Howdy Ya'll,
I've been really slacking on the blogs the past couple months or so, but tonight I felt like doing some writing.
New Podcast is up. Episode 10. Has an 80's theme to it, and some pretty funny stories.
http://mopedjones.com/drunkenpodcast.cfm
Also, if you want a free download of my award winning comedy, S.O.L., all you have to do is click the link below and sign up for the Moped Jones Mailing List. And I will email you a download link for the film. It's a free movie. It's pretty funny. And, again, it's free.
http://mopedjones.com/contactus.cfm
So here's what's been happening in my little world....
1. My landlords sold the building, effective May 1st. I got a letter from the new landlords saying they are doubling the rent, want a $500 deposit (for the apartment I've been living in for two years already!), and a no pet policy. Which kind of sucks b/c I got permission to let my girlfriend's dog live here on March 28th. So it was kind of shitty for the previous landlords to say it was okay, then sell the building a week later (they told me on April 5th that they had sold the building & it was effective May 1st).
Needless to say, Kate and I are out of here. This shithole is not worth what they want for it. I was paying $330, they want $500. Although I'm sure after the apartment sits empty for the next 3-4 months they will probably lower the price. Oh well, we'll be out of here on May 31st at 11:59 pm. Good riddance to my 116 year old bat shit crazy neighbor. God bless that c*nt.
2. I was planning on shooting my short film, No Regrets , in late June, but due to having to move + scheduling conflicts from my DP in July, we have pushed back shooting until mid-august. I cannot wait to get this project out there. It's such a 180 from what I've done in the past. Most of you know me from full length R rated feature comedies. Well, this is TWO things I've never done before. A short film & a drama. I am very anxious to see if I have the chops as a director and an actor to pull this off. I am putting together a great team of people that I trust and cannot wait to get started.
3. Having some trouble with my former car insurance company. I went through the local Auto-Owners agency here in Fulton, IL. My car is now paid off. My dad co-signed on my loan so I would get a much lower rate (11.5% VS. 7%). Yeah, my credit is shitty. Moving for whores will fuck up your credit, don't do it. Anyway, my car is paid off and we were taking my dad's name off the title, which means his name needed to be taken off the car insurance policy as well. And since the car is paid for (and shitty), there was no reason to have full coverage anymore. So we needed his name off our policy & drop it down to liability.
Pretty simple, right?
Not if you are the local Auto-Owners Insurance affiliate in Fulton, IL. I went in on March 23rd to get dad's name taken off the policy and have them change me to liability. When I went in the local affiliates seemed more concerned with running a day care out of their office than doing their job. Okay, I cut them some slack, after all, it was a Saturday and I went in about a half hour before they were scheduled to close. I told them what I wanted and they said they would call me the following Monday (March 25th) as I wanted this done before April 1st, which was when I was scheduled to pay full coverage for the month of April. Pretty simple, switch it to liability before April 1st and start billing me for that. (sensing they would fuck up this ridiculously easy task, I put a block on my auto-withdrawal so they couldn't bill me for full coverage in April)
They never called. I was busy that week of the 25th, so I didn't get a chance to go into their office until Wednesday, April 3rd. I went in to see why they hadn't contacted me and they said "yep, everything is fine, we went ahead, got your dad's name off the policy and sent that in for you". And I said "Did you drop me down to liability?" And they said "oops". So they filled out the right paperwork and sent it back in and said I would be getting a bill soon.
On April 5th I got a bill from them saying they weren't able to get into my bank account (that I blocked) and that I now owed them April at full coverage + $20 for not letting them take money that they weren't supposed to take in the first place. I call this an "incompetence fee". They fucked up, and that meant I owed them more money. Unfortunately for them I don't reward people for incompetence.
On Monday, April 15th I got my new policy in the mail for liability. FINALLY! The nightmare was over. There was no bill with the policy, so I decided to walk over and pay my first month of liability (which should have started April 1st). I got my checkbook out and the guy said I owed $152.77
My jaw hit the floor. Full coverage was $80 a month. How in the hell could liability be nearly double that? The agent went on to explain that I owed $80 for the full month of April at full coverage + the $20 for not letting those morons get into my account on April 1st + the full month of May at the liability price ($52.77). I tried to explain to him that I don't owe April at the full coverage price b/c they were supposed to switch that before April 1st. The idiot then went on to misuse the word "pro-rated" several times (seems to me that if you are in the insurance industry, or any industry with monthly billing, you should absolutely KNOW what "pro-rated" means).
Here's how I would have pro-rated full coverage in the month of April.
$80 for the 30 days = $2.67 a day
$2.67 x 0 (the number of days I wanted full coverage in April) = 0
So pro-rated for the month of April, that's $0.
After he stopped talking I said "I'm going somewhere else". And he said in a smarmy voice "Well, good luck" as if to say "Good luck getting car insurance on a Monday afternoon in April." Like it's so hard to do that. 15 minutes later I had a new policy with the local State Farm Agent. I got a little more coverage than Auto-Owners and it was only $37.30 ($15.47 cheaper than AO's). It's amazing that State Farm did in 15 minutes what those bozos at AO couldn't do in nearly two weeks. I don't know if they are morons, or were just trying to get another month of full coverage out of me. Either way, I don't tolerate slimey or stupid. I think these guys are a little of both.
On May 1st, Auto-Owners tried to get the $152.77 out of my account, but I put a permanent block on them, so it was denied. I'm sure I'll be hearing from AO's corporate office and when I do I'll direct them to this blog, that way I don't have to relive it again. They can just read it. But I am not paying them another dime. Like I said before, I don't reward people for being morons. They made the mistake, they can eat it.
Wow, what a rant!
Jason W. Schaver
Moped Jones Entertainment
www.mopedjones.com
