this post contains lots of swears

Those of you who read my blog via syndication see occasional ads which are inserted by Feedburner. I don't make very much money from these ads (a very good month brings in about $300) but each year I accumulate enough to pay for hosting and offset some other blog-related costs. Occasionally there's enough for a trip to Lucky Baldwin's for Guinness and veggie curry, but I am not getting rich from these ads by a long shot.

When I was experimenting with ads on my site last year, I adopted an agnostic policy toward what I would and wouldn't accept, figuring that to deny one thing was to implicitly endorse another. That didn't work out, and my inability to fully embrace that philosophy, (combined with Federated Media doing fuckall to put the advertising inventory on my site they'd told me was coming Real Soon Now) lead to me eventually scrapping on-site advertising entirely.

Still, the feedburner advertising program is much better, and even though it's not pulling in the kind of earnings people always claim I can get here, it does what it does quite nicely for me.

I mention this today because I don't think I've ever pointed out that I review every single ad that gets put into my feed's rotation, and I approve and deny things based on how I feel about the company, product, or service. It's not an explicit endorsement, but if there's something in the feed, you can safely assume that I don't hate it, and think it's somehow relevant to the majority of WWdN readers.

By way of example: Earlier today, I got an e-mail that there was an ad scheduled for insertion into my feed. I checked it out, and saw that it was for car insurance from the Automobile Club. The CPM was bullshit, but that's not why I denied it: I denied it because Anne and I had used AAA for our insurance for almost 12 years without an incident, until her car was vandalized in our driveway a couple of years ago. It was going to be very expensive to repair the damage, and when we filed our claim, the AAA agent told Anne that, because she didn't send in a photograph of her car when the policy was upgraded months earlier -- a request that had never been made by AAA -- they were denying our claim because they couldn't confirm that the car wasn't already damaged when we bought the policy. Never mind that it's completely illogical to assume that we'd drive around in a car with three broken windows for months, and never mind that we'd never missed a payment or filed a claim before; the insurance company found a way to fuck us, so they did. As a bonus, their agents were rude and outright nasty to us throughout the entire ordeal.

We tried to fight it, but it would have cost so much, we just cancelled our policy and switched insurers.

So when I saw that the AAA wanted to advertise on my blog, not only did I deny the ad, I said, "Hey! Why don't you go fuck yourself, you fucking assmasters!" when I did it.

I went back to work, proud of my useless act of rebellion. A few minutes later, I got another e-mail from that a new ad was scheduled for insertion into my feed. I looked at it, and -- surprise -- it was the same AAA banner.

"Hey, didn't you fuckshits hear me?" I said, as I clicked DENY, "Go to hell!"

Five minutes after that, I got another e-mail.

"These guys are persistent," I thought as I clicked over . . . and saw a third attempt.

This time I just laughed out loud. Even though it's just an automated computer doing its thing, I imagined a hapless AAA agent, alone and cold in a dark cubicle that hasn't seen natural sunlight in a decade, desperately hoping that I'd just give them another chance. (Yes, I know that nothing of the sort happened, but just let me have my stupid little moment, okay? Jeeze.)

I'm usually not petty like that, but I'm an honorable guy, so when a person or a company fucks me, I never forget. I don't hold a grudge as much as I create a blood feud. The AAA's insurance division is, as they say, On The List.

So this is all a longwinded and hopefully amusing way of telling all you syndicated readers that you can click those ads with some degree of confidence, if that sort of thing matters to you, because it matters to me.

Comments

[alan]

Dammit. I've got AAA for all my insurance right now. My car was recently broken into, but my deductible was high enough that I didn't bother going through them.

Who did you switch to?

[alikitty619]

My boss has 6 cars and 3 motorcycles insured through AAA. They are complete poopy heads and we are about to change to someone else because these incompetent butt munches keep screwing with the freaking policy. Thank you for denying these stupid crap chewers advertising on your site.

(Sorry for the silly swearing.....I am trying to stop cussing so that my twin godsons don't drop the F-Bomb as their first word)

[eleventeen]

Wil, totally off topic, but how do you like Typepad? I have a blog, but I just made a simple site through Weebly and am finding it... lacking. I was thinking of switching and I really like how yours is set up.

I know you're probably too busy to reply, but if you get a chance that would be awesome. or you can mail me at bryanmash@gmail.com

Cheers

[kristinalead]

Most big businesses don't give a shit whether they give you good customer service or not, and do tend to have the highest chance of screwing you over - stupid fuckers don't realize someone with a large following will most likely blog about the company and what dipshits they are, thereby losing far more customers than just the one they pissed off...

Glad to hear you screen the ads!

[EGlenn]

Excellent service with Liberty Mutual in the Atlanta area. We picked them from a Consumer Reports article about 5 years ago. They were about 15% cheaper than all the usual suspects. We've had two claims, one house and one car, and in both cases, it was 'what can we do to make you whole'?

[gordie]

Assmasters? LMAO At least next time I'm on the phone with my auto insurance company I'll have some ammo--

[theCurse]

This blog has ads?

[Sally J]

When there was a Brooks Brothers ad on the feed for your Oban post, I assumed it was automatically selected by a bot. You know, fancy schmancy scotch equals expensive men's clothing. Good to know you have veto power over the ads because, yes - it does make a difference. At least to me.

"I don't hold a grudge as much as I create a blood feud." Awesome.

[eleventeen]

knowing you veto ads definitely makes a difference. Its one of the many reasons why I love the guys at Penny Arcade. They do the same. I like reading the work of a person with some integrity.

[shauna]

You rock.

[Lamguin]

Giving a personal endorsement of the ads on your site makes the ads you choose to allow worth seeing to me. So I've disabled my Adblock on your blog. But I still don't see any ads. I've done the same for Penny Arcade because, like yours, I trust their opinions. Anyway, thanks for having a great blog. And good luck sticking it to the man in the future.

[tammy]

so...if one were to click on those ads, it would earn you money?

[Coyote Seven]

Do you still have their roadside assistance?

[Wil]

Lamquin: There aren't any ads on my site; they're occasionally in the RSS feed.

tammy: Indeed, it puts shiny pennies into my piggy bank. Not a lot, but enough to make it worthwhile.

Coyote Seven: I do, and I still go to AAA for maps and tourbooks. The insurance department is an entirely different beast, and their douchebaggery shouldn't reflect poorly on the roadside assistance and other benefits of AAA membership.

[kaellinn18]

For those asking, the ads that Wil is referring to are only displayed if you are viewing his blog through his RSS feed. If you are coming to the webpage directly, you do not see them. This has been a public service announcement.

[kaellinn18]

Damn you, Wil! This is the last time you make a fool out of me! *shakes fist*

Also, did you ever check out Afterworld? I sent you the link before Christmas, but I assume you were busy as hell with your deadlines.

[Alan]

I use Travelers and pay a small amount extra so that I have zero deductable in the case of theft or vandalism. There is nothing like having your window broken into, calling insurance, and having them send someone to you to get it fixed.

Wil, the Penny Arcade guys sell their own ads. I imagine there is a large crossover between your audience and theirs. You should ask them if they would be interested in selling ads for your site/feed. You might do better even with the cut they would certainly take.

[JohnO]

AMEX fucked over 8 years ago, just before we spent a month in Australia with plans to extensively use their card there.

The CSR flat out lied to us and whenever we get a AMEX application in the mail, we send the postage paid evenvelope filled with all the the junk mail inserts we can find.

[Riley Joy]

Thanks for the heads up. I'm buying a car in a few months and now I know to avoid the AAA ass monkeys when I get my insurance.

[Riley Joy]

Oh man, classic synchronicity. Just looked at my mail and saw an ad for AAA insurance. (mad, cackling laughter accompanying the sound of ripping paper)

[swordman69]

That is rad. I have a few companies on my 'List' as well.

I would also like to take a moment to comment not only Wil on his excellent swearing, but the comment posters as well. There is some excellent creativity here. I would like to particularly call out the following swears as ones that made me giggle: Poopy Heads, Butt Munches, Crap Chewers, Douchebaggery, and Ass Monkeys. I am always fond of taking a swear and combining it with a simple object. For example, the swear 'Ass' combines nicely with objects like Box or Hat, Ass-box, or Ass-hat. And you can always switch it up and say that guy is a 'Big box of Ass'.

That is all :-)

[Reddy]

I think insurance depends on the agent. I like local ones where I can walk in the door & see the agent not just someone who works for them. All companies seem to have agents that either paid off or try not too.

Good luck picking a new one.

[Chuck]

Unfortunately, it seems like there's no way to see how good your insurance is until something happens. I've been pretty happy with State Farm, but I've only had to use them one time.

[MandyDax]

I'm a former insurance agent, but please don't hold it against me. It was for another company. :P I can't give you advice as such, but I can give you some information. A lot of people don't know this, but you can contact your state's insurance commissioner if you believe your company is wrong to deny you coverage, and in this case, if they added the coverage and never asked for photos or inspections, they probably were fucking you over against the law of the state. You can get info about filing a Request for Assistance online here:
http://www.insurance.ca.gov/contact-us/0200-file-complaint/index.cfm
Your problem is #1 (the most common): Improper denial or delay in settlement of a claim. If you still have the declarations page showing the coverage at the time of the vandalism, I would definitely still file this if I were you. If nothing else, it will give them a black mark with the DoI. Don't let these twatwaffles get away with that shit. Also? Hurrah for sticking it to the man. ^_^

[noromdiam]

Even though I read your blog via syndication, I am very grateful that you do take the time to review every single ad.

Mmmmm Lucky Baldwins and their Belgian festival.