LiquidFireside Chats

So this just happened:

I assume he’s talking about LiquorFire… but why would he think I’d ever tell him the ingredients.

If you need to create a my.cnf file because you keep getting a max_allowed_packet error, use your favorite text editor (TextWrangler?) and create a text file at:

/Applications/MAMP/Library/my.cnf

And put the following text in the file:

[mysqld]
max_allowed_packet=32M

You can change the packet size to whatever you want so Drupal works. This usually only happens to me when I try and import a dump and the cache tables are all full. I usually empty all tables that start with ‘cache’ (including the ‘cache’ table) before I export all tables. That cuts the size of the sql file down by about 5-10x depending on your cache settings.

Of course, this post assumes you’re running a Mac with MAMP installed.

This is a tale of new friendship, compromise, betrayal, deception and false advertising. This is a tale that is currently in the works and I, as your narrator, will look for your feedback to guide me through this stress-filled adventure. Why would you care? Because if I lose this and am forced to pay for the damages to my car it will be a loss for policy holders nation-wide and when you hear how it all transpired I’m sure you’ll agree that no matter how nice a person is you have to assume they are only watching out for themselves. Plus, I’ll be laying out all the mistakes I made so you don’t suffer the same.

It was a chilly Tuesday morning, Tuesday the 8th of December to be more precise. Rebecca and myself left the house as we normally do, only this time, something strange was in the air. Actually, there wasn’t really special or strange about it.. I mean besides the fact is was 8 degrees! Anyway, we stopped at the Walgreens on 1st and Broadway (I wonder if anyone from Walgreens reads the reviews) to get some donut holes and Rockstars which is, of course, the breakfast of champions.

After our brief stop we headed south on Broadway to pick up our sidekick in crime, Dan. As you may have suspected, our journey to the nether-regions of Wash Park was cut horribly short… By cut short I mean cut off, literally. Here is what went down (his story stories and mine) and here is a map for reference. Well, before I start, let me set up the scene:

We were heading south on Broadway towards Alameda. The roads were covered with tightly packed snow, the type that covers the lines making it difficult to know which lane you are in. It had snowed a bit the night before and a bit that morning but had stopped by the time this morning adventure had begun. Broadway has 4 lanes and I will use the lane numbers to reference them, 1 being the left most and 4 being the right most. I will refer to the person in the accident as Mr. Doe for privacy’s sake. You can see a more visual version of the accounts below the bullet points.

Mr Doe’s Version of the Events told to Me & Esurance

• He was ahead of me
• He was in lane 2.5 (between lane 2 and 3)
• I was in lane 1
• He lost control and in an attempt to regain turned into the Checkers parking lot
• He was entering the parking lot when he heard my horn honk
• I hit him just as he was getting into the parking lot

Mr Doe’s Version of the Events told to AllState

• He was in lane 1
• I was behind him in lane 1
• He lost control and decided to enter the Checkers parking lot
• He heard a honk
• I hit him while he was in the Checkers parking lot

My Version of the Events

• I was in lane 1
• Mr. Doe was in lane 3
• Mr. Doe began to turn into the Checkers parking lot without signaling
• I applied breaks and honked
• I hit him while his tail end was still in lane 1 and partly in lane 2
• His momentum took him all the way into the parking lot while I stayed in the road

Now, the real problem is that because he told AllState a different story it’s up to the individual handling the claim’s discretion whether or not I have to pay $1k out of pocket for my repairs. So, I am going to lay out an argument to the 2 claims he has made to prep for the argument I will undoubtedly have with AllState very shortly.

Claim 1: He was in lane 1 and we collided in the parking lot.
Counter 1a: I’m not quit sure how this would have worked. Below is how are cars are damaged and if I were directly behind him I’m sure the back of his car would have been damaged. Plus, how did I get into the Checkers parking lot?
Counter 1b: Why would I have been in the Checkers parking lot in the first place? We were headed to Dans to pick him up for work and for those who know me know that me heading to the office is quite common =)

Claim 2: He lost control and decided the best chance for safety was the Checkers parking lot.
Counter 2a: I am uncertain of how he would have “lost control” while driving perfectly straight. Other vehicles didn’t seem to have a problem with losing control that morning, including myself. If everyone else was driving fine and you were the only one who “lost control” then it stands to reason you were doing something different than everyone else. Perhaps turning into Checkers last minute?
Counter 2b: He was out shopping for antifreeze. Not only did he flat out tell me that is what he was looking for but he actually purchased some while we were waiting for a police officer to arrive!
Counter 2c: I don’t get into accidents often (this is my first) but I just really don’t know the chances of getting into one while heading into the parking lot of a place that just happened to sell what I was looking for even though you weren’t even trying to go there… seems really convenient.

Those are really the big things. What is interesting is after the AllState agent told me he what he was claiming and how his story had changed I immediately contact him via his cell phone and asked him why his story had changed. He told me AllState must have misunderstood and that he’d contact them to correct the story. This was today the 10th so we’ll see how that goes.

I’m still unsure of whether or not I’m going to have to pay my $1k deductible out of pocket, but I’ve already learned some good lessons and I realize a few things I did wrong. Unfortunately, all of those mistakes are grounded in my inability to believe people aren’t inherently good & honest. That seriously gets me every time!

What I Did Wrong

• I didn’t grab a witness. I know someone had to have seen, I should have gotten their contact information right away.
• Mr. Doe actually admitted guilt and apologized at the scene. I should have gotten it recorded somehow. I didn’t expect him to change his story.
• I took his word for it. He claimed he lost control and without thinking that is what I reported to Esurance.
• The police came and when I was asked if I wanted to file a report I said “no” thinking “why add insult to injury?”
• I assumed my car was drivable without taking it for a brief spin.

What I Did Right

• I put him on the phone with Esurance at which point he told story 1 (different form what he told AllState). They have it recorded… we are getting that recording.

What I am looking to everyone for is pointers on how to handle things from here and what else I could have done differently. I’ve filed a report online and there is an incident report, but there has got to be other arguments I can use to prove he’s trying to weasel out of blame. I have no choice but to convince Mrs. AllState that it wasn’t my fault or I’ll be without a car!

Dealing With AllState

Oh, and just so you know, an AllState commercial aired last night and I actually laughed. It was the usual AllState dude claiming that they’ll all be working over the holidays because “accidents don’t take vacations.” Shouldn’t an insurance company with as much integrity as AllState claims to have take care of people on both sides of the incident?

Meanwhile, the good ‘ole cartoon Esurance chick has been great. I mean, seriously, they should be airing the “we’re here for you, that’s AllState’s stand” commercials. Here is a quick account of my experience with both Esurance and AllState:

• Accident happened between 9 and 9:30 am.
• I called Esurance immediately. Within 30 minutes they had my account of events AND Mr. Doe’s. The guy I spoke with (who was awesome) actually had me hand the phone to Mr. Doe to give his account.
• Esurance then did a 3 way call with an auto body shop (Youngs Auto Body who are just as great as Esurance) and I had an appt. to bring me car in the next day (Wednesday) at 1pm. They could have gotten me in that day but I really needed to get some work done. At the time I thought my car was drivable.
• All this got handled in 1 freaking phone call, way to go Esurance.
• Esurance then called AllState and contacted me later that afternoon to tell me to expect a call from AllState within 24 hours… I have yet to receive that call.
• I bring my car to Youngs the next day (Dec. 9) where Mr. A tells me we should really get AllState involved to cover costs.
• I call Allstate at the station and the person assigned to my claim does not pick up, I get transferred to another rep who takes my number and says to expect a call back.
• Mr. A. at the shop tells me to leave my card and Mrs. AllState’s phone number and he’ll help me contact her.
• By this time my car was making some slight rubbing noises when I turned and my e-brake wasn’t sticking well (maybe because of the cold?)
• Mr. A. calls me a few hours later while I’m at the office saying he got through to Mrs. AllState and she is waiting to take my recorded statement.
• I call Mrs. AllState the next day (I had meetings until 7:30pm) to find out she’s out of the office all day today so I’m transferred to another rep who transfers me to another person in the claims department.
• This person is unable to get her computer working so she has to call me back.
• She calls me back a little later and I give my recorded statement. That is when I’m informed my recalling of the events differs from Mr. Doe’s and that if he doesn’t admit to lying they will not cover any of my damages.
• That has left me car-less since Tuesday. Granted, not a long time, but AllState doesn’t expect to get things resolved until next week. That will put me at 5 days without a car, a situation that could undoubtedly ruin someone who isn’t lucky enough to live with someone who has a car.

GRRRR ALLSTATE! What is going to happen now?

Check out our article, “Top 5 Websites that Boost Agency Service Offerings” in this month’s Advertising & Marketing Review (page 13)!

http://www.dpub.us/AMR/AMR.html

Top 5 Websites that Boost Agency Service Offerings

In this economy, it’s more important than ever for agencies to sharpen their business skills and acquire the resources needed in order to give their clients a complete marketing package.

Below is a list of some of the best websites that specialize in niche services that can help round out any agency’s solutions offerings:

• Professional Voiceovers

Voice123.com lets agencies scout voice talent for free. Post the job and budget, and talent will audition and compete for the project. Use this service to present at least 10 different voiceovers to a client in less than 24 hours.

• Logo Design

Avoid paying for each logo mockup by posting a contest on 99designs.com. Post the project specifications and prize amount, and designers will submit their mockups. Show these to the client, and only pay the submitter of the winning design.

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Clients always want to rank first for relevant keywords in Google. Don’t take on this tedious gruntwork alone—outsource it to Number1Ranking.net. Get monthly reports to pass on to the client detailing how their rankings improve per keyword.

• Web Forms

If a client wants to simply collect information on the web, there’s no easier way to do it than Wufoo.com. This plug-n-play form builder is easy to use, even for those who are not so tech savvy.

Just knowing where to look on the web for resources is the biggest hurdle. Having these secret weapons in an agency’s resource arsenal will allow it to offer its clients the solutions they want quickly and with less cost.