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You Should Drive a DeLorean

You don't take yourself too seriously, and you prefer a fun, unusual car... like this Back to the Future gem!

What Sports Car Should You Drive?

I GOT MY CAR BACK!

Yay! I suddenly got a phone call saying my car was ready for delivery and could they bring it round immediately. It's sad I know, but I was so pleased to see my little red road racer, especially after the insurance company tried to write it off! All the locks are changed and they fitted a new immobiliser. What I don't quite get though is why they didn't use the hole left in the dashboard by the old immobilser rather than drilling a new hole? Nothing it seems is simple these days. In case you were wondering, I am the extremely proud owner of a Mazda MX5 or Miata as they are known in the US. I LOVE this car. It isn't the fastest on the road but it accelerates and corners well and with the top down on a sunny day it is pure fun! In celebration of getting my car back I took the little quiz above (hey, I know how to live!). I quite like the answer, it definitely sums me up, and 'Back to the Future' is a film I remember fondly.

Anyway, I am still up to my ears in study as work has been demanding lately too. It's gonna be a loooong weekend people. As before, I will drop by and visit when I can (after all a girl needs a break from the fun essay writing sometimes!). Thanks for all your good thoughts and please keep them coming, I'm not out of the woods yet and your kind comments put a smile on my face :-)

Computer says no...

So... my insurance wrangle goes on! After phoning them this week only to be told that there was nothing on my claim and that a quote had not been received and the work had not been approved my patience finally ran out. After navigating the voice system and being transferred the conversation went something like this:

Me (polite): Hello. I was wondering if you could let me know how my claim is doing. You see, I would like my car back as soon as possible and it's been over a week already.
Them (In voice of Little Britian Character "Carol Beer"): There's nothing on your file. We haven't received a quote from the garage doing the repairs yet.
Me: I'm sorry but you have. I was told you received it last week.
Them: No...
Me: I was told by yourselves it would be £1400 after you tried to write my car off.
Them: No...
Me (exasperated somewhat): What do you mean no?
Them: There's nothing on the computer...
Me: I was told the claim had been authorised and the repair would go ahead.
Them: No...
Me: So can you tell me what is going on?
Them: There's nothing on the computer. We're wating for a quote.
Me (Sounding like John Cleese a la Dead Parrot Sketch by now): But I was told that was all taken care of! What happens now?
Them: We need a quote from the garage.
Me: OK. So can you chase that then please?
Them: Yes...
Me: OK. Can you let me know as soon as possible when you know?
Them: Yes....

I kid you not. This is practically verbatum. This conversation did not leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling and sure enough after 3 hours I wasn't rung back. Again. This time I had had enough so I rang and made a formal complaint. They asked me to go through all my problems. I was on the phone for a looooong time!

It turns out that the computer crashed when I first registered my claim. As a result I had two claims running when someone tried to correct the problem and I only had one number. Why the company reps I talked to previously couldn't spot this is beyond me. I now have the actual claim number with the information attached to it! The upshot is that I got an apology and they are assessing my complaint for compensation. Fact is I would much rather they got things right in the first place! It has been hard work and stressful so I have earnt any compensation they pay me quite frankly. I am hoping it will at least cover my excess but I doubt it somehow.

I rang the garage myself by the way. Turns out I will have to wait three weeks for them to get the new locks for my car. They have to come from Japan. Surely it doesn't take three weeks??

For those of you who have never seen Little Britain, the following clip should illuminate who "Carol Beer" is. Ladies and gentlemen, it would appear that I took out that insurance policy!

I just want to scream!

My mum always said things were sent to try us... and they do! I am going to rant a bit about my experience over the last few days since my things were stolen as I need to get a few things off my chest. Kenju, suggested that I write about how I felt as if I was addressing the thieves but I do not want to poison my blog with that and inflict it on you. It would not be nice. I have been vociferous about things to those close to me though!

Trust me when I say that the actual theft has probably been the least stressful part of this whole sorry business. The clean up operation afterwards has been a nightmare.

Phoning everyone and their dog in order to tell them my cards had been stolen was bad enough. The conversation went something like this:

"Good day. Can I help you?"
"Yes hello. I would like to report my card as stolen and request a replacement please".
"Certainly. Can you tell me the number on the card please?"
"Um, no. It's been stolen".
"Oh!"

Honestly, I kid you not. Every. single. Time. At first I thought it was funny but I get fed up after the umpteenth time. If this wasn't bad enough, some company's thought it an ideal time to sell me extra services or products. On about preying on the vulnerable!

The insurance companies, as you can gather have been a hoot. My home insurance will not cover my things as they were not in my house. My friend's insurance will not cover them because they were not his. Of course they could not tell us this until after we had been given the third degree. I am pretty upset about this. (Yes, I know about personal possession insurance - it's a long story but my insurance got messed up during renewal it seems, as my ex-husband cancelled my insurance even though I was continuing it. No good crying over spilt milk). So, the upshot is that I have to wear the cost of replacing my things which adds up to several hundred pounds that I don't have [sigh].

Anyway, my car has literally just been picked up and taken to a garage. This was also a trial as the insurance company lost my claim details and nothing was being done until I rang today to see what was going on. Now, I have to wait apparently and see what will be done. I am not getting a warm and fuzzy feeling about this people. Not at all. I am told photo's need to be taken and sent away, then the insurance company have to assess the claim, then things can be ordered and work can be done. I am to get a courtesy car but not for a day or so and then for a limited amount of time.

Luckily though, my replacement course books have arrived today which is great. Though I find the task of doing all that work again quite daunting. Also because the stinking thieves took my lap top I have had to change passwords on computer accounts and I keep forgetting the new ones. My pin numbers have changed on cards and I can't remember them either! I feel like a jelly head!

So...some sticky fingered waste of space thinks he can help himself to my belongings and somehow I end up with the cost in terms of money, time and inconvenience. They took my things but left me with a nightmare to deal with and plenty of stress. Honestly, I could scream...!

The police do not think they will catch who did it. I have been informed by a social worker I know that even if they were caught the chances are that they would be fined a fraction of the amount that they make from theft and would be free to re-offend. If it was an adolescent then they would get counselling or something similar. As the victim of crime, myself and my friend have been treated like we have done something wrong and it has cost us dearly in a number of ways. Is it me or do things seem wrong here?

Thank You!

I just wanted to say thank you to all of the lovely people who left supportive and kind comments for me in the last couple of days. I cannot tell you how much they were appreciated. I have been feeling pretty awful this last couple of days - I even turned down chocolate at one point - but your messages of support helped.

Soooo... since yesterday I have been doing battle with insurance companies. It's a long tale but the upshot is many long phone calls and many awful questions (making me feel like the criminal!) and they still feel the need to call back tomorrow to go through the details again so that they can consider my claim. So nothing certain on this front yet.

Anyhoo... they also said that someone would call me about my car locks (seeing as stinking thieves have my keys). This was approximately 10am. By 4.30pm I had heard nothing so I rang them back. Apparently they hadn't even processed my paperwork but they would prioritise it and get someone to call. Do these people actually understand the severity of this situation and the impact it has? Yeah, I know they aren't paid to care...but still... Twenty minutes later I had a confused chap on the phone talking to me about house locks. " But they are being taken care of" I explained, " But the insurance company just told me to ring you" he countered. Huge sigh, it appears that the vacant girl on the phone had mistaken "car" for "house"! Of course the phone lines were closed again when I tried to ring back which is totally in line with their policy of only having a crisis during normal working hours. Sheesh...

I did get more help from the Open University though. I should have more books by the end of the week to replace the ones stolen and they have extended my deadline, thank goodness. I still had many phone calls to make today about my drivers licence, various membership cards and my roadside assistance membership but that is all done now. So just the insurance, my house and car locks to sort out. Then I can start to replace the things stolen and get a new alarm fited to my car (which I will have to foot the bill for unfortunately).

By the way...it doesn't look like I will get anything back :-( and there is going to be about £400 of expenses that I will have to foot. At least. I would really love to confront the thieves and let them know how I feel. Anyway, thank you once again for the all your lovely comments. They really were a soothing antidote to this horrid experience which has left me quite worn out... I am getting there though people!

(picture found on the interweb!)

Aftermath

It's the day after now and I still feel awful. Someone less than reputable out there knows who I am, where I live and what I look like (from my driving licence) and I don't like it. I don't think it helped that I didn't sleep well and this morning I realised that those stinking thieves also have the keys to my beloved MX5 (Miata). Of course I can't lock it safely in the garage as they have the key to my garage also so I went out and bought one of those Disklok thingy's that go over the steering wheel. I hope that will be enough of a deterent if they fancy their chances.

The emergency locksmith came by last night at 10:45pm! Anyway, he changed one of the locks on the front door and one on the back but couldn't do the garage, or other two locks so they are hopefully being ordered for me. He also broke the handle on my back door and then tried to pretend that it was like that before. Er..excuse me I don't think so!

I just hope insurance will pick up the bill for all this! When I phoned them they were less than helpful. Apparently it is all my fault for having a crisis outside of normal office hours! What was I thinking people? Next time I should plan these things better! Apparently the emergency helpline does not have access to any information so ergo is not actually much help so needs renaming. I need to phone a grown up on Monday and then I will see...

My tutor, also, has been about as much help as a chocolate teapot. I finally got hold of him today only to be told that I should contact student services on Monday. He seemed oblivious to the fact that I had no books and needed them NOW! I have to start reading and making notes all over again and that deadline is not getting further away.

My cards are all cancelled, although the lady at the Card Protection place took the opportunity to try and sell me additional cover! I could scarce believe my ears! I have also bought new padlocks for my gates and fitted them so I can do no more util tomorrow. I have worked out that they got away with £800 of MY belongings. I will never be able to replace some of the things that had sentmental value or my MBA essay notes. Of course I would have a busy week at work ahead too wouldn't I? Do you ever get the impression that it never rains but it pours? I figure I am now due a huge karmic payout so I am off to buy a lottery ticket...

Stolen

I am pretty upset.

I couple of hours ago I had my hand bag and lap top stolen. It's not so much the value of things but the irreplaceable things that are priceless to me.The laptop can be replaced as can the credit cards etc. But there are some things I can't replace and the worst thing is that they have no value to the thieves that took it.

Photos. Luckily I had backed up most of my photos on the laptop but not all so I can never replace those. There were also personal files that I have lost including those for my MBA.

I had my MBA files backed up on a memory stick. Unfortunately today, my memory stick was in my hand bag so they are gone.

My mother bought me my handbag for Christmas. It had sentimental value and now it is probably discarded somewhere. There was also a key ring that had huge sentimental value. Yes, I know it's only a key ring but it was mine.

My housekeys were in my bag with my purse. My drivers licence was in my purse. I am now waiting for an emergency locksmith to come and change my locks otherwise I will be too worried to sleep. The insurance company have been bugger all help and not very re-assuring. I am extremely worried about identity theft.

Cash stolen is a pain. Cancelling credit cards is inconvenient but I'll get over it.

In my laptop bag were my MBA books. I have an essay to submit in two weeks and now all my notes, text books (with annotations) and work have gone. There are no extensions on this deadline but I have contacted my tutor anyway. Fingers crossed.

The police asked me if I would attend court if they caught the thieves. I said if they gave me the book I would chuck it at them personally.

I am trying to be positive. For example, I didn't have my camera with me so that is safe. I had my mobile phone on me and my current account card so that is a big plus. I wasn't hurt, thank goodness, and other than my identity, they are only things after all.

Update: The lock smith has been so my home is secure once more and that is a big worry off my mind!

The items were stolen from my partners place. They broke a window and took my things. The police think they were disturbed by us coming back because my things are all they took. I am very glad we didn't walk in on them and that we were all safe.