So, I changed jobs recently and had to sign up for COBRA during the downtime between my hire date and when I can pick up the new company's insurance. A simple process that I've been through before. Paperwork was sent, checks were cashed and everything was groovy... Nope. Customer service issue #1. My wife called in a prescription at Rite Aid waited a day and then went to pick it up around 5ish. When she arrives, the store tells her that the prescription couldn't be filled because we didn't have insurance. They didn't tell her that on the phone, nor did they call when they tried to build the prescription and discovered the insurance wasn't accepting it (even though their own policy says that's exactly what they should do), instead they waited until she got there and when questioned about why they didn't bother to call, the flippant clerk merely said "well...I didn't take the order" in a tone that said, who cares. My wife then told the nasty clerk (not that she would care) that after filling this refill we would be moving our prescriptions to one of the other zillion competitors that dot the local landscape. She even attempted to tell the store manager about the problem but was just given an 800# to complain to. Utterly useless. Even acknowledging that the medical mishap was certainly not their fault, nobody apologized for not following their own program and wasting her time (a lost day without the prescription, and a 40 minute round trip drive with a 4 year old wild man in tow). In fact, it may have been (no proof here) that it was more deliberate. Had we chosen to pay for the drugs out of our own pocket instead of through the drug plan, Rite Aid stood to make double the money. My wife thanked them for wasting her time and costing us a day without the meds, and proceeded to go back home to try and straighten things out with the insurance company and COBRA adminstrators.
Problem #2. Things get much rougher from here (and a little rambling, sorry). Since it was after 5pm she couldn't reach anyone until the following morning. She called the Goodyear Benefits Solution Center (that is run by ACS-Inc, ) the next morning and a very rude woman named Amelia said that they had no record of us and it that it would take 10 days to process the paperwork. What the significance of "10 days" was I don't know, but it seems to indicate that their process must begin from when you call to complain since paperwork was sent a month ago. When my wife explained that she faxed over the forms a month ago (per their instructions) and sent back up hard copies via certified letter 3 weeks ago and that the check for $2000 cleared our bank a week and a half ago, it would seem that 10 days from 'whenever' must be up. Amelia remained unfazed and blew her off hiding behind some bogus process timetable that defied any logic (or any of their printed documentation by the way, which makes no mention of anything this woman attempted to regurgitate to us). My wife in disgust, handed me the phone where I got the same non-response. After telling her that it was ridiculous that I could have a proof of delivery receipt showing they received the forms and a canceled check showing they received the $2k, yet still they wouldn't fix the issue, I then gave up and asked for a supervisor (Harriet) who, conveniently, wasn't there. She did take my number and offered to have Harriet The Supervisor call me back (which of course, she didn't). My wife was thoroughly upset by then since we had prescriptions to pick up and multiple Dr. appointments scheduled for the three of us over the coming days. Apparently that was all too bad since their own internal process didn't seem to allow for them to correct their mistakes, merely start over.
Taking matters to a higher level, we called the labor board for help. They got on a conference call with the very same woman who spoke to us both earlier and under pressure from the government, capitulated and acknowledged that she could in fact get the problem fixed. Incredibly, it turns out she was the one who keys all this stuff in the computer and told the Labor Board that if we faxed over our documents, she could have it all done in 5 minutes, but she didn't want to because of our "bad attitude". She then proceeded to cover her tracks lying about the processes and timetables they followed until she was called out by my wife and forced to explain the truth to the Labor Dept. person who was very sympathetic to us and not only fixed the issue but also required that this woman alter their policy in the future (at least for us) to eliminate these ridiculous delays and lapses in coverage due to their own ineptness.
At the end of the day, everything was corrected a few hours after the conference call and health-wise the family is now back on track. However, this unbelievable situation, lack of compassion, poor judgment and down right rude behavior is really why I started this blog in the first place. How any company can allow associates to operate in this fashion is unbelievable and even more so when you consider that this particular company (who judging from their web-site contracts services to many large companies and government agencies), is responsible for peoples' health care makes it so much worse. My family's health care needs, are relatively routine, but what if they weren't...
Shame on you Goodyear Benefit Solutions and ACS!
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