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So, I went to Death Valley last December. Drove home straight on the 22nd - 10 hours with just two quick stops. Got home at 6:30 pm. Pulled up in front of the house to find a huge pile of rubbish in the front yard. First thought: who dumped their crap there!
Then noticed my couch in the pile and my front door wide open. Second thought: Oh sheet there was a fire.
But alas no fire damage to be seen. Realized my house was broken into. And my motorhome was stolen. Called the police. Waited til they showed up then went inside. They took everything of value and trashed everything else! And I mean EVERYTHING!
Took all the usual: jewelry, china, medications, furniture, shoes, electronics, appliances, etc. But they also took other stuff like my shower head, towel bar, white board calendars... They even dumped my dead pets' ashes and took the wooden boxes! The hair dye I had just bought before the trip to use when I got back...
The stuff they left was either tossed out front broken and to see ruined in the rain or they trashed it inside the house.
Police came and filed the report. It apparently started a few days earlier - a couple neighbors confronted people seen on my property - including one trying to push my motorhome out of the driveway. They called the police, but we hadn't ever exchanged numbers so no one could reach me in Death Valley.
At 8:30 pm, they put an APB on my motorhome. At 10:30 pm, while CSI was pulling prints and taking photos of the house, they found my motorhome several blocks away.
They found the title to the motorhome, which had been in a desk upstairs which was stolen, with it signed over to someone. Everything that had been stored in the motorhome was gone, and things that had been in the house were found in the motorhome. The motorhome had been hotwired.
By midnight, we were waiting for AAA to come tow the motorhome to my regular shop. Finally got all that done by 4 am. Then drove the cats, dogs and parrot to my cousin's house to crash.
The next week was spent contacting banks, credit card companies, social security, passport office, home insurance, motorhome insurance, etc., reporting the theft (I had all my credit cards with me, but they got all my passwords to everything when they stole the computer and hard drives). They also stole my mother's death certificate so they had the answers to most every security question.
As the place was trashed, I couldn't stay there. We boarded up the back door and locked up the front. Found they had changed out the deadbolt even. Changed all the locks the next day. During Christmas week, they broke back in every day. On Thursday, when we called the police and theycame out, I got an officer with an attitude. He acted like I was wasting his time and told me it was tweakers breaking in and they'd do it that night also. He made it clear that I shouldn't bother calling them back out the next morning when it was broken into again.
So Friday morning, I went to the house at 8 am to meet the alarm company. Yep. They had broken the back door again. So, since the officer said it was tweakers, I unlocked the front door and yelled out "you've got 30 seconds to get the f out of my house before I call 911!". I figured the tweakers would run out the back door. I waited the 3 0-60 seconds, then opened the door and stepped just inside. There sitting in my living room going through my papers that had been trashed throughout the house, burning things in my fireplace and running my heater full blast (which I had turned off the day before) were three of the burglars!!! Verbal Man got up and said "this ain't your house. You don't live here and you ain't callin nobody!". I replied " like he11 I ain't! 9 1 1! As I dialed. As soon as they answered, Straw Haired Lady got up and said "I don't know nothin bout this. I don't want no trouble.". I had just stepped back out onto the porch talking to 911 as she walked out the door. Silent Man followed right behind her. Then Verbal Man started to walk out. Straw Haired Lady got into the car parked on the street and drove away as the two men walked in the same direction. The police caught Straw Haired Lady and Silent Man a few blocks away. Verbal Man is still AWOL. The officer who came out to take my report was great. At one point he talked to his superior on the phone and told him what had taken place. When I told him we would be cleaning up the place that day and I would be moving back in, he made it very clear that i f anything suspicious happened to call the police... I suspect that other officer got in a bit of trouble over his attitude.
Since then, we have been cleaning up, making repairs, replacing furniture, appliances, and fixtures. The dogs came home with me that Friday. The cats and parrot stayed with my cousin for another week. They stole the parrot's cage (along with his deceased sister's cage), so Christmas Eve I had to make an emergency purchase. Needless tosay, he got a home upgrade as the only acceptable cage in stock was twice as big as his old one.
The Cat ended up with a urinary tract infection due to the stress. Batdog has had to deal with people coming in and out of her home pretty much every day. Moose-dog got very very confused and had a major downhill swing to the point I thought I'd have to take him in. Fortunately, once I got him moved back home, he bounced back. Dog-bird had been very stressed, increased due to being confined in his travel cage for over two weeks. The Cat in Training seemed to enjoy staying with my cousin, but was very timid when I came over to visit.
As of now, I finally got the new water heater installed (had one plumber have health issues, the second turned into the plumber from he11, and the third was great - but took over a month to get it done between all that). So during that time, I was driving 30 minutes to my cousin's for showers whenever I could step away from all the work.
Straw Haired Lady and Silent Man are being prosecuted. Trial is set for March 25th. I already testified at the preliminary hearing.
The homeowners insurance company adjuster is a major biotch! She ignored my calls for over a week - even though she was in the office the entire time - and then got mad because I started cleaning up and replacing the back door before she sent an inspector out. Nevermind I called and left messages every day telling her I needed to secure the place and clean it up so people would stop breaking in. Then she ignored me for another couple weeks until I submitted the estimate for the water heater install - when she immediately responded to say it wasn't covered under my plan. When I pointed out that she had just sent an initial check for the new heater, she told me that was for the damage only. I pointed out the itemization included with the check stated "one 40 gallon water heater". She has been "looking into that" ever since. Then she told me that I needed to have submitted my stolen property receipts to my adjuster when he had come out for the inspection. In an email I replied that "he told me he was just an inspector and that he only dealt with the structural issues. I was told that YOU are my adjuster." She then called me to reprimand me for my attitude and for yelling at her in all caps. She said that if I kept having an attitude she would not assist me anymore.
Needless to say that when this is done, she will be reported to the insurance commissioner and the BBB. The company is First American - if you have them change now. I will change as soon as I am able without an insurance increase.
On the flipside, I have State Farm for the motorhome and they have been wonderful! Call me back the same day. Polite and sympathetic. Explain their policies. Willing to find ways to work with me. Dealt with the shop quickly and efficiently.
The other company that stands out is OptumRx. I had just had a couple major medications filled (90 day supplies) right before my trip. The burglars took all my meds. Homeowners insurance only covers up to $500 for stolen meds. Rx insurance doesn't have anything for stolen meds - it comes out of your pocket. However, when they heard what had happened, they bent over backwards to find a solution to keep me from having to pay out of pocket. They ended up pushing through a 2-month vacation supply (my policy normally only allows one month) so that I would have enough to get through til my next regular fill schedule.
But, I had a great vacation! Death Valley was amazing! Have to re-process some of the photos, but here are a few.
Then noticed my couch in the pile and my front door wide open. Second thought: Oh sheet there was a fire.
But alas no fire damage to be seen. Realized my house was broken into. And my motorhome was stolen. Called the police. Waited til they showed up then went inside. They took everything of value and trashed everything else! And I mean EVERYTHING!
Took all the usual: jewelry, china, medications, furniture, shoes, electronics, appliances, etc. But they also took other stuff like my shower head, towel bar, white board calendars... They even dumped my dead pets' ashes and took the wooden boxes! The hair dye I had just bought before the trip to use when I got back...
The stuff they left was either tossed out front broken and to see ruined in the rain or they trashed it inside the house.
Police came and filed the report. It apparently started a few days earlier - a couple neighbors confronted people seen on my property - including one trying to push my motorhome out of the driveway. They called the police, but we hadn't ever exchanged numbers so no one could reach me in Death Valley.
At 8:30 pm, they put an APB on my motorhome. At 10:30 pm, while CSI was pulling prints and taking photos of the house, they found my motorhome several blocks away.
They found the title to the motorhome, which had been in a desk upstairs which was stolen, with it signed over to someone. Everything that had been stored in the motorhome was gone, and things that had been in the house were found in the motorhome. The motorhome had been hotwired.
By midnight, we were waiting for AAA to come tow the motorhome to my regular shop. Finally got all that done by 4 am. Then drove the cats, dogs and parrot to my cousin's house to crash.
The next week was spent contacting banks, credit card companies, social security, passport office, home insurance, motorhome insurance, etc., reporting the theft (I had all my credit cards with me, but they got all my passwords to everything when they stole the computer and hard drives). They also stole my mother's death certificate so they had the answers to most every security question.
As the place was trashed, I couldn't stay there. We boarded up the back door and locked up the front. Found they had changed out the deadbolt even. Changed all the locks the next day. During Christmas week, they broke back in every day. On Thursday, when we called the police and theycame out, I got an officer with an attitude. He acted like I was wasting his time and told me it was tweakers breaking in and they'd do it that night also. He made it clear that I shouldn't bother calling them back out the next morning when it was broken into again.
So Friday morning, I went to the house at 8 am to meet the alarm company. Yep. They had broken the back door again. So, since the officer said it was tweakers, I unlocked the front door and yelled out "you've got 30 seconds to get the f out of my house before I call 911!". I figured the tweakers would run out the back door. I waited the 3 0-60 seconds, then opened the door and stepped just inside. There sitting in my living room going through my papers that had been trashed throughout the house, burning things in my fireplace and running my heater full blast (which I had turned off the day before) were three of the burglars!!! Verbal Man got up and said "this ain't your house. You don't live here and you ain't callin nobody!". I replied " like he11 I ain't! 9 1 1! As I dialed. As soon as they answered, Straw Haired Lady got up and said "I don't know nothin bout this. I don't want no trouble.". I had just stepped back out onto the porch talking to 911 as she walked out the door. Silent Man followed right behind her. Then Verbal Man started to walk out. Straw Haired Lady got into the car parked on the street and drove away as the two men walked in the same direction. The police caught Straw Haired Lady and Silent Man a few blocks away. Verbal Man is still AWOL. The officer who came out to take my report was great. At one point he talked to his superior on the phone and told him what had taken place. When I told him we would be cleaning up the place that day and I would be moving back in, he made it very clear that i f anything suspicious happened to call the police... I suspect that other officer got in a bit of trouble over his attitude.
Since then, we have been cleaning up, making repairs, replacing furniture, appliances, and fixtures. The dogs came home with me that Friday. The cats and parrot stayed with my cousin for another week. They stole the parrot's cage (along with his deceased sister's cage), so Christmas Eve I had to make an emergency purchase. Needless tosay, he got a home upgrade as the only acceptable cage in stock was twice as big as his old one.
The Cat ended up with a urinary tract infection due to the stress. Batdog has had to deal with people coming in and out of her home pretty much every day. Moose-dog got very very confused and had a major downhill swing to the point I thought I'd have to take him in. Fortunately, once I got him moved back home, he bounced back. Dog-bird had been very stressed, increased due to being confined in his travel cage for over two weeks. The Cat in Training seemed to enjoy staying with my cousin, but was very timid when I came over to visit.
As of now, I finally got the new water heater installed (had one plumber have health issues, the second turned into the plumber from he11, and the third was great - but took over a month to get it done between all that). So during that time, I was driving 30 minutes to my cousin's for showers whenever I could step away from all the work.
Straw Haired Lady and Silent Man are being prosecuted. Trial is set for March 25th. I already testified at the preliminary hearing.
The homeowners insurance company adjuster is a major biotch! She ignored my calls for over a week - even though she was in the office the entire time - and then got mad because I started cleaning up and replacing the back door before she sent an inspector out. Nevermind I called and left messages every day telling her I needed to secure the place and clean it up so people would stop breaking in. Then she ignored me for another couple weeks until I submitted the estimate for the water heater install - when she immediately responded to say it wasn't covered under my plan. When I pointed out that she had just sent an initial check for the new heater, she told me that was for the damage only. I pointed out the itemization included with the check stated "one 40 gallon water heater". She has been "looking into that" ever since. Then she told me that I needed to have submitted my stolen property receipts to my adjuster when he had come out for the inspection. In an email I replied that "he told me he was just an inspector and that he only dealt with the structural issues. I was told that YOU are my adjuster." She then called me to reprimand me for my attitude and for yelling at her in all caps. She said that if I kept having an attitude she would not assist me anymore.
Needless to say that when this is done, she will be reported to the insurance commissioner and the BBB. The company is First American - if you have them change now. I will change as soon as I am able without an insurance increase.
On the flipside, I have State Farm for the motorhome and they have been wonderful! Call me back the same day. Polite and sympathetic. Explain their policies. Willing to find ways to work with me. Dealt with the shop quickly and efficiently.
The other company that stands out is OptumRx. I had just had a couple major medications filled (90 day supplies) right before my trip. The burglars took all my meds. Homeowners insurance only covers up to $500 for stolen meds. Rx insurance doesn't have anything for stolen meds - it comes out of your pocket. However, when they heard what had happened, they bent over backwards to find a solution to keep me from having to pay out of pocket. They ended up pushing through a 2-month vacation supply (my policy normally only allows one month) so that I would have enough to get through til my next regular fill schedule.
But, I had a great vacation! Death Valley was amazing! Have to re-process some of the photos, but here are a few.
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