Jenamireal

Last month I had two accounts under threat… Both household insurance and whilst these can be small accounts, these two weren’t. One was $8000 and the other $5000 which is a hell of a lot to pay for home insurance each year. One was a solicitor, the other a professional cricket player.

I lost the solicitor to a direct insurer for half the premium (and most likely half the cover) but I saved the other who was threatening to go to NRMA.. After explaining the huge difference in policy coverage and the fact that the prestige coverage suited their lifestyle and the NRMA didn’t, common sense prevailed and they stayed with us for another year. It will probably be another fight this time next year but that’s part of the game.

I was given an interesting article today about a client that approached a broker for a quote on an expensive yacht. The client chose the slightly cheaper option by going to a direct insurer. Unfortunately when a direct insurer claims “we cover you for everything” clients believe it. A few months into the policy the boat sustained severe damage over night. They put in a claim to their insurer only to have it declined because the damage did not occur during daylight hours. This information was in the fine print under the exclusions. So I guess my point is.. sometimes a policy may be more expensive with a broker but is generally because we can provide a much better coverage.  Would you prefer to save a few hundred dollars at renewal or thousands in the event of a claim..

Friday 4th July was our EOFY party.  It’s a time when the insurance industry drinks alot and generally has a good time… if they can remember it that is.. it’s very similar to the Young Professionals Christmas Party which I should attend at the end of the year.  I skipped last year. This year I was good, it was not so much about the drinking (although I did have more than I originally planned). It was more of a time of reflecting not just over the past 4 years or so i’ve worked there but it was also a farewell so to speak to Tom.  It was great to see Tom it was also a bit of a wake up call. He has lost 15kgs or more and aged 10 years or more in a few months. Both Tom and his wife walked aound the table hugging everyone in the room - He was a trooper, he stayed out for a few hours talking of his busy life with the trips to the specialists, the Gym at Calvary and the chinese medicine man. He has maintained his great sense of humour and is unbelievably positive considering the situation he is in. But deep down when he and his wife spoke you can see the hurt and the uncertainty about the future. 

Tom officially left the company at the end of June when his share in the business was sold.  First Brian (another Director) got up to make a speech and then Tom. As soon as Tom mentioned “the future” he started to crumble followed by everyone else in the room.  Most knew there is a good chance that this will be the last time we see him.    Let’s hope we are wrong!

I went back to work today after having 3 days off.. First I was sick and then Alek caught my never ending cold.  I spent time watching Dr Phil and Oprah, a bit of cleaning, a bit of sleeping.. life was sweet..  Now i’m back at work to deal with the usual same old thing…. 

a client who has apparently lost a $8,000 ring somewhere at some time over the last 7 yrs. The house was burgled in 2001 and it could have been lost since then?? What the hell.. if i had an $8,000 ring I would know when it went missing!! So now he has to make a police report about a ring he lost somewhere at some point - not sure that’s even possible.. but anyway the insurer approved the claim straight away.. I love my prestige insurer..

then there was the frustrating liability claim i’ve been dealing with for almost 12 months. Sure liability claims can often be complicated but this one was not and could have been paid in a week without any dramas. But no, its taken 12 months and regular contact with the insured, insurer, third party and managing agent.  After thinking all was said and done i get in today and the third party has claimed another $400 because she decided to hire a car because she didn’t get the cheque fast enough hahaha but what was more funny is the insurer agreed to pay.. They didn’t “have” to but it wasn’t worth the hassle.

Anyway enough of my whinging.. back to work tomorrow… oh I got a pay rise today so that will help me wake up in the morning..

Well I thought i’d do the right thing by coming home and cleaning, put on the dishwasher and sat down to watch big brother whilst listening to the rain inside.. took me a few minutes to realise the rain wasn’t outside, it was much closer, it was in my kitchen and coming from my dishwasher and all over the floor. Another call the to real estate.. currently my lights aren’t working properly, my dishwasher is stuffed (not just the flooding issue), the front door lock has issues… umm I think thats it but theres probably more.

And to think I had to increase my rent payments today by paying an extra $30/wk.  I hesitate to call the real estate because it seems some comparisons have been made between how often things break down in my place compared to the neighbour with the same owner. This is where I get annoyed… My townhouse has had 4 different tenants over the 6 yrs since it was built. The last tenants were evicted so damage was done, the only time i’ve complained about something is when my oven and downstairs toilet was out of action for 3 months and I think thats fair enough.. So tomorrow i’ll be seding another email and then the battle begins trying to get the handyman to come out and fix the damn things..    arrrgggghhhhhH!!!!!!!!!!

Most of my weekend was spent cleaning at my mums and my own house.. another part was spent in bed after catching a cold from someone somewhere.. it’s an evil thing but at least I achieved something with all the cleaning.. Wet and windy so nothing else to report really.

I was really looking forward to end of June for our end of financial year celebration which will this year be on 4th July. Ok so i usually end up pretty messy and for two years in a row I have attempted to walk home from Cronulla, luckily last year I had pre-arranged a lift.  After Tom being diagnosed and having other staff off on extended sick leave as well as all the family/private issues people seem to have we need a big party!!!

Unfortunately yet again we were asked for suggestions and yet again our suggestions were ignored.. In the end I guess we can choose to make the most of it and being in the middle of nowhere arrange a lift to continue the party or have a few drinks and go home.. I don’t know yet which I will be in the mood for..

Regardless, for the third year I have promised not to get so messy…Guess we’ll see what happens..

Confusion is what we see when we don’t want to see the truth

I’m tired after not having a great sleep for 3 days… can’t write much because I don’t want to think.. thinking means no sleeping at the moment.. so Good Night!!

So how are we feeling about Big Brother this year?? 

I’m thinking.. they bully Travis too much even though he is freaking annoying.. Brigitte is a disrespectul biatch.. Rory gets cosy and hugs anyone and everyone.. the new guy apparently keeps a diary with the names and number of times he “gets with girls”, the new old guy is funny and strange…but i still continue to watch it.. 

Well after googling DORE is appears that the UK and US centres have also gone down… Its amazing to hear all the success stories on the websites of people who have had children on the program and have enrolled their siblings… If only the government would put money into a non drug program like this one rather than spending millions on Ritalin then maybe the world would be a better place.