Gary Stapp Weblog

 INTERNET APPRAISALS OR .COM ANYTHING  1/02/10

Only missed my homes value by 40%. What ajoke! ....Don't be fooled by this ploy ..... all they probably really want is your address to sell to solicitors. Like a lot of other .com companys. If you give out your name or address or email over the internet the next thing you know you'll be getting e-mails and letters in the mail and phone calls from hundreds of solicitors and it will just keep "snow-balling" until you change your name, address, phone number and e-mail. Take my advice on this one, or you'll be sooorrrrrryyy .

**** APPLE-KNOCKERS LISTEN UP ****

Just because we live in Washington State and have been called "Apple-Knockers" all our lives, you would think we could pick out a fresh apple from an old one right.. ??? well if you don't know how, listen up and I'll tell you. The bottom side of the apple (opposite the stem side) has a leafy lookin fuzzy end at the bottom of the core. If the end is still relatively" closed" the apple is fresh but if those little flower looking petals are really opened, the apple is old. Remember, the tighter the formation the fresher the apple. Now does that mean everyone will start picking the fresher apples and I'll have to settle for the older ones ???????

*** DRIVING TIPS ***

As of only a few years ago, U-turns are now allowed to be made anywhere and not just at a signal where it's not posted otherwise. The catch is ..... "as long as the turn can be made safely and without delaying traffic".

When making a right turn at a corner and pedestrians are in the crosswalk coming your way from across the street .... The rule is "you can make the turn as long as the pedestrians have not reached the halfway point."

Try and stay approximately 1 car length behind the car in front of you for every 10 miles per hour of speed. If you're doing 60 mph on the freeway ..... the car in front of you should be at least 6 car lengths away.

*** TRASH CAN RIP OFF ***

Let me tell you what the garbage companies won't When you put those cans out to be picked up. Make sure those LIDS ARE DOWN. If the driver sees any daylight and that lid is not flat, they take down your address and add $4.00 to your trash bill EVERY TIME YOU DO IT. Do the drivers get a bonus for writing us up ????? I don't know, but I can guess. So unless you feel like paying that extra $4.00 push, a little harder on that lid...... UN1L  IT'S  FLAT.

*** DO YOU HAVE GOOD INSURANCE ???***

I don't care if their commercials are cute or how much they tell you that "THEY ARE THE BEST"  If they don't come through when you need them, then YOUR POLICY and the money you save IS WORTHLESS. I personally had to deal with a certain company (Progressive) twice in the last few years and actually wound up in court with their attorneys, and their client as the defendants, and everybody losing a days work over about a $150.00 claim I had against one of their insured. NOT THE INSURANCE COMPANY I WOULD WANT ON MY SIDE. Of course I won.  Now YOU have a chance to go online and evaluate for yourself how YOUR OWN INSURANCE COMPANY stacks up. Go to fortress.wa.gov/oic/complaints/ and if you wish to file a complaint, you can call the insurance consumer's hot line at 800-562-6900. I checked out a half dozen choices and here's what I found out after checking the consumer complaint index from the states Insurance Commissioner's office. The consumer complaint index measures the number of consumer complaints for one company in relation to other companies in the same market. A company with a complaint index of 1 has an average number of complaints. A company with an index higher than 1 has more complaints than average. Here are the results I found going back 2 years and averaging all the index results:

Company Index Company Index

State Farm .13 Geico .938, AllState .668 Safeco 1.102, Pemco .728, and Progressive 1.755 ( NO SURPRISE HERE). I can sure see why I wound up in court with Progressive. I wouldn't even insure my lawnmower with that company. Check the site out for yourself. Complaints are mostly for the insurance companies failing to pay or failing to satisfy an insured's claim. Think about that before picking or renewing a policy....and be sure to watch the movie "SICKO"..............