ComplaintsforSenior Benefit Services Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  04/15/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I believe this is my fourth complaint to BBB about the same business calling me for final expense insurance. I have all calls recorded and have repeatedly asked to be removed from their mailing list. I've also been on the federal "do not call" list since about 2005, but they continue to call multiple times per day. I've already received two calls today. I'm about ready to launch a harassment law suit and for violating the DNC registry. I don't know what else to do, but they continue to call nearly every day. Can the BBB please help?

  Business response

  04/26/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/04/19) */ I would first like to start off by saying that I truly am sorry about what is happening and wish there was something that I or my company could do to help remedy this situation. The problem is that it is not our company making these calls. Our agents focus in the Medicare marketplace and only contact those thru the following sources: - Referrals - Direct Mail response cards sent back to us requesting to be contacted - Internet submissions made directly to us (not purchased from a third party) It appears that these agents and the group they are affiliated with are focused in the life insurance marketplace with an emphasis on final expense and term life. They are more than likely using one of the call centers out of the middle east (primarily Pakistan) where they are calling and identifying themselves as Senior Benefits. They ignore the DNC use software to manipulate the number shown on Caller ID, and have been known to become abusive on the phone to consumers. Due to them using a portion of our name, we have been forced to do the following: - Have an automated message play when people call into our home office that explains that we are not the ones calling them (our staff was being verbally abused by consumers). We were always known as having a live person answer the phone, but now we cannot. Please feel free to call our office at (301)733- 0085 to listen to the message. - We have established a dedicated website that explains we are not behind the calls. This page receives typically 300-500 visits per month. Please feel free to visit this page at https://seniorbenefitcalls.com - We have used social media to run posts that this is not our company nor affiliates making these calls. - We have reported this to the Attorney General's Office of Maryland and no reply was ever given to our company. - We have reported this to the Department of Insurance in every state. Due to the amount of money that we have spent over the last 10 years on search engine optimization, our company comes up quite often on the first page of Google and other search engines when people type in 'Senior Benefit' or even 'Senior Benefits'. This is something that Google and other search engines use within their algorithms to try and help you find what you might be looking for or something similar. After someone gets these unwanted calls they are simply typing in the search bar 'senior benefits' (or a derivative of our name) and since it is so close to our name, we are one of the results that return. The issue is that we are NOT the only result that returns, but since we come up in the top page ranking, consumers are immediately making the assumption that they have the right company to contact. The consumer does not realize that if they were to dig a little deeper that they would find out that it is not our company. While I truly empathize with the consumers receiving these calls, it has completely disrupted our company over the last 36 months where we are constantly having to defend our good name. Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/04/19) */ Thank you for returning my call, and it was great speaking with you. You asked me to reply to this email since I can't attach a reply to the company's response. I have made several requests for more information so that I get a licensed agent to call me back. When I ask which company they're with, they say either "Senior Benefits" or "**********.com" which I believe is a subsidiary of Senior Benefits. So, the question now is if the company I lodged the complaint against is associated with **********.com. It sounds like they're using a call center to generate leads, and the reps are incredibly rude. If I ask to be removed, they simply hang up. Regardless, the leads are getting passed to a "Senior Benefits" licensed agent, so they do know who's making the calls. Any help the BBB can do to stop this would be much appreciated. It has gone far past harassment. Thank you again! Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2022/04/20) */ Good morning, Senior Benefit Services, Inc. is a small family owned company in Hagerstown, MD. We do not work with or partner with any call centers, nor do we "cold call" individuals. We have no affiliation with **********.com Please let me know if you need any additional information. Thank you, Melanie M**********

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩