Gulf States Prepare for Hurricane Dean

The Atlantic hurricane season's first major storm, Hurricane Dean, currently is churning through the Gulf of Mexico. The current forecast is for Dean to make landfall on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, re-emerging into the Gulf and making landfall again in Mexico, south of the Texas border. Although it is not forecast to strike the US mainland, states such as Texas and Louisiana already have started taking precautions.

Alacrity Email is Restored

Just a follow up to the original post, email has been restored as of 1:45 PM.

More on the Samsung Blackjack

Here is a link to the review of the Samsung Blackjack from CNET. Be sure to watch the short video. We anticipate that these will be distributed to the field shortly.

AT&T Unified Messaging

As we are making the move to AT&T for our cellular service, I found an interesting product available. It's called AT&T Unified Messaging. Basically it's an advanced voicemail/fax mailbox. I currently have AT&T for my office line and my cellphone. With this product ordered ALL of my voicemails (both land line and cell) go into one box. Anytime someone leaves a message at either line I get an email (that goes to my phone too) alerting me.

To retrieve my voicemail I can:

• use my land line to retrieve all messages
• use my cell to retrieve all message
• go on the web and listen to all my messages
• the web access also allows you to selectively chose which message I want to hear, and I am able to forward the message to any via email.

The service also handles faxes. Now, I no longer need a dedicated fax line to receive faxes. All faxes are handled and shown as a .pdf file on my web access.

Click here for more information. https://www.sbcuc.net/dchelp/EN/learnaboutuc.html

Higher Deductibles Sting Homeowners

An article in today's Wall Street Journal cites the growing trend among insurers to change the methods used to calculate deductibles, especially for damage caused by windstorms and other natural events. According to the article, insurers "increasingly are figuring certain deductibles based on a percentage of a house's value. " The new calculation method can sharply boost a homeowner's cost to repair damages. Insurers in some states let homeowners avoid the new deductibles by paying a higher premium.

Insurers of course must disclose the deductibles on the declarations page of the policy, however, many homeowners do not bother to read their policy. Policyholders are reminded to check if new percentage deductibles have been added to their insurance.

As we all know, confusion over deductibles and coverage limits can affect the repair portion of the claim. We all should be aware of this trend in the industry and be prepared to deal with it in the course of our workday.

Alacrity Email is Down

The Alacrity email went down a little after 11 am EDT today, August 1, 2007. Jon Black is working to restore it.