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Periodic Contributor

Delta Dental Poor Customer Service

I had a bad experience with Delta Dental and believe it's important to share, because it regards their customer service.

 

I originally had the HMO version of the AARP plan, but had a bad experience with one of the dentists. I was paying on a monthly basis and after the first year, I called Delta and explained to the customer service rep that I wanted to cancel my current plan and enroll in the PPO plan. I chose at that time to pay the premium for the entire year.

 

Months later, I discovered that Delta Dental was still withdrawing the monthly payment from my checking account for the HMO plan! I called them immediately and spoke with a rep who advised me that my HMO plan had never been cancelled. She cancelled it immediately and also advised me to file a complaint and request a refund for the funds Delta had continued withdrawing. I called later in the day to ask another question and spoke to a different rep, who also advised me to write them a letter requesting a refund for the amount they had continued withdrawing from my checking account. 

 

I received a letter back saying that my HMO plan had been cancelled (on the more recent date when I had called) and that the charges they withdrew were from when the plan was still in effect. Then I tried to submit a grievance, but their form really only allows for grievances about a dentist. I filled the form the best I could and submitted it, and months later received the response basically repeating what was in their letter--that my plan had been cancelled on the later date (of course, I had no proof that I had called months earlier and requested that it be cancelled) and that they would stop withdrawing funds from my checking account. They refused to even consider that they have made an error and overcharged me. I'm disgusted with them and would drop them immediately if they didn't provide good coverage.

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Contributor

Hi Susanne, I had a nightmare experience with Delta Dental as well. Not only are the Customer Service Agents unwilling or unable to deal with problems they create due to their inability to process a claim timely and correctly, but, when you finally get a live agent on the phone, they refer to correspondence that has not ever been mailed to the insured member yet.  So, the member has not had the benefit of reading correspondence from the grievance because Delta Dental has NOT sent the member a copy of the correspondence.  Talk about BAD SERVICE!!  The agents are indifferent, rude and impatient. Evidently, they are NOT capable of resolving the problems the insured member encounters when using the plan, and you are NEVER allowed to speak to a supervisor or someone more experienced with claim payment.  I'm disgusted with them too, but I don't think their coverage is good enough to put up with their incompetence. There's plenty of competent insurance carriers that can process dental claims accurately, timely and efficiently, Delta Dental and their unruly staff is just NOT one of them.  

 

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Recently had a rough experience with Delta Dental. For tough financial reasons I needed to cancel my plan. Turns out there's a 12 month "contract" which doesn't allow that. It is well hidden on the website so most people don't know it's even there. I tried calling, chatting, emailing to get clarification on this. They did not respond to my emails at all. Different reps told me different things. One of the reps said I could cancel and she did cancel me, well that was not true, and she did NOT cancel me. Fortunately that phone call was recorded and I finally got someone to follow that up after numerous attempts to contact someone. Finally Delta Dental got back to me and admitted it was an "internal" error and they would let me cancel anyway. Well, finally they let me cancel but they are still trying to take payments out of my account so I had to cancel my credit card and put a stop payment on my automatic withdrawals from my checking account. Today was supposed to be the cancellation date and they have cancelled my i.d. card but still show my closed credit card as available for payments!

Recognized Social Butterfly

(3/1/24) @mb78139534 , I try to "avoid" auto payments. Yes, you have NO CONTROL. My dentist had "warned" me about them.  😎

 


[*** @mb78139534 wrote:

Recently had a rough experience with Delta Dental. For tough financial reasons I needed to cancel my plan. Turns out there's a 12 month "contract" which doesn't allow that. It is well hidden on the website so most people don't know it's even there. I tried calling, chatting, emailing to get clarification on this. They did not respond to my emails at all. Different reps told me different things. One of the reps said I could cancel and she did cancel me, well that was not true, and she did NOT cancel me. Fortunately that phone call was recorded and I finally got someone to follow that up after numerous attempts to contact someone. Finally Delta Dental got back to me and admitted it was an "internal" error and they would let me cancel anyway. Well, finally they let me cancel but they are still trying to take payments out of my account so I had to cancel my credit card and put a stop payment on my automatic withdrawals from my checking account. Today was supposed to be the cancellation date and they have cancelled my i.d. card but still show my closed credit card as available for payments!  ***]


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Regular Contributor

Hi there, here to help! We certainly understand your concern regarding AARP Dental Insurance provided by Delta Dental and apologize for your experience. We would be glad to work with the Escalation team at Delta Dental to have this investigated for you. If you are still having difficulties with Delta Dental, please either give us a call at 1-888-OUR-AARP (1-888-687-2277) to request an Escalation or send me a private message in the AARP Online Community by clicking this link and entering my username, “AARPThelmaG” into the “Send to” box https://community.aarp.org/t5/notes/composepage. Please provide the following details in your message:

  • Full name
  • AARP Membership # (or home address)
  • Phone # and email address to contact you
  • Description of your issue

We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate you informing us of your concern. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

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Newbie

We had the same experience as @SusanneWarren. ThelmaG  and would like to file a grievance. I have talked to Customer Service people, Managers, Billing, and the Escalation team with no results. As a last resort, we would like to file a grievance. I was not able to attach any information to my email to Delta Dental so I am attaching it here. This is what I was told to send to Delta Dental for cancellation in April 2022. I received an email reply with CANCEL in the subject line. I assumed that the insurance had been cancelled. However, Delta Dental continued to take the premium payments out of my checking account. We are due a refund for a year of premium payments. 

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i have had major problems with both delta dental and the assigned provider who just canceled my appointment for the initial patient exam I scheduled for the second time after having canceled the first one when the assigned dentist could not confirm my enrollment in the plan. I had been assigned to the office and to this dentist- the only one close my town and the only one I saw that had an oral surgeon co located which I was aleatoric about because I had a tooth snap off at the gum line and know that this will not be able to be removed by a dentist and will need a referral to the surgeon. Also the other town that has a dentist is another half hour away and a solo practitioner with no oral surgeon. No I here near my town and I will be relying on friends and my mother, and or public transportation for rides to the dentist as I 

am currently without a vehicle. So the distance will make a difference convenience wis. To make a king story short snr because I am dizzy from the effort I have made with no help from the assigned dentist whatsoever and I am intact feeling as if the reason they are offering this dental plan with full benefits with no ceiling and no waiting time that also pays for oral surgery that we all know unless it’s for another medical problem and not just for a tooth, will not be covered by original Medicare. I was absolutely elated to find that aarp offered such a plan and that I could get dental work done after years with no dental insurance. Given the fact that I had no bank account to use for payments, I put the near 900 dollars in my credit card to pay for the whole year me was a confined member for a Jan 1 start date which is a ridiculous start and end date given the fact that both dec 31 and Jan 1 are holidays so the only thing we would be able to access is emergency care - which may need preapproval and therefore would jot be able to be accessed but that is beside the point. Anyway, I have had the very unpleasant experience of not being in the dental dental website and have made more than 0 contacts with dental dental who I had thought finally for it right on Friday when the dentist office is closed. I was assigned to the dentist the very first day and had an appointment for a first patient exam which I declined to keep becUwe rhe dentist wanted me to pay out of pocket given the fact they couldn’t confirm my membership with delta dental despite being reassured by delta dental that it had been sorted out and I was no able to be seen in the computer system both myself and by the assigned dentist. She also claimed that she had done the only thing available to her by faxing the dentist office all needdd information which she refused to send me a copy of either in a Text an email or in the mail. Furthermore they have claimed and their answering machine recorded information claims that due to problems with their computer system no proof of coverage will be mailed out for four to six weeks!! They claim they have sent me downloadable documents but will not print and mail them to me and I didn’t not see any emails from them for the last week despite two reps claiming to have emailed me! The alleged documents. Furthermore after being bounced between four different departments and agents a day or two again, and being rescued that I was finally in the system and the dentist would have no problem seeing my information and being able to bill and being given a membership id number verbally, I was canceled by the assigned dentist office this am without first speaking to me in a holiday ( Martin Kurt her king day today) even though the website indicates that online appointments for new members ( the dentist office not the delta dental) Ned’s to be confirmed by a telephone call and after leaving numerator text responses to the dentist office regarding the issues with delta dental. So first thing this morning after ri was reassure don Friday was good to go and the dentist could now see me in the system I was canceled by the dental assistant for the ONLY new patient exam that was available until MAY and told to once again contact delta dental because I’m showing as ROSTER only and I am still not assigned to their dental office and she asked in the text Id I was sure I was PPO and not HMO to which I replied and she has not called or replied since the . DO not take me off the schedule ; booked on their website) for this Thursday, I will speak to delta dental and let them know and try once again to get to the bottom of this. But I want that appointment even if I have to pay cash and wait to be reimbursed or I will cancel it within 48 hours of the appointment but it’s a holiday and I still have four days to make more phone calls to delta dental. I went on the website for the dentist and she took me off the only new patient exam website before even calling or tick t me a chance to respond first thing in Monday morning while it is a holiday and the website indicates it has to be confirmed but not that they will remove you before such phone confirmation takes place. Last time they gave me a lot of time to try to sort it out and then canceled in a Thursday for the Monday at 3 pm appointment because they can’t confirm it on the Friday or weekend because they don’t work Friday thru Sunday! Which was fine because I knew there were more appointments so first thing Monday and nearly every day since then I have been back and forth with the dentist and or delta dental trying to turn this thing into an appointment and once again I was boosted off the schedule and now I can’t speak to delta dental again about the issue because they are close because of the holiday. So now for the whole holiday and until tomorrow I have to wait. And I tried to get a call and I repeatedly texted the dentist I want that only appointment and to put me back in but I can no longer get the appointment because it has been excluded from available appointments and I can’t reach the de tier by phone - so I can alledgely have a “ limited appointment “ to see the dentist before may but I apparently am not being put in the schedule until they can confirm I am assigned to them which entail dental promised me was fixed and still is not. I’m my whole 52 years of being alive I have never ever seen such incompetence snd unprofessionaliwm. I am convinced theee stall tactics are a way to make using the dental plan with has no ceiling on cost and has full benefits with no waiting periods 1 except for the wising to get the dentist and the plan and I all on the same page - as a way to make sure you as a paying member don’t actually get to use our unlimited no waiting period plan that we apent big bucks on - to have coverage and are essentially being stuck in a tangled web of bull, that I am not amused by. And interestingly the option of paying monthly by credit card was not available and I paid for the whole year- something I have never ever done…so I can be given the shaft and lied to and I feel hurt and manipulated and it’s causing me to have high blood pressure and feel hopeless and I’m close to tears . I hate delta dental and honestly I don’t know that I want to ever deal with either or them again and it is this that has kept me with sooo much unmet dental work for the last few years. Everyone who promotes this plan and these practices ought to be excluded from the gates of heaven and should be utterly ashamed and embarrass . I’ll let you know in a year whether or not I got to use this 900 dollar dental plan I was so hopeful about and now feel more discouraged than ever. Wishing I was not American, an aero member or someone with inlet dental beds, with the ugliest smile in earth- the sadder aarp and delta dental member that ever was. Thanks you so much. I’m this is a fraud and a joke. 

Honored Social Butterfly

@LoisM230247 

 

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.gov - You have protections when it comes to automatic debit pay...

 

You ALWAYS have control over your OWN checking account - your can STOP automatic bill pay for ANY vendor simply by advising your bank and then you are free to work out any problems with the vendor.  

Once you cancelled with the vendor and verified that it was cancelled then your should have STOP their automatic drafts from your checking account.  That get’s their attention real fast.

YOU have control of your money not any other entity - well, ‘cept the government in certain situations. 

Getting back any premiums paid after you cancelled is gonna require you to deal in proof to the vendor since you should have stopped the automatic drafts once you cancelled - might even have to go the court route, i.e. lawsuit - is it worth it?

 

Good Luck

 

 

It's Always Something . . . . Roseanna Roseannadanna
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Honored Social Butterfly

@SusanneWarren wrote

I originally had the HMO version of the AARP plan, but had a bad experience with one of the dentists. I was paying on a monthly basis and after the first year, I called Delta and explained to the customer service rep that I wanted to cancel my current plan and enroll in the PPO plan. I chose at that time to pay the premium for the entire year.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++

Seems your verbal messages aren't getting thru to them or their "bot" workers.

What I would do - is WRITE to the HMO address; mark a copy to the Corporate office 

Give dates, who you spoke to, if possible, list all the charges that have shown up in your bank account for the HMO plan that you verbally cancelled.   Send them also your PPO info like account #, the date you started it (the date your HMO s/h/b cancelled) and proof that you paid it in advance for a year.  If you want this refund, you are gonna have to fight for it - and the 1st step is to get your complaint to the right person to handle it and at this stage that isn't gonna be a CS rep over the phone.  There may be a process in your HMO contract that talks about how to do cancellations specifically.

 

We all control our own bank accounts - you could have stopped the auto deduct of the HMO plan at your bank when you cancelled it.  People should continue to balance their checking accounts monthly, that way they keep themselves up-to-date on such auto deducts and can action immediately if they wish to stop an auto deduct for some reason.

Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.gov - 08/25/2020 - How do I stop automatic payments from my bank ...

 

from the link ~ (there is more at the link as to the exact procedure)

Federal law provides certain protections for recurring automatic debit payments. You have the right to stop a company from taking automatic payments from your account, even if you previously allowed them. For example, you may decide to cancel your membership or service with the company, or you might decide to pay a different way.

 

It's Always Something . . . . Roseanna Roseannadanna
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Hi GailL1 Roseanna Roseannadanna,  Thank you for this information!!!!  😃

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