I just gotta blog!

What a day today has been. It started out slow enough, even mundane. The first complication arose when I started calling cell phone companies to seek a new plan. You see T-Mobile, a company I now hate with a vengeance, will not work in my house. And when I had to change my plan to one with higher minutes, they wouldn't give me the same free nights unless I resubscribed for another year. As if!

So I thought I could block my number, which costs $10/month. My sister (not Sister #1 or Sister #4, but Sister #3) could then keep using the other phone (and paying the bill) with whatever plan she wanted. Then I'd sign up with another cell phone company and pay for that service. It'd be worth $10 a month extra to me just to be able to have coverage in my house.

Okay, so that out of the way, I finished up at work and headed home, having not accomplished one thing I'd planned to accomplish: Call Progressive and ask them about my policy cancellation and when I can expect a refund of the rest of my premium payment for this month. More on that later.

As I was nearing home on (not the real name) "3" Trafficway (3 because it's the third street away from home. I live on "1" Avenue and turn onto "2" Street to get to "3" Trafficway. Get it?) when I had to stop because someone wanted to turn left onto "A different street altogether". Now, you have to know that "3" is just two lanes, one in each direction, no turn lanes. So if one car stops, we all stop. And then those that don't want to turn off drive onto the shoulder and around the stopped cars and on down "3". Perhaps not the most legal thing to do. As I considered doing this after the SUV in front of me did, I fortunately caught sight of the guy 3 cars back doing the same thing. Which is definitely illegal and dangerous. If you're going to go around, you should go in turn.

So in the end, I didn't go around and avoided an accident there. I went on down "3" and got to where "3" meets "2" Street. I put on my left-turn blinker and stopped. As I saw with a little bit of commuter glee that there were only 3 cars going the opposite direction on "3" (There are usually 30 just then and I have to wait and wait and wait--and cars go around me), I caught sight of something else in my review mirror. The grate of a semi. And the thought struck me, just before the semi did, that it would hit me. It, of course, did.

Good thing I have a cell phone, though, huh? For emergencies just like getting rear-ended by a semi. Yeah, sure, if I'd had a signal! One more reason to hate T-Mobile. No signal even out on "3" Trafficway. "Rolling hills and trees," they say. "There's nothing we can do." Yeah, right.

Back to the wreck:

Now, fortunately the semi-driver did try to swerve, so that he only clipped the back corner of my car, breaking the tail light, scratching the bumper greatly, and denting the passenger side (near the back). I don't even remember feeling a jerk so I don't think I was hurt any. (We'll know tomorrow....)

What's so complicated about that, you say? Well, it turns out I'm insured by two companies. I had sent a cancellation to Progressive by way of a fax last week because Liberty Mutual was able to give me a better rate, including a discount for my alumni association from grad school. It was only a few dollars lower than what I was paying Progressive, but it was locked in for a year and the payment would come in the second half of the month, not the overloaded first.

So, thinking I didn't have Progressive anymore, I called Liberty Mutual to make the claim. And this is where my displeasure with that company came in. I can't actually have them handle the claim without paying my deductible. Even if it was 100% not my fault. I have to contact the other driver's insurance directly. That just doesn't seem right to me. What if it hadn't been a rear-ending but something contestable? They are a big company with money and lawyers and I'm just little 'ole me with no money for a lawyer....

So I called Geico and got a quote. Too much. By far. Way above both Progressive and Liberty Mutual. So I called Progressive back.

And found out they hadn't cancelled my policy. In fact, they had no idea what happened to my fax. Could I just then keep the policy (and cancel Liberty Mutual, of course)? Yes, but if they find that fax, they'll cancel it as of June 17th. They may never find it. They might find it. I'm in limbo with Progressive. So what about a new quote, if I should switch back to Progressive?

Progressive was very helpful with this very confusing situation. Both the Customer Service agent and the person who handled the quote. Not only can I switch back to Progressive to get better service, but the new quote is lower! Then both the old Progressive policy and Liberty Mutual. And by officially cancelling (again, just to get out of limbo) the old policy and then starting up the new policy, the payments will be in the second half of the month instead of the first. Bonus!

But I have to send a fax to officially cancel. So I have to wait until I'm at work. No biggie. I did have to think how I'd pay for the down payment on the new policy. Seeing as I'd already paid Progressive on the old policy (and was waiting for refund that wasn't going to come until they found my cancellation fax) and paid a down payment for Liberty Mutual (on my credit card, because they just couldn't wait until it was actually the second half of the month, which is when I'd have money again), I don't have enough money in my bank account to make a 3rd insurance payment this month. So I thought, I'd put it on my credit card as well. I'd already made a payment on the card the same size as the payment to Liberty Mutual, and now they were going to have to refund most of that back to the card, putting $150-ish on it wouldn't actually affect the balance much. It'd sort of cancel out.

But then I had another occasion to use my card this evening and realized it wasn't in my purse. I thought to when I'd used it last: at work, when I signed up with Liberty Mutual. Last week. Oh dear.

I checked the account online and saw that there weren't any strange payments, so no one has grabbed it and used it. But I still have to report it lost. Which I did. But I was worried then where the refund from Liberty Mutual would go if my account number was going to be different. And how was I to start up again with Progressive if I couldn't use the new card until I actually received it (in as many as 2 weeks)? Well, the Capital One rep was very helpful. If I can get Progressive and Capital One in a 3-way call with me, Capital One can authorize it over the phone.

Complicated, isn't it? But it should all work out in the end. The semi-driver's insurance should pay for my car. I'll call tomorrow and cancell Progressive, then re-sign up with Progressive (in a 3-way call with Capital One) and cancel Liberty Mutual.

The only thing that won't straighten out is T-Mobile. Sprint works in my house. I might go with them.

Oh, and did I mention that Sister #6 is getting married? On Saturday. She's only 14 years younger than me....