False Claims.....

Guess while I'm fessin' up to stuff, might as well tell you that my insurance was cancelled this month.  No it wasn't "not renewed"; it was flat out cancelled! But it wasn't my fault......


Dealing with insurance companies can be a truly rare and fantastic experience, particularly when you're filing a claim. Interestingly, they never seem overly concerned about accepting a premium payment.

Guess it was the claims that did me in.  I had three this year.  In February, an old barn on my place was struck by lightening and burned to the ground.  No big loss except that the barn was next to our pool and the heat melted the steps and partially destroyed the plastic liner. The company seemed a bit circumspect about the claim: "Swimming pool destroyed by fire". 

They became even more distant when I filed a claim for a broken wrist in July. The accident occurred  at work, when returning from lunch I parked, dumped the ice from a soft drink out of the car window, and then stepped out.  Of course, as bad luck would have it; I slipped on the ice and down I went.

North Carolina in July?

Now, as you know in North Carolina it's usually in the high 90's temperature-wise in July. The claim request: "Slipped on ice in parking lot July 12, broke wrist."

But, they didn't actually cancel me until this month when my car was badly damaged at Chick-fil-A. 

Was waiting in line at the drive-thru while watching several employees unload a tractor trailer delivery of frozen chicken.  The employees loaded a wheeled cart five feet high and pushed it across the drive-thru lane and up a steep ramp to the storage area. 

As they turned to unlock the door, you guessed it! The cart broke free and plunged back down the ramp and crashed into my car with disastrous results (not hard "to total" a 2002 Ford Focus!).  The claim report: "Car severely damaged by box of runaway chicken." was apparently the final straw; they simply refused to listen to me!  They acted as if they didn't believe me! I mean what's not to believe? You couldn't make this stuff up - right?
  
Well, what does this have to do with you and me and credit unions?  Thought you had probably arrived at that point about now.....

The message is simple:

"In life:  Listen first, decide second."

[We all, too often, get that exactly wardsback....]