- Joined
- Mar 16, 2012
- Messages
- 939
Hi all,
Met a guy today via a knife sale...he lived within a few miles and we arranged to meet for the sale.
He asked if I had any more Bark Rivers for sale...have my favorite and not selling that one...I said no and asked if he is a fan. He told me he is and "had" a collection of 35 Bark River knives but lost them all in a house fire.
I asked what happened and he told me about the fire that started in his house during the past winter in Northern NY...one of the coldest in recent history...as well as a ferocious ice storm...The fire started in the utility room on a Saturday morning just before he left the house to cut firewood for an elderly neighbor...his wife awoke to the smell of smoke and asked if was burning breakfast...he said no and started checking the house.
He opened the door to the utility room to find it in flames. After using up the extinguishers in the house he told his wife and young son to get out and call 911.
The house and all contents were a total loss...fire restarted 5 times over the next three days requiring the fire dept. to respond and put it out again.
No one was injured...whew.
Figuring he was covered by "good" insurance he quickly found out how "good" the insurances were...basically they found ways to deny his riders, exclude varied things and all said, even getting a lawyer to assist him, he told me he lost well over 200 grand.
He lost his knife collection, including his Bark Rivers, his firearm collection or several dozen...he had them in two safes one of which did not have a high heat rating and all the guns in that safe were destroyed. His "good" safe did do its' job but moisture still got in and mixed with the heat, stained his stainless weapons giving them colors based on the colored lining of the safe.
He is active duty Army with only three years left before retirement and now he is living in a rented home in the next village while waiting for construction to begin on his home.
He told me he thought he had done everything "right" only to discover that he was either mislead or misunderstood...a bit of both I think...what exactly was covered, for how much, what proof is required, etc.
He said what hurts most besides getting screwed by the insurance companies is losing all the things that defined each of them...the stuff you accumulate that while having no dollar value has memory values that are priceless.
They have begun the rebuilding process...pouring the footings today in fact...he just started his leave to be able to follow the process.
What I'm taking out of this is to go over my insurance policy on our home making sure to read the fine print, especially regarding what is covered, values, proof needed, etc. Also I'm going to photograph my home and its' basic contents along with my valuables including serial numbers, receipts, etc. All this will be stored on my laptop as well as a usb drive to be kept in a separate location with copies of insurance policies.
It sucks to lose everything and hurts even more to realize the protection you pay for, insurance, is far below the amount you thought and the riders, etc. you have either will not cover what you lost or pay so little as to be nearly meaningless.
Something for us all to think about.
Met a guy today via a knife sale...he lived within a few miles and we arranged to meet for the sale.
He asked if I had any more Bark Rivers for sale...have my favorite and not selling that one...I said no and asked if he is a fan. He told me he is and "had" a collection of 35 Bark River knives but lost them all in a house fire.
I asked what happened and he told me about the fire that started in his house during the past winter in Northern NY...one of the coldest in recent history...as well as a ferocious ice storm...The fire started in the utility room on a Saturday morning just before he left the house to cut firewood for an elderly neighbor...his wife awoke to the smell of smoke and asked if was burning breakfast...he said no and started checking the house.
He opened the door to the utility room to find it in flames. After using up the extinguishers in the house he told his wife and young son to get out and call 911.
The house and all contents were a total loss...fire restarted 5 times over the next three days requiring the fire dept. to respond and put it out again.
No one was injured...whew.
Figuring he was covered by "good" insurance he quickly found out how "good" the insurances were...basically they found ways to deny his riders, exclude varied things and all said, even getting a lawyer to assist him, he told me he lost well over 200 grand.
He lost his knife collection, including his Bark Rivers, his firearm collection or several dozen...he had them in two safes one of which did not have a high heat rating and all the guns in that safe were destroyed. His "good" safe did do its' job but moisture still got in and mixed with the heat, stained his stainless weapons giving them colors based on the colored lining of the safe.
He is active duty Army with only three years left before retirement and now he is living in a rented home in the next village while waiting for construction to begin on his home.
He told me he thought he had done everything "right" only to discover that he was either mislead or misunderstood...a bit of both I think...what exactly was covered, for how much, what proof is required, etc.
He said what hurts most besides getting screwed by the insurance companies is losing all the things that defined each of them...the stuff you accumulate that while having no dollar value has memory values that are priceless.
They have begun the rebuilding process...pouring the footings today in fact...he just started his leave to be able to follow the process.
What I'm taking out of this is to go over my insurance policy on our home making sure to read the fine print, especially regarding what is covered, values, proof needed, etc. Also I'm going to photograph my home and its' basic contents along with my valuables including serial numbers, receipts, etc. All this will be stored on my laptop as well as a usb drive to be kept in a separate location with copies of insurance policies.
It sucks to lose everything and hurts even more to realize the protection you pay for, insurance, is far below the amount you thought and the riders, etc. you have either will not cover what you lost or pay so little as to be nearly meaningless.
Something for us all to think about.