ComplaintsforBenefit Resource LLC

• Initial Complaint

  05/22/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  This complaint is regarding the commuter benefits account associated with my previous employment, from which I separated on March 21, 2024. Upon my departure, I attempted to utilize the remaining balance on my commuter benefits debit card on multiple occasions without success. When I contacted their customer service line, I was informed that a new card would be issued to allow me to access and exhaust the funds remaining in my account. However, in a subsequent communication from the company, I was told that I only had one month after my termination date to use the balance, after which it would be forfeited. This purported policy was never clearly communicated to me previously. I did not receive adequate notice about this alleged forfeiture policy. As such, I officially requested that they issue me a new commuter benefits debit card to allow me to access and utilize the full remaining balance in my account pursuant to the plan documents and applicable regulations. They never replied by email or phone, and I lost more than $200 of my own money.

  Business response

  06/17/2024

  Firstly I wanted to apologize for the issues you have experienced with your CEP plan administered by BRI. Upon investigation into your account the CEP plan with your employer was discontinued per IRS and legal guidelines, you should have received communication from your employer regarding the discontinuation of this plan and I apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused. Due to this plan being discontinued and guidelines of the IRS we would be unable to refund any unused funds at this time. Thank you Kyle P****** Member Services Sr Manager 

  Customer response

  06/18/2024

  Hi, the business has solved my problem with the above complaint. You can close it now. Thank you for your help.

  Best,

  *******

  
  
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  05/16/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  First thing. The Company is Benefit Resource Inc. Their letterhead shows an address in Omaha NE. PO Box 3850, Zip 68103-3850. On February 29, 2024, my wife's Health and Dental Insurance was terminated due to the fact that the Business (******* ******) closed their doors. My wife's insurance was covered under Cobra Retiree. I made a payment for March and April 2024 not knowing the Business - ******* ****** was terminating her Insurance. Each payment that was paid was in the amount of $812.79. The total is $1625.58 that I paid thinking my wife was covered. I contacted Benefit Resource and continue to get the run around. They did tell me a few times that I would receive a refund to my visa account (That is the account that a total of $1625.58 was withdrew from Benefit Resource). THE CASE NUMBER is ******** that BENEFIT RESOURCE provided to me. Each time I call them they say I will receive a refund in 10 to 14 days. As of today it's 13 days. I want them to reassure me that I will indeed get a refund. As stated I've called numerous times and all they say is, "We are waiting for an update", I don't know what that means. They don't explain. I then left a message with a Supervisor explaining the situation and have not received a call back. Benefit Resource Inc number is: ###-###-####. I will say that the employees at BRI were professional, etc but simply cannot provide me an answer as to when I will receive a refund. I'm tired of calling and not given an answer to my question. I want BRI to contact me and tell me exactly when I will receive a refund. I've been told that I will get a refund however, each time I call they say, "We are waiting for an Update". That's not good enough. Please keep in mind that I have not received a phone call from any Supervisor. Thank you BBB for your time. It's bad enough that the Cobra Retiree insurance was terminated but it's also bad that I am still waiting for a refund. An insurance agent friend told me this is considered, "Unearned Premiums".

  Business response

  06/17/2024

  Firstly, I wanted to apologize for the difficulties you have faced with your COBRA benefits administered by BRI. Upon investigation, ******* ****** Group Health Benefits Plan originally intended to drop group health coverage as of 3/31/24, which was what was reported to BRI and processed. It was later brought to our attention that the carriers in fact dropped coverage on 2/29 due to lack of payment by the employer for the group policy.  All March premiums collected by BRI were remitted to the employer and it is their responsibility to refund that payment to their Qualified Beneficiaries.   Any April premiums have been refunded directly to participants by BRI. We apologize for the difficulties this has caused and if you have any additional concerns, please let us know. thank you Kyle P****** Member Services Sr Manager

  Customer response

  06/18/2024

  Better Business Bureau: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. Why would BRI send my money to a company (******* ******) that is in bankruptcy rather than send me the refund for the month of March? I received a refund from BRI for the month of April, however, BRI should have sent me the March refund ($812.79) and not some company (******* ****** that has filed bankruptcy). I had created a case number with BRI requesting a refund for March and April. There's no reason whatsoever to send ******* ****** my March refund - it's negligence what BRI has done. The BRI case number is ********. BRI has know for months that I created this case number with them to receive a refund for March and April. I insist that BRI send me my March refund quickly. ******* ****** terminated the Cobra Insurance for my wife back on February 29, 2024. I sent BRI a March and April premiums and I insist BRI refund me the March premium just like they did for April. Regards, ****** *****  

• Initial Complaint

  05/14/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  My employer switched to Benefit Resource in March for an HRA. We went years without having issues before the switch. Since then THEY ARE NOT ADDING THE MONEY MY EMPLOYER CLAIMS TO BE PAYING TO MY ACCOUNT EVERY MONTH. I haven’t gotten 1 credit since the account opening in March when residual balance was transferred over. Since this has basically been depleted from filing claims and no new credits are being added, I can’t use it anymore. When I call they confirmed twice now on a call on 5/3/24 & 5/13/24 that I haven’t gotten the credits and that I SHOULD have but have no idea why. So I contact my employer who confirms she has been paying & contacts them on 5/13/24 & they distort the whole thing by telling her that I am in fact getting claims approved and direct deposited so she is misguided by them to think everything is fine. I NEVER said my previous claims on residual balance weren’t getting approved. I am MISSING the $150 April & May credit that the employer contributes once a month to fund such claims. The only reason why my claims have been getting paid is because of a balance that has accumulated in the acct from previous months with this HRA which is now gone. I have tried my best to facilitate a resolution for this by calling the company and the employer but it’s not happening. I don’t understand why everyone is playing dumb as how an HRA works. How am I supposed to use my benefits when they aren’t continually funded into my account like they are supposed to be? At this current time, if no deposits are coming in then this account has become useless to me. I can’t file claims without a balance. Not to mention where is the $ going if my employer is paying and it’s not showing up into the employee HRA accounts? I know 2 other employees who also confirmed they have not rec’d the 150 for April or May. Transaction proof below. Unless I am missing something about a drastic change in the way this HRA works, which has thus far NOT been comm to me, this seems suspicious

  Customer response

  06/03/2024

  Better Business Bureau: Hello,This is in regards to complaint submitted on 5/14/24 with ID ********.The complaint his finally been addressed by the business. Business contacted the owner of my company and appears to have resolved the issue.Deposits are so far going in now for everyone. I still stand with the fact that their customer service dept is very difficult to get a hold of and severely lacks proactivity to resolve issues like these. But I am glad it is finally resolved.You can close the case thanks.******** *********  Regards, ******** *********

• Initial Complaint

  05/14/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This company cancelled my health insurance with zero notification even though they took the full premium out of my bank account for the last month I had coverage (was switching over to another plan on 2/1/24). I had given birth on 12/25/23 and added the baby to the policy in an email to them (because you can never get anyone on the phone) on 1/7/2024. I recieved no confirmation or anything back from them and come only to learn that they took the increased premium out of my bank account on 1/17/24, DIDNT add the baby to my plan, then completely cancelled my health insurance with no communication. This has resulted in numerous doctor bills for my child and I in the month we most needed health insurance! I have been trying to contact them FOR WEEKS trying to resolve this. I can never get anyone to talk to and always get sent to an answering machine. I sat on the phone with them for 2 hours only to be told I owe $1100 for Janruary (which is completely inaccurate)!!!! Then I tried emailing them and they email me back again with inaccurate information of what I owe. I sent over proof of payment of the premium of $807 from my bank account and instead of emailing back saying "we can't see the photos you attached" they said nothing and said I owe $775 now. I just tried calling back again to resolve this only to be told i needed to send the images again and support would take a look. Then I got sent to an answering machine again. THIS IS THE WORST ESTABLISHMENT and they SHOULD NOT be handling health insurance. I am sick to my stomach and in tears over all of this espically being a mom to a newborn and having all of these bills they were supposed to take care of and cover. IF these bills get sent to collection and ruin my credit I am going to be furious.

  Business response

  06/17/2024

  Firstly,I wanted to apologize for the difficulties you have faced with your COBRA benefits administered by BRI. Upon investigation, we have attempted to contact BCBS numerous times to change the term date updated to 1/31/2024. At this time there is not an update and we have emailed them again today to get this resolved asap. We apologize for the difficulties this has caused and we will follow up as updates are provided.   thank you  Kyle P****** Member Services Sr Manager

• Initial Complaint

  05/12/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I was terminated by my employer on 02.29.24, BRI was the company HSA. I created a separate account that has a balance of $357.44 per BRI instructions. I have talked to multiple people at Benefit Resources and *** for the last 3 weeks. No one has been able to tell me how to withdraw these funds. *** stated that I have no account with them and to speak to Benefit Resources. BRI states that they cannot help me access the ************* site and I need to speak to ***. I am brought to the ************* site when I select “I Want To…Manage My Account” on the BRIWebsite. ************* shows that I have $0 funds in my account. I cannot add or verify my bank account to withdraw my funds on any website I am brought to. On May 1st I received the following email from BRI: “*** Bank is resigning as the custodial bank for your HSA. The account is in process of transitioning custodial banks. Once the transition concludes, you may log into BRIWEB then reimburse yourself for the amount of payment using the “Reimburse Myself” feature found on the “Health Savings Account” tab under the “I want to…” dropdown.” I do not want to reimburse myself, I want to withdraw all funds from my account. Why can a check in the amount in my account not be issued to me and my account closed?

  Business response

  05/13/2024

  After researching MS. ***** account I was advised by the admin that *** is in process to transition the funds this week and after that the funds should transfer over to PFX later this week, and then Ms. ***** can log into to her account to transfer the funds and close her account.

   

  Customer response

  05/13/2024

  Better Business Bureau: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.  Regards, **** *****

• Initial Complaint

  04/24/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Benefit Resource administers my FSA and HSA accounts. The BRI website is malfunctioning and there is no ability to submit claims / receipts. I have tried calling multiple times today - I called the first time at 3:44pm and was prompted to use the call-back feature. They called me back at 4:49 and I answered and it was not connected with anyone. They indicated if you missed their call and you call back on the same day they would put you in the priority queue. I called back at 4:50pm and was just put back into the regular queue. I sat in the queue for 24 minutes and then was forced to put in for the call back feature (even though that did not work last time). They prompt you to also use their live chat feature which is down. I also tried emailing and they said it would take up to 2 business days to reply. There are time sensitive deadlines to submitting claims for FSA (April 29, 2024) and HSA (April 30, 2024) and I can't get in contact with anyone from the company so that I can access my money.

  Business response

  04/25/2024

  After further review we show that MS ******** was able to connect with one of our Agents on 4/24/24 at 6:52 PM and has been taking care off she now has access to her online portal for her IHSA and also received and email with an attachment claim form for her medical account.

  Customer response

  04/26/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ****** ********
  
  
  
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  04/18/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I had an HSA account with BRI through my former employer. I've since left that employer, and need to transfer funds from BRI to another account. I have tried to email and call BRI multiple times. I've spent 4+ hours on hold with BRI trying to get information about how to transfer funds. An automated system has told me that I would receive a call back - I never have. I cannot get through to anyone. And email responses are unhelpful. I have a deadline to transfer the funds, and I need to meet that deadline.

  Business response

  04/19/2024

  Tania, I have had my leadership team call you but we have been unable to reach you. Can you please call us back or email me at *********************************? I would be more than happy to get this resolved asap. Thanks Kyle P****** Sr Member Services Manager 

• Initial Complaint

  04/14/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  This business is an administrator for COBRA benefits. I was terminated from my job in March and my health insurance expired at the end of the month. My former company agreed to make the COBRA payments to cover April and May to keep our insurance coverage. I contacted Benefits Resource (BRI) on April 3rd to advise them I was electing COBRA coverage by logging into my account and selecting this option. I have used COBRA in the past and it usually takes only a few days for the health insurance company to reinstate coverage once they receive payment. In this case the payment has to come from BRI. However, BRI is refusing to pay the insurance company, even though they've confirmed they have the funds from my former employer. They're indicating they will wait 7 to 14 days from the election date to make the payment because they need to "make sure they are transmitting the correct information to the insurance company". What information? The insurance company has all my information. They only need the funds from BRI. And why would this take 14 days? BRI was able to immediately generate a confirmation letter with payment vouchers to continue my coverage past May, but can't transmit my "information" to the insurance company for 14 days? This is utter nonsense. It's clear to me that BRI is sitting on the funds to benefit themselves. I've called them three times and they've indicated they will "expedite" my case, but nothing has happened. In the meantime, this is creating a major hardship for us. We can't to go to the doctor and can't get our prescriptions filled. My daughter needs her medication to maintain her mental health. She will soon run out without refills and I'm concerned she will need to be hospitalized again without her medicine. This is an urgent problem. We are asking that BRI stop stalling and make the payments immediately. This is their responsibility and they are refusing to honor their obligations.

  Customer response

  05/02/2024

  Benefit Resources did eventually contact my health insurance company 3 times to provide the information to activate my health insurance.  This issue is resolved. Regards, **** ********

• Initial Complaint

  04/10/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I used my debit card to pay the $385.10 because my flex spending account was locked because they didn't appove of one of my receipts. They told me amounts don't match so they sent me a $62 dollar check. I want the rest of my money back. If I wanted to use my debit card I wouldn't have opened the flex spending account. Thank you.

  Business response

  04/22/2024

  Mr *****, Firstly I wanted to apologize for the difficulty you have experienced with your medical account administered by BRI. Upon investigation it looks like you submitted a claim for $385.10 but you only submitted documentation for $62 to be paid out. Please submit documentation for the remainder of this claim to be paid. Thanks so much Kyle P****** Sr PSD Manager 

• Initial Complaint

  04/09/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I attempted to use my BRI Card for over-the-counter medication on 04.02.24 at CVS. The transaction was denied and I had to pay out of pocket. I subsequently submitted my receipt for reimbursement. I followed up two days later and was informed the reimbursement was denied because it was submitted outside of the plan period. I contacted BRI and was informed my account was closed, the customer service rep inquired if I had been terminated, or changed positions. I informed the rep had not been terminated and was still employed with the employer I had signed up with BRI through. I was then informed they would contact my current employer to confirm. I was also informed I would not be able to purchase over-the-counter items with the BRI Card at my local pharmacy as BRI is not connected to do so. I would only be able to purchase items via ****** or the FSA Store. Which is unacceptable in situations of emergency. If I do purchase OTC, I would have to pay out of pocket and submit for reimbursement. My current Medical FSA plan is 01/01/2024 - 12/31/2024 with currently $2,375.82 on the card and I have to until 03/31/2025 to submit claims.

  Business response

  04/25/2024

  After further review of the account, we show that the Employer closed the account for the medical on 4/1/24.

  We did advise.MR ********.to reach back out to his Employer. 

  Customer response

  04/26/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ******** ********
  
  
  
  
  

*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. ↩