Posted on 05/02/2013 4:23:40 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement
WHEN NAVY PETTY Officer Jeffrey Ferren died of a heart condition last year, his widow, Gabriella Kubinyi, believed she would at least be taken care of financially.
That's because as a member of the U.S. armed forces, Ferren, 31, of Camden, had life insurance through Prudential Insurance Co.
But Kubinyi's grief at losing her husband in April 2012 was only compounded when the Newark, N.J., insurance giant told her that she would not be receiving his full $400,000 death benefit.
The insurer said a clerical error had resulted in the wrong amount being deducted from her husband's paychecks, therefore she would not get the full benefit amount, according to attorney Aaron J. Freiwald, who yesterday filed a lawsuit against Prudential in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.philly.com ...
I stand corrected. I worked for Pru for a while in the early 90s, when they were a mutual company. I wasn’t aware of the change in status.
Insurance is more regulated than almost any other industry, which makes me about the annual statements the policyholder was recieving, most UL policies can be underfunded, as they are flexible premium, flexible face policies, but the annual statements would have clearly stated how long the policy would exist at current premiums. Letting the policyholder know of an insufficient premium deduction.
I would say that they will have to spend more than $400,000 to counter the negative publicity ALREADY. Obviously, they have no “damage control” specialists and are too stupid to hire consultants.
“Insurance is organized crime.”
True, but they pay taxes, so it’s OK.
Another piss poor argument by an Insurance giant trying to see if they can get away without paying.
You've obviously never had the misfortune of dealing with the jackasses that work in military administration and dispersing shops.
You can't force these people to do their job. I personally went to the admin shop over a pay issue more than 20 times over the the course of a year because of a pay issue (over paid). I was told I was wrong, disruptive, dumb grunt etc and literally escorted out of the shop and told not to return for the issue because I was wrong.
Then I got docked for 18 months of over payment....luckily they waited until I was deployed to cut my pay (fortunately I had saved the extra).
Then there was the time they paid me, and by me I mean my government travel card $10,000 for a trip I didn't take. I was deployed t the time and unable to cash the check so I could repay the government. So, the money sat as a positive balance on the card and the government took my pay, which meant the money my wife and kids counted on didn't get to them.
Don't worry no one was ever held accountable for it.
Oh yeah and by the way, if you have auto draft setup for to pay your bills and your paycheck doesn't come.....it's still you losing a stripe when the check bounces.
Lucky for me I've been able to set money aside to avoid major trouble....there are others that have had unforeseen circumstances that spiral out of control after getting hit with a pay problem. Don't worry, getting reduced in rank, put on barracks restriction, AND cut your lower rank's pay.
My point is you don't have a choice a lot of times when it comes to your pay. There are jobs in the military that are the biggest welfare secret in America (they also seem to attract the Amish - like administration and supply). You can do the bare minimum possible, never be held accountable for your f#ckups, and still get your gubmint check on the 1st and 15th. But don't dare say anything about it you racist.
From 14 years experience of watching this disaster - I side with the squid's widow.
should say:
Don't worry, getting reduced in rank, put on barracks restriction, AND cutting your lower rank's pay (ie, you lose a stripe and they cut the lower rank's pay by 50% for up to 45 days) doesn't compound the problem at all. /s
(sorry touch screen deleted it in previous post)
G.E. sent jobs to China, while Jeffery Immelt was sitting on Obama’s jobs council. How many G.E. appliances are in the homes of Americans? Unfortunately the majority of America has the attention span of a 12 year old.
The military pay complex is kinda hard to understand. They take monthly payments from your pay automatically when you get insurance and you don’t think twice about the amount because they notify military pay how much to take out.
Like winning a jackpot on the slots in an indian casino...they always say too bad, the machine just misfunctioned..no payout
Back in the 90s, the wife and I took out policies on our lives. Prudential did blood work and came back to say they would write me but not the wife. Sugar level high or something. Turned out she was pregnant so they said come back once she has the child. Needless to say, I declined my policy with them and have never touched Prudential since.
Creeps.
I can understand that, I was raised in a Federal house, everything in triplicate, and that was a few decades ago when a vast majority of Govt employee’s cared about the jobs they were doing. It is so very important that people read their contracts, and associated statements. Honest human error can also happen. The greeks had a saying from many Centuries ago, Caveat Emptor, “let the buyer be aware”.
I think this widow’s struggle is sad, and I wished she and her departed loved one had read, and asked questions when they did not understand. The deck page would have listed the standard premium due, and frequency. It wounds me worse that this happened to a service family, but Insurance is just a legal contract. People please read and understand your contracts.
BTW what ever happened to those indestructible black Govt. ink pens??? They were the best.
I dumped Prudential because their agent kept trying to churn my policies. He got me once.
Once.
My experience with Prudential is that their agents are borderline criminals who churn policies and sell crap. They fraudulently sell new policies after telling the policy holder that the return on the cash value of the existing policy will pay its own premium. You find out different when you get a premium bill for what you thought was a paid up policy that now has zero cash value.
That’s my experience. And now I am wiser.
That sounds like ethically challanged individuals, their are Doctors, Lawyers, and Politicians like that too.
Jeff Atwater is the Commissioner of Insurance in your State of Florida, agents are required to have a Million Dollar errors and ommissions policy. If the State agree’s that you have been wronged their is recourse for you to be made whole.
“G.E. sent jobs to China, while Jeffery Immelt was sitting on Obama’s jobs council. How many G.E. appliances are in the homes of Americans? Unfortunately the majority of America has the attention span of a 12 year old.”
I know plenty of people who won’t touch anything made by them for this and other reasons (the near zero corporate tax year they had, being one of them) and we have a fairly large appliance factory here.
I agree wholeheartily!
What if he had been paying too much, would she get a higher insurance benefit payout? No way!
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