what should my personal challenge be?

[Kali]

third try on hold with BCBS, hold "noise" clearly designed to drive callers INSANE - 12 seconds of horrible warped canned music then a 20 second irritating message with obligatory appreciation of my call and how important it is to them. the message is repeated WAY to quickly compared to the "music" and I am ready to blow something up. I was determined to leave my phone on speaker until somebody finally picked up because they NEVER call back when you fall for the invitation to press one and leave a message. I am failing in my determination.

4 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	10 minutes max
	0 (0%)
	20 minutes for busy large corp.
	1 (25%)
	30 mintutes of torture is too much
	0 (0%)
	1 hour - get some chores done
	2 (50%)
	3 hours - half a basic work day
	0 (0%)
	10 hours - is this even possible?
	0 (0%)
	other - tell me below
	1 (25%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[True Dough]

1. All businesses/services should have automatic call-back options these days

It's not entirely convenient because you never know when the return call is coming so you still have to ensure that you're available to pick up the phone 10 minutes or 90 minutes later. But it sure beats hanging on the line for an hour.

[Kali]

2. agree

and yes inconvenient if you go do something else and forget to bring your damn notes or need to be in front of the computer. same risk as a possible call back later in either case, though.

that was a one hour wait and of course the person was too nice to yell at but I had her make a note in my file about it anyway. my god what a shitty auto system they have!

[True Dough]

7. I try not to take it out on the front-line workers

The poor customer service types get beat up on far too often while making minimum wage. They must dread coming into work some days (or all days).

But I do write letters to management. Well, more often emails these days. I try to include suggestions for improvements rather than just spit venom. But my blood is boiling sometimes.

Glad you got through, Kali. Nothing worse than a disconnect while waiting that long. It happens, and it's doubly maddening!

[Midnight Writer]

3. BCBS, who I have been paying premiums to for over 30 years, has denied my last 3 claims.

These claims are from my same doctor, at the same clinic, for the same services they have been paying for decades.

I have talked to them on the phone 3 times, each call running close to 1 hour (mostly hold time). Each time, they tell me they see no problem, that the bills will be paid, just wait two weeks. I have also sent them 3 letters, and received no response.

Last week, I received another letter from BCBS, telling me again the claims are denied. This has been going on since September.

I also got a nasty letter from the clinic telling me they will sent these bills to a collection agency if not paid in full.

The total amount for all these claims combined is less than one month's premium.

I'll be calling them again this afternoon.

Good luck to you. You are not alone.

[Kali]

4. they have denied a couple claims in the past that were reversed after an appeal

but hour long holds and no call backs, are such shitty customer service.

good luck, I am having a similar problem. made a big payment that should have taken care of my deductible but due to the way they do the payments and billing they actually counted another bill I have NOT paid as the deductible, so now I need to pay that (or same, it goes to collections) meanwhile the bill I paid on is listed as pending for a month and if/when they pay it I will have to try and collect my payment back from a freaking hospital! nice eh? fuckers.

[Lars39]

6. The clinic may have put in the wrong codes.

Might try asking what codes were used, and what codes should have been used.

[Midnight Writer]

8. The BCBS rep called the clinic while I was listening in on the line.

They discussed the charges, the treatment, and the dates of service.

But I'll bring it up. Who knows? Thanks for the advice.

[Lars39]

9. I hope it can be resolved soon.

[Midnight Writer]

11. Thank you.

[Wicked Blue]

5. I play solitaire on the laptop

and it keeps me mildly entertained while waiting.

[LuckyCharms]

10. Your call is very important to us.

All of our representatives are busy helping other customers. Your call will be answered as soon as possible.

The truth: "Please spend the next 40 minutes listening to this electric guitar feedback. We only have one representative, Frank, and he's taking a dump right now. If I were you, I would call back next week, but not between 900AM and 930 AM. For the love of God, whatever you do, don't call during Frank's bathroom time".

[malthaussen]

12. I'm with you on the annoyance, but don't know how to advise you...

... recently, I was trying to talk to somebody at Social Security here, and after about 20 minutes of the annoyance you describe, they just... dropped the call. Yeah, and because I'm a stubborn bastard, I tried twice. Same result. It's hard to imagine a bigger "fuck you."

I did, however, get a callback from Medicaid only a couple of hours after I left my number. I can assure you, I was friggin' amazed.

-- Mal