Well, it will be no surprise to any readers here that the adjustor at Allstate is an IDIOT! He came up with the most absurd low-ball "unit costs" for the things I had to replace--he must have visited every gray-market dealer on the internet. And he didn't pay much attention to detail. An example: He suggests that my Western Digital external hard drive, 120 gig, should be replaced by an 80 gig, at a severe depreciation, down from nearly $250 to $108. If he'd bothered to look at his own web site where he did his "research," my particular 120 gig drive is still for sale, now $195.00.

I'm going to have to go through his list in which he identifies my claimed items, but misses several, and argue against what he suggests they were worth (NEVER NEVER NEVER believe that "replacement value" on an insurance policy means they'll replace something. It means they want to pay what it would cost for a used item, not a replacement item).

He offers an "upgrade" package (at about half the original price) for software where the original is gone so it can't be upgraded; I have to set him straight on that. He was more than happy to accept the going price when I could get it on academic software, and never offered the hundreds of dollars more to replace those missing gems.

Okay. Enough venting for now. I have to get out my list and make a couple of more columns to make my case.

SRS