I had an experiance with the Gecko a long time ago similar to what you experianced. Needles to say, I'm a state farm customer now. I hope I never have to go through that again. You came out much better than I did on mods. I had to use a secondary insurance I had outside my auto insurance to cover my mods, and that only covered part of the stereo system.
Good luck with the next project. I just ordered my new fire ext. and bracket
for the link.