"Twenty bucks, same as in town...."

[captainsblog]

I realized over the weekend that a small problem from the summer, which I thought I'd fixed at the time, hadn't been- and was on its way to becoming a bigger problem. It wound up eating a good hour of my morning with still no promise of permanent fixity- and all over not even 20 bucks.

I posted about it at the time, but here's the short version. My parents took out a life insurance policy on me when I was 13. I've kept it up, borrowed against its accumulated pre-dead cash value, and twice a year, June and December, paid a premium. Or, in the case of June's, I don't pay one: the dividend covers the charge and then some, and this year they sent me around $100 back above that. Apparently, though, they also ran a bill for loan interest- all of $19.05- which I never got. So they canceled the policy, sent me a token $1.00 "refund," and told me all the years of loans would now be reported as income to the IRS- adding hundreds, at least, to our 2013 tax bill.

Following some fairly vocal complaints, ultimately responded to by someone in Connecticut by way of the home office in Bangalore, I was given a reprieve. My policy was reinstated! All I needed to do was send in the $19.05 and return the ill-gotten $1.00 refund check! Which I promptly did, and which they (at least in the case of my check) promptly cashed.

The pages of the calendar turned, and I noticed an absence of a December bill. Hmmmmmm.  I checked the online system first thing this morning, and discovered that this policy, one of two I have with this company, was listed as "restricted access." I didn't know if that meant that there was a problem, or if they just thought I was under 17 and couldn't see it unless accompanied by a parent or guardian.

I had to take Eleanor back to the eye doctors first thing today, and then followed her down Sheridan to Wegmans to ensure that Iggy didn't get waylaid by her by-then-slightly dilated pupilage. Since the local office of this insurance behemoth was just past the store, I decided to fix this shiz in person for once.....

and was greeted, fairly quickly, by a fellow law school graduate of mine sporting a beard and bow tie, who wound up dialing through the same BS 800 number prompts as I would have- but who had some sekrit kodz that seemed to get the attention of the wage slave on the other end.

I heard him "uh huh" and "huh-uhhhh?" a lot. I watched as he specifically referenced the copy of the canceled check I provided, and the remittance slip that Connecticut Dude had furnished back in August to transmit said check. I even saw his eyes rolling more than once as it became clear to him, then me, what had happened:

Remember that reference above to me having two policies with this company? The other one was paid up, current, debited out of my checking account monthly.  Yeah, that's the one they applied my twenty bucks to, while cheerily un-non-canceling the other one.

He assured me it was now fixed, and that I'll be getting the usual bill in the usual way between now and January 20ish, when the grace period will expire and they will again be free to cancel me for non-payment.

That sucking sound you hear is me holding my breath. At least that's ONE of the things that sucks in all this:P

Comments

[symian.livejournal.com]

Sheesh! All this technology and it isn't any better than when everyone did everything by writing it in a ledger. :/

[greenquotebook.livejournal.com]

And people want to know why I'd rather pay a slightly higher premium with the company whose local office is within walking distance than save a few bucks and deal with 1-800 hell.

Sabres win tonight. Must've been the full moon. ;)