Saturday, January 17, 2009

Boring but Necessary: Tree Trimming

So when we got the house, last year, we signed up with Traveler's for homeowner's insurance, since that's who we have with our cars. I have no idea how they are as an insurance company - we've never had to file a claim with them for either the house or the cars. (If I were an insurance company, I would want me as a customer.)

They claimed they sent over a home inspector when we signed up with them to see what was up with the house, but the person never went inside the house, all they did was take pictures of the tree in the backyard, which was overhanging the roof. (We are insured for things like wall to wall carpet and an extra bathroom, which this house doesn't have.)
Then they sent us a letter saying:
* You need to get the tree cut back
* You need a new roof

We got very mad, because they did not look at the inside of the house, to see the things that were a little more pressing, like, oh, the water heater that had the bottom rust out of it and spew fetid water all over the basement. (On a Friday evening, of course.) We had to spend money on things like that rather than the trees and the roof, which is not leaking.
We we assigned to a rep who has never personally owned a home, and he thought the water heater took precedent over the roof and tree also. So he gave us an extension of a year on the original weeklong deadline to get these things done.

Brand Spanking new water heater, Corgi shown for scale:


The tree trimmers were a nightmare to deal with - we had to fire one company before they did the work because they were so inept and uncommunicative and rude. We got some other folks to come out and do it, but I still would not recommend them, they were not the best at communicating and wouldn't answer all the questions I had. But at least they weren't rude. And they knew how to trim trees. And I got a 10% discount from them.

Anyway, we got the tree trimmed:
Before


After


Before


After


Boring but necessary. I would rather have had a nice new camera, which is what Tree Trimming + Water Heater costs.

Lucy, sitting on the couch next to me while I write this: