He made the point (I think he had to) that I can contest his results. Of course I can. But if he'd done his work right I wouldn't have to. Since it's back in my court, they're hoping I'll settle with their discounted results. Not likely. That credit card bill (the one where I put ONLY replacement stuff on this claim so I'd know the precise costs) is a couple thousand higher than what he suggests paying. (They do the same thing with their auto insurance--the first appraisal is way low of the actual repair price--they hope you'll take the check and skip the repair. My truck was in a fender bender, hit from behind about 18 months ago--the dealer who did the repair got a substantial amount more out of Allstate.)

He has some pretty bizarre findings on his report, and some odd redundancies in the face of his omissions. He forgot my second monitor, but included some kind of high-priced category for a second zip drive. (He has the original price on this precious 250 meg drive at $1,000 and he depreciates it down to $92. Oy.) Meanwhile, the zip drive that I replaced with an identical size and brand (but have no room to put it as an internal drive so this is external) I'll only get $25. This is as close to a "replacement" as he can get--and it speaks clearly to the fiction of their "replacement" policy. It's that depreciation that gets you.

In all fairness, there are a few things where he found higher priced replacements than I did. He tells me that there is "$1,200 in unreplaced items" but I have to figure out how to get to it. I think it involves returning items (in many instances, that isn't going to happen) and buying a more expensive item. I think. I'm not sure.

But would you believe it--he found a place that supposedly sells a "new" version of a seven-year-old printer that was long ago discontinued by HP. A printer I'd have never found in a normal search of the vendors I typcially shop with, after my own comparison pricing on the items they sell new today. My point is that I went back to the same vendors where I bought the original items to buy their replacements, and THAT is the standard I think Allstate should support. I won't hash over the rest of the claim--this is enough to illustrate the problems with it.

Yup, insurance is a legalized form of gambling. And the casino owners always come out on top.

SRS