Epic Fail or Epic Win Part III

The claim was denied.
Then it wasn’t.
Then the insurance wanted to pay me $10,000 to settle.
They sent a letter basically patting me on the head and sending their best wishes
On my “fresh new start”.
I was advised not to settle, and I didn’t.

The 100 year old pipe that ruptured was called a “trunk line”.
It is 6ft in diameter and carries water from the reservoir into the city.
That night, I was told by a DWP official, 30,000 gallons a MINUTE
had burst through the asphalt and formed a flash flood that took out my store.
It took them over 6 hours to turn the water off! 
DWP said to have my lawyer file the paperwork, 
and they would get back to me in a year and a half.
After all, they were busy, they were having water-main breaks almost daily.

Days turned to weeks, weeks to months.

Now, I know life isn’t fair.
I once had a snarky t-shirt that said something to that effect.
But I did everything right, and I trusted the system.
I carried the big insurance policy, with the giant monthly premium,
I kept meticulous records.
I had every receipt.
My books were completely transparent,
But somehow that wasn’t good enough.

Somewhere the tables had turned and I was the villain in this drama.
I somehow had a direct line to God, and arraigned for a flood to come and
wipeout my store because business wasn’t great.
It was 2009.
Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual Bank and Circuit City
were among the over 200 big businesses to file bankruptcy that year.
They could have just asked God for a flood and saved themselves a lot of trouble.

After 18 months it was clear, I had to lawyer up to get any real money from the insurance company AND DWP. Oh yeah, and a third one because my landlord was suing me for every dime of back rent.

Realization number one:
Well, life isn’t fair is number one, so…

Realization number two:
Insurance will do ANYTHING …NOT to pay you.
They will drag their feet, and lie and be just awful.
And that surprised me.

Realization number three:
You still have to pay all the bills on a flooded, cut up, closed business.
No slack…no kidding.
That STILL gives me a stomach ache.

Realization number four:
Next time ask God for a fire.

It’s feeling pretty Epic Fail right about now, isn’t it?

Xox Janet 
(To be continued)