Nibbled News

Cancelling coverage too early costs motorist

"As I approached the intersection, a stop 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."  

 When it comes to having adequate insurance coverage to protect our home, auto, life and family we all want the best plans that money can buy but at a reasonable cost.

Admittedly, we are all bargain hunters when it comes to this subject consistently demanding the most amount of coverage possible for the least amount of money.

Many folks accept this as a cost of modern life. Other people only weigh in the monthly cost of coverage and do not view the long term effect of prematurely cancelling their overall automobile insurance coverage. Acting hastily and cancelling some types of insurance could seriously jeopardize a person's financial situation.

My own insurance agent the other day told me about one of his long-standing customers cancelling his auto collision insurance. The vehicle was twelve years old and the guy involved wanted to reduce some of his monthly insurance costs. He felt he was a careful driver and did not want to continue to spend good money protecting an older vehicle.

The agent tried desperately to dissuade him from taking this course of action by offering him a number of less costly insurance alternatives. He outlined the costs involved if the man was involved in an accident. The man listened with a deaf ear. He was determined to take the collision coverage off this vehicle. 

The agent reluctantly cancelled the man's collision coverage and gave him his business card in case he wanted to change his mind. He signed the appropriate release forms for the agent. The client thanked him for his assistance and then left the office.

Ten minutes later the agent's telephone rang. The client whose collision insurance he had previously cancelled was calling him to report that he was involved in an accident just outside the insurance office's parking lot. The man was distraught and frantic. He asked the agent if he could help him.

The agent tried to explain to him that there was nothing he could do to assist him. He suggested the man call the police and report the accident. The driver had willingly declined the collision insurance coverage and was not covered . The car was substantially damaged and the cost to repair it would have to come from out-of-pocket finances.

Both drivers were not injured in the accident. The other driver was going to visit his own insurance agent to upgrade his own collision coverage when the accident happened. It was just one of those ironies of life . It happens.

The moral of the story: before you start lopping off monthly insurance costs make sure you have weighed all the pros and the cons. Sometimes a penny saved in one area can end up costing you big bucks in another. Try to think things through and get the big picture before you act.

Parents Often Create Delinquent Children

"Family: A social unit where the father is concerned with parking space, the children with outer space, and the mother with closet space."  - Evan Esar.

 Parents , sometimes,  by their own harried actions and momentary   inattentions, unwittingly encourage their children to become uncaring, inattentive and overly self concerned members of society.

This "outside -of-the- class" learning experience oftentime occurs at the most innocent of moments the biggest influence occurring while they are dropping their children off at school.

These ongoing lessons of asocial behavior are most likely to be reinforced when sleep-deprived, coffee sipping, text messaging parents hurriedly deposit their youngsters at the front door of their local institution of learning and then speed away full throttle in the hopes that teachers, coaches and advisors will baby sit and educate their young scholars.

I live across the street from a public elementary school and each day cannot help but notice the same time-strapped, busy parents depositing the youngsters at the front door of the building -- many times a few minutes after the final bell has sounded. 

The parents are all sipping coffee (super sized for the all important caffeine rush), texting or chatting  on their cell phones, ignoring safe driving procedures and speed limits and executing hair pin U-turns in the middle of the busy intersection. 

Parents who live within walking distance of the school have the added benefit of not only being able to sip their coffee and munch their cinnamon flavored donut in peace but also able to freely scatter their used coffee cup and donut bag anywhere along their stroll to school.

One lady recently walked two children to school, pushed a toddler in a buggy, sipped a coffee and during the stroll successfully changed a soiled diaper while in transit.

Although she was successful at changing the diaper the coffee cup was blown away from the immediate vicinty and she was unable to round up the errant cup for the obvious but excusable reasons.

Parents expect teachers to teach and socialize their children. They fail to realize that their own daily interactions with their children makes an important contribution to their behaviors and notions about their place in the world. 

The time to save Little Johnny from his weekly trip to the principal's office for being unruly happens when his parents are dropping him off at the front door of the school and not when a notification is sent to them to chat about his indifferent attitudes and behaviors.

Crafty Lawyer Burnt For False Arson Claim

 "I'm glad to see you're not letting your education get in the way of your ignorance."  ---   Anon.

 

Sometimes a person may be too smart for their own good. The following real life situation took place in Charlotte North Carolina and has been labelled as being the "best lawyer/insurance story of the year, decade and possibly the century". 

An allegedly shrewd and experienced lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then  insured them against , among other things, loss due to fire.

Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars, the lawyer filed a claim against the insurance company. In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost 'in a series of small fires".

The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason, that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion. The lawyer sued and won.

 

Delivering his ruling, the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company, in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable 'fire' and was obligated to pay the claim.

 

Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the cigars that perished in the 'fires'.

 

NOW FOR THE BEST PART...

After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 individual counts of arson.

 

With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.

This true story won first place in last year's Criminal Lawyers' Award Contest.

 

Sales Receipts -- Effective Feedback Tools

" If a diabetic, on his way to buy insulin , is killed by a runaway truck, he is the victim of an accident. If the truck was delivering sugar, he is the victim of an oddly poetic coincidence. But if the truck was delivering insulin, ah! Then he is the victim of an irony." -- George Carlin.

Consumers often bemoan the fact that no one ever listens to or respects their concerns and complaints. Retailers according to these folks are out for just one thing: profit and the customer be damned.

In many situations there are no feedback mechanisms by which a customer can either complain about or praise the quality of the service or product they received from a particular retailer.

Many businesses today now offer customers the chance to either praise or critique the quality of service they received at their place of business. Astute consumers will notice that their receipt now includes a website address to which customers with a gripe or concern can express themselves and hopefully have their opinions heard, appreciated and ultimately acted upon.

The one irony in this scenario lies in the fact that not many consumers will visit the company website and express their concerns. They are either not reading their receipts fully or are dismissing the site as patronizing and not worth their while visiting.

Bookstores, large chain grocery stores, computer retailers, pharmacies and national retailers offer cash rewards and other incentives to those folks who will visit their site and tell them about their in store experiences. Many folks still resist the temptation to visit the site no matter how appealing the incentive offered.

Three weeks ago Sarah , a single mother with three young children, is one such person who often hesitated to express herself no matter how insistently her friends and family encouraged her to do so. She is a working mother and as such tries to maximize the dollar return she receives for money spent.

She had purchased a package of sweet and sour spare ribs she planned to cook for her family and inlaws. The top layer of the platic wrapped container displayed two ideal cuts of the ribs. The package offered a four dollar discount and she gladly purchased the meat.

When she opened the package at home she discovered that she had been scammed. The second layer of the ribs was laden with fat and the quality of the meat not top grade as she had expected it would be. She felt betrayed and ripped off by her favorite grocery store. She has been shopping there for many years and her customer club card describes her as being an "elite" customer.

She then decided to visit the grocery chain's online website site and express her dismay and outrage that the meat department would engage in such deceptive marketing practices. The in house meat department had processed the meat and labelled the meat as the store's own product. There were no middle men involved in the preparation of the ribs.

She expressed her dismay and opinions freely, frankly and forthrightly. She said it helped her to vent all the negative feelings she had against the store. At the time she was doubtful that the large national grocery chain would either appreciate or act upon her comments and critiques.

Recently she received a letter of apology from the store's regional manager in charge of customer relations. The letter heartily apologized for the poor quality of the meat she received. She was also offered a one hundred dollar gift certificate from the store and the private telephone number of the store's regional office should she have any other concerns or critiques.

In her opinion the letter was sincere and not merely patronizing. The manager hoped that this negative experience would not dissuade her from continuing her long term relationship with the outlet. He told her that she was a valued customer of the store. The incident would be investigated and the involved parties spoken to and handled.

Sarah was grateful that she took action and visited the site. She encourages other folks to also visit similar sites and offer their experiences and opinions in this public forum. She added that she will now scan all future receipts for web site addresses and will visit them if she experiences similar situations in the future.

People living on fixed incomes, retirees, widows , students and others know the importance of getting value for their dollars. They also must realize that they need to make their voices heard by way of these company web sites.

To stoically suffer in silence or gripe your dismay to family and friends is no longer acceptable in today's fast paced, consumer oriented world.

Give Up My Password To My Boss -- No Way!

"A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man's mind can get both provocation and privacy." --Edward P. Morgan

 Many folks who maintain social networking sites are being asked by their bosses to supply them with their personal password so that their online activity can be monitored for potential security and breach of corporate protocol  concerns.

While they privately make light of the fact that this demand is an invasion of their privacy and personal space a great many employees begrudgingly provide their demanding employers with the requested password to their Facebook account.

Suddenly their perfect job has become tainted by the fact that they must unwillingly relinquish their guarded password to their boss. The economics of the situation persuades many of these employees to succumb to the demand of the job and of course their continuing employment.

Julie is one such employee who has been a marketing researcher for the past five years. She works in an office environment and communicates with clients via her Facebook site. She manages her site when she is at work and states that she uses it for business promotions, conferencing and client updating.

She realizes that her employer is providing the net connection for her to use and as such has the right to ask her for her password. She resents the fact that a condition of her continuing employment with the firm rests on her compliance with the password ruling.

Concerned friends and colleagues advise her to comply but also suggest that she either create a new Facebook account for her own private use or else change the password a month after she reveals it to her employer.

A number of people I chatted with resented the outright imposition on their privacy. They stated that their employer really had no right to invade in their private space especially if their private thoughts and concerns revealed online were not related to their jobs.

Doug, a radio DJ , said "no way Jose!" would he ever comply with such a demand by his employer. His connection to his listeners was enhanced by his Facebook persona and he emphasized the fact that his listeners might not communicate as freely with him if they suspected third or even fourth parties were monitoring them.

Facebook does provide a forum for many folks to not only express their views to the world but also at times an ideal meeting place to meet new friends, business associates and reconnect family members separated by great distances.

It also offers unscrupulous employers the opportunity to not only intimidate their employees with termination but also a private view into the non business lives of their personnel. 

 It may be wise and economically prudent to maintain two such social media accounts: one to appease the demands of your boss and a second , more private one in which your non work related personality and networking connections are private and secure from your company's probing eyes.

A Bad Day For A Birthday - February 29th

"People love to admit they have bad handwriting or that they can't do math. And they will  readily admit to being awkward. "I'm such a klutz!" But they will never admit to having a poor sense of humor or being a bad driver.'  ---   George Carlin

 

Folks born today, February 29, enter the world plagued with a social handicap. They face the difficult decision of determining exactly when they will celebrate their birthdays with friends and family. It helps if you were born with a sense of humor.

The slap on the backside the doctor gave them in the delivery room on that special recorded day of their entry into the world is easily forgotten. The actual date of their birth is a social reality that they must come to grips with and eventually accept. 

Many accept their fate stoically and with a somewhat reserved sense of humor. Others feel that fiendish calendar creators and mathematicians have doomed them to a lifestyle as carefree as Peter Pan's -- never growing old too quickly.

A friend of mine Craig celebrates his birthday today. He admits that he is 64 years old. The candles on the top of his cake belie the fact. His wife accomodates his wishes and carefully places 16 candles on his homemade cake. It's his sweet sixteen party and  he can easily blow out the candles with one deeply inhaled breath. 

Craig and a number of other folks he has met online share this birthday dilemma.  They have not as yet formed a local support group to celebrate their uniqueness but they do send online birthday cards to one another as freely and as easily as the rest of us do.

Being born on the last day of February might technically excuse a person from not really having to act their age. Biologically, these folks mature at the same rate as the rest of humanity. The only difference is the acutal chronological registering of their birthdate. What do you do when you have to wait four years to enjoy a slice of birthday cake and ice cream?

It would be a nice gesture if greeting card companies would create a special card noting that the recipient is a unique individual who just happened to be born on an unusual date. It's tough buying a regular card for a person who has recently turned eighty but can only celebrate the day every four years.

Happy birthday wishes to all those celebrating today!

Four Cent Phone Bill Hilarious But True

"Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it."   -----    PETER DRUCKER

 

I used to think that  those humorous television commercials which jokingly insinuate that many telephone providers are actually money-hungry charlatans whose sole purpose in life is to extract as much money as is humanly possible from their long term, contract obligated customers were merely stretching the truth in an orchestrated manner. Now, however,  I tend to whole heartedly agree with their overall accusations.

I recently received a long distance telephone charge of four cents from my former service provider. The total length  of the call was rated as being one minute but that duration of time was enough to generate the charge. It was a call made on December 31 to a family member who was not at home at the time. Their answering machine had intercepted the call. 

I had signed up for a new service provider effective January  2012. The shabby service offered by my former telephone service did not warrant me to continue paying its exorbitant monthly rate. The company had also offered internet and televison service as well. I had been on a one year trail contract. The total package expired the last day of 2011.

In January I received what I thought was the final bill from the former provider and sent in my payment by the 15th of the month. This week I received a letter from the phone company informing me that I owed the grand total of four cents for services rendered. The letter indicated that if I chose to ignore paying the outstanding amount I would be charged a $25 administrative fee.

I was shocked that they would waste so much time, effort , paper and administrative effort to ferret out the four cent charge. I wondered how I was going to pay this charge: cash, cheque, credit card charge or visit my bank and have them process the amount.

A telephone call to my former service provider was not that enlightening. The female associate I spoke with explained to me the options by which I could settle this outstanding amount. She recommended that I settle the account by making a one time Visa payment over the phone at this time. This she suggested would be the easiest way to settle up. I thought easy for who me or the phone company.

I decided a few days later to go to the bank, have the charge taken from my account and settle the debt that way. The female bank teller was amused that this phone company would pursue such a triffling amount in such a costly and aggressive manner. 

The contract I had signed with the former service provider offered quality service at an affordable price. But the unreliable service forced me to contact their customer support staff once a month to correct faulty and flagging internet and television reception.

I had been with this telephone company for the past 25 years and had never had a late fee charged to my account. This past year has opened my eyes to the fact that even the high profile telephone service providers need to perform a bit of rethink and reevaluation of the way they service and retain customers.

TV Ads Overly Concerned About Body Hair

“There's a reason why forty, fifty, and sixty don't look the way they used to, and it's not because of feminism, or better living through exercise. It's because of hair dye. In the 1950's only 7 percent of American women dyed their hair; today there are parts of Manhattan and Los Angeles where there are no gray-haired women at all.”
― Nora Ephron

 

 If you watch any amount of late night television you will eventually begin to notice that many advertisers are beginning to zero in on a major problem that is currently plaguing many, many people these days and apparently growing to pandemic proportions.

What is this threat that is affecting the lives of a great number of men and women these days? Namely,  the absence or the over abundance of body hair. Men and women are actually afraid that they have either too much or not enough of it in all sorts of places on their bodies.

Female viewers are constantly bombarded with a number of gadgets that are guaranteed to rid them of unsightly body hair from their arms, legs, faces and of course that most embarassing of all places the area immediately adjacent to their bikini tan line. 

Lotions, creams, high tech shavers and of course lasers are actively promoted daily to assure women that their concerns are being taken seriously by national advertisers. Informative infomercials employ the services of well known actresses who readily offer their own personal endorsements for the products reliability.

Many of these alleged panaceas even promise that unsightly leg hair and embarassing stubble will be gone forever with just  a few months faithful use of their laser enhanced system. The hair according to the advertisement will be effortlessly removed without the pain and suffering the competitor's hair removal system offers.

Men with thinning hair are also offered quick fixes which will make them look vibrant, sexy, dynamic and desirable. The actors in this commercial sport a full head of hair after supposedly using the restorative process for only thirty days.  They claim that their appearance and their overall confidence has been boosted. Attractive females rave about the new found confidence a full head of hair offers a man.

The commercial warns that this process is not for everyone. I suspect that men will readily shy away from a hair restorative system that requires that an acrylic product resembling human hair be surgically attached to their scalps. The cosmetic affect might be pleasing to the eye but can the invasion on a person's pain threshold and pocketbook justify the expense

A person viewing these "info"-mercials should realize that actors are supposedly portraying real people and events and what is viewed on the television tube is not always the gospel truth. We all want to look our best but we all should take a few minutes to realize that our personal assets are not dependent on an advertisers agenda.

 

 

 

 

 

Ever Try Reasoning With Your Dentist?

"You don't go mud wrestling with a pig because in the end you only wind up looking foolish and the pig tends to love the attention."  -- Anon.

Have you ever tried to engage in a somewhat intelligent and serious conversation with your dentist while you were sitting quietly  in his comfortably padded , genuine Corinthian leather oversized chair visibly trembling and waiting for the pain session to begin?

If you have ever tried this almost universal approach to personal anxiety reduction you would have immediately noticed that both the dentist and his well trained assistant have only one game plan in mind:  helping you through your current oral trauma no matter what it costs you or your ever vigilant insurance provider.

Last Thursday my friend Vic discovered that  a front crown on the upper right portion of his gum area had become extremely loose. He had difficulty eating solid food and the crown was rubbing against his gum causing him pain and overall irritation. The gum was extremely sensitive and required immediate attention.

 He tried to make an appointment with his regular dentist and hoped the visit would resolve his problem. He was told his dentist had the flu and was asked if any dentist would suffice. He answered yes any dentist would be alright.

On Tuesday he went for his appointment and discovered that the tooth had cracked and a part of it had broken away.  It would now need to be extracted crown and all. He did not plan on this happening since the last time a crown came loose the dentist was able to recement it successfully into place.

He was also told that it would be a good game plan to have his teeth cleaned and a few Xrays taken of his upper and lower gums to update his patient file information. He agreed to have these procedures done and luckily there was an appointment vacancy also available that very day.

The female hygienist performed her task in an efficient and friendly manner. She took extra care around the overly irritated and sensitive section of his upper gum. She finished the manual cleaning of his teeth, successfully scraped away the accumulated plaque deposits that had built up around his teeth and then offered him a fluoride rinse to complete the treatment.

He was then led to another dental office and told that the dentist would be with him shortly. A dental assistant entered the room a few minutes later and told him  she needed to take Xrays not only of the affected area but also his whole mouth. This was the dentist's orders. He complied.

When the Xrays were complete the dentist entered the room. He looked at the pictures and then  took his silver colored pliers and carefully removed the crown. He then relayed the bad news that the toothh had broken and the crown and post were useless. He would have to extract the remains of the tooth. The dentist then froze the area with a shot of novocaine and extracted the remains parts of the fragmented  tooth.

The dentist sat at a desk nearby and told Vic of the dental work he might require: permanent tooth implant ($3400); partial dental bridge to bolster gums chewing powers ($3300) ; and finally a back molar ($1100 for the root canal excluding the new crown.

Vic was shocked by this doctor's callous and unrealistic attitude towards his patient. This doctor and others in the building were all fixated on one thing: how much will your insurance carrier handle for you? He tried to explain to this money grubber that he was a retiree living on a fixed income. This made no impression on the doctor.

The next day Vic received a sympathetic telephone call from the dental office's billing secretary. A female associate tried to console him on the loss of his front tooth and asked him how he was handling the loss. He told her it was only a tooth and nothing more.  She assured him she understood his position and his desire to have the tooth replaced as quickly as possible.

The number of options she cited were far too expensive and unrealistic for a retired person lving on a fixed income. He said she was understanding of his financial situation but said she was going to forward a copy of the replacement cost of the tooth to his insurance company. The amount for the tooth alone was "$3800.

Vic said he was struck by the humor of it all. Surely, he reasoned, the materials used and the medical equipment involved did not warrant such  a high price tag. To him this was another example of how costly and unrealistic the cost of medical and dental charges and services have become.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sipping A Brewsky Helps It All Make Sense

Several months ago, a friend told me that when he was cleaning his garage he threw his back out. I told him it was probably over enthusiasm. Sometimes when you're cleaning you get carried away and throw out something you intended to keep."  --- George Carlin.

How many folks do you personally know who rush headlong through their daily routines without ever taking the time to reflect on their lives or the way in which the many absurdities of life actively impinge on their actions and overall happiness?

Few people ever schedule some personal quiet time in which they just sit, relax, listen to themselves think and appreciate the day for what it truly is: a unique opportunity to enjoy another day of existence in an ever changing, challenging yet ever evolving universe full of promise and hope.

Back in the day old men would sit on creaky wooden porches in their rockers and relax, philosophize and probably gripe about the hand life has dealt them. It was therapeutic in that they were able to let off some pent up steam. This was something that their fathers and their fathers fathers had probably done at the end of their own work day.

Marshall Dillon, the hero in the television series "Gun Smoke", knew the importance of taking things easy and relaxing at the end of his day. He visited the fictional Longbranch Saloon in Dodge City where he, Miss Kitty and Doc would sip  a brewsky and reflect on the day's activities.

When I was a university student I enjoyed a cold glass or two of beer to help not only commiserate about the day's activities but also to make some sense out of it all. The student pub was the place where one could easily relax, socialize and plan for the immediate or long range future.

Today beer sipping and quiet reflection have become a lost art. The possibility of becoming an alcoholic has been drummed into everyone's awareness. Beer manufacturers in their televised commercials seem to encourage foks to over indulge in their imbibing. When you're drunk as a skunk you can hardly stand up let alone think about the day's activities.

In these fast paced, uncertain times it is necessary to unwind, reflect and take life a bit easier. The pot bellied stove and the old fashioned general store have gone by the wayside. Quiet reflection and quiet time should not be compromised due to life's anxieties and demands.