Complaint Review: ALCO ASSOCIATES INC.

My husband and I were shopping for a cheaper health insurance policy. and received a quote from ALCO (salesperson was Angela Jones) that seemed like a much better deal than our current policy. We were told that the annual deductible would be $5,600 per person. When we received our wallet cards it stated that there was a $11,200 annual deductible so we contacted Angela for clarification. She again confirmed that the deductible would be $5,600 per person as quoted. On several other occasions we spoke with her questioning the policy and deductible, and every time she confirmed the that the lower amount was correct. The policy was issued on April 1st of 2009. Then, on July 2nd, 2009 we received new wallet cards with a different policy number. We called ALCO and AVALON (the writing company) to question why the new policy numbers were given and that the card still said that the deductible was $11,200. Both Angela at ALCO. and Molly at AVALON again confirmed that our deductible was the lower amount of $5,600. 

Still not satisfied, we contacted Avalon, the company that the policy was written with, and spoke with several customer service representatives (including Daniel, Molly, and Samantha). We have dates and specifics. In every case, we were told that the lower deductible was correct.

Near the middle of October, I was diagnosed with uteral cancer, and was told that a complete Hysterectomy was required. I moved forward immediately with the surgery on the third week of November, and communicated with the agent and the carrier throughout the planning and recovery period. Then, we called and were told that a memo had just been sent to Avalon service representatives that there had been a misunderstanding by their company about the product that was sold to us, and that in fact the deductible was in fact $11,200. Angela apologized for the mistake and informed her manager, Shawn, about the situation. She communicated to us that she agred with us that the deductible had been misrepresented, and that she would try to get AVATAR to reduce the deductible. We then heard from Shawn's supervisor, Stan Gentry stating that the reduction request had been declined by AVALON. 

We have contacted several attorneys and were told that the cost of their service would probably outweigh the recovery amount, and that we may not even win any of the money if we were to sue.

We would advise any persons or company interested in a health insurance policy to take this incident to heart, and go elsewhere.