Sunday, November 24, 2019

F2: SHE'S HOME!!!

Hooray!  She's home!  We've put stickers on her.  We have claimed her as our own.

Let the healing begin!

Friday, November 22, 2019

State Farm: After 3 1/2 weeks and waiting for factory parts, F2 is coming home!

Thus far, our red girl has been housed at the repair shop for longer than we actually had her here.  Her first payment was made without her sitting in the drive.  However, I phoned shop B today to find out an update and SHE'S COMING HOME TOMORROW!

Y'all, somehow State Farm approved FACTORY replacement parts and what ended up being the replacement of the ENTIRE exhaust system, meaning the pipe from all the way up under the motor there somewhere to the back along with the two mufflers.  The body work has been handled.  The final work was being completed today and tomorrow late afternoon, F2 is coming home to stay.

We have missed her so.

Somehow all the stress, all the yelling, the hanging up, the sleepless nights and all has amounted to everything finally being handled in the way it needed done.  I can give Hertz their Nissan Sentra back, and I can go from being a Minnesota adoptee for a bit to back to an Ohioan.

Am I proud of the way that I/we have handled the situation?  Nope.  Unfortunately we did crack under the pressure and we did not ooze God's love, grace and forgiveness as we should have.  We have asked for forgiveness.  We have re-tuned.  The dust has settled.  :deep breath:

She's coming home.  May the healing continue and the drivers behind us stop before they reach us.

Friday, November 1, 2019

State Farm: Light estimates and low quality replacement parts. Gee, thanks.

My love texts me that State Farm has sent him the estimate for F2, but he can't open it.  I can't either, but I call shop B to make certain that they had the estimate before I went on to call State Farm.  They do, if they find that they need more done, they will phone the estimator.

I phone State Farm.  I was able to speak with a lovely woman from Georgia.  She was able to resend the estimate and  . . . it is $1000 less than the first one which was already a bit light.  They want my market muffler replaced with the cheapest possible muffler around-- one from O'Reilly's Auto Parts, which is basically the equivalent to buying fine china at Big Lots.

I hate State Farm.

So now I have a call back.  We want the parts on the car we just purchased to be the parts that are supposed to be on there, not just whatever cheap crap they decide that they will pay for.  Will I get my way?  Probably not.

It was not our fault, yet we are the ones to suffer for people who don't freaking know how to yield.  UGH.
- - - - - - - - - -
Now that I have received my call back, pressing on with the saga that is State Farm  . . .

They finally passed me on to our "claim team."  The woman told me that she realizes that I haven't even made my first payment yet and that their insured hit me before we even owned the car for a week, but that State Farm was not going to approve use of parts any better than those that are presently on our vehicle. 

I asked for a manager. 

"He's busy.  He won't approve anything better anyhow." 

"What is his name?"

"I can't give you that."

"May I have his phone number or email?"

"I can't give you that."

"What is your name?"

"Cecelia."

"And what state are you in?"

"I'm not authorized to release that."

"Interesting because I spoke to two lovely ladies today.  The first woman was in Georgia and the second woman I just spoke to was in Arizona.  Why could they tell me where they were and you can't?"

"I can't release that information.  I can have him phone you back."  

I yelled at her and hung up.  I'm not expecting a return call from her manager.  

I phoned the shop where the Forester is being repaired.  Keith's lovely wife (I really need to find out her name) went over the estimate with me, explained the muffler part choice and the fact that they are both being replaced so that the back of the car looks right.  (State Farm initially only approved one.)  Keith gets dealer parts at auto parts store prices, so the car will be fixed right, will be in the shop for 2 weeks and all will be well.  

Keith and his wife will be getting a lovely box of homemade cookies.  

Thank you for allowing me to vent.  

Thursday, October 31, 2019

State Farm: The continuation of twisting the knife slowly.

Today was the day that I drop F2 off for her $5000 beauty treatment.  Now, we knew that the estimate that M received from the State Farm authorized estimate shop was a lil light on comprehensiveness.  I take her this morning and the shop owner (we took her to a different shop than where the estimate was generated) asked which estimate we were using.

"Um, we only had one estimate."

In pure State Farm fashion, the left hand, right hand and the whole system of talking hands once again DIDN'T WRITE A FREAKING THING DOWN and somehow, they didn't realize that there was already an estimate done.  Yup.  You read that right.  The estimate was submitted by shop A, State Farm called us and said that shop A sent them confirmation that we had an appointment with them to drop F2 off and they were getting some more details.  We never made an appointment with shop A because, well, they sucked.  We told them that we were going with shop B because we had previous work done there and they are the shop of our choosing.  It took M quite some time to get the customer service agent to understand that we would not be going to shop A.  So, did she just delete the estimate?

Another estimate is being done-- I think.  I told Keith and his wife (the lovely shop B people) to do whatever they needed to do.  We appreciated their shop, their willingness to take State Farm (apparently many shops will not deal with them because of continued problems just like this) and for their kindness.

State Farm, WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE A CONTINUAL PAIN IN MY - - - ?  The only thing you have been consistent on is your incredibly BAD service!  Neither my husband or I have ever seen such incredible incompetence in all our lives.

The rental car was fun.  It was scheduled.  Hertz was given the claim and they scheduled me to have a  full sized SUV.  I am 5' tall.  I told them children would go missing in the neighborhood.  They ordered up what they referred to as a "mid-sized" SUV.  It was a very large Ford Escape.  The guy, seeing the notation, decided to skip the SUV specification and put me in a Nissan Sentra instead.  The good thing is that it is smaller so I can see.  The pain with that is apparently State Farm automatically charges $30 gas responsibility off the top, so the very nice Hertz guy informed me to run it down to the very last drop because I already paid for the gas.  Will I use $30 in gas?  I have no idea.  However, if I only needed the car for 2 days, I can tell you that I wouldn't need that much and would be right irritated at the $30 charge State Farm applies without saying anything to you about it.  But, why would they?  Maybe the State Farm customer service reps aren't knowledgeable about that charge since THEY DON'T SEEM TO KNOW ANYTHING ANYWAY!

Rental car.  Check.
Flakes in the forecast for the first time this coming winter season?  Check.
Not an SUV.  Check.

So, we are hoping that State Farm pulls through and really does pay for the F2 repairs as they need to.   The back door WAS damaged and the muffler WAS damaged.  It's not light surface damage.  Since State Farm was nearly $600.00 light on the total loss amount, we decided to go through our insurance company and allow them to go back on State Farm for payment.

Gigantic. Pain. In. The. Behind.

Monday, October 21, 2019

State Farm: You suck and your claims process is wearing at the core of our souls.

This might be a long one.  No tl;dr.  Details are important, y'all.

Saturday, 10/12/19- K and I are two minutes from walking out the door for the funeral of a dear wonderful woman from our church.  Poised to put my eyeliner on, my cellphone rings.  It doesn't ring that often, so I look and notice it is my love.  I answer.

"I am okay.  I was just in an accident.  The car is totaled."

I found out where M was, took 3 seconds, threw the eyeliner on, threw out a few texts to the parishioners who were expecting us and off and away we went.

Sweet love, the drive to California would have been shorter.  I reach the hill where my love says he was hit and I don't see him.  K spotted the Yaris first.  She gasped.  He neglected to tell me that it was off the road and had gone into the woods.

I parked in a woman's front yard, threatened K not to get out because I didn't need her all up in whatever was going on and I didn't want her hit by a car.  I crossed the road, inspected my sweets for breakage and leakage.  Both were negative.  Once I found out I wouldn't injure him with a hug, I squeezed him tight for a long time.  Then he dropped the bomb-- the guy who hit him was on his phone.

There were no skid marks.  That is why initially I couldn't find the car.

It is now I will admit that I am not proud of the fact that indeed there were some hefty words that fell from my lips.  Not at the guy.  Not at Mark.  At the situation.  I was peeved.  Dude seriously had total disregard for my husband by cresting a hill and probably driving the equivalent of a football field down a hill and only knew my husband was there when he struck his car with his vehicle.  What was he doing?  He was changing a podcast.  He told M that as well as the troopers.

He launched M over the roadway.  The Yaris touched down on the passenger side (turfed the lawn) went through a split rail fence, through the woods, over some saplings and one of the larger ones stopped his continuation forward.

The man hit him so hard that his glasses flew off his face.

Insurance information is passed on.  Since his car is was an obvious total that had to be flat bedded out of the woods, I phoned our insurance -- Allstate -- to let them know of the situation.  They were all over it.  Phoning us daily to see if he was okay.  Do they need to handle the claim?  . . . Very attentive.

It gets to Tuesday, 10/15/19 and we have yet to hear from State Farm.  Again, we have heard from our insurance several times.  Since we purchased a new-to-him 2013 Subaru Forester (later referred to as F2 since I have one we purchased in February) I needed to formalize insurance for our new buy. I explained to our agent office that we have not heard from State Farm and the accident was several days prior.

"I don't think he phoned the claim in.  Certainly they would have called at this point."  She looked the claim phone number up for me, I passed it on to M so that he could phone.  I thanked her profusely.  We seriously love Allstate and our Allstate agency.

M phoned and they said they hadn't phoned us because they didn't have our contact information.  We had the information from the guy who hit my husband.  We had his name, insurance and policy number.  We could have very easily done an internet search and picked it up.  M ended up talking to 5 different people that day who all asked the VERY SAME QUESTIONS.  My husband's stock question to State Farm has become, "DO YOU PEOPLE EVEN WRITE ANYTHING DOWN?"  I ended up being involved in the last call.  When I noticed M's head starting to smoke and he was looking like he was about to have a Sheldon Cooper lunch table explosion, I stepped in.

"How is it that you didn't have his contact information?  Don't you have a crash report?"

The guy said no, but different people say something different every time we phone.

I explained that no one phoned to check to see how he was.  I explained that no one offered a rental.  I explained that there was no attempt to advance the claim on.  He kept insisting that the car be brought closer.  (It was 45 minutes away and in a tow yard.)  After the third time with M telling him he gave the tow yard permission for it to be released to State Farm and that he got all belongings out of it, the guy wanted it closer so that it could be fixed.  M blew a gasket.  "IT CAN'T BE FIXED!  IT IS TOTALED!  DO YOU PEOPLE NOT WRITE ANYTHING DOWN?!"

I continued,  "It was your guy who was on the phone, hit my husband probably driving 60 MPH, launched him over a roadway, through a fence, into the woods where he finally was stopped by some small trees.  It's not okay.  The car is totaled.  It can't be fixed.  We need to get this claim handled."

He told us and I quote, "You guys need to calm down."

Oh. no. he. didn't.

He told us that they needed to get the car moved because they were having to pay storage on it.  Kind of not our fault because they never contacted us.  So glad he was more concerned about storage fees than my husband's welfare.  I believe that I told him that.

I told him that I was so very glad that I didn't have State Farm because the way this claim has been handled has been appalling.  If he needed the title, let us know, we will get everything signed and dropped off or mailed.

The personal injury guy has not contacted M back.  M's initial call was on 10/15.  He has another appointment for adjustment this week.  He has suffered from whiplash and it sure would be great to get payment to Cleveland Clinic rolling along.

We finally got a total loss amount back.  M was so mad that he told the guy we were going through our insurance and hung up on them.  Then I asked my sweets what Allstate said because they could offer us $2000 and not the $4400 State Farm did and then we would be royally screwed.

Silence.

He phoned back, apologized profusely and they are keeping the claim open.  We are now waiting to speak to the Allstate rep so that we can have them review it for a total loss claim amount.

We received a copy of the crash report.  The distraction coding seems to have been changed to "distraction outside of the vehicle" rather than the admitted "phone use."  Yes, well, either he paid the OSHPatrol off or they ended up giving him a break for insurance purposes.  We have phoned them to have that amended and, as with everything else, we have heard nothing.

Sunday, 10/20/19- After an enjoyable day to Cleveland where K drove up and around, she handed driving back over to her dad.  I had forgotten my purse at home, didn't have either my license or my Epi Pen (yellow jacket allergy and they have been bad) so M drove.  We got off the expressway and were waiting to yield just like the two giant yield signs asked us to and WHAM!  Oh yes, F2 got rear ended.  No, I am not kidding.  The replacement car we just financed less than a week before was now damaged.

(She hit us at probably 10 MPH, so it is here that I tell you that we are all okay.)

Once again, I was not at the height of humor or love for humanity.  I jumped out of the car and started knocking on the woman's window with my pointer finger screaming at her about now this is twice in one week, a car we haven't owned for a week and what does she say?  "You weren't supposed to stop. I looked back, you stopped and you shouldn't have stopped."  At this point, my love was at my side.  "There was traffic coming.  I had to stop."  She went on, "This is your fault."

Step back for two seconds.  She rear ended us on an exit ramp as we were yielding to oncoming traffic at a yield.  It was not continuous turn with caution.  It said yield!

I phoned the police.  They were all concerned about which direction I was pointed.  Y'all, I don't know what direction I am pointed on any given day much less a day where my husband has encountered being hit twice in 8 days.  After asking me for the 4th time, I believe she gave up.  The police came.  We were on a ramp.  That was highway patrol territory.  Highway Patrol came out.  We explained to the trooper what went on.  We explained that the woman insisted we were at fault.

He laughed.

He spoke with her.  She insisted it was our fault.  He explained that we could stop anywhere we wanted on the roadway and it didn't give her the right to hit us.  He confirmed his decision by giving her a ticket.  He gave us her insurance information.  Who is it?  You guessed it!  State FREAKING Farm.

I tell my love that I can phone this one in since I was in the car with him.  I do, I get Kevin from Washington State (he is an ex-cop, super guy and you need to give him a serious raise) who I explain the situation of now a second claim.  He finds that the State Farm driver hadn't called the claim in yet, so he processes it with me as far as he can.  He will phone her and if successful, they will back to me in about a half hour or so.  In 45 minutes, Pam from Dallas TX (who is delightful and also deserves a big fat raise) gave me the claim number, rental car information and was a delight to speak with.

The State Farm delightfulness stopped there.

F2 went to the State Farm approved estimate shop that appears to be run by some nasticious troll who has an attitude worse than anything my husband has seen.  (It is here that I remind the gentle readers that my husband is a very kind soul.)  He phoned me during the estimate.  "I don't feel good about this shop.  I don't get a good feeling.  This guy isn't nice.  This is a production shop.  He has no attention to detail and this is terrible."

"You don't have to go there.  They told us that we can go to the shop of our choice.  The shop that repaired for us before is wonderful and you spoke of going there."

M talked with the awful shop guy who was trying to hard sell to him and in the end, contacted State Farm with an appointment to get the car repaired that M never scheduled.  Can I tell you how much fun that has been because State Farm was so insistent that we were going to Backyard Bully Bob's Collision Center that my husband just started chanting on repeat the name and address of the shop we will be having repair F2.  He said that the woman lost her patience with him.

Oh, and fun to add that this State Farm representative is confusing the two claims and thinks she is fixing the Yaris.  "IT IS TOTALED.  DO YOU PEOPLE NOT WRITE ANYTHING DOWN?" was M's response.

BBBCCenter guy never sent the estimate as he said he would.  M said he phoned the shop to tell him had never scheduled an appointment and has chosen to go to a different place.  We believe the guy is withholding the estimate out of spite because, well, that is how this fine trip with State Farm has been.

So, State Farm-- you are the worst insurance company we have ever encountered.  Never have we ever had to phone any insurance company to give our contact information.  Just February, my vehicle was totaled at the shop by our mechanic and their insurance was on with me within hours.  Everything was sorted within a week.  Hooray for Erie Insurance!

Ohio State Waterproofing hit me and K, spun us through an intersection and totaled our vehicle about 12 years ago.  Their insurance was all over it.  Thank you, Cincinnati Insurance!  

My vehicle was damaged at a friend's house by a husband, a strong weed eater and over zealous trimming before a party.  Hooray for Westfield Insurance as they had it handled and easily taken care of!

We have already said, but just to confirm, thank you Allstate for your kindness and caring in regard to questions we have had and advice you have been able to give.

State Farm, Step up and redeem yourself!  Get these two unfortunate claims sorted in a swift manner, please!  You have been absolutely terrible to deal with!

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Friday, May 10, 2019

New folks in training: Spreading some love.

Our neighbors took down 5 arborvitae that divided our property from theirs, the street, the view of the cross street, the snow block and . . . we don't want to see what goes on at their house.  We aren't those people.  Though hotly irritated at how everything was handled, M and I came to the conclusion that we needed to put up four fence sections to provide sanctuary once again.  That sanctuary comes with about 40-45' of space ripe for a new garden.  While I am planning on planting a mural on the fence, I have been acquiring plants to place once the mural is done.

Perennials aren't cheap, y'all.

In years past, I have been able to score many clearance delights at Lowe's.  Such was the case yesterday.  Another customer and I circled the newly stocked clearance delights, checking for height, color, perennial vs. annual, price . . . Once I sorted through, I took my selections to one of the nursery registers.

"Oh, I am new.  I don't know if you want me."

"We'll train you.  It's all good.  We can work on this together."

We worked through, made mistakes (one at my suggestion ringing up a $10,000 error) but I encouraged her to press on.  No one was behind me and she needed some gentle love.

A gentleman (I will use that term loosely) and his wife were at the opposite register.  After hearing my tell the cashier that every single thing on my cart was clearance priced, the man blows his top.  "You mean to tell me that I have the EXACT SAME THING THAT I AM PAYING $14.98 FOR AND SHE IS GETTING IT ON CLEARANCE?"

His cashier was shocked.  He was so very rude.

"Sir, there are several racks of clearance plants," I said, "If you go down that way, I believe one of these planters might still be left."

He continued on with his fit throwing.  He wanted his purchase to be clearanced, too.  For whatever it is worth, his planter was a different color than mine and mine needed a lil wilty parts trimmed away.  Mine was not a pristine planter, but it'll fill out and be fine.  I couldn't take his fit throwing any longer.  His wife was standing by just silent.

"Sir, the fact here is that you have shopped poorly.  You could have chosen off of the clearance racks, but you didn't.  That is the difference in price."

He was already yelling that he wasn't buying anything from them, he was going to Ace Hardware and giving them his money.  His wife trailed on behind him.

"Have a wonderful day," I added.  "I hope that you find happiness today!"

The cashiers laughed.  I said what they couldn't.  Apparently, people yell at them and throw things at them all day long.

Unacceptable.

The woman who was in training thanked me again and again for being kind.

"Ma'am, I work retail.  I get it."

Be kind to the people behind the counters.  Consider them for just a minute.  Would you want to be treated in the same way that you are treating them?

Thursday, February 21, 2019

Showing grace: When the mechanic accidentally totals your car.

This story starts well before the mechanic involvement.

I was asked if I would be willing to drop a meal off for one of our parishioners who is in-home hospice care.  Now we love Dottie and Dave.  For those people I love, I make a chicken pot pie nearly from scratch.  (I cheat on the crust.)

I made the pot pie.  K and I went to deliver it.  It was during the polar vortex.

Their driveway is a typical driveway for around here-- with a few twists.  It is narrow (that is the typical part) with a telephone pole at the corner and on the devil strip, and landscape block on the other corner plus a driveway with a hill.  Out of habit of driving stick, I pulled the emergency brake on the hill.

Something let go.

Despite my small heart attack, we went, visited, delivered said pie and went on.  I phoned the mechanic, brought it in the next day and replacement parts were ordered.  It took about a week for the parts to arrive and between that and my schedule, I was able to make an appointment on Valentine's Day morning for the fix.  It would be three hours, but no problem.  I'll just hang out.

It's a two man shop.  Nothing fancy.  I was sitting in their lil waiting room, shop cat begging for affection and the shop owner even turned Golden Girls on for me.  (I have no idea why that show, but it was thoughtful for him to do it.)

Then I heard what sounded like a sheet of plywood hitting a concrete floor.  There was no yelling.  There was no running.  I ignored it and went on with reading my phone.

Then the shop owner came in and mentioned something about an airbag.  I went.  I looked.  It looked like the airbag at my drivers side window went off and hey, that sucks but it's fixable.

The mechanic came out.  R asked how he was and he mentioned something about his back.  I had him pull up his shirt and he had an enormous welt that spanned the width of his back from where he got hit by the airbag.  And then . . .

. . . I found out that the side curtain airbags went off, both sides, all the way down.

:deep breath:

In the going back and forth with their insurance company, we were given a choice-- fix it or total it out.  We opted to total it.

Our totaled vehicle was a much beloved (by me) 2008 Toyota RAV4.  Now, she was a replacement to a previous RAV total.  I loved her, but she kicked and screamed nearly the entire time we owned her.  Almost a secret abusive relationship in regard to a vehicle and owner.  Sometimes damage would whisper.  Sometimes damage would thunk and scream.  Either way, as much as I loved her we knew that if we kept it, we would have continued problems, it would be tagged as airbags deployed, no one would buy it and frankly, we were offered a total out price that we could not get in a standard sale situation.

Rather than scream and yell, sue the shop and smear their name all over the internet, we opted to show grace.

Rather than berate the mechanic who, in a fine detail that should be said is also my cousin, we showed grace.

Hugs instead of giving the silent treatment. We opted to show grace.

My husband and I talked about this as a God intervention.  No one was seriously injured.  A welt was it.  We all screw up with our jobs.  I'm not perfect.  My husband isn't perfect.  This was an imperfect day for the mechanic.  He, in working on my parking brake, accidentally bumped the side curtain airbag sensor and that (I believe) my vehicle read as a rollover.

He is a certified mechanic.

He works at a certified shop.

It is a Christian shop.

They had insurance.

We were able to find (thanks to the internet) a 2013 Subaru Forester at a dealership up around Cleveland.  In what turned out to be a whirlwind car buying experience, we were loaned the vehicle to have our mechanic (yes, the same shop who brought us to the need for replacement) inspect it, we stopped by a local Subaru dealership and went on to purchase it.  She reminds us of our old RAV, but with some thoughtful upgrade features that Subaru has added.  (Hello, heated seats!)  We will now have a small car payment, but I plan on paying it off in three years still making it a payment that we can absorb.

We wouldn't have been able to replace our ailing RAV without this mishap.  Instead of being mad, we look at it as a way God helped us to be able to upgrade a vehicle that otherwise was going to swallow us.

We look at it with thanks and grace.

Sunday, January 6, 2019

Rag Wreath: Winter and Summer Edition

I realized that I didn't have the specific instructions I needed in my other posts.  Here are the two wreaths that I made this week.  My husband told me that he figured that they were de-stress projects.  Kind of.  :)

To start:
4 different types of fabric.  1/2 yard each of three.  Maybe 2/3 yard of a filler color.

How do I choose a fabric?
I generally have an anchor fabric or some type of color theme to go with.  In the case of my winter wreath, I knew that I wanted to go with grays and gray/blue.

I pull patterns that I find interesting.  Sure, the patterns below look whackadoodle together, but when you look at the wreath, it makes sense.  I try to have a dark, two middle tone and one light.

What size is the wreath?
I found a 12" "box wreath frame" at Joann Fabrics.  Works well for our size of door.

Cutting fabric:
Trim off the labeled end. Then fold your fabric so that you can cut the strips in one run instead of three.  Just remember to cut the ends so that you have 7" strips and not 14" strips.
7" strips
1 1/2" wide (in my case, the width of the ruler)

How many strips per ring?
There are 4 rings per wreath with 6 sections per ring.  I always start from the inside and work out.  There was one wreath that I did not have enough fabric (I've since figured that out) and I cut off the outer ring.  It's best to fix the goof like that from the outside than the inside.

Inside: 
8 strips per section
First interior ring:
9 strips per section
Second interior ring:
12 strips per section
Outer ring:
14-15 strips per section

Important to note:
Make certain to count the strips you have left before doing your final ring.  No matter how uniform we would love things to be, sometimes we are down a few strips.  This way you can take the number you have and divide them out by the remaining sections you have.  On the winter wreath, I ended up taking the darker fabric and using it as a double strip filler on the last ring.  You can't tell.  It was a lighter fabric and I had a lot of strips left.  Also, I needed to fill in a lil heavier than I had originally planned.

How to attach:
Well now, just go here and that'll tell you what you need to know.  Rachael did a nice demo on her link found in my fall wreath post.  My 4th of July wreath (the one I had to remove a ring from because a shortage of fabric) can be found here.

How to store:
Hang them on a hanger in the coat closet.

The Winter Wreath: 


Presently hanging on our door. 

The Beachy Colored Summer Wreath: 



Now go forth, check out your fabric scraps, orphaned bits and pieces, the Joann's remnants bins and sale fabric.  No need to pay an arm and a leg for the fabric.

I will caution that after 2 years of a harsh summer sun shining on my 4th of July wreath (I leave it up all summer,) the fabrics have faded some.  I'll give you a hint.  Just turn your wreath upside down and display it bottom side up!  That way, the faded sections hang down, the brighter sections are up and you can pull a bit more mileage out of your wreath.