mobile home and decking." "Okay". "The estimate totals $2300.00 (and some change) less $139.00 depreciation value (WTF?), and your $1,000.00 hurricane deductible, for a total of $1,100.00 (and some change)." "You will also be getting a check for $180.00 for six days of evacuation which is $30.00 a day." Really? That doesn't even cover my gas! Had I not stayed with relatives what about hotel room rates? I was speechless as this was going through my mind and my fingers were adding up figures on my desk calculator:
My skirting alone is $8.95 per panel and I will require two sides that are 80 foot long and two ends that are 14 feet wide. Approximately $1200.00 for just the panels, not including labor, the top lip and the bottom runners. My siding estimate was $4,200 not including labor. My roof, an additional $900.00 (thank God the hole isn't that big) not including labor. My ceiling to be repaired, materials will run me about $30.00. To re-popcorn my ceiling (i.e. the painting with labor) $350.00. To re-level my trailer, $1,300.00 which includes the labor. I'm thinking at least with labor and additional materials: $6,500.00 not including the thousands bucks for my deductible.
So she continues to talk telling me that I have to make a "new" claim for the walls as the field adjuster did not include that in his findings, yada yada and my eyes are only seeing dollar signs and where the hell am I going to get the money to fix all of this and what do you think I can do with $1,100.00. And then I remembered my field adjuster telling me if I find additional damages to make sure I make a supplemental claim so that I do not have to pay another deductible. So we argue. She tells me it may not be related to the hurricane. WHAT? Lady it wasn't there before and I'm thinking its water damage or mold now growing or something so don't play that with me. So she connects me with the claims department. They give me another claim number but return me to her to do the adjustments. At this point I told this new woman to stop that I didn't get a fair adjustment. That I have estimates for my damages and what do I need to do about that claim before making another one and what about my deductible? She explains she cannot answer these questions she will patch me back to my adjuster and they will get a field rep back out as soon as possible. HAHA. Her answering machine picks up. I just hung up. I was so upset and I know fussing will get you no where.
John, my employer came around the corner and asked me if I had finished a report and I just looked up at him and said I just got screwed and busted into tears. What sucks is that I'm not looking for money to take a trip to Hawaii or go on a cruise. I'm just looking for enough to cover what needs to be fixed to make my little home not look like white trash lives in it. So John and I talked about it and I can probably get the roof fixed and my ceiling for now with the insurance money. In the meantime, he said gather up my estimates, make copies and have them ready to give to this new field adjuster coming out to look at my walls. Once I get the check, there should also be a copy of the insurance's estimate of repairs and I should take that and my own estimates to FEMA and file an appeal for them not paying me anything.
I'm sad this evening. This is hard. You work to make your home a comfortable living area that you are proud of only to have a storm damn near destroy it and the insurance you pay timely, year after year, is lining someone else's pocket and not yours. FEMA is a joke. Unless you walk in there with no teeth, homeless, no job, no vehicle and your toothbrush they aren't looking to help you. I took the afternoon off and thought a lot about the fact that I'm not going through this again. It took days to clean up the debris in my yard which still sits there waiting to be collected and is blocking an entrance for company to park. The weather, until today, has been so dry that one little spark of fire near that debris pile and not only will my home go up in a blaze but the pumping station with its huge tanks of diesel will no doubt blow up. I still have large tree branches down in the back that I can't move because they are half on my property and half in the swamp requiring a truck and tow line to pull them out. And guess what, the debris pile is blocking any entrance to that too! Did I mention I have enough wood on my bonfire pile in the back to last me through the winter and into next year? And, since I have a mortgage I have to send this fabulous check I'm receiving to the mortgage company to endorse which I heard they will give me HALF and the other HALF when the work is complete. WHAT THE FUCK! And no matter how you look at it I'm a woman and its so easy to get screwed over! I'm thinking valium at this point or heavy drinking. Quite frankly, I wish my home would have imploded. My mortgage would be paid off (I do have more than enough insurance coverage for that) and I could just live in a hotel or at a friend's until I could find an apartment and make a fresh start.
NOBODY understands that I've tried to vent to. They have husbands and relatives to lean on and not a single one of them has offered the names of any contractors or roofers who would help me out. I'm angry. I'm tired. I hate bugs. I hate mice. I hate my house. I hate the fact that I still have brown rings in my toilet from the water everyday. I hate that I have a big ole piece of cardboard in my ceiling in my bedroom. I wish I had a bulldozer to move the pile of debris back on my neighbor's yard. And you know what I hate the most ... I hate the feeling of being helpless and intimidated.
"You estimate includes, skirting, siding, the hole in your roof, the ceiling in the master bedroom, leveling your mobile home and decking." "Okay". "The estimate totals $2300.00 (and some change) less $139.00 depreciation value (WTF?), and your $1,000.00 hurricane deductible, for a total of $1,100.00 (and some change)." "You will also be getting a check for $180.00 for six days of evacuation which is $30.00 a day." Really? That doesn't even cover my gas! Had I not stayed with relatives what about hotel room rates? I was speechless as this was going through my mind and my fingers were adding up figures on my desk calculator:
My skirting alone is $8.95 per panel and I will require two sides that are 80 foot long and two ends that are 14 feet wide. Approximately $1200.00 for just the panels, not including labor, the top lip and the bottom runners. My siding estimate was $4,200 not including labor. My roof, an additional $900.00 (thank God the hole isn't that big) not including labor. My ceiling to be repaired, materials will run me about $30.00. To re-popcorn my ceiling (i.e. the painting with labor) $350.00. To re-level my trailer, $1,300.00 which includes the labor. I'm thinking at least with labor and additional materials: $6,500.00 not including the thousands bucks for my deductible.
So she continues to talk telling me that I have to make a "new" claim for the walls as the field adjuster did not include that in his findings, yada yada and my eyes are only seeing dollar signs and where the hell am I going to get the money to fix all of this and what do you think I can do with $1,100.00. And then I remembered my field adjuster telling me if I find additional damages to make sure I make a supplemental claim so that I do not have to pay another deductible. So we argue. She tells me it may not be related to the hurricane. WHAT? Lady it wasn't there before and I'm thinking its water damage or mold now growing or something so don't play that with me. So she connects me with the claims department. They give me another claim number but return me to her to do the adjustments. At this point I told this new woman to stop that I didn't get a fair adjustment. That I have estimates for my damages and what do I need to do about that claim before making another one and what about my deductible? She explains she cannot answer these questions she will patch me back to my adjuster and they will get a field rep back out as soon as possible. HAHA. Her answering machine picks up. I just hung up. I was so upset and I know fussing will get you no where.
John, my employer came around the corner and asked me if I had finished a report and I just looked up at him and said I just got screwed and busted into tears. What sucks is that I'm not looking for money to take a trip to Hawaii or go on a cruise. I'm just looking for enough to cover what needs to be fixed to make my little home not look like white trash lives in it. So John and I talked about it and I can probably get the roof fixed and my ceiling for now with the insurance money. In the meantime, he said gather up my estimates, make copies and have them ready to give to this new field adjuster coming out to look at my walls. Once I get the check, there should also be a copy of the insurance's estimate of repairs and I should take that and my own estimates to FEMA and file an appeal for them not paying me anything.
I'm sad this evening. This is hard. You work to make your home a comfortable living area that you are proud of only to have a storm damn near destroy it and the insurance you pay timely, year after year, is lining someone else's pocket and not yours. FEMA is a joke. Unless you walk in there with no teeth, homeless, no job, no vehicle and your toothbrush they aren't looking to help you. I took the afternoon off and thought a lot about the fact that I'm not going through this again. It took days to clean up the debris in my yard which still sits there waiting to be collected and is blocking an entrance for company to park. The weather, until today, has been so dry that one little spark of fire near that debris pile and not only will my home go up in a blaze but the pumping station with its huge tanks of diesel will no doubt blow up. I still have large tree branches down in the back that I can't move because they are half on my property and half in the swamp requiring a truck and tow line to pull them out. And guess what, the debris pile is blocking any entrance to that too! Did I mention I have enough wood on my bonfire pile in the back to last me through the winter and into next year? And, since I have a mortgage I have to send this fabulous check I'm receiving to the mortgage company to endorse which I heard they will give me HALF and the other HALF when the work is complete. WHAT THE FUCK! And no matter how you look at it I'm a woman and its so easy to get screwed over! I'm thinking valium at this point or heavy drinking. Quite frankly, I wish my home would have imploded. My mortgage would be paid off (I do have more than enough insurance coverage for that) and I could just live in a hotel or at a friend's until I could find an apartment and make a fresh start.
NOBODY understands that I've tried to vent to. They have husbands and relatives to lean on and not a single one of them has offered the names of any contractors or roofers who would help me out. I'm angry. I'm tired. I hate bugs. I hate mice. I hate my house. I hate the fact that I still have brown rings in my toilet from the water everyday. I hate that I have a big ole piece of cardboard in my ceiling in my bedroom. I wish I had a bulldozer to move the pile of debris back on my neighbor's yard. And you know what I hate the most ... I hate the feeling of being helpless and intimidated.