Posts filed under 'Selectquote'
I wrote a post sometime back about an experience that a now client of mine had with Selectquote. In a nutshell they gave him a quote and then after he had taken his exam they changed the quote, not based on the exam but on information they already had.
They then told him that the new quote was as good as he would be able to do. He called me and ran his health history by me and I gave him a quote from Prudential that, given what I and Selectquote knew at the time, was better than what they said was as good as he could do.
So Selectquote switched companies to Pru and he applied through them again. But then they found out that on his labs his cholesterol was high which raised the Pru price. Again they told him it was the best he would be able to do given the cholesterol issue. He called me again and again, given everything Selectquote knew I was able to show him another company where we could again get the price back down due to their more lenient stance on cholesterol.
He shared with me and I copied in that post an email exchange between him and the Selectquote agent where the agent told him that it was simply unethical for him (the agent) to keep reapplying when there was no chance of improvement. All of this is simply to preface today’s post by driving home the point that not all agents and not all agencies are really willing to work hard and long to do the right thing for the client.
I had a psychologist call me about getting a term life insurance policy about three years ago. She was very open and honest and admitted that she had been a prescription drug abuser, but had been through treatment about a year before. She had done a lot of the right things. She completed an outpatient program. In order to keep her license she submitted to random drug tests. She saw a prescription abuse specialist on a very regular basis and attended NA.
All of that said we were not able to find a company that would take her until she was five years out from treatment. Period. So, we shopped it again the next year and got the same answer. We were now four years out from her treatment. So, why shop when we’ve already been told five years? Life insurance underwriting and underwriters change. What I’m told today may not get the same answer 6 months from now. We didn’t succeed in this case but if we had we would have been able to get her need covered a year sooner.
We just shopped it again, just past the five year mark and we now have 3 standard offers on the table to work with. We’ll have her life insurance in force within the next two months. No one would have ever called her back from any of the big on line agencies. Too hard a case. Too much time involved. To them easy is profitable, hard isn’t.
Bottom line. If you’re young and healthy and don’t have any history or issues, anyone can get you life insurance just as quick and easy as any of the big on line agencies. But if you’ve got issues or history or health problems, pick an agent that is going to fight all the battles it takes to win the war.
January 5th, 2010
I just read a press release on my favorite on line mega giant life insurance agency, Selectquote, now offering quotes by simply texting your age into your cell phone. That’s it! Your age and you get a quote! How stupid is that?
If it’s really that easy then why don’t doctors tell you to stick your phone up your butt for an instant colonoscopy? Can someone please tell me how far Selectquote is going to completely remove themselves from professionalism and still claim to be a professional online life insurance agency?
If this is the route they are going to take then I think a company name change is due. How about WildAssGuessquote.com?
Let’s get real. If you text in your age and only your age you are going to get a quote that doesn’t even take into consideration your sex, your health, your family history, whether you’re currently in prison, or in a bar too drunk to drive . It won’t distinguish between you being in San Jose or Kandahar. It won’t take anything into account at all. So, why are they asking you to text your age for this ludicrous quote? SO THEY HAVE YOUR PHONE NUMBER AND CAN TEXT YOU INTO SUBMISSION!!!!!!!!!! HELLO!!!!!!! Charan Singh, the CEO wants to make things more convenient for you. Not accurate. Not professional. Not anything but convenient. Well Charan, cylindrical phones for colonoscopies would be convenient too. Does that make them a good idea?
Bottom line. There is nothing professional or forthcoming about their latest idea. In my opinion they would serve the country better by offering more training to the agents they have and try a little customer service instead of gimmicks.
December 1st, 2009
We got a preferred rate approval on a client today. This is a client who had come to me after feeling, well, jerked around and lied to by Selectquote.
The Selectquote agent who worked with this client was all about banging out an approval and moving on to the next client. Even if you overlook the original bait and switch where he quoted Banner preferred plus rates, got the client to do an exam and then broke the news that it looked like it would more likely be standard plus rates. Even if you overlook the fact that the agent lied and told him that the standard plus rate was really as good as it was going to turn out anyway.
Even if you overlook the fact that the agent admitted that Prudential could do better after being confronted with a quote through our office and then ran an application through them, on September 1 the agent sent the client an email that just really can’t be overlooked.
“Prudential gave you a Preferred rate but Banner and Genworth will not. JLT”. The same agent inferred that it was unethical to run a third application for this client, “Ethically I cannot submit yet a third application on your behalf and promise you better pricing. Based on the underwriting thus far (cholesterol medication and the use of Paxil) through the first two applications and my experience with Genworth that carrier will not deliver a Preferred rate.”
Ethically this agent ought to know the companies he represents and their underwriters well enough to know that Genworth was the company to go with in the beginning. He ought to be familiar enough with Genworth underwriting to know that cholesterol medication has no impact at all on the rate (preferred best is OK with cholesterol medication) and that treatment for situational depression with Paxil is preferred at worst with Genworth.
Genworth did approve preferred. JLT with Selectquote was wrong on this case from beginning to the end where his client sought an agent that would shoot straight with him.
Bottom line. Something I’ve contended for a long time is that an agency like Selectquote who hangs their hat and their future on volume sales can’t really humble themselves to service before, during or after the sale. Having worked for a few years at a Selectquote clone I can tell you that it is all about fast selling and hopefully placing whatever the outcome is. When you tell a client that it is unethical to try a third application, what JLT was really saying is that their business model doesn’t support doing whatever it takes to do right by the client.
I left that clone agency because they refused to service clients. I’ll never place anywhere close to 100,000 policies a year and that’s OK.
October 20th, 2009
I wrote a post on September 2 concerning a client who had a bad experience in attempting to get life insurance through Selectquote. He emailed to provide more details and one of those details was a misunderstanding of mine that I want to correct.
I had indicated that there were several interactions where Selectquote was less than straightforward and in the list I said “2. Ordering an exam before he had a commitment from the client to move ahead”. The client clarified that while he had been misled about the price, he had indicated that he would proceed with an exam based on the quotes he had received.
So, forgive me Selectquote. While it doesn’t clean the slate with this client, I was wrong about that one point and I apologize. I do strive to be fair and accurate and I missed it this time on that one point.
All of the other points were affirmed by the client’s email as being accurate, including the Selectquote agent’s comment in his email of September 1 to the client that, “Prudential gave you a Preferred rate but Banner and Genworth will not. JLT”. The same agent inferred that it was unethical to run a third application for this client, “Ethically I cannot submit yet a third application on your behalf and promise you better pricing. Based on the underwriting thus far (cholesterol medication and the use of Paxil) through the first two applications and my experience with Genworth that carrier will not deliver a Preferred rate.”
Since when is attempting to get a client a lower rate unethical? That is exactly why independent agents represent multiple companies. There is no reason a client of mine should ever have to pay the second best rate.
Bottom line. I’ll keep you posted on the client’s progress with Genworth which, frankly, should be a shoe in preferred approval. At that time he has offered to share a little about his experience in his own words (that way I don’t mess them up).
September 8th, 2009
I wrote a post back in early August about a man who had contacted me after a rather dubious interaction with Selectquote while trying to buy life insurance.
After shopping his case for him and determining that several companies were willing to set aside his treatment with Paxil for anxiety as not rateable I figured that I had won his business. The problem was that he was a busy guy and Selectquote won’t allow their labwork to be shared, so in order to help the guy out he would have had to do a new exam.
So, in spite of the fact that the agent at Selectquote had been less than honest with him by 1. Telling him he could get preferred plus from Banner while being treated for anxiety, 2. Ordering an exam before he had a commitment from the client to move ahead (manipulation), 3. Once the exam was done telling him then that Banner wouldn’t come through with the rate quoted due to the anxiety treatment and then 4. Telling him that no other company would do any better than Banner……..even after all that, he gave Selectquote the information I had gathered for him on what companies would do better and allowed them to pursue an application with Prudential.
He called today. The agent with Selectquote called the other day and told him he was approved and that they were sending the new policy out. He just received the policy and it was not at the rate that Selectquote had quoted him due to his cholesterol being high. Sending out a policy approved at a rate other than quoted without discussing it with a client is just wrong. When he called to ask about the higher rate, again he was told that he couldn’t do any better by switching to another company, that due to his cholesterol the Prudential approval was as good as it was going to get.
If my count is right, because that was a lie and the agent at Selectquote knows that, this agent has lied to this guy 4 times and by setting up an exam without discussing it, manipulated him once.
The man has finally decided to tell them to shove it and as he said, “go with someone who has been straight with me all along”. I appreciate the opportunity.
Bottom line. Selectquote wants your business, but the truth is I really don’t see where they are truly invested in earning it. From their first bait and switch, to their last lie about Prudential being the best rate the man can get they’ve done everything they can do to just slam the lid shut on the deal and move on. If they aren’t into this to do best by the client, it’s all about slamming deals and banking profit and that stinks.
September 1st, 2009
The biggest of the on line life insurance agencies is a master at tying up customers and shielding them from the truth and often better deals that might come from competitors.
Bait and switch is the first line of offense or tactic. I’ll use a very recent true example. A client called Selectquote and completed an interview in which he admitted that he had been using Paxil, an anti depressant for a few years. The agent quoted Banner Life preferred plus rates. Banner has never given preferred plus to anyone on anti depressants. Agents at Selectquote know that. And even if it was a new agent that didn’t know that for some reason, then he shouldn’t have been flipping out quotes without some supervision.
The client said he would think about it and the next call he gets is from an examiner to schedule an exam. Not really sure what was going on he went ahead and scheduled an exam. The scheduled exam is their second line of offense. After the exam was scheduled the agent called him back and said that it didn’t look like, because of the Paxil, he would get the rate quoted, but that they should go ahead with the exam and see where it ended up.
In the meantime their client contacted me and I shopped his case. Banner’s offer was standard plus, but we got preferred plus offers from two other companies, a two rate class difference. That’s about 50% lower than the Banner rate. I provided those quotes to the client and he called Selectquote and told them Banner wasn’t going to be good enough, that he had better quotes.
The third line of offense is making exams unavailable to other agents or agencies. So, if a customer starts feeling like they’re getting the run around, it means they have to have another exam to switch horses. While the exams are no big deal, it’s a busy world out there and most people won’t switch to another agency if it means taking another exam. They will stay where they’re getting messed with because it’s more convenient. The big on line agencies know that. Most agents and agencies don’t put this kind of hold on exams.
So the client was told that since he had the exam already they would go ahead and run an application through one of the other companies that I had quoted. They told the client that it was all the same, that if they couldn’t get the better price then I wouldn’t be able to either. To put it nicely, that simply isn’t true. I’ve beat big on line agencies time after time by simply doing a more thorough job of putting an application package together.
If this client hadn’t sought a second opinion, Selectquote would have placed a higher price policy with him. I get fussed at every time I bring one of these issues up with the “big boys”, but the truth is they are so big that they have forgotten how to treat people as valued customers. Their highest priority is volume and their bottom line. They hang their hat on the fact that they write 100,000+ policies a year.
The only way for customers to win is to walk away from the deal when they feel fenced in or run around. The tactics I’ve talked about only work if you let them.
Bottom line. Life insurance agents should be in the business to serve and do their utmost to make sure that every customer they help gets the best possible policy and price they can. The big boys have logistically outgrown the ability to do that.
July 25th, 2009
I know Selectquote blows a cork every time I say something about them, but I have contended in the past that their after the sale customer service is non existent and I would just like to reiterate that point.
As discussed in a recent post, there is actually great value to having your life insurance reviewed annually. It only takes a few minutes and can help ensure that your policy is still set up to meet your needs and wishes, and can also potentially save you money if a better rate has come available.
I am working with a client that got their last term insurance policy through Selectquote 10 years ago. He had actually contacted me because he had read about customer service in a blog post and on our website. When I asked him about his customer service experience with Selectquote he shared that since he bought the policy 10 years ago they hadn’t called, written or emailed.
Bottom line. This customer needs to have his life insurance for a longer period than he originally purchased and had his policy been reviewed annually, this would have come to light sooner saving him money.
I understand that Selectquote can’t possibly do annual reviews when they sell 100,000 or so policies a year, so if customer service is an important value added to your life insurance policy, you might seek out an agency that still believes that service doesn’t end with the sale.
April 18th, 2009
It’s been a fascinating couple of years. I will sum it up by saying that we have helped a lot of people get life insurance who never thought they could. And what better way to celebrate the information we’ve shared and the victories we’ve had than with a shared meal, a key word salad.
Diabetes has been at the forefront of our life insurance efforts from the very start. We’ve made huge headway in finding aggressive underwriting for type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. I think our strong point has been in education. There are a lot more people out there today that know what their A1c is than when we started.
I’ve been very clear about where some of the problems lie in our industry. The AARP/New York Life collaboration, on what can only be described as a sick crime against older folks, continue to offer the worst term insurance and whole life insurance in the business. They are simply not the advocate they claim to be.
I’ve stepped on some toes along the way. Selectquote and Zander Life insurance have taken exception to some of my observations. Being a Dave Ramsey fan and I think, ultimately, a reasonable person, I did apologize to Zander. In spite of Selectquote’s berating commentary, I still stand by my assertion that they are biased in what companies they offer (otherwise they wouldn’t be so easy to beat) and I still believe that Suze Orman should go back to waitressing. As to their assertion that I only use Selectquote and Suze Orman for search engine optimization, well, I don’t, even though they think I do. If I didn’t think there was better service elsewhere and more honest advertising, I would never have mentioned Selectquote.
We’ve touched on scuba diving and Prudential being a leader in great rates for recreational divers. Pru also stomps the competition on prostate cancer, sleep apnea and mild anxiety issues. While providing direction on those issues we have also been able to provide direction for those involved in skydiving and foreign travel to places where kidnap and ransom insurance is more than just a casual thought.
We’ve stayed abreast of the economic meltdown and recession that have whacked us all and tried to help people understand how best to handle their life insurance needs in these tight times.
We’ve held lengthy discussions about obesity and the impact it can have on other health issues such as hypertension or high blood pressure, cholesterol, heart disease, heart attack, stroke and cancer. We’ve discussed the risk and benefits of gastric bypass surgery as a means to avoid the life threatening side effects of being over weight.
Probably our biggest response has been from those suffering from depression and bipolar disorder. We reached a group of people that have truly been black balled in the insurance industry and we’ve been able to find some level headed underwriting and hit some major home runs for those who have the name tag but lead normal lives.
We have bared the facts behind the black eye of all black eyes in the insurance industry, the non guaranteed whole life, universal life and variable universal life policies and explained the alternatives in the permanent insurance market. There is nothing that provides greater value and peace of mind than a rock solid guarantee.
We’ve had frank discussions about business life insurance such as key man insurance and buy/sell life insurance. We did a whole series on women and life insurance. We’ve provided direction and information to private pilots that they aren’t getting anywhere else. We’ve talked about the guts of the policy when it comes to the two year suicide and incontestability clause and the accelerated death benefit and the beneficiary rights and the beneficiary issues for those who aren’t in a legal relationship such as a gay couple or an unmarried couple.
Bottom line. And the list goes on and on. We’ve tried to leave no stone unturned and no question unanswered in our quest to find life insurance for those whose mortality risk might be more challenging than average. As an independent agent it has been gratifying to have so many ways to help those who have been mishandled by the wrong agent or the wrong company. As we continue to reach out my prayer is that all who need help find it, and that more agents consider serving those who are harder to help.
March 18th, 2009
