You May Safely Enter My Home


 
From the front...
 
Side view....
 
No longer are visitors to Ye Olde House of Snark at risk for falling of the steps of our home.  Mind you, we've lived here two years and never had anyone fall off the steps or the porch.  Well, I think Y1 did...but he was pretending he knew how to "free run," so that doesn't count.  This house was built in 2009....no railing on the steps or the porch.  We bought this house in 2013 and it was insured without railings.  Our home inspector noted that there were no hand rails on the steps...but as far as we know, insuring our little piece of SMALLtown was not contingent upon installing handrails.  So we thought...and that's what we got for thinking.

At the end of October, there was a "Dear John" letter from our insurance company.  As of December 9, our policy was being cancelled.  Their reason for breaking up with us?  "Lack of hand rails on the front steps of the home."  We received this letter on October 30.  Out.  of.  the.  blue.  I made contact with our local agency and was told that if we installed said hand rails before the cancellation date. we'd be fine.  By November 13, we had our contractor...we picked out the materials and he ordered them.  I'd like to tell you that there was no further drama...but if there weren't, I wouldn't be writing about the rails on my steps, would I?

Delays on the manufacturers side of this ordeal had me panicking.  To the point that we were ready to install wooden rails just to buy a little more time.  We even had to pick out a back up material since the producer of our first choice was being impossibly slow and nearly non-communicative.  The first week of December was slipping away and the 9th was looming.  One phone call to the underwriting office eliminated our need for the temporary rails.  Turns out that a copy of the contract from our builder was enough to send the wolves away from the door.  But I wouldn't have know that if I hadn't dug around online and found the number to the underwriters.  The nice man I spoke with was probably eager to appease the very upset woman (that was me...UGLY crying because this kind of adult business brings my inner cry baby) on the other end of his phone line.  Emailed a copy of our contract and at the beginning of the next week, I made a second phone call to the magical land of Underwriters to confirm that they'd received the contract and had indeed, as Mr. Chris The Very Nice Man I Spoke to One Week Prior, removed the cancellation.  Well, see...what had happened was...I forgot to get Mr. Chris' direct number or his last name.  And it came to back to bite me.

This time, I did not get to speak to Mr. Chris the Very Nice Man....I spoke to Mr. Mumblemouth Not Nice.  Mr. Mumblemouth proceeded to tell me that I had no business talking to him...how did I get that number?  "Um....I found it online...the Internet...perhaps you're familiar?"  Mr. Mumblemouth went on to tell me that the continuation of our coverage was contingent upon the installation of the railings...not a contract for the work...as our letter stated.  That's when I got HOT.  "Forgive me, good sir.  But the letter I received had no contingency offered or specified.  The letter I received said we were in violation and our policy was being cancelled. End of story."  At that point, I gave up on Mr. Mumblemouth and called my local office.  I'm sure the feeling of "getting the run around" was due to the fact that I did not do business the way I know you should...get numbers, get last names...cover your hiney!  No matter...my local office took care of it and about thirty minutes later, all was right with the world and the treat of cancellation was cancelled. 

Twelve weeks.  October 30-January 22.  I'm thankful it's over.  I'm thankful that we had the resources to address the situation.  I wish that it would have been handled differently...that we hadn't been treated like we were blatantly non-compliant.  More like ignorantly non-compliant.  We didn't know there was an issue.  We aren't the kind of folk who shirk our responsibilities, but we get left holding the bag for those who do.  Can't say enough about my local agency...or our contractor.  They really came through for us.

I think the railings make the house look slightly pretentious.  Mr. Snark said it makes the house look insured.  Either way, you may safely climb the front steps when you come visit.  Just in case that was keeping any of you away.

Comments

  1. Pretentious?...No way....the design just looks great with the front of your house....most houses now days have railings...yours look wonderful.
    mm,age 69,vancouver,wa.

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