Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield=scum-sucking dirt bags.
I have been on the phone with these bastards for five hours and nobody will help me.
I signed up for one of their plans on December 23rd of last year. Naturally, because of their backlog they didn't send me any correspondence about paying my first premium until the middle of January, even though they promised me retroactive coverage until Jan. 1. I paid my first premium via their one-time payment form that they created specifically for new applicants on January 17th, right when I got it in the mail. Unfortunately, with this form, there is no way to edit your payment information once you submit it. I realized that once I submitted my payment information that I might have made a typo in my bank account number. I decided to wait a bit and if the payment hadn't posted in 10 days to call their helpline and get it straightened out. The due date was January 31st.
I called their customer service line on January 28th and told the lady on the other end that I may have made an error in my bank account information. I said that I knew they were backlogged but I wanted to make sure that my payment wasn't being held up because of my error. The lady seemed a bit annoyed and assured me that my payment had been processed just fine, and to not worry about it not posting right away because they were backlogged. I took her words as a reason to stop worrying and my insurance card arrived in the mail the next day.
A few weeks later, I got a rather hefty bill in the mail for February to March. They put me on a bimonthly plan without my knowledge...! But no matter, I sat down and tried to sign up on their website to pay it last night. I couldn't sign up. They said I wasn't in their database. I started to panic, knowing my payment was due in a week, and tried to pay over the phone. It was then that I found out that my insurance had been cancelled.
I called their help line this morning and found out that my coverage was terminated due to non-payment of my January premium. They said there was an error in my bank account information and the payment was returned as "not found". The person I talked to seemed sympathetic when I told her that I had contacted Anthem a month ago and asked them to fix my bank account information only to be told that there was no error, that everything was fine and my payment had been processed. She said she would forward me to a health plan adviser and they would see if they could reinstate my plan, as it wasn't like I had been delinquent on purpose. She also said there was a note on my file proving that I had in fact called them a month ago to fix the error.
I was put on hold for 2 hours and then disconnected.
I tried calling the first number and there was a new person on the line who seemed to not even understand what I was talking about. She kept thinking I was from Mexico even though I told her I was from CT, and I have an Irish name and don't have the faintest trace of an accent so why the hell did she think I was from Mexico? She put me on hold for a half hour and I hung up on her because I couldn't even communicate my personal information to her without her messing it up, let alone get help. I tried the health plan adviser line again and prepared myself for a long wait. I was put on hold for 90 minutes. When I finally got through, the person on the other end said she would see if I could just pay my January premium over the phone to get my plan reinstated. She put me on hold, but when she came back she had forgotten what state I was from or even what I was calling for. She said she was sending me back to their CT hotline. And back I go to the first call center!
I got a man on the line this time...who informed me that the lady who just forwarded me to him was, in fact, the only person who could help me and she had passed the buck to him because she didn't want to do the work. He said that she WAS the CT number, and his call center was not in CT! He said he would reconnect me to her and I told him I had been on the phone for five hours. The signal started to break up and I knew I would just be put on hold for another 2 hours, so I hung up and had a good cry.
What the hell is the matter with these people?!
I signed up for one of their plans on December 23rd of last year. Naturally, because of their backlog they didn't send me any correspondence about paying my first premium until the middle of January, even though they promised me retroactive coverage until Jan. 1. I paid my first premium via their one-time payment form that they created specifically for new applicants on January 17th, right when I got it in the mail. Unfortunately, with this form, there is no way to edit your payment information once you submit it. I realized that once I submitted my payment information that I might have made a typo in my bank account number. I decided to wait a bit and if the payment hadn't posted in 10 days to call their helpline and get it straightened out. The due date was January 31st.
I called their customer service line on January 28th and told the lady on the other end that I may have made an error in my bank account information. I said that I knew they were backlogged but I wanted to make sure that my payment wasn't being held up because of my error. The lady seemed a bit annoyed and assured me that my payment had been processed just fine, and to not worry about it not posting right away because they were backlogged. I took her words as a reason to stop worrying and my insurance card arrived in the mail the next day.
A few weeks later, I got a rather hefty bill in the mail for February to March. They put me on a bimonthly plan without my knowledge...! But no matter, I sat down and tried to sign up on their website to pay it last night. I couldn't sign up. They said I wasn't in their database. I started to panic, knowing my payment was due in a week, and tried to pay over the phone. It was then that I found out that my insurance had been cancelled.
I called their help line this morning and found out that my coverage was terminated due to non-payment of my January premium. They said there was an error in my bank account information and the payment was returned as "not found". The person I talked to seemed sympathetic when I told her that I had contacted Anthem a month ago and asked them to fix my bank account information only to be told that there was no error, that everything was fine and my payment had been processed. She said she would forward me to a health plan adviser and they would see if they could reinstate my plan, as it wasn't like I had been delinquent on purpose. She also said there was a note on my file proving that I had in fact called them a month ago to fix the error.
I was put on hold for 2 hours and then disconnected.
I tried calling the first number and there was a new person on the line who seemed to not even understand what I was talking about. She kept thinking I was from Mexico even though I told her I was from CT, and I have an Irish name and don't have the faintest trace of an accent so why the hell did she think I was from Mexico? She put me on hold for a half hour and I hung up on her because I couldn't even communicate my personal information to her without her messing it up, let alone get help. I tried the health plan adviser line again and prepared myself for a long wait. I was put on hold for 90 minutes. When I finally got through, the person on the other end said she would see if I could just pay my January premium over the phone to get my plan reinstated. She put me on hold, but when she came back she had forgotten what state I was from or even what I was calling for. She said she was sending me back to their CT hotline. And back I go to the first call center!
I got a man on the line this time...who informed me that the lady who just forwarded me to him was, in fact, the only person who could help me and she had passed the buck to him because she didn't want to do the work. He said that she WAS the CT number, and his call center was not in CT! He said he would reconnect me to her and I told him I had been on the phone for five hours. The signal started to break up and I knew I would just be put on hold for another 2 hours, so I hung up and had a good cry.
What the hell is the matter with these people?!