A funny thing happened

On my way through impersonal corporate rejection, I was actually recognized by face and name, by an insurance agent I see maybe twice a year... and what's more, he was able to help me.

It all started out with a windstorm... the pictures of the pickup truck with the tree resting oh-so-gently upon it are from directly in front of my house. But that wasn't the only tree branch damage. In my back yard, I had a rather substantial shade tree, as well. I'm told it was a slippery elm, but I don't know trees except deciduous and evergreen. This one was deciduous (other trees drop leaves in the fall -- mine drop large branches), and about 45-50 feet tall, with a crotch about 7 feet off the ground starting to split (I've heard of split-crotch panties, but probably not in this size), and with a smaller tree trying to take root in the divide. At any rate, while this large tree in the back had not, as yet, split asunder and landed upon my garage, the neighbors' garages, and the neighbor's house, it was only a matter of time.

As a matter of fact, it decided, during this summer's storm, to drop a 16-inch diameter major branch onto my garage roof -- my pretty corrugated fiberglass garage roof, which Pop just finished three summers ago! I called the insurance office (State Farm) and asked if there were any point to filing a claim -- would somebody like to come look at it and give me a reasonable assessment, or was that a stupid thing to do? Mostly, I was trying to keep Pop from doing himself grievous bodily harm in the few days before his 50th-anniversary-gift trip with Mom to Alaska. If left to his own devices, he'd have climbed up ladders, tossed a couple of ropes about, and wrenched his back trying to remove the giant tree limb from the garage roof. Then where would his trip have gone? No train, no ferry, no Alaska -- just to bed and Grumbleburg!

At any rate, the insurance company sent an adjuster out, filed a claim for me to the tune of $33 above my deductible. Apparently, just phoning them constitutes filing a claim (I did not know this -- I thought one could ask without committing to an actual claim. Isn't that what some company's ads say you can do?) A few weeks later, I got a check in the mail for $33. Whoopee.

Next thing I know, though, I'm getting a letter informing me that, because I've had three claims in six years, they're canceling my policy, as of the first of the year. Over a $33 check! (exclamation point!!!!)

So right before Thanksgiving (a few days after having received the notice), Mom and I (Mom and Pop are part-owners of my house) went down to the agent's office, and asked if we could get a little help. The assistants said the boss, Jon Ferguson, was out sick, then took our names & number, said she'd have him call us when he got back to work.

Well, a month went by. We didn't see Ferguson's name in the obits, so we went by his office again last week, assuming that our note simply got lost in the stacks of messages (it's been a busy year around here). He was in... and mostly recovered. We told him of my plight, he called the main office in Bloomington, IL, and managed to get a reversal of the decision to cancel -- and he even had my payments reduced, with a little restructuring. He said to the person on the phone, after all, our family had been steady customers of his since we returned to this community, and had been with State Farm since... I dunno, since time immemorial, I guess, and it seemed sorta problematic to lose a customer over a $33 check, anyway (that should have never been submitted as a claim, said he, and should be considered an "office error"), especially since the offending trees have now been removed at chainsaw-point, so there's no further risk of tree damage to the house or garage (unless one of the neighbor's trees gets picked up and blown over one of their houses and into mine). He drove over by my house, took a photo or two to e-mail to the main office, as evidence of tree absence.

I received a "disregard previous letter" letter yesterday, in my mailbox.

I genuinely appreciate doing business with Jon Ferguson -- he's what an insurance agent ought to be: friendly, professional, swift and helpful. He treated Mom and me as human beings, and kept me from getting lost in the big, bad system.

And I love living in a small town, where people know each other and actually care!

(BTW -- a friend of mine has been doing the basic emergency repairs. The down side to living here is, we have so few reliable contractors available to do "small jobs." Many of us have had to learn to do our own simple tasks, like roofing, plumbing, wiring, and such, or depend upon the kindness of neighbors.)