The insurance saga continues...

This isn't me, but it's how I feel. Mind you, I am a VERY laid back person and it takes a LOT to get me upset. In fact, I tend to avoid confrontation and hate to argue. But this situation has frayed my last nerve.

The insurance dilemma is still going on. I didn't hear anything all week, so I called the other insurance company on Thursday to find out the status. I talked to the claim rep's supervisor, maintaining a calm demeanor the whole time. I could tell he was a real schmoozer...tried to explain that they were trying to contact the other party for her statement, but her schedule was so busy...and I should understand that. My son, Jon, got a call today from them saying that she was disputing the claim. **sigh** Jon has been asked to make a statement about what happened about four times now. And when they called to tell him that she was disputing the claim, they asked him AGAIN to give a statement. Does this seem a little odd??? They get ONE statement from her...THREE weeks after the fact, and Jon has given a statement four times??? I told him they're looking for discrepancies in his stories. He has given them the same statement each time...how fast he was going...which lane he was in. Excuse me, but wouldn't the police report, and evidence of the damage and tire marks be proof??? He told Jon that a decision would be made over the weekend. I'm thinking it will be a weekend sometime in March or April considering the hastiness in which they've operated. I am totally frustrated by this whole process...to include my insurance company, State Farm. Since I don't have collision coverage on this vehicle because it's old with lots of mileage, they don't want anything to do with it. At first they were real supportive and said everything would be covered under uninsured coverage...then everything changed. I called my agent this morning when I found about the dispute, and she never even returned my call.

I was talking to one of the instructors in my department this week about it...he teaches driver's education classes at the university. He said he had State Farm insurance for about 25 years and they kept raising the rates. He started looking into other insurance companies and found that Progressive offered a better deal. He went to State Farm to see if he was getting the best deal he could and after the agent spent about ten minutes on the computer checking things out, stood up, shook his hand and told him goodbye. I'm thinking State Farm is getting a little full of itself. I definitely don't have the same feeling for it that I did before...especially since I have never filed a claim with them.

Well, depending on what happens with the woman's (and that's a very nice word compared with how I really feel about her) dispute, I will be contacting an attorney and filing a complaint with the insurance commission of Texas. I'm guessing that because they're dealing with a teenager, they're thinking they can get away with it.

On a more positive note, it was my birthday last Saturday (the 17th). With everything that was going on, I wasn't feeling very festive, but I got this card from a friend tonight which gave me a smile. When I opened it, it played the song, "Tequila." Oh, yeah...I could use one of those about now. Thanks, Barry.

Out of curiosity, I did a search on January 17th birthdays. These are some folks who share my birthday:

Muhammad Ali

Anne Bronte

Al Capone

Jim Carrey

Anton Checkhov

Benjamin Franklin

Andy Kaufman (kind of a coincidence since Jim Carrey portrayed his life in "Man in the Moon" in 1999)

Eartha Kitt

Shari Lewis (remember Lamb Chop???)

Michelle Obama

Kid Rock

Vidal Sassoon

Betty White (I loved her in the "Mary Tyler Moore" show)

So I share a birthday with some pretty cool people (except for maybe Al Capone).

On another note, I'm scheduled to go to Isla the end of May. I haven't even thought about it lately with everything that's going on.

But I could really use a walk along this about now.