The Complaint Thread

[Damien]

As the resident Insurance guy, I feel obligated to tell you to put in a claim on your homeowners insurance for the loss of food. It may be as little as $500 (no deductible), but it's better than nothing.

So his premium can go up and he'll struggle to ever change providers because he now has a claim on his record? Seems like a terrible trade-off to get nothing from them anyway.

We haven't had any major life changes. No new furniture, even. It seemingly started for no reason. He's going to the vet this week to rule out any health issues. Honestly, a UTI would be a blessing in disguise, but I have a strong feeling that whatever it is is behavioral. Combating cat piss is more than enough stress for me. You only have so many tries before your flooring needs to be replaced.

Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract litter. We've had to use it twice with rescues that were peeing outside the litter box. Worked both times. Only had to buy it once for each cat. After that, it seems to change their behaviour back to using the box regardless of what type of litter is in there. That's if it's a mental thing.

If they're marking - try putting down more food. We've noticed some rescues pee on the floor when they come from a home with food insecurity and they feel the need to get territorial.

If it's a UTI you're good, because that's easy to clear up. When Loki started randomly peeing on the floor, it was diabetes (early kidney failure makes them pee on the floor for a couple of reasons). That's worst-case scenario. Cat diabetes is expensive as fuck to deal with and if you're already at the peeing on the floor stage, almost certainly fatal in the next few years.

Good luck. If it does end up being the worst possible thing, shoot me a message. We have tips that will, at least, help make it easier to deal with.

It'll be an honest-to-god miracle if I ever buy another Samsung product.

Our primary television is a Samsung smart TV and I fucking hate it. Every few months it just gets slower and less responsive. To the point where I'm staring at the TV like 'did it register I pressed a button or not?' and finally deciding it didn't, so I press a button again and now it does it twice. It's so fucking irritating. Obviously, not nearly as bad as a dead fridge, but an irritant nontheless.


Our fridge died a couple of years ago. Right in the middle of the hottest part of summer. We had a new fridge in place as fast as humanly possible and we still lost at least $5-600 in groceries. That fucking sucked. I feel your pain.

 

[DarthDre758]

So his premium can go up and he'll struggle to ever change providers because he now has a claim on his record? Seems like a terrible trade-off to get nothing from them anyway.

If it's his first and only claim, any increase will be negligible. Companies are looking at larger claims, and the frequency of them. If someone's fridge shits the bed and they have to pay $500 for the food, most companies won't even blink come renewal, or even if he shops around. It sounds more like you've had shitty insurance companies.

 

[DarthDre758]

I have a beef with the insurance industry. I have auto, home, umbrella through a local agency. A couple things recently came to a head. The guy who owns the agency is nearing retirement, so he partnered with another agency to take over as he begins to step away over the next couple of years. Also I needed a new insurance company because they were ending personal lines to focus on commercial. People from the new agency quote me $300 less per month than what I had been paying. I said, "Whoa, that's like the equivalent of a new Hot Toys per month." Okay I left out the Hot Toys part, but the woman handling the quote said companies will tend to increase premiums because a lot of people won't bother changing. That really cost me a decent amount of money when my premium more than doubled over the last 3-4 years. I almost asked my agency at the beginning of the year what the deal was with all the price increases, but didn't figuring it's all part of rising costs. Also, kind of pissed the agency wasn't more proactive.

Insurance companies can (and usually will) take rate increases every year. It's all approved through the state insurance board, so it's not just the companies raising rates. People get very complacent when it comes to insurance. A small increase here or there doesn't break the bank, but when you look back, and your policy started at $700, and is now $1,100 it really hurts. Yeah, that agent sounded more lazy than anything else. We get renewals in at least a month prior, and will requote to see if there is anything better. Most times there isn't.

I'm not defending insurance companies, cause fuck those guys, but here, we've had rate increases up to 30% from some companies. During COVID none of the companies were allowed to take an increase for obvious reasons. That was lifted in the last year or so, and now they're all playing catch up. It's gross because they obviously survived on the rates they had prior.

 

[Damien]

It sounds more like you've had shitty insurance companies.

There's good ones?
I have my own insurance companies I use personally, as well as (partly) managing the insurance for the business. In a just and fair world, they'd all be in jail.

 

[DarthDre758]

Good ones? Nah. Better than the other ones? Sure. I completely admit insurance is a scam, but it pay my bills and lets me buy little plastic army guys. In the end, it's up to the agent to make sure the insured knows the ins and outs of this crap. People always assume their insurance will go up if they have a claim, but there are a lot of factors to it all. Auto claim that wasn't your fault? maybe a little, but as long as anything paid by your company was subrogated back, it'll be minimal. You tried frying a turkey in your garage for Thanksgiving, and proceeded to burn it, half your house, and your two cars to the ground...yeah you're screwed.

That last one was a true story. My oldest son is a volunteer fire fighter, and just as he was about to make a plate, he got toned out. That was around 2:30. He got home around 8, and promptly fell asleep on the floor.

 

[joshsquash729]

I've basically turned into a Labrador retriever in my old age, but good fucking god, I've had a week.

We adopted our second cat almost three years ago. When we adopted him, we had a feeling he'd be a challenge. He had a pretty rough life. The previous owners chose not to vaccinate him, and when they dropped him at the shelter, he had fleas and internal parasites. They reportedly gave him up because he didn't get along with their other cats and peed outside the litterbox. Up until two weeks ago, I would've told you that was bullshit. Our shelter told us that people often lie about the reasons they give up their animals. He's a sweet, loving cat, and he adores our other cats. Then, out of nowhere, he started peeing on our carpet.

We haven't had any major life changes. No new furniture, even. It seemingly started for no reason. He's going to the vet this week to rule out any health issues. Honestly, a UTI would be a blessing in disguise, but I have a strong feeling that whatever it is is behavioral. Combating cat piss is more than enough stress for me. You only have so many tries before your flooring needs to be replaced.

Then our fridge took a shit. Again. When we bought this house, it came with a 2020 Samsung fridge. A few years ago, narrowly outside of the warranty window, it stopped working. We called an appliance repairman. He came in, gave us the shrug emoji, and charged $250. He said if we let the compressor defrost, it might start working again. He was right. It worked for two more years, at least. Yesterday it stopped working again. The compressor isn't frozen this time. I get that appliances aren't made to last anymore, but a fridge dying within five years is unacceptable. It'll be an honest-to-god miracle if I ever buy another Samsung product.

Being without a fridge is humbling. You can't cook because you have no fresh ingredients. You can't store leftovers. No cold water. No ice. Not to mention several hundred dollars of groceries down the drain. This is the third time in the last three years that we have had to toss everything in our fridge. Once from an extended power outage, twice from a shitty Samsung fridge.

Add a little seasonal affective disorder, and ya boi is going through it.

So sorry to hear about your little guy. It really pisses me off when folks adopt an animal and don't do the necessary things required of them. At this point, I have zero sympathy for anti-vaxxers of any kind, but especially when it comes to an animal that can't advocate for its own health. I've been rather lucky through the years with my little guy- he's a nervous pisser, so whenever I have to try and get him in a carrier, it's Piss Central. Thank god I have wood floors, but even still- cat pee is something that sticks around. I really hope it's a quick, easy solution for you guys. If nothing else, you're a good person for taking on an animal that had had such a rough life.

 

[Damien]

My grandfather was a firefighter (retired as a chief). I remember days like that, myself.

In terms of insurance, I think we also have to keep in mind that Canada has way fewer insurers than the US. Our options are a lot more limited and they know it. They definitely take advantage. I know a lot of people using different insurers and they've all been fucked over fairly recently for dumb shit.
My accountant reported a water leak in her basement. It cost no money on the claim because she did the repairs herself. Her premium went up 2% and the claim on her homeowners insurance blew up her premiums on other options when she looked into switching providers. It's nuts out here.

My auto insurance went up because of break-ins in my neighborhood. I pointed out that I A) do not drive my car because I have a company vehicle and B) keep my car inside our locked and armed warehouse at all times. It's not even kept at the residence where they're using the break-ins to justify an increase. AND C) I only have PLPD so even if my car was broken into, I wouldn't get a dime from my insurance company ANYWAY.

So I'm paying increased premiums to account for coverage I don't have, for a vehicle I don't actively drive, that isn't stored or used at all in the area causing the rate increase.

And every auto insurance company in the city told me I'd get the same treatment from them if I switched. Every single one of them.

It's the scam of all scams and, as I said, all of these people should be jailed, at best.
The broker my company uses is great, though. I can tell she's doing her best and is as fed up with all of this as I am (dealing with similar things for our company as I do personally).

 

[TheSameIdiot]

Thanks, all.

Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract litter. We've had to use it twice with rescues that were peeing outside the litter box. Worked both times. Only had to buy it once for each cat. After that, it seems to change their behaviour back to using the box regardless of what type of litter is in there. That's if it's a mental thing.

Haven't heard of it. We'll check it out.

If they're marking - try putting down more food. We've noticed some rescues pee on the floor when they come from a home with food insecurity and they feel the need to get territorial.

I don't think it's territorial. He's neutered, for one. He's done it around seven times that we know of, and four of them were right in front of me. One happened while I was typing that post last night. It isn't the marking pose, it's the squatting-down-to-pee pose.

We theorize that he's mad about our bedtime routine. We've been going to bed later because of the holidays, and he seems upset about it. He's our little house manager. He keeps everyone (humans and cats) in line. He only pees outside the box at night. He starts by scratching our shades. When we cut off his access to the shades, he takes more drastic measures. We're going to bed earlier tonight to see how he reacts.

If it's a UTI you're good, because that's easy to clear up. When Loki started randomly peeing on the floor, it was diabetes (early kidney failure makes them pee on the floor for a couple of reasons). That's worst-case scenario. Cat diabetes is expensive as fuck to deal with and if you're already at the peeing on the floor stage, almost certainly fatal in the next few years.

Oh god, I hope not. He's only five, but he's a fat cat. Funny enough, he seems to eat less than our other two.

He's such a great animal that I'd rather clean up his piss every day than get rid of him. Better yet, I'd rather he stop pissing in the house.

 

[Damien]

I don't think it's territorial. He's neutered, for one. He's done it around seven times that we know of, and four of them were right in front of me. One happened while I was typing that post last night. It isn't the marking pose, it's the squatting-down-to-pee pose.

Cats are weird sometimes. Our second-most-recent adoption scratches his paw around on the floor where the food dishes are when he's done eating. We learned it's a marking thing. He comes from food insecurity and is letting everyone else know that's his food. The vet was like 'just count yourself lucky he decided not to just pee on things.' So... always a possibility, but I am not an expert.

If he's just acting out because you're not doing the routine the way/time he wants, well... looks like you have a new bedtime, my friend.

 

[DarthDre758]

My grandfather was a firefighter (retired as a chief). I remember days like that, myself.

In terms of insurance, I think we also have to keep in mind that Canada has way fewer insurers than the US. Our options are a lot more limited and they know it. They definitely take advantage. I know a lot of people using different insurers and they've all been fucked over fairly recently for dumb shit.
My accountant reported a water leak in her basement. It cost no money on the claim because she did the repairs herself. Her premium went up 2% and the claim on her homeowners insurance blew up her premiums on other options when she looked into switching providers. It's nuts out here.

My auto insurance went up because of break-ins in my neighborhood. I pointed out that I A) do not drive my car because I have a company vehicle and B) keep my car inside our locked and armed warehouse at all times. It's not even kept at the residence where they're using the break-ins to justify an increase. AND C) I only have PLPD so even if my car was broken into, I wouldn't get a dime from my insurance company ANYWAY.

So I'm paying increased premiums to account for coverage I don't have, for a vehicle I don't actively drive, that isn't stored or used at all in the area causing the rate increase.

And every auto insurance company in the city told me I'd get the same treatment from them if I switched. Every single one of them.

It's the scam of all scams and, as I said, all of these people should be jailed, at best.
The broker my company uses is great, though. I can tell she's doing her best and is as fed up with all of this as I am (dealing with similar things for our company as I do personally).

Right now it's terrible down here on my end too. I'm an independent agent, so I have access to multiple companies, but in the last two years we've had four (if I'm remembering right) no longer writing in NY. The largest to pull this was Allstate. Their captive agents are still good, but we had to scramble to rewrite each policy as it was coming up for renewal. Same thing is going on with the other companies that have left. Between that, the rate increases, and companies being picky as hell when it comes to home and landlord insurance, I'm ready to quit.

If anyone is interested. https://www.chauvinagency.com/

The pic of me is about 15 years old.

 

[Damien]

but in the last two years we've had four (if I'm remembering right) no longer writing in NY.

My auto insurance company actually just stopped writing in the entire province because of (admittedly idiotic) changes to the way the province handles auto collisions. Basically became 'fix your own vehicle' with some small, specific exceptions. Sonnet was like "fuck you guys, I'm out."

Also... are you the horse? Or the lady on the swing? Or the child on the swing? You type very well for either a horse or a small child. I'm less impressed if you're swing-lady. Then you just type normal and you should stop seeking validation about it.

 

[DarthDre758]

These ones pulled out because of plain ol' greed. They crunched the numbers and figured out its better to just not write in NY anymore. I hope they choke on their morning coffee.

 

[joshsquash729]

Also... are you the horse? Or the lady on the swing? Or the child on the swing? You type very well for either a horse or a small child. I'm less impressed if you're swing-lady. Then you just type normal and you should stop seeking validation about it.

That's what I was gonna ask. The first pic I saw was the lady and kid on the swing, and I was like "Damn, he's young! Or a lady!"

 

[DarthDre758]

Also... are you the horse? Or the lady on the swing? Or the child on the swing? You type very well for either a horse or a small child. I'm less impressed if you're swing-lady. Then you just type normal and you should stop seeking validation about it.

That's what I was gonna ask. The first pic I saw was the lady and kid on the swing, and I was like "Damn, he's young! Or a lady!"

I figured everyone would go to the about us page.

 

[Damien]

I figured everyone would go to the about us page.

You fuckin' figured wrong, horse.