by Don Haslett

Created on: June 20, 2009   Last Updated: July 02, 2009

It still makes me shudder to think about the day that I threw away almost $10,000. It was a Friday night and I was feeling great. I found a parking space on my first trip down my block and I had plenty of time to run upstairs and change before going out. At my apartment door I idly pulled at an envelope that had been stuck in the door frame as I fumbled to get the key in the lock. Stepping into the dark room I noticed a damp smell to the air. I flicked on the lights and froze, thinking I had somehow walked into the wrong apartment. All my furniture had been moved and stacked up at one end of the room and a wet rug was heaped on a plastic tarp in front of my utility closet. The computer under my desk had note taped to it which read- CAUTION, DO NOT USE- WET INSIDE!

Stunned, I walked aimlessly around the apartment trying to understand what could have happened while I was at work. I realized that I still had the envelope from the front door grasped in my hand and I tore it open to find a note from my Building Super-

Don, around noon I got a frantic call from the lady downstairs in # 1-D. Water was streaming down her living room wall and nobody was home above them, or at your apartment. I came over right away and I found that a hose had popped off the back of your washing machine and your place was badly flooded. By the way, don't use your computer or your Blu-ray player as they were both sitting in water, along with your camera gear.

I'm afraid there is more bad news. Apartment # 2-D got lot of water and most of it poured through the ceiling right over the 50 inch plasma TV and home theater system they just bought a month ago. The parquet floor in their living room is drenched and it will need to be completely replaced. I took some photos of the damages for you to send to your Insurance Company with the claim on your Renters' Insurance Policy. Let me know if there is anything else I can do. Good luck, Hector Pollard.

I dropped onto the couch and it struck me that I had made a colossally bad decision when I let my renter's insurance policy expire six months earlier. That policy had only cost $135 per year but I had let it go with a simple, Eh, what can happen? But on that awful Friday night all I could think was that between the damage in my place and the even more expensive damages to the apartment below mine I'm going to have to come up with at least $ 9,000.00, and that's money that I can't afford.

I learned an expensive lesson about responsibility that day. I have a new renters' insurance policy now because no matter how careful you are, there can always be a next time.

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