Complaint Review: Telemarketing 21 - Plano Texas

I am absolutely shocked to see this company reported on Rip Off, this company is managing leads for me in Texas and Penn. I have 2 agencies and they are selling 60- 75% of the appointments. We did have a bump in the beginning but everything was worked out. All we requested was for duals, special needs, seniors expecting our agents at a specific time and day as well as have part A and B and to have the appointments delivered to me by 8:00 in the evening. They delivered and we will keep on ordering. Thanks, Sherry

All over the state of California, this company has cost me and my agents thousands in their costs and tens of thousands in opportunity costs during AEP. 1st appt good 2nd appt was scheduled with a guy that they already set with one of my agents then I had three in a row that thought I was from Medicare. Had one decent appt. Then I had a sheriff called on me. I pre-ordered 40 appt and got about 15. They had me driving more than 300 miles for 3 appointments in one day. Over and over again they thought I was from Medicare. I was told that the one girls setting these appointments would be fired, but no. I asked specific questions and received detailed descriptions. This was not a misunderstanding due to senility, these people prey on old people and can get you arrested or have your license taken away. They tell people they are from the government, most never agree to an appt, they have repeats of people already sold or already met with. These people need to be shut down. ALERT CMS! The testimonials are from last year when a large company gave out the name of all their members that have the PDP, but not the MA plan, mostly dual eligible. I set my own with those when I had a list and turned in 10 applications a day.

Thanks Mike for taking the time to repsond. However, you obviously don't think first, but talk first! I wonder what your closing rate is!! Nevertheless, if you cannot resolve this issue, you can keep your curt comments to yourself. As I stated, Telemarketing 21 was the FIRST and ONLY BAD TELEMARKETING COMPANY that I have experienced. I actually have THREE (3) companies that I order from since them and I order from them when I need to, thank you very much. However, unlike Telemarketing 21, If there is a "BAD APPOINTMENT", I don't get hassled about it. AT ALL! I either get my money back or a "GOOD REPLACEMENT", unlike Telemarketing 21, per MY EXPERIENCE! So again if your experience is different, good for you. However, you're not going to lie about that you've never received a BAD APPOINTMENT from any telemarketing company, because that's a lie and I don't need proof on that statement! As far as my complaint not being heard, obviously you heard it and read it or you wouldn't be "butting in with your two-cents worth of nothing!" So again, if you can't resolve the situation, (which you obviously can't) get out of the way. The ONLY one that needs to hear my complaint is the BBB; not you. Good day! Gina from Charlotte

I just happened across this site and I want to provide my experience with T21. I have not been in the Medicare market for a long time as you have Regina and Mike so I probably do not have as much experience as you do. But I will say when I first started with working Medicare Supplement and Medicare Advantage leads this company has provided me with great appointments. I have already booked up my open enrollment appointments for this upcoming season and I am very excited with the opportunity of increasing my income two-fold! I have been working with them all year long and I have sold anywhere between 8 -12 appointments weekly. I'm sure my personal results are probably not a norm for every agent, but I have to say I am completely satisfied with my experience with this company. I'm sorry to hear of your experience Regina and I agree you have every right to vocalize your experiences on whatever forum you may use. But by you stating you have been through 2 TM companies since T21, in my view this brings your creditability down a bit. As I have learned you have to take the good with the bad. After reading the rep from this company's rebuttal comment, you must have experienced the good since you placed several different orders (?) I will say everyone I've worked with there has given me professional courtesy and service and I would recommend this company to any agent in insurance sales.

So Regina based off what you have previously posted; are you are saying since Telemarketing 21 you have been through 2 companies and you have not had a problem with getting a good credit or getting your money back? That seems to tell me you are chronic complainer. No offense, but don't you see a pattern here? Look above our comments and see the agents who are actually satisfied with this company. After reading the rep from T21's rebuttal, I honestly believe they tried to assist you. But you were probably expecting them to break their policy in order to accommodate you. I wonder if you are giving your other Telemarketing companies (2 so far) as much grief as you are giving Telemarketing 21. I asked my account manager at T21 about your complaint and they explained to me out of the 1011 customers they have so far serviced these last 2 years about 1 dozen are like you...someone who wants everything for nothing. Keep complaining Regina, no one is really listening.

Thank you for your response. However, I do not have to be in an industry for 30 years to know when something is not right! Maybe you do! I do not need anyone to be in agreement with me, either. This was mine, as well as 30+ other agents' experience. Who knows maybe we were the "experiments" of the new company's growing pains. I do not know. If you are experiencing good results from Telemarketing 21; good for you! However, do not jump on someone who has a legitimate complaint against any company. Who knows you may have one with a company yourself one day. If you are as old as you purport, I'm sure you already have. Did you just sit there and take it? By the way, I've been with two other companies since Telemarketing 21 and if they give a "bad appointment", I have no problem getting a "good" credit for it OR, get this, "MY MONEY BACK"! What a shocker! I thought that's what most "reputable businesses" do for retention of "good" customers! Hallelujah!

I must say as an Agent specializing in the Medicare market - Telemarketing 21 is one of the best appointment setting firms I've done business with (personally speaking). I will be honest - I hate scheduling my own appointments, it's not a perfect system and I understand that telemarketing is not a perfect business. What I like about this company is they are fair. They do not treat you like a number, and they try to work with you as if you are their only customer. I have recommended this company to my other agents and FMO's and I will continue doing so. What I am trying to say is I can see where this is going. This agent "Regina" will go through every telemarketing company and expect a "perfect" appointment because most likely that is how she has been trained. Let me give you a little advice Dear, when you get as old as I am and have as much experience in this field there is no perfect appointment. Telemarketing is not a miracle provider. If you can do better I would suggest you to schedule your own appointments and see what kind of results you can get- instead of trashing a reputable company as this one. Thank you.

A correction on my previous rebuttal. As anyone can see from the original email where I stated that the last order I placed on 5/8 in which stated they never received; I stated that the email was sent at 2:24pm instead it was actually sent to Jennifer Watson of Telemarketing 21 at 12:24 as referenced below: May 09, 2007 12:24 PM Subject: Re: No Thurs & Fri Appts! Thurs 9am - 2pm, 1 hour apart for Mecklenburg Fri 9am - 2-pm, 1 hour apart for Mecklenburg When will I get credit for the replacements from two weeks ago? Thanks This would have been plenty of time to receive my appointments. Notice I also asked for credits from two weeks ago, which means as I stated earlier, WHERE ARE THE REPLACEMENTS in your policy which you violated? Also Jennifer lied in her last rebuttal by stating that my case was dismissed by the Better Business Bureau, I guess to make her tale sound creditable. However, here's the response from the Better Business Bureau, the second from which I received. The most recent is as follows: No, the ball wasn't dropped, your case is in review status since we received your rebuttal and once it's reviewed you will be contacted, we have a very high volume of cases to be reviewed and is done in the matter in which they are received, so there are others before your case. Jeanette Reynolds | Senior Associate, Complaint Dept. Tel: 214-740-0319 Fax: 214-303-1412 Email: [email protected] www.bbb.org Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Dallas, Inc. 1601 Elm Street, Suite 3838 Dallas, TX 75201-4701 So Jennifer of Telemarketing 21, try to keep your lies straight! I know that's hard since you need to keep your job, but just try. This will not stop here, believe me! Regina

Unfortunately, Jennifer Watson, who has filed the above rebuttal told the same lies to the Better Business Bureau of Texas. As far as the case being dismissed, send me something to that effect as I was advised by Better Business Bureau of Texas that due to the volume they would continue this case at a later date. So please send me something that the Better Business Bureau of Texas has sent to Telemarketing 21 that shows this lie you are reporting. I have been in the insurance industry for nine years. All of which time I've had to find my own leads and set my own appointments. Therefore I do not possess such navet to begin to expect a "guanteed" appointment as the ones that I myself have had to set over the years were not "guaranteed" appointments. However, if I am paying for a service I expect some decency or at least mediocre quality in the service that I pay for. Quite naturally anyone would. What I received from Telemarketing 21 was inferior and below par service as did about 30 other agents of the Jemison Agency. Hence the email above that was sent out all of his agents to stop all ordering of appointments from Telemarketing 21. So for the employee (Jennifer) to suggest that any of the Jemison Agency's agents are still ordering is a lie for sure! By the way I only place three orders. The first on 4/20. The second on 4/27 which was giving Telemarkting 21 the "benefit of the doubt" after a conference call held on 4/24 to answer all of the other agents' complaints. The last on 5/8, of which apointmenst I never received. So I asked for a refund on 5/10. As far as me being given a discount, that's also a lie. I paid the same amount as everyone else. And concerning Telemarketing 21's replacement policy, that'a also a lie because I have not received a replacement since day one on 4/24. What they call replacements were duplicate names they gave me from two previous orders. One dead person, two which were not even set. So Telemarketing 21 violated their own policy. One no address, etc. These same complaints I learned from the conference call came from other agents in Georgia as well. Many of whom had been ordering longer that I had. As far as my final order that I faxed twice to Telemarketing 21. One on 5/8 at 5:10 pm. The next day Jennifer claimed she never got it. Again on 5/9, again she claimed never received it. She then told me to email it to her. When I emailed my order to her on 5/9 at 2:24, she then told me it was too late to set any appointments. Because this was already Wednesday, I went on and ordered appointments from another company and asked her to give me a refund instead. When speaking with the owner he refused. I asked them NOT to send me any more appointments on 5/10 and requested again a refund. I was told a refund would not be issued. At which time I blocked all emails from Telemarketing 21. Later, on the following Tuesday, I saw that on Friday May 10 Telemarketing 21 had sent 1o more "BAD" appointments. The email went to my "Deleted" folder since I had blocked their emails. Here's as follows: 5 were duplicates and set for 12am, 2am, 4am, and 6am 3 WERE NEVER SET (AFTER I CALLED TO FOLLOW UP ABOUT THE APPTS) 1 WAS DECEASED 1 PHONE WAS DISCONNECTED ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS "WHERE'S THE REPLACEMENTS" THEY OWE ME ABOUT 12! FYI: THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU HAS INFORMED ME THEY WILL RESUME THIS CASE NEXT MONTH. IF TELEMARKETING 21 HAS SOMETHING IN WRITING (WHICH THEY DON'T) WHERE THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU OF TEXAS DSIMISSED MY CASE, PLEASE SEND IT TO ME A MY EMAIL ADDRESS. Thank you

Over the years we have had to formulate various company policies. These policies have never been arbitrarily adopted, but rather chosen in order to be able to accommodate our customers by providing our service at a respectable price while remaining in business. One of these policies is that our customers must read and acknowledge as well as agree to our company "Terms and Conditions" prior to ordering our services. We feel this gives them every opportunity to have full knowledge of how we operate as well as what to expect from our services and be assured of its quality. Victor Jeminson requested telemarketing services to be provided for his agents in Georgia and South and North Carolina. We reviewed and he agreed to our company policy prior to ordering services. It was agreed to provide his agents services at a discounted rate with the understanding their will not be a replacement policy. Each of his agents would have to sign an Agreement form authorizing the contract. We received orders for over 20 of his agents and began providing appointments since April of this year. Regina Boston is an agent contracted under Victor Jeminson and was made aware of the discount agreement. The only concern she has expressed to me was in relation to our appointment setters not asking specific health questions. It was explained to her on several different occasions with the laws with calling on Medicare eligible recipients we cannot ask certain questions such as health related since we are not licensed insurance agents. We have to abide by CMS as well as the Texas Department of Insurance regulations. In the interim she continued to place 4 consecutive orders for our services. It is my understanding she has communicated she wants to be assured of a guarantee sale for each appointment she has purchased. Unfortunately in the telemarketing business this cannot be guaranteed. We know our agents are successful with selling our appointments because we have one of the highest reorder and referral rate than any other telemarketing firm in the country. We have agents who sell 4 15 out of 20 of our appointments and we have agents who sell 0. By me saying that there no telemarketing company that can offer a guarantee of the # of appointments that will be sold by any agent. We have tried to work with Ms. Boston on several different occasions. We have gone above and beyond and have even replaced appointments in which we were not legally obligated to do since she has signed a consensual agreement form. We made a company decision to do this for her - since Victor Jeminson was a good standing client. For the replacements Ms. Boston was advise in order to schedule appointments for her we needed sufficient time (24 hours) to coordinate her schedules with or Telemarketers. Meaning, she must have an order in by at least 9:00 am Central Standard Time. Ms. Boston placed her schedule order in at 2:00 pm. Our processing department sends out schedules to our telemarketers at 10:00 am therefore her request was too late to process for the next date. After advising her of this she expressed her dissatisfaction and requested to receive a full refund of all the appointments she ran as well as the credits that was given to her. It was explained to her we could not accommodate her request for a refund for the services she has received. She has filed a complaint with the BBB of Texas, but after a thorough review of her case her complaint was dismissed. I am grateful for the business we have received from Mr. Jeminson's Agents I cannot, however, consent to the return of funds as Ms. Boston has requested, inasmuch as she has received in full the services we have provided her. I do understand she will continue to argue her case and add invalidated comments pertaining to our services. However regrettably this may be the company cannot accommodate her request. We provide services to hundreds of agents and agencies across the country and her experience to our services is not a normal response as you can see from the above agent's comments. If Ms. Boston has any questions and would like to further discuss her case she is more than welcome to contact our customer service department at 1-877-877-9542 ext. 2. Thank you for allowing me to reply to this customer's complaint.

As far as a rebuttal posted that I am "trashing" this comnpany all I have to say is this company trashed itself by failing to perform mediocre service, at best. There's an agency that I am apart of out Atlanta, Georgia of about 40 agents (hence the emails referencing "Victor's" name that can attest to this. Even after asking Telemarketing 21 to refund my money and not give me anymore appointments, not only did they not refund my money, but instead gave me more "crappy" appointments, which of course I never even attempted to go on. Rather I called them to verify some of them. Many of them were never even set, they had just put someone's name to the appointment. Many of these "credits" as they specify were not credits at all! They were either appointments that I paid for on previous orders (I had only ordered from them two times previous trying to give them the benefit of the doubt), or the person was DEAD, or the phone numbers were disconnected, or they scheduled appointments for 12:00 am, 1:00 am, 2 am and 6 am. Talk about trash! They had, not once, credited any BAD appointments as they claim. Yes they stick by their "policy" of NO REFUNDS! However, they then in turn violate their own policy. If my company provided very low par service, I guess I would say NO REFUNDS too! Our agency were told that there would be replacements given, I had never seen one replacement! Everyone has different experience. All I'm saying is "buy at your own risk!"

This is one of the best telemarketing companies around. I am shocked to hear about your experience, but then again a big company such as Telemarketing 21 can't keep every customer happy. This company has helped me and my agents grow from 3 - 42 within one year. They are providing phenomenal appointments. You said you spent $200 for appointments? How is that when their lowest order of 20 is $560? If you got your appointments for $200 then I don't think you should be complaining. I'm not sure if it is the same lady "Jennifer", but I spoke to her on many occassions and she has been nothing but wonderful with me and my agents. I'm sorry to hear about your complaint, but I've referred their company to my FMO's in 5 different states and they have been using them for the last 6-9 months - no problems. If there is a problem Jennifer and Katie always seems to get it taken care of right away. Sorry you had such trouble, but I couldn't let you trash such a great company without giving my comment. thanks,

My Name is Bill **** and I have insurance agency in State of Texas. I have used Telemarketing 21, Pre-set Appointments.com, medicareadvantageleads.com, Medileads services many times. This company change my life by providing excellent services to me and my agents. All I can say, they are deliver exactly what they promised and all information about their services published up front on every page of their website unlike some other companies Their Terms and conditions clearly say what to expect from services and if someone can not read its their own problem: Thank you for requesting pre-set appointments and phone leads. Telemarketing 21 LLC starts every new Agent relationship with an agreement. This Agreement spells out what you can expect from us, and what we expect from you. There are some important points we would like to address regarding our services. You must Read and Agree to the Telemarketing 21 terms and conditions including any future amendments (collectively, the Agreement) prior to placing your order request: Per our phone script we are using the following terminology such as: Medicare Advantage OR Supplement Specialist Medicare Benefits, Companies contracted with Medicare, Plans approved by Medicare. Some of the elders hear Medicare and might misinterpret this as a representative coming from the Medicare office. This is not a major concern however; due to communicating with the elderly sometimes this might be misinterpreted. In our phone script our leads are not being advised they are scheduling an appointment for a representative from the Medicare office. The individuals who have an income level 15k to 24k a year and they should not be considered Medicaid Recipients on the National Average. It would not be in our best interest to call on those individuals this time of the year. However, if you pick the leads with income level 15k to 24k you might run across some of these individuals who are on Medicaid or on MSP, so please be prepared and have some plans for Dual Eligible in your arsenal. All orders are subject to the following Terms and Conditions: THERE IS NO REFUND. However we will replace a bad appointment if you run across one. Please Note: Appointments will be replaced only if the lead does not live at the given address OR the appointment has not been set. In the case an appointment requires review, Telemarketing 21 utilizes a verification service from a third party independent company, which will call the lead and ask a series of questions pertaining to if they agreed to the appointment, pre-screening, as well as if the agent showed or called ahead. The results are forwarded to T21 Quality Control Department Manager and if it is determined the appointment was BOGUS, the appointment will be replaced and added to the agent's current or new schedule. In the event if the appointment has been determined the Lead actually did schedule the appointment and the Agent did show up for the appointment we will not replace any appointments that are in question. False claims can result in red flagging an Agent's file which will prevent any new orders being accepted. We will replace the appointment only if the Manager finds it to be a deficient" lead/ appointment and only if the agent received the information not by calling on the scheduled appointment but by verifying the information by speaking with lead face to face. Based on the company average presentation ratio of 80% the maximum amount of credits will not exceed 20% of the total amount of the initial order. REPLACEMENT POLICY You understand and agree TELEMARKETING 21will not replace the following appointments: Agent call ahead and lead changes their mind. Leads that miss the appointment or is not at home at the scheduled time. Pre-screened leads have a current insurance plan in place. (T21's Appointment Setter's pre-screen each lead; however we cannot guarantee if the information provided by the lead is accurate.) Leads changed their mind at the door. Leads advise you they were under the impression that you were coming from the Medicare office or Social Security office, etc. (This is not a major concern; however our elderly client hears the word Medicare often during the phone presentation.) If a "bad" appointment with a detailed description has been forwarded to T21's Quality Control for review after 24 hours of the agent running the appointment. No Replacement Policy applies for referral Phone leads. DOUBLE CHECK YOUR ORDER You understand that you MUST double check your order prior to making a payment. Your order summary must include the following: 1. Day and time you would like to run your appointments. 2. The amount of appointments to be set per day. 3. The desired territory you would like to work in. Once we have verified your desired schedule for the week and you have made a payment you can not change or stop your confirmed order schedule until it's fulfilled or until your reorder is placed. There are production processes and quality work flow operations we have to abide by. Simply changing a zip code, counties or a schedule between orders can cause a setback in production. We are now asking each lead if they currently have Medicare Advantage Plan or receiving government or state insurance. The Agent understands Telemarketing 21 cannot guarantee if these individuals have or do not have government or state insurance or do not have Medicare Advantage Plan. This is a bonus question we ask in our presentation to help minimize the amount of appointments with Medicare recipients who does have government or state insurance. By asking this question we do minimize more than half that have these benefits. On individual orders if requested, we can specifically ask if they have Retiree Insurance such as: Tri Care, General Motors Retiree plan, Teachers insurance etc. By asking this question we will minimize the # of appointments with these specific benefits. You understand there is no guarantee all do not have these benefits. We will preset a minimum of 20 appointments per calendar week per agent if for some reason we not able to fulfill your weekly order request we will deliver the remaining amount of appointments the following week. In the event of charge back a dispute shall arise between the parties to this Terms and Conditions contract, it is hereby agreed that the dispute shall be referred to Telemarketing 21's licensed Texas State Attorney or any attorney Telemarketing 21 authorizes within Collin County in the state of Texas for arbitration in accordance with the applicable United States Arbitration and Mediation Rules of Arbitration. The arbitrator's decision shall be final and legally binding and judgment may be entered thereon. Each party shall be responsible for its share of the arbitration fees in accordance with the applicable Rules of Arbitration. In the event a party fails to proceed with arbitration, unsuccessfully challenges the arbitrator's award, or fails to comply with the arbitrator's award, the other party is entitled to costs of suit, including a reasonable attorney's fee for having to compel arbitration or defend or enforce the award. The parties agree that they will be legally bound by the award and that judgment may be entered on such an award. If any party fails to comply with an award or unsuccessfully challenges an award, that party must pay all of the other party's costs of suit including reasonable attorney's fees incurred to enforce or defend such an award, and legal interest on the amount awarded. If any disputes, arbitration or mediation arises both parties agree to select Collin County in Texas as jurisdiction to litigate disputes to this agreement. If party disputes T21's services and initiate a charge back from their Credit Card Company or bank; party will be subject to collection and legal actions which are enforceable by the State of Texas jurisdiction. TELEMARKETING 21offers services that are subject to the terms and conditions set forth herein requiring full compliance on the part of the Agent. If you are in non-agreement to any terms and conditions disclosed in this agreement, discontinue using this site for info or placing an order. By your acceptance of proceeding with placing an order and usage of this service for any purpose including order purchases is regarded as your agreement to the terms and conditions stated above and are legally binding between us.