Two months later

I got an email announcement saying that a Detroit equivalent to North Carolina's Moral Mondays was starting up. The Detroit version is called Freedom Fridays. The first rally was this afternoon. When I left home, already late, it started to rain. So I circled the block and went home. Yeah, a bit of rain stopped me. Perhaps a good thing because an important phone call came when I would have been gone.

Remember that car accident, the one that crumpled the hood of my car? Yeah, over two months ago. When I paid for the rental car I found that my insurance never told the rental company that I was to get the insurance rate. I complained, but the rental manager stood firm. He did agree to take off the daily insurance fee they charge customers.

So I contacted my insurance company with the complaint nobody told the rental car company about this being an insurance rental. I was shifted to a supervisor and we talked on the phone with her making noises about it being worked out. She issued a check for the standard daily rate of their coverage, even included a couple extra days because I picked up the rental two days before taking my car to the shop. They have a clause they will only pay for rentals while the car was actually being repaired. That had prompted me to ask the shop to take my car early even if it was going to sit in their lot for a week.

I told the insurance supervisor the check was great, but didn't cover my bill. I explained why.

But nothing happened. I emailed. I called. And called again. These contacts were usually a week or more apart with hopes something would happen in between. Finally, she called back at the end of April, leaving a message saying she had done all she could. I called and left a message saying the rental company had told me that if someone had told them the rate would have been changed. More silence.

I called again this morning, leaving a message and making sure she knew how annoyed I was at how long this was dragging on. She called back. As part of that conversation she said that one of her employees had started the paperwork to tell the rental company, but never actually told them or me. There was a reprimand. She also told me part of the delay was because she had been ill (with no one else to take over?)

She called back later, saying she contacted the rental company again and was prodding them for a resolution. And another call saying there was an agreement, but the amount still didn't cover what I had paid. She forwarded what she had received and I spotted the discrepancy. When I requested a car I asked for a compact. They gave me a full-size, saying that's all they had and the rate wouldn't go up. I objected to the increase in gas costs, but took it. Now the refund was being calculated on the insurance rate for full-size cars, not the compact rate.

At a time when I would have been at the rally the rental manager called. We worked out the correct refund, more than I thought I was owed. Since insurance had already covered some of that I asked him to work it out with the insurance supervisor. They agreed I would get the full amount as a little extra for all the delay and trouble I went through. So finally, two months later, the issue looks to be resolved.

The rental manager asked what it would take for me to consider his company again. I was annoyed enough over my earlier dealings I didn't have an answer for him.

Though I didn't get to the rally, I did go to a movie this evening. The rain had stopped, and if it hadn't I was inside. The movie was The Grand Budapest Hotel directed by Wes Anderson. The best word to describe the movie is eccentric. Everything is stylized, including the camera angles, which are precisely framed and either full front or exact profile. The plot centers on Gustave, a well trusted concierge of the hotel. He takes on a new lobby boy named Zero. A grand matriarch dies and leaves a small but important bit of her estate to Gustave. The family thinks it highly inappropriate. Shenanigans ensue. Quite fun. I've seen one other Wes Anderson movie, Moonrise Kingdom I also describe that one as eccentric.