to confess my hatred of insurance companies

Am confessing off topic this week over at My Home Truths... Kirsty had asked us to confess what makes us happy but at the moment, I'm just not feeling the love!

So this week's confession...... I HATE INSURANCE COMPANIES!!! (yep, am lumping them all in together!!)

Mention the word insurance company to just about anyone and they are bound to have a story of hatred and disappointment.

For me, insurance is one of those necessary evils! Can't be without it, hardly ever use it and when you need it, they are beyond frustrating and make it damn near impossible for you to get any of YOUR money! Each year we pay 100's, no 1000's of dollars to these companies in case something goes wrong!!!

So here is my story....

A few weeks back (about the 10th of September to be more exact) I had to evict the tenants from my rental property. After almost 4 years of them getting behind in rent I had had a gutfull. My real estate agent had been less than helpful and I had had thoughts of selling so I thought now was my chance. I had them evicted. A few days after they left I went to inspect the property..... Words cannot describe how I felt walking through what was once MY home...

I had bought the house about 7 years ago with money I had saved but also money my parents had given me from my sisters life insurance policy after she passed away. I still remember the first time I looked at the house....it didn't tick many of my boxes that I had been looking for but for some reason that didn't matter, there was something that drew me to the house and I was determined to make it mine. I only moved out and let it become a rental when I left town for a new job 4 hours away..

Standing in the house now I felt all sorts of emotions...sick...angry...disappointed...disgusted...

Broken light

Stove that used to have a glass cover that acted as the splash back

Ripped curtains

Holes behind every door obviously from the door handles, even though there are door stoppers, that they have tried to patch up themselves

Mould and water damage

Broken shower head

Cupboard door broken off it's hinges

Used to be a towel rail attached to that

Mould everywhere, and later I discovered that the sink was clogged - even the plumber said it was gross!

 

Bath tub..

Marks, drawing and holes all over the walls

Have no idea what they have done here but it used to be a phone plug.

Needless to say the Real Estate and I have had stern words about how the property was left to get in such a state.

I was covered with Landlords Insurance for malicious damage and loss of rent. Now, with an excess of $1000 and not being able to class this damage as 'malicious' I have been left to foot the bill on all the repairs. Leaving just my claim of loss of rent. When they were evicted the tenants were about 2 weeks behind in rent, it has taken me a number of weeks to repair all the damage and get the house back to a rentable or sellable state. It needed to be fully repainted internally and this was only finished on Thursday.

In this time I have spent a ridiculous amount of time on the phone to the Insurance Company, who advertise that they are available 24/7, and each time I speak to them I get told something different. Several times I have been told that I have to call back during business hours to speak to a supervisor! Here's a tip....

SOME OF US WORK DURING BUSINESS HOURS AND THEREFORE CAN'T MAKE PERSONAL CALLS DURING BUSINESS HOURS!!!

So finally last Monday I left work early and got to call during business hours and speak to a supervisor who informed me that they were considering not approving my claim as I had not been actively seeking a new tenant! ummmm....How could I when the house was SO disgusting and the WHOLE interior needed to be repainted!!! It wasn't fit to be rented or sold! I think hope he got the picture, he apologised for taking so long in getting back to me (ummm I rang you idiot!) and explained that there were only 2 people who could handle my type of claim and he had been on holidays....WTF???? Are you serious!?

So he now told me he would have to take the matter to his supervisor for approval and that he would call me back within 24 hours..... THAT WAS 144 HOURS AGO!!!!

So here's how I figure it....in the time I have had my insurance with them I have paid them somewhere around the $4000 mark..... I am out of pocket somewhere around the $5000 mark (not to mention the time it has taken to do all the work, with the help of some AMAZING friends and their husbands!, the phonecalls, driving all over town to buy stuff etc etc) and they are disputing my claim which is for (maximum) around $2500.... is it really too much to ask?? I guess I will have to wait and see....if he ever calls me back!

Do you have a confession to make? An insurance success story? or have your experiences been similar to mine?

to confess

This week over at My Home Truths Kirsty has asked us to share some advice or words of wisdom.... I love my Monday link up - don't really have to think!

If you have been reading my whinge fest blog lately you'll know that it's been a bit cray cray around here lately and when things get cray cray in the life of me I turn to some of my closest friends for advice. So given my current state of mind, I am not sure that I the best person to be giving out advice but what I will confess is that...

I am an adviceaholic.....

yep, there I said it!

When I am stuck in a bind, not sure what to do, have a decision to make, have something weighing on my mind I will talk to as many people as I can get to listen about it and get their advice and their perspective. I am blessed to have so many wonderful friends in my life, many of who I know I can call/text/facebook/skype at the drop of a hat and that they will be there to answer with wonderful words of wisdom.

Problem is.. (that was pointed out to me during a recent deep and meaningful conversation full of wonderful advice with my bestie) is that sometimes I ask too many people for advice, get too many opinions and then talk myself out of making the decision on my own and then do nothing or confuse myself even more.

Image source

Perhaps this is why??? lol....

What's the best advice someone has given you? Are you an adviceaholic like me? Head over the My Home Truths and make your confession today!

to talk about the things I know this week...

....I am totally hooked on my new CD which is the soundtrack to 'Nashville' a TV show that I am also totally hooked on...problem is it is Volume 2, so now I am in search for where I can find Volume 1!

....I am soooo tired of being soooo tired.

....dealing with insurance companies is beyond frustrating but it's one of those necessary evils.

....sometimes you just have to have a day off.

....I went to a travel agent last weekend....am excited about what might be on the horizon. :-)

....working with some of these teenagers has made me realise that I was a relatively 'normal' teenager (whatever that is!)

....I really really want Taylor (or Dami) to win XFactor.

....I am reading 2 books at the moment that are providing me with plenty of thoughts.... One is called The Happiness Trap.

....One thing that stood out for me in one part of the chapter is Myth no.4. You should be able to control what you think and feel. It's a myth because truth be known we have less control over our thoughts and feelings than we would like. Interesting reading..

....being the only non-pregnant female at antenatal classes is kinda awkies! lol...

....that I am not sure 'everything happens for a reason' because I can't think of a reason a mother would have to lose her son in such a horrible accident :-(

....it's been a week since my last post and I hate that when I am tired/busy it's my blog that is the first to suffer. :-(

....I should quit my day job and become a plumber! $77 for a 5 minute plunger job!!! wtf?? (and apparently that was 'mates rates!')

....that things are a little haywire in my life at the moment but it's nothing compared to what those poor people in the NSW bushfires have had to face

....that we all have our own demons to deal with.

 ...that I am teaming up with Rhianna over at A Parenting Life with other people who know stuff!!

What do you know this week???

 

and With Some Grace for FYBF!

for another FFS edition

I don't/didn't intend for my blog to become and whingy whiney place where I poured out all my life's problems and dilemmas for the world to read (and probably roll their eyes at and say 'get over it woman') but there are times when you just have to throw your arms in the air and say

FFS... 

(trust me if I could make this bigger I would!)

So thank god for Dear Baby G's FFS link up!

On a scale of 1 to Sucks Arse (which is a legitimate scale of comparison - I said so!) 2013 is shaping up to being pretty close to the Sucks Arse end of the scale. 

There has been so much going on, especially in the last couple of months, that it really has gone beyond a joke! It seems (and I know it's a slight exaggeration) that with just about every phone call I take or envelope I open it brings more FFS news! 

Now some of these FFS moments I can't even write about on my own blog because I decided, in my wisdom, to tell the world (my real world) about my blog. That was something I have regretted every now and then, I even did a blog post about that! 

Recent FFS moments include;

• having to evict the tenants from my rental property
• finding that they lived like disgusting pigs for the past 4 years
• having to spend countless $$$$ fixing up their feralness
• arguing with the Real Estate and Insurance Company
• receiving an unexpected $600 bill
• receiving my new lease and finding out my landlord is increase the rent by $30 a week! 
• now having to find somewhere else to live because F him!
• a parent making a formal complaint about my Principal and I that was so full of BS it was laughable....was!
• finding out I don't have to have an interview for my job (no FFS) but that it will take approximately another 6 weeks for them to decide what I'll be doing next year
• .................................... and the list goes on........

I swear if another teenager walks into my office and whinges that 'school sux' or has a cry that 'Biology is too hard' or 'Mrs So-and-So is picking on me!' I may just lose my shit at them!

I know that I need to to focus on the positives in my life and that things aren't all bad and that things will get better and blah blah blah, but for right now you'll find me sulking in the corner stomping my foot saying F YOU Universe! It's probably best you leave me there for now!  

 

 

 

for the soundtrack of my life..

 This week over at My Home Truths, Kirsty asked us to confess the soundtrack of our lives... so here goes... short and sweet and the first song that always come to mind!!!!


The soundtrack of my life in 1:53..... <--- click there!

Which song best describes you and/or your life...?

to ROCK!

On Saturday my friend and I went to CMC Rocks North Queensland!!! The day was unreal for this little country music tragic! Some of the biggest Australian country music artists were there as well as some awesome international acts! Here's some piccies for this Wordless Wednesday!

Ready to ROCK!!

 

Just a little bit excited!

Jasmine Rae

 

McAlister Kemp (one of my FAVE Aussie bands!!)

Was SO excited to meet the boys after their performance!

They were SO lovely and even remembered seeing me rocking out

and thanked me for coming to see them! haha...

 

Corb Lund

Morgan Evans

Sara Evans

The Wolfe Brothers

Alan Jackson!...

and...my dirty feet after standing on them for over 12 hours

but it was soooo worth every minute!!!!

 

Linking up with other Wordless Wednesdayers!

 

   

to discuss happiness

I sit here with the title staring me in the face and the cursor blinking....how to start to write what I want to say, do I even know what I want to say?

Happiness is something that has popped up in a few articles, magazines and conversations that I have read lately and in one article it posed a question that has kind of got  me thinking....

Why is it so difficult to be happy?

If you sit and really think about it, are we ever really truly, without a shadow of a doubt happy? There are obviously moments of happiness... the wedding of a dear friend, the birth of a niece or nephew, laughter over a glass of wine, but our happiness seems to only ever be short lived. The article talks about it from a historical perspective and how our minds have evolved over thousands of years. It talks about how our minds were programmed to protect us and focus on our basic survival needs of protect and reproduce. In our earlier, hunter-gatherers years the mind was focused basically on staying alive, look out for anything that is trying to harm or kill you and do whatever you could to avoid it....

Fast forward thousands of years and has that really changed? These days it's not really the elements or the dangers of living amongst wild animals that concerns us, it's losing our jobs, not being good enough, not being able to pay the electricity bill, being rejected, getting sick or having a loved on that is sick etc etc etc that consumes our minds.

So many times I, a (sometimes) rational well-educated woman, have thought, I'll be happier when/if..... I lose 5 more kilos, I meet someone, I get my dream job (as soon as I work out what that is), I pay off all my debts.... I am not naive enough to think that if I do achieve all these all my problems will disappear and I will live a blissful life without a care in the world and never have another worry for the rest of my life. 

The  worries I have now will simply be replaced by more and different worries.  We are always looking and wanting more and constantly comparing ourselves to others and what they have and often think that if we had that our life would someone be better, be complete, be everything we dreamed it would be. 

But is that really true?? I think not.... and again if we go back to our Stone Age counterparts they believed that if they had better tools, bigger shelters, more children than this was a sign of success. But even with success that doesn't guarantee happiness... How often have you listened to a story about the latest celebrity, who seems to have it all, who has fallen off the bandwagon, gone to rehab, or worse still overdosed and killed themselves. We wonder how things could possibly be that bad for them, they have all the money and fame in the world and yet still mustn't be happy...

So what's the answer... How do we just be happy with what we have....? 

If you were hoping that I would have the answer....well I am sorry to disappoint..

But what I do know is that I am on holidays in NQ with 2 of my closest friends and I am bloody happy about that, and am going to make the most of the time we have together....

If you want to read the article that I have referred to click here.. 

Linking up today with With Some Grace  for FYBF and just because it has taken me all bloody day to try and get this post organize I'm linking up with Dear Baby G for FFS Friday!