People who live along the Gulf Coast know that a promise of money is not nearly as nice as it sounds. It means waiting and waiting, and raising a fuss, and then waiting some more, and consulting lawyers and talking to bureaucrats, and still waiting, and in some cases just giving up. And now, after almost five years of fighting insurance companies and government agencies to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, they are contemplating the prospect of going through all of that again. It is too early to tell how the maddeningly unpredictable oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico will affect the economies that depend on the ocean and its edible inhabitants. And it is too early to judge how BP will act in providing compensation for economic losses. But recent experience does not provide comfort. 'The insurance industry and big corporations have a history of stall, deny and kind of wait you out,' said Kevin Buckle, who works for Ship Island Excursions, a charter boat company here. Buckle had such a bad experience after Hurricane Katrina that he has been pushing for a state insurance bill of rights. Like most everyone else, he is in a wait-and-see mode. BP says it has a 'robust process to manage claims' and 'is committed to pay legitimate claims' for loss or damage caused by the spill, all in addition to footing the cleanup costs. There is a toll-free telephone number to call, and if the claim is small enough -- generally, immediate loss of pay fits this category -- an operator can walk a person through the process and have the claim paid within 48 hours, said Bill Salvin, a company spokesman. Any person accepting such a payment does not waive any rights against future litigation or claims. Larger claims, Salvin said, would require an investigation by adjusters. So far, around 4,700 claims have been filed, a BP spokesman said, with a little over 800 paid, almost all of them for loss of income. Along the bayous of southern Louisiana and along the docks of Mississippi harbors, it is difficult to find someone who has even heard that the toll-free number exists. And those who have called often report difficulty getting through to an operator. So BP is enlisting churches and community groups to get the word out, as well as setting up offices in vacant storefronts along the coast to deal with claimants in person. This sounds good to coastal residents. But they want it in writing. 'I mean, Exxon came out and said the same stuff after Valdez,' said Jim Hood, the attorney general of Mississippi, who describes himself as a 'veteran of the insurance wars' after Hurricane Katrina. Hood said he was cautiously optimistic after his conversations with BP's lawyers, who are expected to formalize some of their assurances in writing early this week. The question of liability is likely to be unsettled for some time. BP officials said that the $75 million limit on the company's liability, as set forth in the law that governs oil spills, is 'not relevant' in this case, and some U.S. senators seem to agree, having proposed legislation that would retroactively raise the cap to $10 billion. But with several companies involved in the drilling rig that caused the spill, including the rig's owner, Transocean, there will most likely be protracted legal battles that will determine who actually owes whom for what. For now it is BP, the self-acknowledged 'responsible party,' that is spending the money. BP is, obviously, interested in where that money goes, hence the need for adjusters on the large claims. But the burden of the term 'legitimate claims' has given some people pause. The unease is especially keen here, given the often arbitrary-seeming reasons for denials of coverage after the storm and the fact that many of those likely to be affected by the slick lack the legal education -- or in the case of the large community of Vietnamese, the language ability -- to know what kind of agreements they have made. The worries were heightened by early incidents that BP officials have tried to put behind them. In one case, BP officials were making boat owners, many of whom have been temporarily put out of work by the spill, sign agreements to work in the cleanup effort that included confidentiality clauses and waivers of certain kinds of liability. BP dropped the clauses, which BP's chief executive Tony Hayward referred to as a 'misstep,' but not without facing widespread public outrage and a ruling in U.S. District Court. Then the Alabama attorney general condemned reports that a BP employee had offered quick $5,000 settlements for economic damages in exchange for waivers of future liability. Several BP spokesmen said they were not aware that such an offer was ever made, though Hayward appeared to confirm it last week when he told reporters it was a 'screw-up' by a few employees. A response this big is going to have glitches, Salvin said. While this is true, these particular glitches worried coastal residents because they conformed to the worst fears. 'That's the kind of deal they would do,' said Brent Coon, a Texas lawyer who sued on behalf of victims of the BP Texas City refinery explosion in 2005 that left 15 dead, and who has filed a suit in this disaster as well. 'Let's go ahead and just buy them off quick and cheap now before they realize how bad this is going to be.' Meanwhile, a fleet of lawyers is already massing, with new class-action suits being filed seemingly by the hour. Even some plaintiff attorneys here worry that fishermen could see badly-needed claims payments eaten up by the fees of less scrupulous lawyers. But the last five years have taught vigilance. 'I don't trust much,' said Loc Nguyen, 46, smoking on the stern of his shrimp boat in the harbor of Pass Christian, Miss. 'If you want money, you have to go see lawyer first.' 