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Here's your laugh for the week: I tried to fight an auto insurance company and get money that they owed me.
Pretty funny, huh?
Two years ago, I got an insurance policy and an accident showed up on my driving record. I told the underwriter that this accident was not my fault, but he showed no disposition on my record. "No problem," he said. "Get it cleared up and then we'll adjust your payments accordingly." Well, I got it cleared up... but there was no adjustment. Months went by, and still I was paying the same high rate. Eventually a full year had gone by, and my new policy came through, still with the same accident on my record. I called, I faxed, I called more, I re-faxed... and finally I cancelled my policy. Not taking kindly to the fact that they wouldn't be getting any more of my money, the insurance company continued to try to tap into my checking account, costing me $90 in overdraft fees and forcing me to close the account to keep them out of there. Not happy with this, they sent me a bill for nearly $300, claiming I owed them for the last month that they "covered me". Isn't that something? It was kind of like when Phoebe told Joey he owed her money for sending out "happy thoughts" for him.
I finally decided that this needed a different approach, and I wrote to the California Department of Insurance. Four months later, I get a letter from them telling me that the problem is solved and the refund I have coming will be applied to the $282 and change I still owe the insurance company. The letter had a very happy tone, but I was pissed. I don't owe them any money, and I want my money back.
The final disposition from the insurance company? I'm glad you asked. A month later, I get a letter from them... well, not so much a "letter" as it was a BILL. There were no math figures showing me how much I overpaid and how much my total refund would be. What I got was a "Notice of Reinstatement" telling me I had coverage beginning June of LAST YEAR and that I now owed the insurance company over a thousand dollars for this new coverage they were providing for THE LAST TEN MONTHS! It's been said many times that you can't put a price on piece of mind, but is anyone so caught up on having piece of mind that they would pay that kind of money for insurance to cover time that has already passed?
Keep your eyes open - the point will be coming at you soon and you don't want to miss it.
Whenever I see corporate injustice, I wonder one thing: How can the people working at the corporation do that? I don't see companies as faceless entities - I see them as a group of fellow consumers who have the same daily needs as I do. They have to drive to work, do laundry, buy tires, buy mattresses, rent videos and get insurance. They have daily needs and life's dreams, and they don't take too kindly to people dumping on them or ripping them off. How, then, do they justify doing it to somebody else? I'll tell you how.
The bottom line is that these people have a bottom line. They work for a company that has specific monetary expectations and obligations, and if they want to stay gainfully employed, they do what the boss tells them to do. In our Hollywood struggle, many of us spend too much time chasing after the person who will hold that magic door open for us, never realizing that each person is just an extension of the many other people he works with/for and the companies he deals with... and the people who work for that company... and so on and so on. An agent with 100 clients who possess incredible talent but have made no sales is nowhere near as valuable to his agency as the agent with three clients who have each sold a screenplay. One guy is generating money for his company - the other is not.
So, if you're wondering why someone doesn't break away from the herd and take a chance on something new (like you), just remember what happens when animals break away from the herd - they usually wind up getting eaten alive... literally. You can try to lure them away from the herd, but they know that there is safety in numbers, so it won't be an easy task.
I read a psychological study where they compared the whole "I'm just doing my job/I have a family to support/I was just following orders" mentality with the caveman act of crushing a neighbor's head with a rock so you could take his meal. Basically, it's a low form of self-preservation. It's so low, in fact, that someone like this does not understand that the loss of a human life is not equal to the gaining of a fish covered in caveman slobber. I know we all have to survive, but don't do it at the expense of others.
As for luring your chosen prey away from his herd mentality, it can be done.
Please excuse me now - I have a phone call to make.
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