Update on my burnt down house

[MorbidTravis]

I thought i would update you guys on my house that burnt down back in 2008, this is not a depression thread.

The insurance company pretty much took a massive shit on us, and you bet we are suing them. A really good lawyer from tampa is doing it for free(meaning if we lose the case he wont get paid, but if we win we will give him what he deserves) because he is that confident we will win. For the past few months we have been fixing it up ourselves. My mom decided its time to move out of south florida, so once we finish fixing it up(its almost done) she is going to rent it out and move to St augustine and i will stay down here to finish school.

After a year and a half i have gotten used to the idea of never living in that house again.

the second biggest loss out of the fire, is that i havent seen my razorback explosion since 2008. Once we get the money to release our contents i will be reunited with it.

[mlp187]

I can't believe horror stories like this happen. I wish you the best of luck and an end to the bullshit soon.

[MorbidTravis]

ya i know, i always wondered what would happen if your house burned down. Now i know and from my new experience when i buy a house and citizens is the only home owners insurance i can get, .... it im not getting that house.

[vampiregenocide]

Dude all the best, I remember about this when it happen. Blows my mind that you still haven't been able to clear shit up. Good luck man.

[MorbidTravis]

thanks dude.

[JohnIce]

My best friend's house burnt down last winter too, so I can definately relate to the feeling, mate. It really sucks. His family stayed at my house for a while, then at their grandma's until finally getting a small place on the lawn of some friend's of theirs. They lost everything but what they were wearing in bed that night.

Fortunately Sweden is really good with insurance and social security etc. so they had a new house done about 10 months later, and it didn't cost them too much at all. I can only imagine what it must be like to go through something like this in the US

[MorbidTravis]

thats how its supposed to be over here. but Citizens insurance has a reputation for ....ing people over

[Razorgrin]

Originally Posted by JohnIce

I can only imagine what it must be like to go through something like this in the US

In most cases, you'd pretty much be couch-crashing forever. Our insurance companies really, really hate to part with money. A house burned down in my neighborhood about ten years ago and it took the owner four years of battling his insurance company to finally get paid a pittance compared to what the house had been worth. I don't remember what company it was, but I do remember it was one of the big names. I understand they want to look into the circumstances and whatnot, but it's ....ing shameful what happened to that guy.

Oh, and Travis: best of luck, man. That's horrible.

[scottro202]

Best of luck man, hope everything works out.

On a slightly off topic note, I'm going to St Augustine for vacation next month, if you're there by then we should jam, I'll be bringing my 7

[MorbidTravis]

they are moving july 31,they want me to come help. but should i pass my skills test on the 8 bus then i have a different band booked every friday and saturday start in 2 fridays from now, lab hours are important and i have to record a band for a project so they understand

[poopyalligator]

Well I hope everything goes well. That sucks that the insurance people are being such douchebags. They always say you need it, and it will always be there in case something bad happens. You pour tons of money monthly and yearly to them. Then finally when something unfortunate happens they are the last people who want to help you out.

[lateralus819]

^I agree poop. Spend hundreds if not thousands on insurance. Then when you need it? Oh guess what, we're raising your premium for using a service YOU PAID FOR! ....ing assholes.

[liamh]

I cant imagine how heartbreaking it would be to find out my house had burned down.
Good luck for the future.

[MorbidTravis]

at least there is a law that states after x amount of days and they dont finish, we can sue

[JohnIce]

I don't mean this the wrong way but... that's kind of the impression I get of America. Expect companies to .... you over, and when they do, sue them. Repeat.

It's hard to understand as me being Swedish, most important stuff like insurances, health care etc. is run by the state, and there's no goals for profit anywhere. It's financed by tax money, and the goal is that as much as possible of the tax money is put to the right use, so that people keep voting for you in the next election... and as a result of this, barely anyone ever sues anyone in Sweden. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone but big-time finance dudes doing it.

I can't imagine living in a country where the people who are supposed to help you want to make a profit out of you.

[Razorgrin]

Originally Posted by JohnIce

...things about Sweden being awesome...

brb Sweden

No, srsly. Do immigrants get those benefits?

[Fzau]

Originally Posted by JohnIce

I can't imagine living in a country where the people who are supposed to help you want to make a profit out of you.

This still happens if everything is ran by the state actually. The money has to come from somewhere, and someone is going to have to pay it. There will be people who pay way to much taxes in comparison with what they get back from the state. Although I do agree it's a completely different story than individual commercial insurance companies.

But I must say, your vision of tax money management is a tad too optimistic. The upcoming elections are the exact reason why tax money isn't put to good use, politicians are mostly afraid to take necessary measures that would make them unpopular. A lot of it is thrown away for unnecessary stuff too.

Do note that I live in Belgium (which has a ....ed up tax system) and you live in Northern Europe (where welfare state has reached it's pinnacle) so that last point may not be entirely true for you.


Good luck Travis, I hope this get sorted out asap!

[Demiurge]

Originally Posted by JohnIce

I don't mean this the wrong way but... that's kind of the impression I get of America. Expect companies to .... you over, and when they do, sue them. Repeat.
...
I can't imagine living in a country where the people who are supposed to help you want to make a profit out of you.

I wouldn't exactly use the business practices of a Florida-based homeowners insurance carrier (in hard-to-insure areas prone to large-scale hazards, the insurance market is like the wild west- scoundrels with few heroes) of perhaps questionable solvency to create an impression of the USA.

I work in insurance (ironically, we have a corporate office in FL and barely write down there because the market's such a ....ing mess) and can estimate from experience that 95% of people's bad experiences with insurance claims come from a lack of understanding of how it (coverages, claim process, etc.) works. The other 5% involve situations such as the OP's where the carrier seems to think that they'll save money by arbitrarily stone-walling and denying claims- hey, if 1 out of 10 people give up and go away because they're too poor to litigate = savings! Some insurance companies are rotten like that, but not all of them.

**OP- glad to hear that are finally working out. I hope that your family has filed as many Department of Insurance complaints against the adjuster handling your claim as possible.

[MorbidTravis]

There is probably a million threads that i posted about why we got ....ed over. but in short 4 of their adjustors decided not to do their jobs and inevitably got fired. But the insurance company is still trying to see what they can get away with and for how long.

According to firemen at the seen- "Citizens is known for prolonging a case for more than 18 months and leaving the family with barely anything"

[budda]

best of luck dude.

[Stealthdjentstic]

Good luck Travis.

[JohnIce]

Originally Posted by Fzau

This still happens if everything is ran by the state actually. The money has to come from somewhere, and someone is going to have to pay it. There will be people who pay way to much taxes in comparison with what they get back from the state. Although I do agree it's a completely different story than individual commercial insurance companies.

But I must say, your vision of tax money management is a tad too optimistic. The upcoming elections are the exact reason why tax money isn't put to good use, politicians are mostly afraid to take necessary measures that would make them unpopular. A lot of it is thrown away for unnecessary stuff too.

Do note that I live in Belgium (which has a ....ed up tax system) and you live in Northern Europe (where welfare state has reached it's pinnacle) so that last point may not be entirely true for you.


Good luck Travis, I hope this get sorted out asap!

Nah, there's a difference between profit and capital. The state governs a large sum of tax money (capital) that finance the things that they deem appropriate. It should be no more and no less than needed, whereas if you want to make profit, you'd take in more money than you need. That's the difference. Tax money is to be spent. Whether it's on health care or trips to the Bahamas, that's up to the government, the public is free to elect someone else next time if they feel their tax money isn't put to the right use.

What I'm talking about though is that the state-funded companies are intended to be financed by tax money and, ideally, only tax money. You should be able to come into the hospital with a skull fracture and come out without having spent a nickel, that's the idea. If the state can't keep up with their budget, they'll either have to raise taxes or cut expenses, and again, it's up to the voters to determine who does that balance the best.

My gripe with having private companies handling things such as health care, insurance, schools etc. is that private companies want profit, they want to gain more than they spend. This leads to scams, money under tables, creates growing differences between the rich and the poor etc. And I think these areas are far too important to everyone to be handled that way.

Going off-topic though