From Prada to Prison: the Story of a Wannabe ‘Real Housewife’
A woman who wanted to become part of the “Real Housewives of Orange County” cast is going to get a different dose of reality as she was recently sentenced to 10 years of probation on November 30th. She was convicted for committing a state record of over $30 million in workers’ compensation insurance fraud.
Read Full Story Here
The statements below are taken from actual insurance accident claims forms. They are real, true (you can't make up this kind of stuff). Read 'em and laugh and be glad it wasn't you. Read full article here.
Incidents with Pedestrians.
- The pedestrian ran for the pavement, but I got him.
- The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him.
- I was sure the old fellow would never make it to the other side of the road when I struck him.
- To avoid hitting the bumper of the car in front I struck a pedestrian.
- The pedestrian had no idea which way to run as I ran over him.
- The car in front hit the pedestrian but he got up so I hit him again.
- I saw a slow moving, sad faced old gentleman as he bounced off the roof of my car.
- A pedestrian hit me and went under my car.
- I saw her look at me twice. She appeared to be making slow progress when we met on impact.
Accidents with other vehicles.
- I collided with a stationary truck coming the other way.
- A truck backed through my windshield into my wife's face.
- The other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intention.
- My car was legally parked as it backed into another vehicle.
- When I saw I could not avoid a collision I stepped on the gas and crashed into the other car.
- I started to slow down but the traffic was more stationary than I thought.
- The accident occurred when I was attempting to bring my car out of a skid by steering it into the other vehicle.
- I was backing my car out of the driveway in the usual manner, when it was struck by the other car in the same place it had been struck several times before.
- I was unable to stop in time and my car crashed into the other vehicle. The driver and passengers then left immediately for a vacation with injuries.
- The gentleman behind me struck me on the backside. He then went to rest in a bush with just his rear end showing.
- The car in front of me stopped for a yellow light, so I had no choice but to hit him. (She pushed him through the intersection)
Collisions, calamities, and injuries.
- Coming home I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don't have.
- I told the police that I was not injured, but on removing my hat found that I had a fractured skull.
- I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law and headed over the embankment.
- I thought my window was down, but I found it was up when I put my head through it.
- As I approached an intersection a sign suddenly appeared in a place where no stop sign had ever appeared before. I was unable to stop in time to avoid the accident.
- In an attempt to kill a fly, I drove into a telephone pole.
- I saw two kangaroos having it off in the middle of the road. So I hit them, which caused me to ejaculate through the sunroof.
- I was thrown from my car as it left the road. I was later found in a ditch by some stray cows.
- The telephone pole was approaching. I was attempting to swerve out of the way when I struck the front end.
- I pulled in to the side of the road because there was smoke coming from under the hood. I realized there was a fire in the engine, so I took my dog and smothered it with a blanket.
- The claimant had collided with a cow. The questions and answers on the claim form were - Q: What warning was given by you? A: Horn. Q: What warning was given by the other party? A: Moo.
Who is to Blame?
- No one was to blame for the accident but it would never have happened if the other driver had been alert.
- I didn't think the speed limit applied after midnight.
- I had been shopping for plants all day and was on my way home. As I reached an intersection a hedge sprang up, obscuring my vision and I did not see the other car.
- The indirect cause of the accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth.
- I was going at about 70 or 80 mph when my girlfriend reached over and grabbed my testicles so I lost control.
- I was on the way to the doctor with rear end trouble when my universal joint gave way causing me to have an accident.
- On approach to the traffic lights the car in front suddenly broke.
- The accident was caused by me waving to the man I hit last week.
- Windshield broke. Cause unknown. Probably Voodoo.
- No witnesses would admit having seen the mishap until after it happened.
- I had been learning to drive with power steering. I turned the wheel to what I thought was enough and found myself in a different direction going the opposite way.
- The accident happened when the right front door of a car came round the corner without giving a signal.
- I had been driving for forty years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident.
- I left for work this morning at 7am as usual when I collided straight into a bus. The bus was 5 miniutes early.
- An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car and vanished.
- I knew the dog was possessive about the car but I would not have asked her to drive it if I had thought there was any risk.
- The accident happened because I had one eye on the truck in front, one eye on the pedestrian, and the other on the car behind.
- I started to turn and it was at this point I noticed a camel and an elephant tethered at the verge. This distraction caused me to lose concentration and hit a bollard.
When Insurance Fraud is a Sport
The accountant tapped the bumper of the van in front of her while creeping along in Tampa's rush-hour traffic. The van's driver said he was fine. Then he called an accident referral service.
When the dust settled months later, the bills topped $52,000, all paid by the accountant's car insurance company.
CLAIMS CONVERSATIONS
Roger Howson
Claims Dispute Resolution
PSAA Newsletter Editor and Education Chair
On Thanksgiving morning my wife Barbara and I enjoyed a five mile walk in a torrential downpour. We returned home drenched from head to toe, chilled to the bone, and smiling happily because for the first time in many years we wouldn’t be capping our Thanksgiving weekend with a 26.2 mile run/walk/limp through rain, sleet, snow, and intermittent sunshine at the Seattle Marathon.
Congratulations to those of you who competed in this year’s annual test of your endurance (and sanity) at any one of the Turkey Trots, marathons, half-marathons, or Black Friday bloodbaths. Those of us conscientious objectors who stayed closer to home and watched your self-abuse on the evening news may salute you, but we definitely don’t envy you.
Speaking of questionable sanity (people question mine all the time); I’m wondering what poor liability adjuster has to handle the claims by the many Black Friday shoppers pepper sprayed by overly aggressive X-Box customers. (Why are these psycho shopper stories always about Wal-Mart; don’t any nut jobs ever shop at Nordstrom?) I find it incredible that someone is able to spray, pay, and get away without being stopped, assaulted, or caught on a smart phone or the store’s surveillance camera.
My family, friends, and acquaintances who are Black Friday veterans say I just don’t understand the whole festival-like frenzy for deep discounts while (very limited) supplies last. Yes I do. We once had a dog who acted out like these Black Friday shoppers, and the humane society made us quarantine her until the courts could decide whether or not she should be put down.
While the rest of the world revels in the holiday lights, glitter, and glitz, festive music blasting unrelentingly from speakers in every corner of every open space, and the hordes of humanity in search of the perfect gift (although REALLY scoping out the gifts they’re hoping to receive); the holidays are actually a difficult time for claims professionals.
The upbeat holiday music and merriment masks a darker anxiety that surfaces among claimants and policyholders during this time of year. They expect their claims to be paid quickly and extra generously so that they can use those proceeds to overspend on Christmas and Hanukah gifts, but they can’t get to us the claims documentation we’ve requested because they’re hopelessly overwhelmed by the demands of company parties, year-end reporting, family and neighborhood gatherings, personal entertaining expectations, gift-buying, and perpetual good cheer.
At the same time, we’re buried in claims because just like our claimants we’re also hopelessly overwhelmed by those very same demands of company parties, year-end reporting, family and neighborhood gatherings, personal entertaining expectations, gift-buying, and perpetual good cheer.
It’s hard enough keeping up with our normal work flow during the rest of the year, but from Thanksgiving through the first week in January we’re faced with holiday interruptions, deadlines that are real (fiscal year-end reporting, claims pending inventory, etc.) and artificial (settlement demands that expire just before Christmas), the corporate “use it or lose it” vacation policy, and the cumulative exhaustion from a year that has gone too long and is ending too early.
The bah humbug irony is that, regardless of the very real stress and anxiety acknowledged in the paragraphs above, every one of us looks forward to this time of year because it’s exhilarating, exuberant, and extravagant. So long as we remember to appropriately appreciate the overstimulation and high drama in the good spirit in which it is intended we’ll all be fine. Besides that, after the presents are bought, wrapped, unwrapped, rewrapped, and re-gifted and the New Year is riotously celebrated we’ll have another ten months to recover before the holiday chaos all starts up again.
Speaking of overstimulation and high drama, thank you all who attended the inaugural PSAA Holiday Celebration at Emerald Downs. And congratulations to the PSAA Holiday Committee and Board Members who really put themselves out to make sure that this year’s event would be one to remember.
Those of you who don’t remember anything from this raucous celebration might want to check Facebook, Google, Snapfish, police incident reports, and anywhere else there’s photographic evidence of your behavior that evening. Take our word for it- you had a GREAT time.
May you all enjoy your Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, and New Year celebrations, and we look forward to seeing every one of you at the next PSAA Meeting at Billy Baroo’s on Friday, January 20th at 11:30am.
Check out The Insurance Hall of Shame.
Here are a few excerpts....you won't want to miss the rest!
Burning with desire. Kenneth Allen led an arson ring that torched 50 homes and hauled in millions in bogus insurance claims, mostly in the Indianapolis and Muncie areas. Allen’s gang usually bought low-priced fixer-upper homes and loaded them with used furniture to inflate the claims.
Allen even recruited a crooked insurance adjuster to ensure the claims slid past the insurers. The scheme was so brazen that one home had no furnace oven or sink—but did have a big-screen TV, video game console and space heater all plugged suspiciously into the same outlet. Allen received four years.
Allen even recruited a crooked insurance adjuster to ensure the claims slid past the insurers. The scheme was so brazen that one home had no furnace oven or sink—but did have a big-screen TV, video game console and space heater all plugged suspiciously into the same outlet. Allen received four years.
Judging the judge. Elected appellate judge Michael Joyce collected $440,000 from auto insurers after lying that a 5 mph bumper bender left him in constant pain and virtually crippled.
But the Erie, Pennsylvania jurist went swimming, was an avid golfer, did in-line roller blading and went scuba diving in the Caribbean. Joyce also earned his pilot license and flew an airplane at least 50 times. And he passed the difficult pilot licensing test despite claiming he had brain damage that made it hard to think clearly. Joyce will be sentenced in 2009.
But the Erie, Pennsylvania jurist went swimming, was an avid golfer, did in-line roller blading and went scuba diving in the Caribbean. Joyce also earned his pilot license and flew an airplane at least 50 times. And he passed the difficult pilot licensing test despite claiming he had brain damage that made it hard to think clearly. Joyce will be sentenced in 2009.
Triathlon tricks. Samuel Aaron Brabson claimed a car crash left him nearly crippled and largely confined to a wheelchair. The Richmond, Va. man made more than $1.2 million in disability claims, and even had Meals on Wheels helping him out.
But all along, Brabson competed in triathlons and took girlfriends on grueling mountain hikes. When a friend saw him in a store with no sign of disability, he told her he was Brabson’s twin. Brabson has no twin. He received one year, thanks in part to solid sleuthing by the Virginia State Police.
But all along, Brabson competed in triathlons and took girlfriends on grueling mountain hikes. When a friend saw him in a store with no sign of disability, he told her he was Brabson’s twin. Brabson has no twin. He received one year, thanks in part to solid sleuthing by the Virginia State Police.
CLAIMS CONVERSATIONS
Roger Howson
Claims Dispute Resolution
PSAA Newsletter Editor and Education Chair
If you’re reading this Claims Conversation column buried deep inside this month’s PSAA Newsletter I suspect that you’re (1) a vendor looking for your ad placement to make sure your PSAA advertising dollars are well-spent, (2) an adjuster on a telephone call half-listening to a claimant ramble on and on about why your settlement offer is so insultingly insufficient, (3) a claims manager on a subsequent telephone call half-listening to this same claimant rambling on and on about how your adjuster is an incompetent and insensitive moron for stonewalling them with this parsimonious settlement offer (not realizing that YOU’RE the “incompetent and insensitive moron” who authorized that settlement amount), (4) a PSAA member, vendor, or Board Member looking through the newsletter for your name in bold type, or (5) an SCAA or TCAA past president with nothing better to do.
If you’re (5) I need your help.
In the September PSAA Newsletter I mangled the history of the Tacoma Claims Adjusters Association by asserting that TCAA dates back only to 1991. My assumption for this was based on the extensive research I did wherein I read in the TCAA Newsletter the list of TCAA past presidents and saw that first TCAA president served in 1991. I assumed that the TCAA meetings had to be run by someone, and I assumed that this someone would be listed as president. Therefore, if there’s no president then there’s probably no TCAA. (Hey, I studied Logic as a UW undergraduate.)
Apparently, the Tacoma Claims Adjusters Association was an esteemed organization LONG before 1991. Unfortunately, no one has been able to tell me precisely HOW long TCAA has been in existence. (I am using the present tense because TCAA and SCAA both still exist in just slightly different manifestation; for crying out loud, we changed TWO letters in the acronym… ONE slightly scrambled if you’re SCAA.)
What was I writing about? See how easily I’m distracted? Oh yeah, someone needs to fill me in on the history of the Tacoma Claims Adjusters Association.
I know Jim Davis was TCAA president in 1989 (or thereabouts) because Jim told me so, and it’s not his fault he can’t remember the exact year he presided over this unruly group of claims iconoclasts because in those days several of the members were self-medicating. His experience was especially memorable for moving the TCAA meeting place from the Bavarian to the LaQuinta Inn, and ending the liquid lunches that were causing so much of the mayhem. “The Bavarian was too dark, so the drinkers could sit in the back and throw things at the guest speakers,” was all he would say about the need to move the meeting venue. (PSAA note: Billy Baroo’s is brightly illuminated with lots of natural light and wide open, so don’t EVEN think about pelting our guest speakers.)
Jim Davis was so traumatized by his initial tenure as TCAA president that years later he actually agreed to serve again; although he shortened that second presidential stint to undertake something far less stressful… missionary work in Rwanda.
Wendy Edmond was the one to call my attention to the fact that my history of the Tacoma Claims Adjusters Association was incredibly truncated and inaccurate, but being the kind soul that she is Wendy fell on her sword by taking responsibility for listing the TCAA presidents only back to 1991. She says Barb Tyler suggested listing all of the past presidents on the inside cover of the TCAA Newsletter like they do in the SCAA Newsletter, and Wendy says her memory only went back that far.
Of course, I’ve got no room to fault Wendy Edmond’s memory because I can’t even remember the name of my own sister-in-law when I bump into her at the Columbia Tower. In my own defense, I’ve got eleven sisters (and one brother) in-law.
Anyway, this TCAA history debacle isn’t the fault of Wendy Edmond’s long-term memory loss or my inexcusable lack of curiosity. NO! This is all Barb Tyler’s fault! It is Barb’s fault for suggesting the roster of past TCAA presidents. If Barb would quit helping TCAA, SCAA, OCAA, and now PSAA to become better organizations by cross-pollinating our respective groups with fresh ideas and innovative thinking we could just stumble along the path to irrelevance, and no one would even CARE whether or not TCAA has any history at all.
But we DO care, so I am asking you… begging you… bribing you (who knows, maybe I could rig the Blue Bucket drawing) to clue us in as to the history of the Tacoma Claims Adjusters Association. Please!
In this Fraud Friday story you will see that even employee's of insurance agency's aren't above committing fraud. Unfortunately for this woman, she would have been far better off by using her employee discount and carrying a policy. Another example of how fraud doesn't pay!
Funniest insurance fraud stories EVER.......a home is "relocated" when it falls off the back of a truck, a windshield is broken by voodoo....
Read More Here.
Read More Here.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
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Top Seven Mistakes Business Owners Make Filing Insurance Claims
Like many of you, I own my own business. Like most business owners I have to know how to do a lot of different things that are outside of my core competency. There are a lot of things I’ve learned how to do just by having to do them over and over in order to keep my business going. Repetition helps me acquire competency (unless I’m doing it wrong, in which case repetition induces incompetency), so I become proficient at most aspects of my business.
The problem is when I’m faced with situations that are a one-time event. If I’m only going to be doing something one time I usually have neither the opportunity nor the motivation to seek competency… let alone mastery. I have a choice at that point; (1) try not to screw up whatever it is I need to do this one time, or (2) hire someone who is competent at this one-time task. Most of us business owners will default to choice number one.
That’s why articles like the one I’ve posted here are so useful. There is just enough information here to keep you from screwing up TOO badly because this article doesn’t overwhelm you with a data dump in order to try to coach you to mastery of insurance claims. If you follow these seven useful tips your insurance claim won’t be a second catastrophe on top of the first.
However, if you sense that your claim ISN’T going well then stop what you’re doing and call CDR. If we can’t help you, we’ll put you in touch with someone who WILL.
My office looks out onto Dexter Avenue North which is the main commuter route for bicyclists into downtown Seattle.
Dexter used to be a dangerous stretch of potholes, cracked pavement, barely visible lines, blind curves, and an unacknowledged bike lane. There were two lanes of traffic in each direction which most drivers considered a speedway to and from work.
In front of the Starbucks, Sushi Bay, and Taco Del Mar patrons would park, exit their vehicle, re-enter their vehicle laden with drinks and/or food, and re-enter traffic without ever accounting for the bicyclists whizzing past.Experienced bicycle commuters knew to be ever vigilant for the sudden stops, turns, and acceleration of several thousand pound vehicles as their drivers scramble for precious parking and then bolt back into traffic just ahead of line of cars.
Every driver was looking out for other cars and pedestrians, but too many of them were oblivious to bicyclists. Even if a car wasn’t pulling out right in front of them, bicyclists still had to contend with car doors suddenly thrown open right in their speeding path. In these instances, the bicyclist had three bad options: crash into the car door, slam on their brakes (probably not in time), or swerve into traffic.
For the past month or more Dexter has been torn up and overrun with heavy equipment. The deep gaping holes and exaggerated ridges during the first phase of construction made the original potholes and cracked pavement seem benign by comparison. Not only were there no visible lines for noting pedestrian crosswalks, bike lanes, or even north/south divisions; but the construction work required bright orange barrels to corral four lanes of traffic into one narrow lane each way north and south.
Frustrated commuters suffered congestion, delays, and insufficient room to maneuver (we were surprised that some of the larger SUVs and pick-ups were able to squeeze into the diminished lanes). Drivers were especially irritated to have to wait behind every bus stop, sanitation workers in huge lumbering garbage trucks picking up trash containers, construction delays, and travel at speeds no faster than the slowest bicyclist.
Some frustrated drivers become angry drivers. They’re angry at the construction work that is disrupting their normal commute, but they seem angrier at the bicyclists.
Amidst the angry drivers, dangerous roadway conditions, and the chaos of construction the bicyclists are riding scared, and for some people fear manifests as anger. Anger sometimes manifests as aggression.
So let’s recap the current Dexter Avenue North situation. An old, worn-out pavement is mutilated so that it can be repaired. All commuters, whether by vehicle, bus, or bicycle, are forced to share a very narrow strip of road. There is no existing protocol for accommodating the differing speeds and needs of these vehicles, buses, and bicycles all unhappily sharing this dangerous path. And they’re all at risk from construction crews and heavy equipment unconcerned with their commuting needs.
Remember, this was the best and safest route for bicyclists pedaling their way into downtown Seattle.
Notice my use of the past tense in relating the commuting situation for Dexter Avenue North.
From our office window and during our endurance of the miserable traffic jams and construction mayhem we are witnessing the transformation of Dexter Avenue North into a haven for bicycle commuters. Construction on the new roadway is scheduled well into October, but the potholes and cracked pavement have finally been torn up and covered over with fresh asphalt.
There are still no clearly visible lines to designate pedestrian crosswalks, bike lanes, and the north/south arterial, and the bright orange construction barrels are still in the middle of the street.
But the bus stop islands are in place, so drivers are getting used to having to stop and wait at every bus stop until the passengers have exited and loaded. On the new Dexter Avenue North impatient motorists will no longer be able to whip around the bus, and the buses will no longer have to wait for all the vehicles to go whizzing by before cautiously pulling back out into traffic.
The bike lane is routed on the other side of the bus stop AWAY from traffic. There is no more danger to the bicyclists or bus patrons from dodging erratically speeding cars trying to pass the bus.
Life will be good.
Tell that to Mike Wang. He was run over at the corner of Dexter Avenue North while bicycling home from work. His murderer has not yet been caught.
(S)he will.
“If you worry about what might be, and wonder what might have been, you will ignore what is.” -Anonymous, courtesy of Frederick Turner
It’s been ten years. Ten long years, and ten years that flew by way too fast.
Our company was incorporated on September 12th, 2001. It would have been incorporated the day before, but there was something else going on earlier that particular morning that precluded our local government from confirming our incorporation.
I was playing racquetball at the time of the initial 9/11 attack, and while at the drinking fountain between games we looked up at the bank of televisions all showing the same awful scene on different networks. Someone on a treadmill told us it was an airline crash, so we went back to our game.
At the end of our next game we came off the court to find out that the second World Trade Center and the Pentagon had both been hit.
No one else was running on the treadmills. The health club was empty. We were done with racquetball for the day.
I called my wife. She said she was busy getting our girls off to school, and had no intention of interrupting their routine. She told me she’d look in on the news after the girls left for school.
As usual I went to work. There was nothing usual about work.
My office is in with Regus Business Centres. Regus is based out of the United Kingdom, but their flagship United States office was in the second World Trade Center in New York. Hannah Kelly, who managed our Regus facilities, was best friends with the manager of the World Trade Center offices.
Hannah told me that her friend called Regus’ corporate headquarters in London to tell them what happened to the first World Trade Center. Her friend told them that most of the Regus clients wanted to exit the building immediately after the first plane crashed into the tower right outside their window. The problem was that the fire and police officials told the Regus manager that it was safer to stay inside the building away from falling glass (and bodies). The Regus decision makers told her to do whatever the safety officials told her.
By now everyone at Regus Corporate in London was watching the tragedy unfolding in real time on television. They saw the flaming wreckage of the first plane and the horrific damage it caused. They were on the phone with the manager of the World Trade Center location, and they knew more about what was going on than she did because they were following the news commentary.
They assured the Regus manager that the fire and police officials knew what they were doing, they had more information than she did, and that her best course of action was to do exactly as she was told. Even the World Trade Center facilities manager was telling her that the building was safer inside than outside under a shower of falling, flaming debris.
She passed the information she had on to her Regus clients, and recommended that they stay put. Only a few clients opted to exit the building.
A Regus employee (entirely coincidentally, the only male on staff) volunteered to go downstairs to evaluate the situation at ground level, and then report back. His manager reluctantly agreed. She told Corporate (who were staying on line throughout the crisis) that she felt like she was sending him off to his death.
The employee headed for the elevator, and the manager anxiously suggested that he take the stairs as a precaution against power failure or structural instability. He told her they were 93 floors up, and that there was no way he was going to walk down and back 93 flights of stairs!
The second plane hit the second World Trade Center just a moment after the employee exited the elevator at ground level.
The people at Regus Corporate Headquarters were still on the phone with the New York manager, and they were watching the scene on television as the second plane hit.
The phone went dead.
None of those Regus employees or any of their clients who stayed behind was ever found. The only survivor was the Regus employee who risked his life to assess the situation at ground level.
All of those who were lost will never be forgotten, but our memory of them will be especially vivid this weekend. We owe them all to live a much better future than we have these ten years just now passed.
And you wonder why insurance companies Investigate claims. Bashing insurance companies is the preferred recreation for lots of consumers, but there’s a reason why collecting on an insurance claim isn’t necessarily as quick and easy as we’d like it to be.
The people in this video ruin it for the rest of us. They make insurance companies cautious, adjusters become suspicious and cynical, premiums go up, and the process makes legitimate claimants feel like they’re criminals.
We want to hear from YOU, especially you adjusters, about the more interesting and innovative frauds you’re seeing perpetrated. NOT because we want people to duplicate those frauds, but because not enough people see what goes on with their less honest fellow insureds.
Remember, bad faith is a two way street.
As these pictures so aptly demonstrate, insurance is a commodity that’s an overpriced overhead expense… until you actually need it. A claims professional is able to see the resurrection amidst the ruin and help make it a reality. A dishonest claims person will either cheap it out so the business never recovers or inflate the claim all out of proportion to the loss so that the business owner takes the money and runs off without ever rebuilding. Either way, the community loses. In this instance, EVERYBODY wins!
The article below, “Policyholder complaints after tornadoes show discontent with delays, disputes over damage” helps illustrate why I get called upon so often to resolve insurance claims disputes.
Insurance companies are from Mars and policyholders are from Venus- or vice versa, depending upon your orbital preference.
Consumer advocates will read the article to determine that 475 Alabama policyholders took action because they feel they are being cheated on their tornado damage claims, and that many more policyholders just didn’t bother to file a formal complaint.
Insurance company executives will read this same article to conclude that the 475 Alabama Department of Insurance complaints represent less than half of one percent of all claims filed; NOT policyholders-claims! They will say that those numbers indicate a satisfaction rate of better than 99.5%.
Mark Twain once said, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
Larry Kidd, the unhappy Allstate policyholder quoted in the “Policyholder complaints after tornadoes show discontent with delays, disputes over damage” article, probably doesn’t care whether he’s one of “only” 475 other less than satisfied claimants or one of 47,500. Larry cares only about HIS claim.
Insurance companies have to manage huge volumes of claims, and Larry Kidd’s claim is just one of more than 100,000 Alabama claims resulting from that particular tornado.
When Leo Tolstoy said, “All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” he could have been talking about insurance claims. The majority of insurance claims are resolved amicably and efficiently according to a standardized insurance claims process. The process works- except when it doesn’t.
Therein lays Leo Tolstoy’s observant wisdom about insurance claims; his famous quote could be modified to read, “All satisfactory claims resemble one another; each unsatisfactory claim is unsatisfactory in its own way.”
That’s when I get called upon. And that’s another story for another time.
But we’re more interested in YOUR insurance claims stories! If you’ve got a story to tell, we want to hear it. I know for certain that there are policyholders, adjusters, agents, attorneys, contractors, body shops, chiropractors, (and anyone else) out there who have been plowed over or ground up by a runaway claims situation.
Insurance claims are not statistics or graphs or surveys. Insurance claims are blood, sweat, grease, grime, and bile. Policyholders are not a twelve digit policy or claim number, adjusters are not mindless automations, and service providers (cleaners, contractors, body shops, etc.) are not soulless moneygrubbers. Everyone involved in the insurance claims process is a very real flesh and blood human being with our own unique dreams and doubts.
We all have a story to tell about some crazy insurance claim we found ourselves involved in or consumed by, and some of these stories are even worth hearing. So, let’s hear it!! Please send them to info@claimsdisputeresolution.com.
(Don’t worry, names will be changed to protect the innocent… and to keep our website from being shut down.)
READ ARTICLE HERE
Insurance companies are from Mars and policyholders are from Venus- or vice versa, depending upon your orbital preference.
Consumer advocates will read the article to determine that 475 Alabama policyholders took action because they feel they are being cheated on their tornado damage claims, and that many more policyholders just didn’t bother to file a formal complaint.
Insurance company executives will read this same article to conclude that the 475 Alabama Department of Insurance complaints represent less than half of one percent of all claims filed; NOT policyholders-claims! They will say that those numbers indicate a satisfaction rate of better than 99.5%.
Mark Twain once said, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
Larry Kidd, the unhappy Allstate policyholder quoted in the “Policyholder complaints after tornadoes show discontent with delays, disputes over damage” article, probably doesn’t care whether he’s one of “only” 475 other less than satisfied claimants or one of 47,500. Larry cares only about HIS claim.
Insurance companies have to manage huge volumes of claims, and Larry Kidd’s claim is just one of more than 100,000 Alabama claims resulting from that particular tornado.
When Leo Tolstoy said, “All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” he could have been talking about insurance claims. The majority of insurance claims are resolved amicably and efficiently according to a standardized insurance claims process. The process works- except when it doesn’t.
Therein lays Leo Tolstoy’s observant wisdom about insurance claims; his famous quote could be modified to read, “All satisfactory claims resemble one another; each unsatisfactory claim is unsatisfactory in its own way.”
That’s when I get called upon. And that’s another story for another time.
But we’re more interested in YOUR insurance claims stories! If you’ve got a story to tell, we want to hear it. I know for certain that there are policyholders, adjusters, agents, attorneys, contractors, body shops, chiropractors, (and anyone else) out there who have been plowed over or ground up by a runaway claims situation.
Insurance claims are not statistics or graphs or surveys. Insurance claims are blood, sweat, grease, grime, and bile. Policyholders are not a twelve digit policy or claim number, adjusters are not mindless automations, and service providers (cleaners, contractors, body shops, etc.) are not soulless moneygrubbers. Everyone involved in the insurance claims process is a very real flesh and blood human being with our own unique dreams and doubts.
We all have a story to tell about some crazy insurance claim we found ourselves involved in or consumed by, and some of these stories are even worth hearing. So, let’s hear it!! Please send them to info@claimsdisputeresolution.com.
(Don’t worry, names will be changed to protect the innocent… and to keep our website from being shut down.)
READ ARTICLE HERE
-Insurance adjusters were licensed professionals who are not directed by either the insurance company or the policyholder?
-All insurance policies went back to the 1942 Standard New York fire policy?
-There was no RCV coverage, only ACV?
-Insurance companies were regulated by a national insurance commissioner instead of state insurance commissioners?
-The only crimes for which you could be convicted are assault or theft?
-All insurance policies went back to the 1942 Standard New York fire policy?
-There was no RCV coverage, only ACV?
-Insurance companies were regulated by a national insurance commissioner instead of state insurance commissioners?
-The only crimes for which you could be convicted are assault or theft?
Initial blogs are like television pilots.
The pilot episode of a television series in a single viewing has to establish the show’s basic premise, introduce every one of the main characters, explain their background, and tell a story that begins and ends within a 30 or 60 minute format (while allowing sufficient time for commercials) in a way that interests you enough that you’ll watch this show at least a second time.
Since most television series never get picked up beyond their initial pilot, this doesn’t bode well for my blog. You may be old enough and sufficiently wired into popular culture to remember that the pilot episode for Seinfeld was famously trashed by network executives, critics, and focus groups. Look how THAT turned out for the award winning nine year run of this “show about nothing”.
I am not equating my blog with the dour, witty genius of Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, but I am inviting you to stay tuned while we find our voice.
If I’m writing this blog, how is it “our” voice?
I don’t intend to write into a vacuum. Blogging is like sonar navigation, I send out blog-bites that ping off other surfaces and I’m disoriented until something pings back at me. YOUR observations, opinions, feedback, and questions will inform how and what (and maybe even whether I continue) to write.
If you’ve read this far, you are not nearly as impatient or unforgiving as I am, but I DO owe you a justification for reading further and hopefully returning for a subsequent peek into whatever it is I’ve got to say about whatever it is that WE’VE decided is worth conversing about.
If you’re reading this blog entry you’ve probably stumbled on to the CDR website looking for answers and/or help on an especially contentious insurance claim, and you will also know by now that I am nearly 35 years into the business/profession of resolving insurance claims disputes.
If you’ve never had (or handled) an insurance claim you can count yourself as lucky. To you, insurance is boring abstraction for which you are paying too much for a service you never use. However, if you have never before interacted with an insurance company either as a claimant, employee, or service provider (other than paying premiums for your own auto and homeowners insurance coverage) you are in the minority. And I am surprised that you’re on our CDR website or reading this blog. But welcome!
The insurance industry is by far the biggest and wealthiest industry in the world; and they invest in (or even own outright) major businesses in every other legal industry in the world. I say “legal industry” because insurance is so heavily regulated that I doubt they can get away with investing in drug dealing, prostitution, and other forbidden (albeit highly profitable) business ventures.
The money paid out by insurance companies to settle insurance claims account for many tens of billions of dollars in yearly expenditures throughout the economy. The insurance industry is mostly responsible for the financial and employment resurgence in any community devastated by a disaster.
Most of us HAVE dealt with insurance companies at least once, usually periodically, sometimes often, and for some of us dealing with insurance companies is a constant reality. The insurance industry accounts for the greatest percentage of employment worldwide, either directly or indirectly, more than all the other industries put together. An attorney once suggested to me that 90% of all legal work is somehow related to insurance, and in health services that 90% figure is also equally applicable (you should also know that 90% of all statistics are just made up on the spot).
It has required 594 words for me to get to the point (I promise you that I will never again use up 594 words just getting to the point!), and that point is that insurance claims will provide an appropriate forum for just about any topic of interest.
Since I am called upon to represent policyholders, insurance companies, and, more often than not, act as a neutral party between the two I am witness to good and bad behavior on everyone’s part. I see every manner of fraud, arson, misrepresentation, misunderstandings, bad faith, greed, arrogance, ignorance, incompetence, abusiveness, obnoxiousness, rudeness, bureaucratic bungling, and sniveling cowardice. I see good people make bad choices, and I see bad people manipulate the system for their own gain without an ounce of compassion for who they hurt.
Future blogs will address these issues. Future blogs will feature YOUR stories. I’d rather write about YOU than write about ME.
If you’ve got an interesting claim, a problem you can’t solve, abuse of the insurance claims process (whether by a claimant or an insurance company), or a suggestion on how to improve the process I want to hear from YOU.
If you work for an insurance company or service the insurance industry I especially want to hear from YOU. Every submission is anonymous and every identity is protected: unless you WANT to be identified, then I will give you full credit for your thoughts, opinions, or ideas.
This blog is YOUR forum, and I am merely the editor. YOUR writing will create the voice for this blog.
The pilot episode of a television series in a single viewing has to establish the show’s basic premise, introduce every one of the main characters, explain their background, and tell a story that begins and ends within a 30 or 60 minute format (while allowing sufficient time for commercials) in a way that interests you enough that you’ll watch this show at least a second time.
Since most television series never get picked up beyond their initial pilot, this doesn’t bode well for my blog. You may be old enough and sufficiently wired into popular culture to remember that the pilot episode for Seinfeld was famously trashed by network executives, critics, and focus groups. Look how THAT turned out for the award winning nine year run of this “show about nothing”.
I am not equating my blog with the dour, witty genius of Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, but I am inviting you to stay tuned while we find our voice.
If I’m writing this blog, how is it “our” voice?
I don’t intend to write into a vacuum. Blogging is like sonar navigation, I send out blog-bites that ping off other surfaces and I’m disoriented until something pings back at me. YOUR observations, opinions, feedback, and questions will inform how and what (and maybe even whether I continue) to write.
If you’ve read this far, you are not nearly as impatient or unforgiving as I am, but I DO owe you a justification for reading further and hopefully returning for a subsequent peek into whatever it is I’ve got to say about whatever it is that WE’VE decided is worth conversing about.
If you’re reading this blog entry you’ve probably stumbled on to the CDR website looking for answers and/or help on an especially contentious insurance claim, and you will also know by now that I am nearly 35 years into the business/profession of resolving insurance claims disputes.
If you’ve never had (or handled) an insurance claim you can count yourself as lucky. To you, insurance is boring abstraction for which you are paying too much for a service you never use. However, if you have never before interacted with an insurance company either as a claimant, employee, or service provider (other than paying premiums for your own auto and homeowners insurance coverage) you are in the minority. And I am surprised that you’re on our CDR website or reading this blog. But welcome!
The insurance industry is by far the biggest and wealthiest industry in the world; and they invest in (or even own outright) major businesses in every other legal industry in the world. I say “legal industry” because insurance is so heavily regulated that I doubt they can get away with investing in drug dealing, prostitution, and other forbidden (albeit highly profitable) business ventures.
The money paid out by insurance companies to settle insurance claims account for many tens of billions of dollars in yearly expenditures throughout the economy. The insurance industry is mostly responsible for the financial and employment resurgence in any community devastated by a disaster.
Most of us HAVE dealt with insurance companies at least once, usually periodically, sometimes often, and for some of us dealing with insurance companies is a constant reality. The insurance industry accounts for the greatest percentage of employment worldwide, either directly or indirectly, more than all the other industries put together. An attorney once suggested to me that 90% of all legal work is somehow related to insurance, and in health services that 90% figure is also equally applicable (you should also know that 90% of all statistics are just made up on the spot).
It has required 594 words for me to get to the point (I promise you that I will never again use up 594 words just getting to the point!), and that point is that insurance claims will provide an appropriate forum for just about any topic of interest.
Since I am called upon to represent policyholders, insurance companies, and, more often than not, act as a neutral party between the two I am witness to good and bad behavior on everyone’s part. I see every manner of fraud, arson, misrepresentation, misunderstandings, bad faith, greed, arrogance, ignorance, incompetence, abusiveness, obnoxiousness, rudeness, bureaucratic bungling, and sniveling cowardice. I see good people make bad choices, and I see bad people manipulate the system for their own gain without an ounce of compassion for who they hurt.
Future blogs will address these issues. Future blogs will feature YOUR stories. I’d rather write about YOU than write about ME.
If you’ve got an interesting claim, a problem you can’t solve, abuse of the insurance claims process (whether by a claimant or an insurance company), or a suggestion on how to improve the process I want to hear from YOU.
If you work for an insurance company or service the insurance industry I especially want to hear from YOU. Every submission is anonymous and every identity is protected: unless you WANT to be identified, then I will give you full credit for your thoughts, opinions, or ideas.
This blog is YOUR forum, and I am merely the editor. YOUR writing will create the voice for this blog.
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