In January a life insurance policy was purchase from AIG with my wife as the owner and beneficiary. I was the insured.in February I sent a letter cancelling the insurance. As such we did not receive a Policy.
From February to February AIG deducted from my checking account premiums.
In February the first and only correspondance up to that date was sent a bill demand 3 months premium with a date of cancellation of March 7. It was sent to my old address, and forwarded by the Post Office.
We had received no letters or any other form of communication from AIG or our servicing Agent (not even a Christmas Card) prior to this date. I was at that location until Nov.
I had forgotten this insurance, and in time thought it was another insurance policy purchased later.
I contacted AIG as to why I had been billed (I noted that they had been deducting money from my account from reviewing previous Bank Statements). No explanation was given or why they wanted 3 months premiums in advance, other than to re-establish deduction from bank account I would have to fax to their office a form a form faxed to us.
After 2 years of AIG deducting from my checking account without, the only communication I receive was for a Bill for 3 months advance payment with no explanation (the account always had more than adequate funds to pay).
In subsequent phone calls, we never received any explanation why this bill had been generated.
My wife returns from out of town and points out this is the insurance policy we had sent a letter 2 years ago to cancel!
Through a mutual friend who is bilingual, we called the company. Through his help (I am not the owner, so AIG could only speak with my wife who speaks very limited English) we start talking to AIG, this is before the cancellation date.
This was the first of many phone calls. You could not get past the representaive ("gate keeper") to talk to a Supervisor/Manager. We wanted to have our premiums returned.
At no time did AIG representatives state that we would have to keep paying on the policy (for the insurance we had previously deducted from our account) while this issue was under review/discussion.
Subsequent phone calls were made after the 3/07/06 date. This in now into April
During several additional phone calls by our friend acting as an intrepreter she was told that this was an unusual case that had to go another department for review. This in now into May
We were told to send copies of all the bank statements from Jan to Feb a copy of the original cancellation letter, and that the review would take 3 weeks.
The original letter with xeroxes of the bank statements along with another letter was sent and I faxed the same to AIG Life insurance offices in Houston Texas. This is May 10
We waited 3 weeks nothing. No letter. After waiting one month we call again. Subsequent phone calls promised a fax in 24 hours, a fax to us 72 hours, well you get the idea. Finally, in the middle of July my wife and intrepreter call AIG, again, as to where is the letter. The a copy of the original form letter (dated June 7) supposedly sent but never received is sent with a cover letter July 26.
Quote
"Dear XXXXX
This letter is in repsonse to your inquiry concerning the above contract.
Our records indicate that your correspondence date February 3 was not recieved until March 31 at which time the policy was surrendered with a paid to date of March 7. Therefore, we are unable to return the back prmeiums as requested. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
We appreciate the confidence you have shown in us and we thank you for your business. If you have any questions or need additional assitance please contour office, or your servicing agent"unquote
The agent who had sold the original policy had moved her office 62 miles (more than 1 hour away) and was unavailable throughout this episode, and AIG did not make any effort to have her contact us during this time.
Had AIG informed us as to the requirement to keep the policy in force, I would have. Had they requested the original cancellation document before March 7, I would have sent it by mail and faxed it without hesitation.
As such I believe they were playing for time, I could have reinstated the policy within 30 days of March 07 with payment, If I had been informed.
(My not following through after the Feb Cancellation (checking my statements more closely) was my fault.)
The way AIG customer representatives handled this matter is reprehensible. Obviously, one can only conclude that to avoid paying the back premiums, we were sent on a wild goose chase and with held information so time would run out.
If this is how they respond to a customer who had cancelled and wanted premiums returned (this is small money, $4,200.00), imagine what lengths they will go to avoid Life Insurance, Auto, and Injury Claims.
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