Paperwork Headaches

Ok, just fill this out, and this out, and then this out, and you wonder if it will ever end. 

We “had” a four year, 50,000 mile  warranty with Wholesale Warranties.  Canceling that was fairly easy.  Email us a form, sign it and guess the miles on now melted odometer, scan it and send it back via email.  A few hours later I get an email with the amount of refund we should get in a few weeks.  Earlier, when I talked to the lady over the phone, she was so nice and sympathetic….as was the RV park we were going to use down by Fort Meyers later "this” week…did not get charged a cancelation fee, which was nice.

Of course the BIG one is the insurance claim.  We have Blue Sky RV insurance, and when I called on Wednesday, they had already heard from three other people.  The adjuster called me later that day, and took a short interview with me.  Then I got an email from him with two lengthy forms to fill out.  Not lengthy is the number of pages, lengthy in the amount of work, thought and investigative processes, especially when trying to figure out the personal property area.

Guess where the title was?  Yep, in the RV….now just one of the many ashes which use to be.  In Florida the DMV’s are integrated with each county.  You can go to any of the DMV offices, but since we live in Pasco, we went to one of their offices just north of where we live.  When I got there, they must have been around 80 or so people waiting.  You are greeted by the person at the entrance kiosk and given a number.  Now these numbers are not in order….they start with the letter A, B, C, D, E or I, and followed by three numbers.  I had B334.  There was no B333, B332 or B331, but there was a B330, along with some B350’s, B310’s, and many A’s, C’s and I’s, with just a few D’s and E’s.  Essentially, you never know when they are going to call your number.  After about 3-5 minutes of seeing this, I looked around the large room, and started watching who was sitting, who had been sitting, and getting a feel for the flow of the room.  I texted Marcia about 15 minutes into it letting her know it was a long line.  About 5-10 minutes later I was called.  They were moving people through the 24 or so windows real quick and efficient.  Was out of there, with a copy of a new title, and $87 more on our credit card, and it was over.  Wow, had I been in Pine Bluff I would still be there if there was that many people waiting.  I have waited there an hour with just a dozen people in line.  And from my days in California, it was even worse there…although I hear that it is better now.  But the people who helped me were so very nice…. couldn’t say more about how pleasant this normally unpleasant task really was.

In late January and again in February we went to Sam’s Club and bought some things for our upcoming trip, especially paper goods.  Yep, those were up in smoke too.  We have a “Sam’s Discover Card” which we use frequently, paying it off every month so that we could enjoy the cash back with our everyday purchases with no interest costs.    So I got online, found the two visits to Sams and printed them out.  This the total, the date, and the authorization number, the young man just need one more thing, just one item we bought.  “Scott toilet tissue,” I said.  Bingo, he was able to print out a complete list of what we bought that day.  Knowing we bought coffee both times, I told him Folger’s Coffee, and Bingo, there we are again.  In filling out the personal property, it is nice that a third of the list was purchased through Amazon.  There were many items we had got over the years from Walmart, Grocery Stores, Lowes or Home Depot, with many of these items easily finding on websites for an estimated price.  And of course, there were the few Camping World items, one of which was a 30 amp extension cord we bought just so we could reach the electrical outlet at the Storage Facility. 

All that we need to do now is get the paperwork notarized, put together the bundle of items which have been requested, and mail them off.  First, however, I am going to scan them into my computer, and after I mail them, I will also email them copies of everything.  Then it becomes a waiting game.  Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock…

In many regards we are lucky….no one hurt, no loss of any huge, sentimental items.  Had this happen in 2012 with the American Eagle, I would have lost my Great Grandfather’s Railroad Pocket watch, among other items which are now securely stored in the safe deposit box at the bank.  Yet there were some small, sentimental items….some special cards that we received from relatives of both sides of the family welcoming each of us into the family when we got married.  A “lemon” tote bag which my sisters got for Marcia that we used to tote our day trip lunches in, my BBQ kit and steak knives, both which were Christmas presents just a few months ago.   Yes, it could have been worse…but that does not mean that we are having fun yet either…..but we will once we get another motorhome and hit the road again.  We just hope that this happens real soon.