Mid-West Life Insurance Co. Of Tennessee has the worst customer service group I've encountered.
1) After accepting money for coverage for my wife and daughter, a week later, the firm's underwriting group upcharged me nearly 25% per month for medical conditions for which my wife had NEVER been treated. Suspecting an error on their part, I protested.
The reps said they could not/would not speak to me because they had no record of my wife submitting a permission statement even thought it was submitted with her application. We faxed another one the same day. Calling back the next day, they said it would take up to two weeks to "scan" the letter into their files.
By then, we would have exceeded the 10-day "right of cancellation" period. Then they lost the form we faxed. We faxed it a second time and they, after three weeks, agreed to their mistake, lowered the monthly premium slightly but failed to refund the money paid the previous month.
2) Two months later, on Sept. 19, I called Mid-West's customer service to ask a simple question about dental coverage for my daughter. Maybe a two-minute call, or so I thought.
The Mid-West customer service rep, Linda Evans, refused to speak with me or answer any questions because "there is no record of us receiving your wife's permission form." I protested, asked for a supervisor, was put on hold for 15 minutes and disconnected by either Linda or her phone system. As no time did she come back on line to tell me to continue waiting. All I wanted was the answer to one question about submitting a claim form, so that I could get my daughter a needed dental appointment.
The same day, a second call asking them for the name of my sales rep who had sold the policy got the response, from Joyce, that my rep did not exist in their system. Joyce verified our account number twice and insisted that our rep was a man I had never heard of. She got pretty rude when I asked for a supervisor and put me on hold. Another 15 minutes on hold, another disconnection by Joyce.
The third call began with a different rep (Lashwanna?) telling me that the permission letter sent in June was with "underwriting" and that customer service and underwriting did not/do not speak to each other and do not share such permission paperwork.
Eventually, I made it to a supervisor, Kathy Dearing, who verified that underwriting and customer service do not share file access per Federal Law. Dearing further instructed me that I must not only fax HER my wife's permission so that customer service can have their own copy, but that if I wished to discuss claims, CLAIMS must also have their separate copy and that it must be notarized per Federal Law.
While she did verify receipt of my fax later that day, this entire series of events leaves a really bad taste in my mouth concerning my decision to pay Mid-West Life Insurance more than $5,000 per year in premiums for my wife and daughter. I would not recommend doing business with this firm under any circumstances.
Postscript: I never have been able to track down the sales rep, even after Ms. Dearing promised to get in touch with her supervisor and get her a message to call me.
Mid-West customer service reps appear to have the attitude, We've got your money. What are you going to do about it?
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