Complaint Review: Encore Dental Insurance Plan - Stonebridge Life Insurance Company - Plano Texas

They have to do this to protect themselves.  Otherwise, if someone needed a crown, they'd join, get the crown, and quit a month later. I think a lot of companies do this.

Encore Dental may qualify as a ripoff, at least offering very little value. Yes, let's look at the numbers.

For a couple (2 people), the annual premium is $1,033 (in my zip code) for Plan A.

For that $1,033 in year 1, Encore Dental pays 100% for 2 people's checkups and X-rays (typically $75 and $28 office fee) and 50% for fillings (typically $75-$250 office fee). That's after the $50 per person deductible.  It's unlikely 2 people would ever reach $1,033 in charges for checkups, X-rays, and fillings (only paid at half) to justify that premium.

For that $1,033 in year 2 and beyond, Encore Dental adds major services like root canals and crowns, but also only after $50 per person deductible. The catch here is that major services are paid at 50% of the office fee (there is no schedule of negotiated fees like other insurance companies offer that are much lower than office fees). Then Encore Dental has an annual maximum of $1,000 per person. So 2 people would need at least $2,000 each in qualified office charges to receive the maximum benefit of $1,000 each. Not always likely, but if it does occur that $2,000 in total benefits costs $1,033 (annual premium), or a real benefit of $967-$50 deductible = $917.

The whole scheme is improbable and dubious in most people's lives. Year 2 benefits might be considered worthwhile for some, however the restrictions of year 1 benefits makes this plan highly questionable. That $1,033 would be much better spent with a reputable insurance company that offers higher (realistic) annual maximum benefits, negotiated fees, and equal benefits each year without any benefit restrictions in the first year.

Many of understand we seek real companies to do business with. Unfortunately, consumer run into scams every day. After reviewing the information with Encore, I found the information troubling. Their commercials are misleading although the commercial does have the fine print at the bottom which outlines some of the basics.

Personally, I would not recommend a company wishing to take your money for 12 months and then open the door to use their services. As per a consumer contract, I see Encore being subject to the FTC investigations. I believe is may also be against the law to offer services for a fee and hold off services for 12 months. 

With the information published with Rip-Off alerts, I will conduct further investigations with the FTC and if information is found to be fraudulent, the company will be listed on the National Fraud Alerts datebase. nationalfraudalerts.com

Thank you for reading. Consumer advocates.

I was thinking about looking into this until I read about the maximum the insurance pays.

If you pay that much for an insurance and only 1 person in your family needs dental work and you only get $1000 in coverage then yes your getting ripped off. Why not give the family as a whole a maximum. If you have 3 people in your family that your paying for. Give the whole family $3000 as a maximum per year that way if someone needs more than $1000 worth of work they can plan around the who needs it most and not have to pay money out of their own pockets if it goes over the $1000 max?

This would make more sense to me. I'm sure the guy that complained in the first place would have been ok with a set up like that. How hard would have been to help the guy instead of hanging up on him? Very unprofessional. Its too bad he didn't get the persons name and employee number because if your costumer service is like the one I worked for, that agent would have lost thief job if he turned them in to a manager. Thank you to the guy that filed the original report. I will not be signing up with encore dental. I don't need that headache.

I purchased this same insurance for my mother two years ago because she is a senior citizen on a limited income. I was very leary of the insurance company (because they stated that you can keep your own dentist), but was willing to give it a try for the sake of my mother's financial status.

Within a month of buying the policy, mom had to get some dental work done. We were pleasantly surprised when the bulk of her dental work was paid, no questions asked. Her dentist filed with this insurance company and there was no hassle involved.

The $1000.00 minimums paid out are yearly minimums and start over the next year. They are not lifetime minimums for the dental plan as stated by the other reviewer.

Very happy with customer service, monthly premium price, and overall experience. I am not sure what happened with the other reviewer, but we like the company and are still with them.

I purchased encore dental in February of '09 just for myself. I purchased the insurance itself for about $31 a month and then I purchased a supplemental policy for an additional $15.50 which pays what the first policy doesnt pay. I just used my insurance for the first time last month. I broke a front tooth and needed a crown. My total bill was $800. I ended up paying about $100 out of pocket. That right there saved me $700.  I've paid $550 in premiums. But I still have about $400 left in dental coverage this year between the two polices I have which I will defiitely use. I also might add you get two exams and xrays and cleanings a year (that doesnt count towards your $1,000 limit by the way) and also I might add that you stated there were 5 people in your family. That $1,000 limit is PER PERSON. Not $1,000 for your whole family. In addition your whole family gets 2 exam, cleanings and xrays each year which DON'T count towards that $1,000.  The deductable of $50 per year (not per incident) I think is reasonable. Anyway, they saved me money, they paid my claim super fast. I am SO HAPPY with this insurance company. Customer service is awesome. Payment of claims is PROMPT.  I highly reccomend!

I work for this company and I would like to correct you on a few things. If you got a plan for you, your wife and your 3 children and you all recieved $1000 a year in benefits for each person, then you recieved $5000 in total for your family. The deductible for your family would only be $150 ( $50 ea per insured up to 3 family members, $150.00 total for family). So let's do the math if you paid $170 a month for a year ( 170 *12=  $2040) and you had a deductible of $150 then the total that you have paid for 1 year would be  $2190. Now if you subtract $2190 from $5000, then you have gained a benefit of $2810.

I believe that you may not have understood your policy or your information. I am sorry you did not get someone that could explain the plan to you better. But the Encore plans are really great and they are very helpful to so many people. Stonebridge has an A excellent rating for the A.M Best Company and they have been in service for over 40 years. I have only work here for about a year, but this company is great, and I believe in the plans that we sell because I talk to people everyday who are happy with what we offer.

At Stonebridge Life Insurance nothing is more important than our customers' satisfaction and our Company's reputation. We take pride in researching and responding to customer concerns. If you would like for us to research your concerns, please forward your information, such as name, address, phone number to us at [email protected], by fax to 972-881-4072 or by mail to 2700 West Plano Parkway, Plano TX 75075.