Ambassador
03-09-2004, 12:42 PM
I wont take the advice I receive here as law, but I would appreciate some friendly advice. Maybe someone has had a similar situation and might be able to help me out.
Anyhoo, about November 2002, I got into a car accident. A guy pulled out of a 3-way intersection (my way had no stop sign, and mine was the long way... his side was the t-bone side). I saw him clearly, and he saw me, but yet he decided to roll the stop, and he made the wrong decision to go or stay. He decided to go! He was turning left (towards my direction), and it was drizzling, and the roads have been soaked for a while. Well, I couldn't stop in time because my car went out of control (and I had no idea he was going to be that stupid and come out even after CLEARLY knowing I was there). My car skid, with my tail going to the left, and my nose going to the right, his left rear hit the left rear of my car. My car was disabled (bent axle or some crap), and his car basically only had a dent on it. His whole family was in his car going to church, and me and my wife were together in the car going to church as well... well, point is, he was clearly in the wrong. Even though the cop didn't give him a moving violation when he clearly took the stop sign, because he said it would have been a he-said, she-said (I don't know how could it be heresay that someone ran a stop sign, but...)...
Anyways, I have pain in my neck and sometimes shoulder because of this accident. I went to the doctor, and he ordered my to take 2 MRI's, and an X-ray. He sent me to physical therapy, because there was a clear weakness in one of my arms. Well as I improved in getting the strength back to my arm, my neck never stopped hurting. Eventually (even after a quarterzone injection) the doctor gave up and couldn't tell me much more. Because of this pain, I am in constant pain in my neck - some days more than others, and I cannot drive with both hands on the wheel for a long time ever since this accident. My wife also freaks out every time it seems I might not be slowing down slower. She has been traumatized by this accident. Even though she hasn't gotten psycological help, and I have not received any other treatment for my condition other than time, we are trying to get the money we need to pay our bills for all of this. We racked up about $11,000 USD just for the accident. I had within that, about $7800 USD of medical bills and damages I had to pay, so I need to get this settled.
I sent all my claims in on july of 2003 (after all my physical therapy, etc...). I sent in receipts, medical bills, and statements. We even consolidated and organized all the expenses on a spreadsheet format so it would be easier to find and retrieve any information that is necessary. Well we still haven't received the claim. The representative of this other insurance company (the person who is handling our claim, and works for the guy who hit our car) is the most unprofessional human being I pretty much know. We have been calling her since November of last year every month, and we get no calls back. We finally started calling almost daily in the last 3 months to get some information from her. She finally calls us back about a month ago, telling us that she's been really busy with all the weather-related claims, so they have more priority over ours. Well whatever... she is TOTALLY unprepared and has not even gone over the material when she gives us a number for us to settle at (which was insanely low, just slightly over the medical expenses, which didn't even cover the car damages!!!). We flat out told her no way, and she better look at those numbers again. Well she said she was going to call back on a wednesday, and after that wednesday, we kept calling daily until when she finally decided to call us the next week. She told us that she would call us by the end of february with a better settlement number... well it's already the middle of march, and she has not called (of course we've been calling her since march daily). Well, we talked to her supervisor, and he didn't seemed phased too much by the situation. Basically, he told us to give her some more time, that she WILL call us by the end of the day (because he was apparently going to make sure of this - and this was yesterday). Well, she didn't call us back. We called back again today to try to get a hold of the supervisor to tell him that she has not called, but he is on leave!!! We called the lady rep again today, and told her if she doesn't call us back by the end of the business day, we were going to get a lawyer. Well, we've been threatening with getting a lawyer for a good month now... but she's still as unprofessional as a local burger joint. Well, I'm not going to compliment her like that.
But the point is, it's the end of the business day and she has not called us. We have already e-mailed a local lawyer on a free consultation and are awaiting a response. But point is, I don't know if I should have gone down that road, or if I should have given her sloppy @$$ more time??? I'm kinda at a loss, because no wonder people's insurances are so high! Its insurance agents like these that don't help the situation!!! Now, I'll have to raise the claim amount I want, in order to pay a lawyer! Which then raises rates of insurance for the other guy, and those under the same company! I know that is not my problem, but it sucks that I feel I should have to go that route! Well if you've stuck with me thus far I commend you! And any friendly advice or ideas you can give me would be helpful.
P.S. my insurance agents have acted very professional with all of this, and have helped me above and beyond their call of duty. It's the other guy's agent that is driving us nuts!!!
http://www3.telus.net/robert/ab.gif
"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf"
-George Orwell
Anyhoo, about November 2002, I got into a car accident. A guy pulled out of a 3-way intersection (my way had no stop sign, and mine was the long way... his side was the t-bone side). I saw him clearly, and he saw me, but yet he decided to roll the stop, and he made the wrong decision to go or stay. He decided to go! He was turning left (towards my direction), and it was drizzling, and the roads have been soaked for a while. Well, I couldn't stop in time because my car went out of control (and I had no idea he was going to be that stupid and come out even after CLEARLY knowing I was there). My car skid, with my tail going to the left, and my nose going to the right, his left rear hit the left rear of my car. My car was disabled (bent axle or some crap), and his car basically only had a dent on it. His whole family was in his car going to church, and me and my wife were together in the car going to church as well... well, point is, he was clearly in the wrong. Even though the cop didn't give him a moving violation when he clearly took the stop sign, because he said it would have been a he-said, she-said (I don't know how could it be heresay that someone ran a stop sign, but...)...
Anyways, I have pain in my neck and sometimes shoulder because of this accident. I went to the doctor, and he ordered my to take 2 MRI's, and an X-ray. He sent me to physical therapy, because there was a clear weakness in one of my arms. Well as I improved in getting the strength back to my arm, my neck never stopped hurting. Eventually (even after a quarterzone injection) the doctor gave up and couldn't tell me much more. Because of this pain, I am in constant pain in my neck - some days more than others, and I cannot drive with both hands on the wheel for a long time ever since this accident. My wife also freaks out every time it seems I might not be slowing down slower. She has been traumatized by this accident. Even though she hasn't gotten psycological help, and I have not received any other treatment for my condition other than time, we are trying to get the money we need to pay our bills for all of this. We racked up about $11,000 USD just for the accident. I had within that, about $7800 USD of medical bills and damages I had to pay, so I need to get this settled.
I sent all my claims in on july of 2003 (after all my physical therapy, etc...). I sent in receipts, medical bills, and statements. We even consolidated and organized all the expenses on a spreadsheet format so it would be easier to find and retrieve any information that is necessary. Well we still haven't received the claim. The representative of this other insurance company (the person who is handling our claim, and works for the guy who hit our car) is the most unprofessional human being I pretty much know. We have been calling her since November of last year every month, and we get no calls back. We finally started calling almost daily in the last 3 months to get some information from her. She finally calls us back about a month ago, telling us that she's been really busy with all the weather-related claims, so they have more priority over ours. Well whatever... she is TOTALLY unprepared and has not even gone over the material when she gives us a number for us to settle at (which was insanely low, just slightly over the medical expenses, which didn't even cover the car damages!!!). We flat out told her no way, and she better look at those numbers again. Well she said she was going to call back on a wednesday, and after that wednesday, we kept calling daily until when she finally decided to call us the next week. She told us that she would call us by the end of february with a better settlement number... well it's already the middle of march, and she has not called (of course we've been calling her since march daily). Well, we talked to her supervisor, and he didn't seemed phased too much by the situation. Basically, he told us to give her some more time, that she WILL call us by the end of the day (because he was apparently going to make sure of this - and this was yesterday). Well, she didn't call us back. We called back again today to try to get a hold of the supervisor to tell him that she has not called, but he is on leave!!! We called the lady rep again today, and told her if she doesn't call us back by the end of the business day, we were going to get a lawyer. Well, we've been threatening with getting a lawyer for a good month now... but she's still as unprofessional as a local burger joint. Well, I'm not going to compliment her like that.
But the point is, it's the end of the business day and she has not called us. We have already e-mailed a local lawyer on a free consultation and are awaiting a response. But point is, I don't know if I should have gone down that road, or if I should have given her sloppy @$$ more time??? I'm kinda at a loss, because no wonder people's insurances are so high! Its insurance agents like these that don't help the situation!!! Now, I'll have to raise the claim amount I want, in order to pay a lawyer! Which then raises rates of insurance for the other guy, and those under the same company! I know that is not my problem, but it sucks that I feel I should have to go that route! Well if you've stuck with me thus far I commend you! And any friendly advice or ideas you can give me would be helpful.
P.S. my insurance agents have acted very professional with all of this, and have helped me above and beyond their call of duty. It's the other guy's agent that is driving us nuts!!!
http://www3.telus.net/robert/ab.gif
"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf"
-George Orwell