Tuesday 21 September 2010

How to insure you lose out....

Insurance companies

You have to love them – September is bumper outgoing time in the BlackLOG household as we not only have to find funding for Mrs B’s autumn/winter ensemble* we also have car insurance, house insurance and travel insurance all demanding a cut from our ever depleting funds…..

* This would have had more impact if Mrs B had not discovered my secret stash of recent clothes purchases from Joules. I took the opportunity to buy a number of items on the web when I discovered a 15% off and free postage offer.

My cunning plan to introduce them slowly into my fashion repertoire over the next few months was doomed from the moment I elected to hide them in the large drawer where Mrs B stashes her collection of handbags (The ones she does not think I know about) … I should have guessed Mrs B would have had a rummage through the drawer sooner rather than later, no doubt while attempting to add another new purchase….

Doh! Turned out to be sooner, they were only in the draw for just over a day before Mrs B found them….

Which begs the question just how many handbags is she buying?

I’ve just been told to face it like a man, having been caught red handed I should not be trying to deflect.

So moving on....

Travel insurance
Seems to be behaving and for £77 we get a joint annual travel package that meets our requirements. No complaints about this, I guess we are in the “too old to do something stupid” category and “too young to need constant medical attention”. Although come to think about it I have not had my renewal notice so might be speaking too soon…

Car insurance
Now, being the good citizen that I am I decided to declare the damage that was done to ElleGee, which is a company car, when someone ran into him when he was parked at an old peoples’ home (it’s a long story) and then legged it (or to be more accurate wheeled it). Being a company car it went through my firm and since they have an excess of £10,000 (i.e only write-offs need apply) they had the pleasure of paying for it. So, in summary, no car insurance company, especially (let me underline and capitalise that) ESPECIALLY not our own insurance company (the car they cover was sitting safely in our garage at the time of the incident) had to pay out any money on the incident. Yet they happily load the premium for our insurance next year. Grrrrr

Guess who won’t be getting our business….?

For anyone who says why bother declaring a company car claim to a non-related Insurance Company – well, non-disclosure is a good enough reason for an Insurance Company not to pay out any future claims so it would be as well to go without Insurance altogether rather than pay out a premium that may not be worth the piece of paper it is printed on….Believe me, it is very tempting when you find out that the fine for not having car insurance is a lot less than the average cost of car insurance…what a fantastic bit of legislation that is….

Household insurance – this one really hurt
We have two household policies, one for contents and one for the building and we have (or rather had) 10 years+ No Claims Discount built up on both. Last year we had a broken pane in the roof of our conservatory** (not sure what happened, no missing tiles or anything obvious and before anyone says it, no McG did not attempt to take a vacation on the roof….) and with the cost for repair coming in at over £1,400 we decided to make a claim through our building insurance…

Fair enough that we lost the NCD for the building insurance but I was less than impressed to see our Contents NCD being trashed as well. If the two are linked why on earth are they listed separately on our policy? Despite their offer to reduce the renewal premium for being loyal customers I decide to take my business elsewhere. Not as cheap as it should have been as we can now only show 1 year’s NCD for contents - thanks for nothing – This worked out costing us an extra £200 on our policy.

** If we keep oranges in it we could go all posh and call it an Orangery….

Phone call of the week
I gave feedback to my work help line that I had difficulty understanding many of the operatives based in India

I received a phone call from some one from I think it was the “Resolver help line group”

I think, but can’t swear to it, as I could hardly understand him, that he was apologising to me not being able to understand his colleagues and did this resolve my issue?

I decided to end my agony and limply said “Yes”, resolving never to complain about our helpline ever again…..

Good service
I shall end the week on a high note

Amazon – who made it so easy to exchange our ripped tent under their no quibble one year guarantee. They even arranged for DHS to collect the damaged tent…

Cycle city – who came back to me to check that I knew that I had ordered just a cover for Mrs B’s new cycle helmet and not the actual helmet as well before sending out the order….For the record I did know I was ordering just the cover.

Joules of Amersham – Who replaced a couple of items that I had got in the wrong size, honouring the 15% discount that I had got on the web rather than making me wait for the items to be reposted.

Delicious - a Coffee shop in Bishops Stortford – While I was waiting for Mrs B I ordered 2 café lattes. Instead of plonking them both down in front of me at the same time, mine arrived and 20 minutes later the other one arrived when Mrs B finally made it. They obviously know my wife better than me…

A record of the week
"Taxman" by The Beatles - The lyrics are as close to as I could get to the money grabbing aspects of the insurance world

"Call me" by Blondie - Just make sure the conversation is legible

"Iris" by The Goo Goo Dolls - I always though she was a lady....

"Tales from the Riverbank" by The Jam - Not a bad effort for some city boys.... 

Piggy’s by The Beatles – More apt lyrics for our insurance friends I guess even the Beatles felt they were being ripped off at times

(I can’t get no) Satisfaction by the Rolling StonesI just want an honest straight forward insurance company, is that too much to ask?

Photo finish
Not much to take this week so I've dug out some more of  our Norfolk weekend pictures....

Was this the inspiration for a Goo Goo Dolls song?

Probably not, I don't think they
ever made it to Norfolk

 Please don't tell me that this Cliff is called Richard

I like to think this Blog has some standards,
even if they are low ones.... 

Mrs B managed to borrow a camera
with a bigger lens than the Beast...

Talk about one upmanship...

Seal Pantomime

"It’s behind you"

"Oh no it’s not"

"Oh yes it is…."

Etc, Etc...

The Norfolk synchronised swimming team 

"Heads up ladies..."

Give us a kiss....How romantic

Sorry to break the news, this
turned out to be girl on girl action...

I didn't realise it was that sort of Blog

Mrs B and a friend

In case you didn't spot it on Mrs B's
arm, this was the friend.....

 Tales of the River bank - is that
Paul Weller just behind the tree...
  
Hope to catch you next week....

17 comments:

  1. Coooo, what a swizz with the car insurance. Blighters. Let me recommend the NFU, even for you townie folks. Go on, give them a call next time, you might be pleasantly surprised. Still honourable in this sharkish world! Alec disappearing on 3rd October, he's counting the days. So am I but for different reasons. Is Delicious the shop that makes the incredible cakes? MOre photos to drool over next time?

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  2. It's the same bull in Canada. Our insurance rates are out to lunch. The deductible on my home policy is so high that the bloody thing would need to burn down to make it worth using. Grrr.

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  3. Insurance is terribly boring and unfortuntely must be done :/ I like the new look of the blog

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  4. Hiding anything is surely doomed to failure the moment the plan is hatched? Women find *everything*. Sigh.

    In the last 18 months Soph and I have both been hit by uninsured drivers.

    Track of the Week - try Bo Bruce's 'Brighter Moon' in our show #131
    :-)

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  5. I love that picture of the river at the bottom! Your captions made me laugh, especially the one about Mrs. B's camera lens. Also, I quite enjoyed your plan above for slowly introducing your clothes into your repertoire so that Mrs. B wouldn't notice. Ha!! Sorry it has been a while since I've been to your blog. I am going to try to be more organized with my blog following. I enjoy your blog and don't want to miss out on what you've got to say! :)

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  6. skipperthewonderhorse said...
    Coooo, what a swizz with the car insurance. Blighters. Let me recommend the NFU, even for you townie folks Go on, give them a call next time, you might be pleasantly surprised. Still honourable in this sharkish world!
    I’m not sure what the neighbours would make if we start driving around in a tractor

    Alec disappearing on 3rd October, he's counting the days. So am I but for different reasons.
    You should be so proud most kids today can’t even count up yet alone down

    Is Delicious the shop that makes the incredible cakes? MOre photos to drool over next time?
    You will have to explain to Mrs B why I got fat…OK fatter

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  7. Danica-Dragonfly said...
    It's the same bull in Canada. Our insurance rates are out to lunch.
    It’s good to know that something can afford lunch these days even if it is only your insurance rates…

    The deductible on my home policy is so high that the bloody thing would need to burn down to make it worth using. Grrr.
    We did have a neighbour when I was a kid who would actually claim for damaged tea towels which is probably why we are all paying through the nose now….. On the balance of things probably best not to burn the rest of your house down in order to claim for that slightly singed tea towel.

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  8. Smileyfreak said...
    Insurance is terribly boring and unfortunately must be done :/
    You don’t get excited about insurance how can that be????

    I like the new look of the blog
    Thank you, I’m still not sure I’ve finished playing around with the look

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  9. Brennig said...
    Hiding anything is surely doomed to failure the moment the plan is hatched? Women find *everything*. Sigh.
    Now you tell me…..

    In the last 18 months Soph and I have both been hit by uninsured drivers.
    Do they hang around an say sorry or just drive off???

    Track of the Week - try Bo Bruce's 'Brighter Moon' in our show #131
    :-)

    I’ll drop in and have a listen

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  10. Kelley said...
    I love that picture of the river at the bottom!
    I was trying for the bottom of the river but The Beast is not water proof….

    Your captions made me laugh, especially the one about Mrs. B's camera lens.
    Always happy to hear that my inane mutterings sometimes hit home…

    Also, I quite enjoyed your plan above for slowly introducing your clothes into your repertoire so that Mrs. B wouldn't notice.
    Like most (OK all) of my cunning plans they are doomed to end in failure….I’m not cut out for the life of a super villain…

    Ha!! Sorry it has been a while since I've been to your blog. I am going to try to be more organized with my blog following. I enjoy your blog and don't want to miss out on what you've got to say! :)
    I will forgive you this one, just try not to let it happen again….Besides you can always catch up through the archive on the right hand side

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  11. Just wanted to thank you for stopping by my blog. :) I have to admit you had me laughing aloud about you trying to hide the new clothes from the Mrs. Too funny. The captions to your beautiful pictures were hysterical. Thanks for the visit and the giggles! :)

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  12. Confessions of a Closet Hoarder said...
    Just wanted to thank you for stopping by my blog. :) I have to admit you had me laughing aloud about you trying to hide the new clothes from the Mrs. Too funny. The captions to your beautiful pictures were hysterical. Thanks for the visit and the giggles! :)
    Thank you for the return visit and glad it entertained you. Hope it was enough to convince you to keep on coming back

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  13. My current job means I spend much of my day on the phone with insurance companies. Ugh. Love the photos. Looks like a great trip.

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  14. jules said...

    My current job means I spend much of my day on the phone with insurance companies. Ugh.
    Jules welcome aboard and thanks for joining in, always appreciated when people make an effort to comment. Sorry to dig up bad work memories for your first (see I’m being optimistic that you might make a return) visit

    Love the photos. Looks like a great trip.
    Thank you, we count ourselves very lucky that we can do so much

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  15. My NCB is now 'unprotected' all due to me doing the right thing and owning up to Mr Imo having made a claim for a small dent in door which occured in a car park when he wasn't in the car.

    He is only on my insurance as a named driver in case of emergencies, the damage wasn't due to him driving recklessly and drunk one night, and to date I have over 10 years worth of NCB. Pfffffffffffft.

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  16. ^ and that was on his company car - not mine!

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  17. Imo said

    My NCB is now 'unprotected' all due to me doing the right thing and owning up to Mr Imo having made a claim for a small dent in door which occured in a car park when he wasn't in the car.

    He is only on my insurance as a named driver in case of emergencies, the damage wasn't due to him driving recklessly and drunk one night, and to date I have over 10 years worth of NCB. Pfffffffffffft.

    I thought you could write off 5 cars and a jumbo jet before it affected your protected NCB

    and that was on his company car - not mine!
    That just does not sound right....If you still have your NCB you should take it elsewhere, where they will protect your bonus...It's that under hand treatment by insurance companies that makes me see red...

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