Thursday, May 3, 2012

Stubborn

I've been struggling with the insurance company now for about 10 months.  The lady who processed my claim originally made some blatant errors, which resulted in me getting much less money than I was entitled to for some items, and more than double what I was owed for a few others.  While I'd have happily accept the overage, I got my back up over being shorted over laziness.

For example, two of my purses were damaged during the flood.  I claimed them both and then I happened to find a purse on a great sale before my claim was processed.  I was refunded for that one right away, but then the claims adjuster forgot or omitted  the second purse when she finally finished processing my claim.

When my claim was finally processed, I noticed the error and reported it right away.  The adjuster said she'd add the second purse, but she didn't bother to record the actual replacement value of $60 - she recorded $40, which I'd paid for the first one.

For ten months, I've been fighting about this.  I know it's only $20, but it's MY $20 and all they had to do was to look at the original claim that I submitted to see the mistake that had been made.

Long story short, I finally had enough and had a bit of a come to Jesus chat with the adjuster a few days ago.  As a result, she made a number of corrections to the claim, including confirming that I could have up to $60 for a new purse.

Until now, I have refused to replace the items for which the insurance company had recorded the wrong values, because I wanted to be sure I'd be refunded the full amount.  So, now I have a lot to buy in the next month before my claim is closed.

I don't know why, but I've wanted an orange purse for some time.  It makes no sense, because orange is probably my least favourite colour and it would match only a very small percentage of my clothes.  But, I wanted an orange purse.

There's a store in town that has a pretty great purse selection and I went there tonight.  As soon as I walked in the door, I zeroed in on a beautiful orange purse.  It was a good size, and had lots of pockets in the right places.  It seemed to be well made.

It cost $41.

The truth of the matter is, I stood there and realized that after fighting that battle with the insurance company, I simply did not want to submit a claim for a new purse for $40.  I'd fought to get up to $60, and told them repeatedly how unreasonable only $40 for purse would be.  And when I get a bee in my bonnet, it can be difficult for me to back down.  I'm a little bit embarrassed to admit that I came home with a black purse that cost $55.  

It's a nice purse.  It's also the right size, and it has lots of pockets in the right places.  It'll go with just about everything, and I won't get sick of its colour.    I think, however, that I'm going to bring it back tomorrow and trade it in for the orange purse.



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