Mail Day!

It's fun to live away from home, but it's annoying to get important mail a month after it was important.

I have been having the biggest headache with AFLAC all summer. We had it set up to be withdrawn from our credit card, which was fine until the card expired. I didn't get a call or an email or anything, I got a letter. At my parents' house in Utah. I called them once I realized I hadn't been charged, and that call started the downward slope of my financial summer.

1st call - May 2008
Me: Can I change my direct deposit info? My credit card that the payments have been coming from has expired.
AFLAC: Sure no problem. We'll need to get 3 months of payment from you to get that set up again. I can take that over the phone whenever you're ready.
Me: 3 months? I'm not quite that rich right now. Can I call you in a few weeks after we get paid?
AFLAC: That won't be a problem. Call us back and we'll take your payment over the phone from your credit card and get your direct withdrawal set back up.

2nd call - June 2008
Me: I'm just calling to pay my 3 month premium so I can get set back up on direct withdrawal. Can you take that over the phone?
AFLAC: No and I don't know who told you we could. We need you to send in a check for 2 months of payment and once that's been processed we'll be able to set you up on direct withdrawal from a bank account. We can't set it up through a credit card.
Me: I'm worried because my payment is due in a few days; will it be late if I mail it in?
AFLAC: It just needs to be postmarked before it's due. Send in 2 months of payment for each policy and we'll process that and get you set up on direct withdrawal.

3rd call - July 2008
Me: I sent in a check a few weeks ago for 2 months of payment so I could get set up on direct withdrawal. They said to call back after a few weeks so it could have time to process. Could you check the status and help me get set up on direct withdrawal?
AFLAC: Well it looks like we have your one policy, but the other two were cancelled for lack of payment.
Me:...can you fix that? I sent in 2 months of payment for all three policies.
AFLAC: It looks like you did but they applied it all to the first policy. Let me get that fixed. I'm also going to fax you a sheet you need to fill out to get set up on direct withdrawal. Fax that back and we can get it processed right away.

4th call - Today
Me: Um...I just got a check for an overage payment to my policy. This money was supposed to be transferred to my other two policies so they would no longer be cancelled.
AFLAC: Looks like you're right. Let me get that fixed.
Me: I'm also checking to see if my direct withdrawal was set up.
AFLAC: We need you to send in 2 months of payment and then we can set that up for you.

Are you serious? This is the first time I've ever gotten the run-around from a company before, and it's kind of annoying. The biggest problem is it's not something I can just say "Well forget YOU loserface" and cancel, because I need to cash in on these policies for all this time and trouble to be worth it. *sigh* At least the lady I talked to today sounded completely competent and gave me my ticket number and everything, so hopefully we'll get this straightened out once and for all.

My advice: NEVER SET UP DIRECT DEPOSIT ON A CREDIT CARD BECAUSE IT WILL EXPIRE AND NO ONE WILL TELL YOU.

Our phone bill was also late in May for the same reason. Checking accounts FTW!