Fire - aftermath

[withm]

Sorry V, I did not mean to hijack your thread - started fresh here.

I have just come from a meeting to start the insurance claim. Ladies, your homework this week is to do two things.

1. Check/test your smoke detectors or replace batteries as appropriate. We are fortunate that no one was in the house at the time, and being that it was in the boonies, there was no one around to hear it anyway, but believe me, fire is not a good thing.

2. I know many of you have digital cameras. Go around your house right now and photograph everything in it. Not just the items of value. EVERYTHING. You need to show you really had 12 place settings of china, or 4 lamps of a certain type, or 6 vs 8 DR chairs. When you have to make an inventory of evverything you lost, you will be glad you did. You should even the closet where you keep the extra rolls of tp and kleenex. You will have to replace all that stuff eventually, and you might as well list it so you can get reimbursed.

Books - take photos of your bookcases, cds, etc., then close- ups to show the titles of the objects on the shelf blow them up on your computer if you need to prove the title list later. If you have 1st editions, or other valuable books, set those aside and photograph them to show the publishing info, dates, etc. You need a photo to show all your bikes - not just individually or taken out of context.

If you have 6 bikes, you need a photo that shows them all in one place, with some identifying characteristics like your living room, to prove you didn't take the pix at the bike shop. (See, I had to make it cycling related). Don't forget the pictures hanging on the wall, odd trinkets, "collectibles" - may not be worth so much say to a burglar - but the type that would sell on Ebay for a few or a lot of bucks. You need pix of everything. These will jog your memory when you have to fill out 50 pages of insurance inventory forms and assign a fair market value to each item.

Really odd stuff, if you can corroborate value with Ebay completed auctions, so much the better. Certainly any big ticket stuff you need good pix and receipts.

Once you do this, put it all on a CD, video tape, DVD, jump drive whatever and STORE a copy with a family member that lives somewhere else, and another copy in your safe deposit box. If not the fire, the water and chemical damage after a fire will finish it off.

Don't wait. If it happens to you, you will truly regret it.

They think this was the work of bored kids with nothing to do. Sheesh! It could have been anybody's house, but it was mine.

I have been through a lot of life altering events in my time -deaths in family, family health issues, divorce, auto accidents, bike-auto accidents, helicopter evacuations from boats, armed robbery, burglary, but this is truly the worst. I have never felt so violated.

Martha

[Veronica]

Oh man that sucks! I hadn't realized it was a SET fire. I'd been thinking natural causes. I'm so sorry. I hope they catch the kids. I don't know what an appropriate punishment is. Maybe being forced to watch their x box or playstation, cell phone and iPOD go up in smoke.

You're totally on about the insurance stuff. Most of our big ticket items we had serial numbers and boxes for. So they haven't been difficult about the small stuff - yet. Of course we still haven't gotten a check.

Hang in there.

V.

[LBTC]

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Martha}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

I'm so sorry you've had to go through this! I hope they catch the little creeps!

What a stressful process to have to go through aftewards, too!
Thank you for posting such great advice!

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[Mr. Bloom]

A terrible loss...and it sounds like the experience with the insurance company may be adding insult to injury.

I never had a litigious bone in my body until I tried to fairly settle the value of my car after a teenager hit me and totalled it a few years ago. They tried to strong arm me into a settlement for too little money until I involved an attorney friend...not an injury lawyer...but a firm skilled in insurance work on both sides of the table.

You can't replace the memorabilia, but don't let the insurance company add insult to injury.

[Tuckervill]

So sorry to hear it was arson.

And I'm with Mr. Silver, and for the same reason. Sometimes you just have to make it right and the only way is to sue.

Karen

[Bikingmomof3]

((((((((((((((((((((((withm))))))))))))))))))))))))))

I am so terribly sorry.

Thank you for the tips to help spare any of us what you are currently going through.

I am not an lawyer, nor do I pretend to be, but there appoears to be some clever ones on hear, their advice sounds quite resonable.

[makbike]

Martha:

Stay on top of the insurance company for they can and will slow down paying on suspected arson claims. My sister's restaurant was torched several years ago. The fire marshall and other investigators cleared my sister and her family fairly quickly but the insurance company refused to pay on the claim on the grounds that they felt my sister/her husband/ and or their son set the fire. Consequently, my sister lost both her businesses and had to file for bankruptcy. Her credit has been destroyed, her wages are being garnished and the state IRS is making her life very unpleasant. What they learned after all of this was there is no law to force an insurance company to honor their policies in a reasonable amount of time - they can and do drag their feet so prevent paying out on large claims. Please be careful for I would hate to see you and your family go through the h*ll my sister and her family has been through these past 4 years.

[withm]

Marcie

Yikes! Well so far it's been going well, but it's only been a week. There has been a string of "suspicious" fires in the area in the last few months, and apparently the authorities have an idea on at least one of the perpetrators, but they are trying to build a case, and of course will say nothing. They have prepared us for the ultimate court case years down the road where the defense atty will try to discredit us in an effort to get the perp off. Our legal system at work. I see this being tied up in "stuff" for a long, long time.

Sigh......

[Blueberry]

Withm-

Thank you for offering reminders for all of us....I just changed batteries in my smoke detectors (we're going to have to use space heaters for a week because our central heat died and the parts will take that long to come in - plus we have a home warranty company in the middle).

Insurance companies should not be able to get by with what they do. You might want to consider getting a lawyer involved if they drag out too long. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

In any case, good luck to you! My parent's house burned to the ground when I was a baby (we were on vacation). The firemen threw the pictures out the window to save them. Everything else was a loss.

CA

[pooks]

Sorry V, I did not mean to hijack your thread - started fresh here.

I have just come from a meeting to start the insurance claim. Ladies, your homework this week is to do two things.

(snip)

I have been through a lot of life altering events in my time -deaths in family, family health issues, divorce, auto accidents, bike-auto accidents, helicopter evacuations from boats, armed robbery, burglary, but this is truly the worst. I have never felt so violated.

Martha

Thank you for taking time to warn and advise us when you're in the midst of so much turmoil. I passed your advice on to my family and friends.

[SalsaMTB]

Martha,

Sorry to hear about what you're going through. Thank you for the advice though, I have nothing inventoried in my house. I can defintiely see why it's important, and it has been added to the top of my to-do list. I hope things get easier for you