How's THIS For A Reply?!

In March of this year, after being billed again by our insurance company for bills that I had paid in full last March, I discovered that Rex had been getting charged for three Life/Health Insurance accounts from the company he had given access to his bank account. He had only ever authorized two.
He called the company and cancelled all three accounts and demanded a full refund for the fraudulent account and was told he had to cancel them in writing.
He closed his bank account and opened another one to keep them from having any rights to withdrawl more money before they got the written notice.
He wrote them immediately, cancelling the accounts and the following month we both received bills for our accounts, except this time, the account for me was directly in my name as opposed to his (since he had gotten the account to provide me with Insurance while I am here) AND twice the amount they were billing him for the same coverage and the same time period!!! This double charge to me, had we paid both bills, would equal what they were taking out of his bank account with the fraudulent account that they had previously used in his name!
Calls to the comapny and written letters directed to the person responsible were ignored and we continued to receive bills, late notices and finally this:
Address headers intentionally left out to protect the guilty and the innocent:

GROUP NO: ###### POLICY NO: ######### AMOUNT DUE 315.00 DEAR INSURED: Your UNICARE Insurance Policy was recently cancelled for nonpayment of premium. This occured because we either did not receive your premium within 31 days of the due date or we did not receive sufficient funds to pay your premiums in full. CAN YOU AFFORD NOT TO HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE? THE COST OF AN AVERAGE HOSPITAL STAY EXCEED 1500.00 PER DAY. If you'd like to continue coverage but cancelled due to cost, you may be able to reduce your premium by raising your deductible or moving to a different UNICARE policy. You also may want to enroll in our Automatic Monthly Checking Account Deduction Plan. IF YOU DID NOT INTEND TO CANCEL YOUR POLICY, YOU MAY BE ELIGIBLE (UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS) TO REINSTATE YOUR COVERAGE IF YOUY SUBMIT A WRITTEN REQUEST ALONG WITH YOUR PAYMENT. A reinstatement fee may be required. Call us immediately to avoid having to fill out a new application. Sincerly, Kandy W*$#)%{&*^ General Manager Individual and Small Group Services

Well, I have had enough! Rex called them yesterday and they said that the check they owe him for the fraudulent account was put out in the mail the day before. We'll see. In the meantime, for having used my name to bill me directly for an account that I personally never authorized, they are going to get this in return:


FORMER GROUP NO: ######
FORMER POLICY NO: #########


Re: Your form letter sent regarding a policy in my name that was never authorized by me to be billed to me directly and was cancelled by the policy holder in March, 2001:

Dear KANDY

My UNICARE Insurance Policy was cancelled in MARCH of 2001. This occured because your company is a rip off, charging my policy holder directly for two accounts, one of them being fraudulent! (See policy for Rex ####### and check his address against mine, it is one and the same).

I CAN AFFORD TO NOT HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE AS LONG AS I DO NOT ALLOW YOUR COMPANY TO INSURE ME! I did not ask for or authorize a policy in my name only, my policy was being paid for by my employer (again, see policy for Rex #######).
You would be smart to remove all traces of my name from your database and stop billing me for an account I DID NOT AUTHORIZE!

I DID INTEND FOR MY POLICY TO BE CANCELLED! See first paragraph! Written requests have been submitted to YOUR DESK and phone calls have been made TO YOU PERSONALLY in regard to this matter! Legal fees will be paid by you if you want to push this matter into a lawsuit!

You got that? KANDY? You are not dealing with "old" or stupid people here and what you are doing is beyond wrong!
I seriously wonder how you believe you can get away with charging me directly and double this time around for the same coverage in the same time period that you also sent him a bill for! Remember the same address comparison? I have seen his bill and "my own" and I am beyond angry at this point!
You should be thankful that Rex and I have the patience to have waited so long for the moneys you fraudulently collected from his bank account to be returned! Your time however IS running out!
I doubt the next person you do this to will be as patient as we have and I will not be suprised to hear later that you are in debt for the rest of your life for the methods you use to rob others in the name of insurance!

Again, and FOR THE LAST TIME, I am demanding that you remove my name from your database and cancel this fraudulent account in my name.

MOST Sincerly,

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Am I being to harsh?

Moni






[This message has been edited by Moni (edited 05-10-2001).]

[Lady Avalon]

Moni, I love it. No, you are not being too harsh. They deserve every word. I personally believe insurance companies are rip-offs anyway. We pay for health insurance, auto insurance, home insurance, etc., etc. They can raise your rates at any time they darn well feel like and can cancel you if you happen to make a claim for something you are supposed to be insured for.

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Seeker of Truth

[MILAMBER]

Remind me never to cross you!!!!!

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"The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his."
-General George Patton (1885-1945)

[onthepequod]

IMHO you are not being harsh. I have little trust for insurance companies as a whole (no offense to anyone that may work for one). In fact, if they continue to be difficult you may want to consider filing a complaint with the state agency that regulates and licenses insurance companies in your state. I believe that in most states this function falls under the office of Comptroller, but I could be wrong. Don’t even waste your time with the Better Business Bureau, even though they have great intentions, they are a toothless dog (again no offense intended). Hit them where they will feel it the most, primarily their ability to do business in your state. Not that your complaint will get them barred from the state but it is a step in that direction and one that they likely do not want.

Good Luck!!

Lady Avalon,
Thanks!

MILAMBER,
LOL, I am a very mellow and easy going person! No one sees my bad side unless they push me there, which this woman has done and believe me, she could be getting a lot worse out of me!
If you ever did ruffle my feathers, I would first try as gently as possible to let you know and to find a working solution for the both of us...pushing it into a situation where I am mad would be a choice you make.
Hugs


onthepequod,
Thank you for the advice, Rex is giving the check (worth over a thousand dollars) until the end of the week to arrive. If it fails to show, Ms Kandy will certainly be faced with legal issues she is obviously not prepared to handle.
I may add in a P.S that if the above mentioned check does has not been mailed as she said, at the time she finishes my letter to her, that she may want to consider getting it out in express mail.

I will follow your advice and I thnk you for your input. There is no telling how many people out there that this company is taking advantage of and bleeding dry.


Moni

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[Fljotsdale]

Moni? No, you are not being harsh. You are justifiably angry.
Only thing I would suggest is that maybe you will want to be a little less personal towards KANDY. I assume she only works for the company? If so, their policy is not her fault. Also, maybe don't say 'fraud'. I don't know about the US, but in England you would probably come unstuck if you called a company fraudulent. Best left to Lawyers to accuse 'em of that!
Good Luck!

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Smile! Life is too short for bitching!

Fljotsdale

[WOLFGIR]

Heh, is it only me but I think you were too nice. My regratable laziness and some of a hellish temper gives me a few battles with insurances and some phonecompanies and alot of other administrative people (they do have to hate me by now..)

I usually star of nice, being kind of hmm well forthcomming, but usually ends up in an argument espacially if they did the wrong thing and I´m the one to pay for it. I know alot of law and espacially thoose concerining treaties (?) and commercials (well that is after all my job, not to get sued for my work) and most people react in different ways. I never write letters, I want someone to talk yo. (I´m pretty sexist to i must admit, I´m very nice if the other person is a lady with a gentle voice.. well dum me eh? think what you want about this but that is how I am *wolfgrin*)

Er sorry, to much beer in me brain tonight, er yeah, I noticed that if you´re on the offensive, tacticly and nice or pure agressive style leads to the most satisfying solution for you. Most oftenly this would be the right solution.

Boring eh`I mean if they were nice to me and said they were sorry and are sending me a compensation or something I would just be like "hey, it´s human to er ok"..

Never hear that fromn a bank though---

(Still perfectly intoxicated and amazaed over women beauty! *wolfgrin*)

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WOLF WINS EVERY FIGHT BUT ONE, AND IN THAT ONE, HE DIES

Originally posted by Fljotsdale; Moni? No, you are not being harsh. You are justifiably angry. Only thing I would suggest is that maybe you will want to be a little less personal towards KANDY. I assume she only works for the company? If so, their policy is not her fault. Also, maybe don't say 'fraud'. I don't know about the US, but in England you would probably come unstuck if you called a company fraudulent. Best left to Lawyers to accuse 'em of that! Good Luck!

Fljotsdale,
With all due respect, thank you for your wishes of good luck, however I must reply to tell you that if you notice the form letter, Kandy IS the General Manager and as also stated in my reply letter, she has been called over the telephone personally on this matter as well as having letters regarding the same matter, the same accounts, sent to the company with ATTN: Kandy W*#${)^& on the front of the envelope. (the *#${)^& is just to hide her true last name here)
She knows derned well what is going on and how the situation should be handled.

The fraudulent accounts I refer to are just that...accounts not authorized by myself or Rex for them to be billing us for and perhaps affecting our credit rating for due to the non payment letters sent in complete disregard to the fact that we followed all of their company policy rules in our attempts to get FRAUDULENTLY TAKEN monies returned and FRAUDULENT accounts cancelled. I shall call it what it is, to be nicer about it could give her the feling that she is in less trouble than she thinks so. Fraud is a serious offense in the U.S. and one that she is totally guilty of. We have proof beyond reasonable doubt of it and all we have to do is acquire the services of Rex's lawyer and POOF, she's going to be very sorry. The whole comapny will be.

Take into consideration that this has been going on since March. Take into consideration that the original fraudulent account Rex was being billed for was active for a whole year before I brought it to his attention. Withdrawn through their convenient Automatic Monthly Checking Account Deduction Plan. Something ought to have been done by now and I do believe that they should count their blessings that they were not blindly slapped with a lawsuit, as we well had the right to do.

I agree with WOLFGIR, LOL, I am being too nice, but that is just me.
Me asking if I am being too harsh is a totally sarcastic remark and I posted this, not just to get people's attention to what goes on with insurance companies, but to give people a laugh that I used the same form letter only worded a bit differently to reply.

I am glad I posted it otherwise I would be ignorant of the good advice given to me by onthepequod. It is advice that will be taken.


Moni

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[This message has been edited by Moni (edited 05-10-2001).]

[Sazerac]

Moni: along the advice of what onthepequod said, send copies of all your correspondence to Jose Montemayor, Insurance Commissioner of the State of Texas. Here's their website:

http://www.tdi.state.tx.us/commish/index.html

Best of luck to you, dear! HUGS



[This message has been edited by Sazerac (edited 05-10-2001).]

[catzenpewters]

Wow quite a situation Moni! I don't think you're being too harsh. I would be incensed if someone was taking money out of my account without my permission. I'd also be pretty ticked off at my bank for letting them. Thank heavens I don't have to worry about insurance companies up here - I hear they're almost all a real pain in the keester.