quote:

Gram, > (Graham)

It wasn't a major incident.

Major or minor incident, it doesn't matter. There are certain procedures one should follow.
Next time file an incident report with the police dept. It's for your own protection.

Now after 2 years it's become a major incident.
That's kinda strange IMHO.

Here is the letter I received from Gallagher Bassett Services, Inc.


Dear GEM (Real name removed)

We administrate the insurance program for the Village of Glen Ellyn.

My investigation reveals the Village of Glen Ellyn hired a contractor to install, maintain and remove the Village decorations. We therefore direct you attention to the contractor.

The contractor is McFarlane Douglass and Company, Inc. located at 143 Tower Drive, Burr Ridge, Il. 60527.

We must respectfully deny your claim. We are sorry we are unable to be of assistance to you in this instance.

Sincerely,


Linda S. Kluber
Branch Manager

Cc: Kristen Denney

(I love her last name. Kluber)

No, he need not call me again, it's more fun to whine and complain.

quote:

Originally posted by Leamington:
No, he need not call me again, it's more fun to whine and complain.

They've called me three times. What good would another non-productive phone call do? I'm sure you wouldn't say a thing if they damaged your property. . . . . . . Would you?!


Lets see. . . . . . If I broke a window at the Civic Center don't you think they'd be all over my ***?!

Grahm,

The only reason it has become an issue now is due to the new Village money grab registration process. They are going to protect the private sector (for a fee) from the private sector.

Who is there to protect us from the Village?! They set the example by their actions or in this case lack thereof.

So, it really isn't an issue, but its a great example of "do as I say, not as I do"

IMHO.

GTM. If someone threw a rock and broke a window in your home, would you report it? Who would you call to report it?

So, your crystal ball says the fourth call would be unproductive? Well then that makes perfect sense. Sounds like you getting three calls from them is not what I would call not acting responsibly. Of course only you and whoever you talked to know the sum and substance of those calls, but it's kind of counter intuitive to think they're calling you so many times to NOT try to remedy the situtation. It's also difficult for me to imagine how a cherry picker can "smash" your window to such a degree that allows you leave it as is. Did this cherry picker have big fluffy pillows wrapped around it?
How did you become aware of this? Did you see it happen? Someone else? Or did the cherry picker guy leave a note?
Let me know if the Village just sends you a check for the $170, because THAT would be a good business practice.

Leamington

The three calls (return calls from my barrage of calls) is over a two year period.

The cherry picker hit the window FRAME and damaged the casing ADJACENT to the glass. It hit brick, wood and steel, bending and crumpling the steel casing that is over the wood and adjacent to the glass. The glass didn't break. ( I have re read my previous post, what I was trying to describe was the metal that covers the wooden frame was smashed {crushed up like a tin can} Not the glass itself. Sorry for the confusion in my prior post)

My tenant was home in her apartment sitting approximately 8 feet away from the window that was hit.

She observed the cherry picker operator fumbling with the controls after it hit. She also went to the window and looked out and observed the damage and the "crew" taking down the Christmas lights.

I was made aware of it twenty or so minutes after the fact.

The following business day I contacted the Village multiple times until I was directed to the "proper" person, who said she would look into it. Then the waiting game began along with my calls never being returned.

After several weeks of this I was given the name of the contractor and the games started all over again.

The contractor and the Village blamed and placed liability on one another. The contractor refused to give any information about his insurance carrier, the Village refused to assist me or provide additional information.

I didn't file this with my carrier as the damage amount is less than my deductible in addition I didn't want any points against this property as it would cause the premium to go up. (costing more than repairing it out of pocket)

I doubt the Village will take care of this, It was very obvious from the beginning. It was very obvious when they "played" dumb. It was also very obvious when they were reluctant to give me information or call the contractor on my behalf.

After years of dealing with the ever changing bureaucracy, I've just learned to lower my expectations, that way I'll never be disappointed.

Grahm,

In this particular case, I don't thing filing a report with the police would have made a difference.

Anyhow, enough about the window. The only reason I mentioned it was to support my belief that the new ordinance is nothing more than a revenue source, disguised and packaged as some sort of consumer protection deal.

Having lived in over half-a-dozed other communities, I can tell you how this works elsewhere. But it requites a municipal government where the administrators (a) understand who pays their salaries, (b) has some sort of connection to the community above-and-beyond a desk and paycheck, and (c) thinks.

1. You report damage.
2. Within 48 hours someone gets off their fat a$$ and comes out and looks at the damage, apologizing profusely to you and your tenant.
3. Within ten days someone hand-delivers a check to you. (Or, since this is a petty cash amount, maybe cash.) You and yout tennant will probably be asked to sign some sort of end-of-problem, no-further-action release.
4. The municipality then attempts to get the money back from the contractor. A wise contractor would write a personal check out of his own pocket in 39 seconds and skip lunch to cover the cost.

If he pays, great. If not, the municipality swallows the loss and bans the contractor from bidding on anything in the future.
5. You write a nice thank you letter to the mayor (or president) which is then read into the board minutes and everybody is congratulated for a job well done.
6. Everybody who was involved is happy, except maybe the contractor (who, if nothing else, should have learned a lesson or they'll just pull this sort of worrisome, unsafe and unprofessional crap again.)

That's the way it works in the real world, when the municipality understands that they work for you, and not for their vendor buddies.

But then, you know that, because you live in Glen Ellyn.

Gabriel,

Those were my thoughts exactly. They can skip the apologizing profusely I'm pretty reasonable.

The least the Village could have done was contact the contractor and collect the damages on my behalf, who would have thought they would do less than that?!

quote:

Originally posted by GEM:
The contractor refused to give any information about his insurance carrier, the Village refused to assist me or provide additional information.

Uhm, isn't this information that the village should have on hand in the form of a Certificate of Insurance specifically for instances such as this?? *shakes head* I deal with CoIs constantly and trust me when I tell you that the private sector is QUITE responsible when obtaining these....I would think, for fear of a lawsuit, the public sector might be a little more stringent about it, imo....

GEM: My advice is to call Nika

quote:

That's the way it works in the real world, when the municipality understands that they work for you, and not for their vendor buddies.

Right on, Gabriel!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Gabriel:
Having lived in over half-a-dozed other communities, I can tell you how this works elsewhere....

1. You report damage.
2. Within 48 hours someone... comes out and looks at the damage...
3. Within ten days someone hand-delivers a check to you...
4. The municipality then attempts to get the money back from the contractor...

If he pays, great. If not, the municipality swallows the loss and bans the contractor from bidding on anything in the future.

Can we please get this kind of action regarding the library?