BCBSTX "Standard Practice" to Poach Clients for CIC

[TxOnline]

One of my clients insured with BCBSTX had a baby recently, tried to add baby to policy. BCBSTX said call in and they can do it over the phone without an app, then person on phone says nope, we need an app....sends my client an app with their own agent information pre-filled instead of mine. Spoke with BCBSTX today and was told it's standard practice for them to insert their own licensed agents as the AOR when a CIC is requested over the phone. Absolutely ridiculous...why am I not surprised?

Supervisor just told me it's ok because I can send in an AOR letter....thanks, that makes me feel much better.

Contact Bill Trees....the BCBSTX sales executive who does the mass-agent meetings every year all over Texas.....proclaiming how valuable the agents are to BCBSTX.

Edit: I removed Bill's email address. Posting it on the internet would open his account up to constant spam. I think that he IS our friend & CAN make changes for us...but I might be naive, too.
I'll PM his email address to dgoldenz

 

[dgoldenz]

Contact Bill Trees....the BCBSTX sales executive who does the mass-agent meetings every year all over Texas.....proclaiming how valuable the agents are to BCBSTX.

Edit: I removed Bill's email address. Posting it on the internet would open his account up to constant spam. I think that he IS our friend & CAN make changes for us...but I might be naive, too.
I'll PM his email address to dgoldenz

Thanks, I'll send him an email.

 

[kgmom219]

Thanks, I'll send him an email.

Ask him your rep is. And if you don't have one, get one. Makes life so much easier. Bill is a good guy, but he can only do so much.

 

[ctg]

....proclaiming how valuable the agents are to BCBSTX.

We've all heard it from every carrier and rolled our eyes. They've looked at us with a straight face and have seen us roll our eyes with an "Oh Please."

They don't give two bits about agents. We know it and they know it and they know we know it. And they don't give a rip.

 

[AllenChicago]

We've all heard it from every carrier and rolled our eyes. They've looked at us with a straight face and have seen us roll our eyes with an "Oh Please."

They don't give two bits about agents. We know it and they know it and they know we know it. And they don't give a rip.

Health Agents were more valuable when a company developed a new product, or a product enhancement, and wanted to get word out to the public. But doing that now, with Guaranteed Approval, would attract too many people who need the benefit, and drive the company out of business. Most agents feel that's what led to Assurant's demise.. Their products were "too good".

This brings something else to mind..but I'll put it in a more appropriate thread.

 

[TxOnline]

I think that Bill can CHANGE the RULES....if he wants to keep his "valuable" agent force working for him.
Your rep can help with 1 app at a time, yes.
But, they don't have the authority to change the rules....& if anyone does, Bill does.
I originally posted his email address so that everyone (anyone who wanted) could let him know that this is not ethical & needs his attention; but then it dawned upon me that I'd just posted his email address to the entire internet world.
Bill CAN & will walk over to an employee & get a problem fixed, too!

 

[MaryDallas]

Yes, I had this very thing happen with one of my clients. She just needed to take her husband off of her policy because they were getting a divorce. A BCBS in-house agent took over and took my name totally off as the broker. She told them she had an agent and gave them my name. They just kept on with the process. I had called to try to take him off myself, but as you know the client has to do that.

Once she had completed the process she immediately contacted me and told me what happened. She said, "I think I just made a mistake." After many weeks and an Act of Congress I got her credited back to me. She had sent me at least a dozen emails asking me if I had been reinstated as her broker. In one of them she said, "I hate dealing with BC/BS. If they don't add you back on as my broker I'm canceling them on Jan. 1, 2016, and redoing it so you are my agent."

I had been told during open enrollment that BC/BS does not enroll ... but they do. She said they were very aggressive with her and she felt railroaded and told them numerous times that she had an agent. I forwarded all of those emails with a copy of the AOR form to producer services.

Yes, this is just wrong.

 

[jlee]

One of my clients insured with BCBSTX had a baby recently, tried to add baby to policy. BCBSTX said call in and they can do it over the phone without an app, then person on phone says nope, we need an app....sends my client an app with their own agent information pre-filled instead of mine. Spoke with BCBSTX today and was told it's standard practice for them to insert their own licensed agents as the AOR when a CIC is requested over the phone. Absolutely ridiculous...why am I not surprised?

Supervisor just told me it's ok because I can send in an AOR letter....thanks, that makes me feel much better.

Are they changing policies, or simply adding to an existing one? If the former is true, it would make more sense that they change AOR (not agreeing with that practice, but see how they would try to rationalize that). If the latter is true then we need to do some deep investigation on our book. Any clarification is appreciated

 

[dgoldenz]

Are they changing policies, or simply adding to an existing one? If the former is true, it would make more sense that they change AOR (not agreeing with that practice, but see how they would try to rationalize that). If the latter is true then we need to do some deep investigation on our book. Any clarification is appreciated

Adding to an existing one