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Impossible to Deal With
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

CLEVELAND, OHIO -- I have taken out three policies with Aflac, accident policy with a critical illness rider, short term disability, and cancer. My policies went into effect in June 2016. In September 2016 I scheduled my annual physical with my PCP. At this appointment he ordered me a stress test. I went for my stress test near the end of September and I was unable to complete my stress test due to my EKG and echocardiogram indicating a heart attack and blockages. I also went in for stent placement shortly after my test.

Prior to my stent placement I contacted my agent on 9/21/2016 and advised her what my cardiologist advised me regarding the heart attack, and started the paperwork and submission of documentation for my plus rider. As of today 11/1 I still cannot get an update on what is happening with the claim.

I have also submitted a claim for my short-term disability on 10/25 because my physician is considering more extensive treatment for me and because of my current medical condition he has placed me off work, I have submitted clinical findings, a letter with my doctor's information on the letterhead, and lo and behold Aflac is requesting my doctor's information when it is on every piece of paper I have submitted to them via my agent.

My phone calls to Aflac and my agent is almost making me feel like I am up to some type of fraud!!! Now they are requesting for my short-term disability - a year's worth of medical records to eliminate the probability of "pre-existing condition." Well, I had no clue that my recent heart issues and my need to be off work will be a pre-existing condition that one could walk around with for months and have no clue. Whatever, I am sending them my life history and two limbs.

It is clear that I am not the only one beyond disturbed with Aflac at a time when my stress levels are suppose to be minimal. This has just shown me that I will no longer want to do business with a company that treats its customers in such a horrible way especially in such a terrible time of need.

I will say that although the CSRs are not that helpful they have been polite and it seems they are not empowered with information to provide to the consumers. It's a shame that you are not able to speak with the people who are actually making decisions on your claims and paperwork.

Aflac needs to know that not everyone is out to scam them and real life does not happen on a time frame. Not everything that happens in a person's life happens after 12 months of being with Aflac and just because I am human does it give them the right to have policy-holders feel like they are crooks trying to scam the company?

Also, stop scamming people with the 4 day turnaround. My claim does not even have a claim number which means a claims representative haven't even looked at it or been assigned and it's been 10 days. I think this is fraud!!! I haven't been so angry and disappointed in a company ever. Just think I chose Aflac over another supplemental insurance company my employer was offering, I will make sure that I will not make that mistake again and I will be informing my co-workers of MY experience.

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A Huge Scam
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

NEW YORK -- I have been paying for Aflac for years with no claims. I finally had to have surgery. I have never had a more obstructive, difficult or opaque claims process. Everything has to be mailed or faxed, despite the fact that they say you can upload documents online. When I tried to start and online claim several times, those claims never showed up in the system and the claims representative couldn't find it. My mailed claim is still not in the system 5 days after delivery confirmation and I had to go through 2 people to confirm that they even got the documents.

They do not email or call (ever). They only send you a notification that the claim was denied (first try) because I did not have the correct supporting documents. The documents that would be sufficient are never detailed. I have paid more for the insurance than even the claim, and I doubt very much I will get that. Save your money and put it is a savings account - not worth the frustration and hassle even if you do ever get something. I wish I had read the similar reviews first.

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Aflac The Worst
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

AUSTIN, TEXAS -- It's funny they advertise approving claims within 4 days. Took them a month to say they got the paperwork I had sent in twice. Maybe 20 phone calls and at least 10 different reasons of why they did not have it or one of the times they said they only received a claim form and no other paperwork. Then later on another call they said they had received the paperwork. They finally send a check for 500.00 and they did not pay for something I sent paperwork in for.

I called again and she goes "You're right we did not pay you for that." So a week or 2 later I get another check of 250.00. Someone I know who had the same exact accident and surgery has received or 1000.00 so far and he did not submit the paperwork they had forgot to pay me for. AFLAC IS A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY. You would be BETTER OFF SAVING MONEY IN YOUR OWN ACCOUNT THAN PAYING THEM.

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Paid for Years Recently Terminated
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

We paid for life ins with Aflac for many years thru my husband's employer. When he decided to retire we of course thought we had all our important things in order (our ducks in a row so to speak). When we talked with an Aflac representative we were told not to worry. We were grandfathered in just continue to pay premiums (which they took out of our checking acct monthly) until this month 1-2019 we received a notice of termination.

When we called they said that's the way the policy was since we had gotten it at his work, and no reimbursement. We called our local Aflac rep. and she said she would call back, but never has. My husband will be 75 this yr. and I will be 72 now. We are pretty much up a creek trying to get ins we can afford with his health issues. AFLAC I FEEL IS VERY UNREPUTABLE.

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Life insurance
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

They are not considerate to life insurance policy holders at all! In order to make a simple payment you either have to mail in your payment or call in.... in almost 2019. Why not set up an online option for customers to simply pay their bill??? Or have an option, on the automatic system, specifically for life insurance and callers will get routed to the correct department. Instead you have to wait for 30 minutes to an hr for a representative, then after verifying your information, you're told that they can't do ANYTHING for you or your life insurance account and they'll have to transfer to the “correct” specialist so that they can handle it. If you're lucky and you actually get the “correct” person on the next call (or you get bounced from person to person and then eventually you find the “correct” rep) then your told they can't process your process themselves, that they'll have to record it, send it to another department, and you'll receive a letter in the mail stating if the payment had gone through or not??? Wtf? Aflac sucks, I can ONLY imagine if and when something goes wrong, what excuses that they'll give to not help you in your time of need.

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Pathetic Mockery of the Insurance Industry
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

DETROIT, MICHIGAN -- I do not have the time nor the inclination to include all of the things that are wrong with this business, however I will mention a few in hopes of saving other human beings from making a regrettable decision of signing up for these "fake" benefits. First of all, do not believe for one minute that this organization can, or will process a claim in one day, let alone even 30 days. Hard to tell if they actually possess the technology to process claims effectively or if they just want to make it so frustrating and difficult for their customers that they wear you out in hopes that you give up. My opinion leans more toward the latter.

They also make no apologies for their inefficiency nor their incompetence. One last thing. Take a good look at the payable benefits for injuries caused by accidents, you seriously would be better off investing your premiums in a money market, health savings or mutual fund account than giving it to these people. Truly ridiculous. I wish I would have did my homework prior to engaging these crooks. Don't be a victim. I am reporting them to the BBB. Hopefully someone can put a stop to this sort of thing.

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Sorry Company! Put You Off With Lies and Does Not Pay!
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE -- Talked to at least 20 different people about my claim. Was told many times they had all they need to pay the claim. Now over 45 days later they have not received the records from the Doctor. When I check, the doctor has not received the small fee required from them to get the records, called back and told them this and they say the check has been sent but could not give me the address of who they sent it to. This is a sham and I am going to report them to the Insurance Commission. Do not waste your time and money on this company!

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Awful!!! What A Trap
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

OGDEN, UTAH -- I would give it 0 if I could. I was a good customer for 4.5 years and when I got married I called in today (September 9th) during our company's "open enrollment" period to cancel because I have full coverage on my husband's insurance. They would not let me cancel. They told me I had to wait till next June!

Even though they told my supervisor a few months ago that she needed to wait till September for our company's open enrollment. We work for the same company! Do they just make this stuff up as they go? I feel like we are getting the run around. Whatever it takes to get more money from us. Never again!!! Think twice before you deal with this company. Too many bad reviews.

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AFLAC has become an Insurance company not helping their customers.
By -

Unfortunately I became disabled April 3, 2010 due to illness. My policy, unannounced to all of the other employees within our company were given a 30 day waiting period before the Insurance kicks in. That in itself was part of the problem and I blame the agent for not disclosing\emphasizing that. However after the 30 day period I processed the paperwork given with all due diligence. The paperwork was delivered to the local office along with the medical history from the Doctors\Hospital stating my condition clearly and this was very early May. They were in possession of more paperwork than most people filing claims provide.

On May 13, after days of sitting idle at the Columbus office AFLAC processed the claim. They paid me $66.67 cents because my doctor did not supply the next appointment date as he wrote on the (Number 6 line) permanently disabled instead feeling that ongoing appointments were understood. One would think that a company the size of AFLAC would call the Doctor Office if needed and get the required info. Lord knows they request a person's whole life's history in other cases. Nonetheless they did not and the claim was approved for 2 days of disability. I did not know this until I went online to see the status.

At that point I called AFLAC directly and asked why this was happening and found the reason stated above. I was told the paperwork to resubmit the claim would be included along with the check for $66.67. I asked them if the form was available online and they said yes. At that point I located the form, resubmitted it my Doctor to fill out again and explained why. Needless to say the Doctor's office was not pleased having to fill out yet another set of identical information because of a missing appointment date. They FAX'ED the info to AFLAC on May 13th.

After two days I contacted AFLAC and asked what was up with my claim and they said it would be next week Tuesday before it gets processed. I mentioned I needed to let my company know about this problem and ended the conversation letting the individual know that I told them I was destitute and needed this Insurance that I have paid for since 1998. I received a call from my agent's boss Friday afternoon apologizing for the delay in returning my calls and again I explained the problem. To my surprise shortly after that the claim went from nothing Friday into processing.

Today is Monday May 24th 8:56pm and it is still processing. It appears that Tuesday is the day the woman told me it would be is what will be. Their cycle, that will be followed no matter how desperate the customer is. I did not plan to have my disability happen to me that is why I bought the Insurance many years ago in 1998. Now that I need it I am getting the run around, like cross the T's and dot the I's or you will be set aside.

Be careful fellow workers. All is not what appears to be when an agent sells you insurance even if it sounds like a good company. If you are relying on this to help during crisis as me you need to have a backup somewhere. If you do not you will receive a 5 day notice to pay up this past months rent or vacate. Tough and sucks to be me!

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Perspective from a customer service representative
By -

As a customer service representative for AFLAC for five years, I know how the internal processes within the company work. I see what is sent by the customers to be reviewed by the company. I see how quickly a claim can be processed but also see why a claim can be delayed.

The most general problem I see is insufficient information being sent by the policy holders when they file a claim. Each line of business, whether it's a cancer policy, accident policy, etc., requires specific documentation to process a claim. What I also see are policy holders filing claims on a specific type of policy that doesn't fall in that line of business. For example, a visit to the emergency room for the flu will not be payable under an accident or a cancer policy.

I do understand the policy holder's frustrations based on the sheer volume of claims filed with the company. Every claim has to be looked over for the correct information, verified as being correct information, and processed. If the correct information is not received, the claim will be pended until that information is received.

AFLAC can contact the provider to assist getting it, but the provider will not comply without written authorization from the policy holder to release medical information. It is all tied up within the HIPAA laws, protecting personal medical documents. If the authorization is not submitted with the claim, then a letter is sent to the policy holder requesting said information.

As a customer service representative in AFLAC, I don't get a lot of calls saying how bad a company we are, don't get me wrong, I get them, but it is usually a call that can be simply rectified with the correct information being received. I know faxes get lost, sometimes don't make it through for whatever reason, mail can be lost, it is inevitable with the sheer volume of requests sent to the company.

I deal with complaints the whole 8 hours I am on the phones taking calls from policy holders and agents. The system sure isn't perfect, but what system is? For every one call I get from an irate customer, I get 100 more from people who flatly state they would not know what they would have done without AFLAC being there for them.

If I could give one piece of advice to policy holders, it's this. PLEASE read your policy, know what you have benefits for. The Customer Service Center is not just about complaints. If you need assistance and can't find your agent, the Customer Call Center can instruct you of what benefits you have and exactly what documentation is needed to process a claim for you. If it isn't a claim, but policy information, or a problem with an account deduction from your paycheck but not submitting your premiums for payment in a timely manner, we can help you there as well.

One more piece of advice. As a Fortune 500 company with over 5,000 employees, there are many departments and many processes, which take time to complete. I understand that to any caller, I am AFLAC and when I talk to them, I represent all 5,000 employees. I, however, am one small cog in a giant machine. It is the nature of the beast. I imagine all very large successful companies operate this way.

I can do my best to help someone calling in with a problem, but 99% of the time, I personally cannot fix it, the request has to be sent to another department, escalated for sure, but everything takes time. Instant results are extremely rare when some type of problem arises.

We do our best, day in and day out. It isn't helpful to a Customer Service Representative to be screamed at and cursed upon, called names that just elevates the Rep's level of frustration. What I see most is people calling in yelling and screaming, not giving the representative a chance to even find out what the problem is and trying to ascertain how to expedite a solution. If you called in for assistance, let us assist you!!!

I know there are policy holders out there that are unhappy. For every one of them, there are 1000 or more satisfied customers. If you are unhappy, try again calling to understand what happened. Be patient, calm, explain the situation, let the customer service representative look back over the problem to see exactly what can be done, if anything, or explain why this event actually occurred.

AFLAC is the best company I have every worked for. It bothers me that people out there bad mouth the company, and I can understand some of that, a policy holders frustration or anger could be the result of a problem that could be resolved simply.

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Aflac Insurance Rating:
Star Half star Empty star Empty star Empty star
1.3 out of 5, based on 15 ratings and
39 reviews & complaints.
Contact Information:
Aflac
1932 Wynnton Rd.
Columbus, GA 31999
800-992-3522 (ph)
www.aflac.com
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