Idiotic Insurance Billing

[CaptHayfever]

Thursday afternoon (the 20th) I got my dental insurance bill. The invoice date was the 11th. It came to Missouri from California; that should take no more that 3 days, which means they didn't put it in the mail until at least the 17th.
The delinquency date was the 11th. The SAME FREAKING DAY THEY PRINTED THE FREAKING BILL. And they sat on it for AT LEAST A WEEK after that before sending it to me.
Also, the envelope contained FOUR invoices, including a bill for January that should have been waived, a bill for February that I already paid, the aforementioned March bill, & my bill for April, which lists charges for both March & April since I haven't paid the March bill yet, because I DON'T OWN A FREAKING TIME MACHINE.

Yesterday (the 21st) I tried calling in to sort this out. I called 4 times. Two of the times, I got into the voice mail, but the voice mail itself randomly turned into a busy signal after a couple sentences. Once, it went straight to the busy signal. Once, it hung up on me without any busy signal or voice mail. They don't have phone workers on weekends. I gotta get this worked out Monday so I can send in my correct payment on time; my policy will be canceled if I don't pay by the 31st.

We're 3 months into this year, 3 months into my health & dental policies, & I've had problems with my bills every month so far.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Deku Tree]

Sucks about the hassle, but at least you're likely to be able to sort things out.

[Bomby]

If there's one thing I've learned from all of my health problems throughout the years, it's that insurance companies are incompetent. I have to call them usually 5-6 times a year to make sure **** is being billed correctly.

[CaptHayfever]

6 more attempted calls today. Still no answer. Sent this email:

To whom it may concern:

I have been trying to reach your customer service phone line since Friday. I have called your 800-[###-####] line eleven times between Friday and today. Five of those phone calls automatically disconnected after a few rings. Two calls disconnected before ringing at all. Two calls reached your voice mail system, but after a couple of sentences, the voice mail suddenly turned into a busy signal, before I even had a chance to press any buttons. One call just went straight to a busy signal. And one call ended up going through after your office closed on Friday.

I've been attempting to call you because there is a problem with the bill I received in the mail on the evening of Thursday, March 20th. First of all, the invoice date on the bill is March 11th; how could it possibly have taken the bill nine days to reach me, unless you waited a week after printing it before mailing it? Secondly, the delinquency date is ALSO March 11th; are you in the habit of not sending bills until after they're due?

Adding to the frustration, you've sent me two versions of the bill, each with different amounts due because one of them includes a preemptive listing of my April 2014 premium. Furthermore, both versions of the bill list charges from February 2014, which I already paid by check a month ago. The check number was [###], and it was dated February 21st, 2014.

I do not pay bills online. I will gladly send you a check for March & April 2014, but I need to know which version of the bill I should send back, as well as whether or not my February 2014 payment has correctly processed yet. Since you've given me a cancellation date of March 31st, I need this information as soon as possible so that I can send my payment in time; of course, there would be less of a rush if you had sent me the bill on time in the first place.

Thank you in advance for your prompt response.

Sincerely,
[Al Hayfever]
Customer #[#########]

Sent around 1pm Central, so it was still 11am for them. No response yet.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[CaptHayfever]

Finally got through today & got everything sorted out, just BARELY in time for my payment to reach them by the end of the month.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[smol Kat]

That sucks that you had to go through that, but I'm glad you fixed it.

[Deepfake]

A courier working under contract for the post office left me a note today saying he tried to deliver a package. While I was home. He didn't fill out all of the proper information, including an appropriate pickup time. In the post office field he wrote the name of the suburb I'm in, which has no post office in it. SD called the service to report it and ask where we ought to go, and he didn't even log the package properly. They claimed they would call back and took our details, and yet we have received no phone call.


Why are necessary services this incompetent? Why do they continue to employ contractors who mess this stuff up every other time? Why did the seller not include the instructions which said explicitly to leave the package at the front door?

This after they message me to say it had been back-ordered and ask if I wanted to wait for them to be able to fill the order, but then they send it out and it gets here in the same amount of time anyway, only to be sabotaged by bizarre courier antics. Hope he gets sacked.

It's not, you know, destroying my life, but this is an important piece of hardware I need to continue my audio work.

[CaptHayfever]

That's part of why I stick with USPS itself whenever possible for package delivery, rather than courier companies. (Though I don't know the Aussie post office's reputation, so I can't speak to that.) It may not be the fastest method, but it always gets to me, & they legally can't do the "but we knocked" nonsense that UPS has pulled on me almost every time I've used them.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"