Oh How I (used To) Love 5 Star

[mbiallas]

So I just opened up my commission statement on their rickety system to find that I just had charge back for $800. The problem is that they never bothered to send me an email or even a letter to let me know the client was having second thoughts. Who knows - this may still be a saveable deal but it bugs me that they just don't care anymore.

This lack of communication really drives me nuts because they used to be so good with that. It was so nice to have a first name relationship with home office staff.

Also - Is it just me or does one need a PhD in Astrophysics and Witchcraft to make sense of their commission statements? I have written with them for 2 years and am still not completely sure how it works.

Also - does anyone else seem to have more persistency issues with 5 Star than other carriers? For some reason my persistency with them is awful. I'm no rock star with my other carriers but I don't lose nearly as much business with other carriers as I do with 5 Star. Just the other day I stopped by to see some folks that had missed a payment on a 5 Star policy. Simple enough - they had changed bank accounts. They called 5 Star to give them the new info and eventually got fed up being on hold and gave up.

Pretty sure I am done with them now. Oh well...on to the next.

 

[rousemark]

I contracted with 5Star but have never written anything with them.. About the time I got contracted, everybody started complaining about the problems so I thought I would wait it out.. Doesn't seem to be getting any better.

 

[Gooner]

I wrote 2 pieces of business with them over the last 2 days and I just got access to the agent portal tonite...it looks like a maze. I'm probably just slow, well not probably, but how the hell do I even order marketing materials from them?

Thank god for FEXquotes, so I was able to find the rates.

We're not off to a good start...after hearing some of the complaints I'm just praying the business gets places

 

[HoosierLife]

They made up 40% of my apps this year and 75% of my chargebacks. I'm pretty confident many of them happened because they didnt charge someone's card and with at least 25% of chargebacks I never received an email about NSFs.

 

[mbiallas]

They made up 40% of my apps this year and 75% of my chargebacks. I'm pretty confident many of them happened because they didnt charge someone's card and with at least 25% of chargebacks I never received an email about NSFs.

That makes me feel a little bit better. Anyone else have a similar experience?

 

[Tom from Denver]

Yup (twenty characters)

 

[jdeasy]

So I just opened up my commission statement on their rickety system to find that I just had charge back for $800. The problem is that they never bothered to send me an email or even a letter to let me know the client was having second thoughts. Who knows - this may still be a saveable deal but it bugs me that they just don't care anymore.

This lack of communication really drives me nuts because they used to be so good with that. It was so nice to have a first name relationship with home office staff.

Also - Is it just me or does one need a PhD in Astrophysics and Witchcraft to make sense of their commission statements? I have written with them for 2 years and am still not completely sure how it works.

Also - does anyone else seem to have more persistency issues with 5 Star than other carriers? For some reason my persistency with them is awful. I'm no rock star with my other carriers but I don't lose nearly as much business with other carriers as I do with 5 Star. Just the other day I stopped by to see some folks that had missed a payment on a 5 Star policy. Simple enough - they had changed bank accounts. They called 5 Star to give them the new info and eventually got fed up being on hold and gave up.

Pretty sure I am done with them now. Oh well...on to the next.

Thjey are terrible in that dep and always have been. Then they won't let you rewrite someone lapses the policy.

I had one recently where it was supposed to be taken from the DE card. The lady thought she was being drafted. All of sudden 3 months later I get a chargeback. They never got the first drat. But they never notified the client nor me. No late notices. No trying to draft again, no communications at all.

When I got the chargeback I call the lady and she was surprised to hear that her insurance wasn't paid. I talked to 5 Star about it and they admitted that there had been no communication with the client or the agent.

I asked them if we just start over with a new app or redate the old one. They said they couldn't do it because of their policy of not allowing rewrites on lapses.

I asked if this one could be reconsidered since they dropped the ball. They agreed to take this to "management" and see what could be done. Got a call about 2 hours later saying that management said no exceptions.

This is just how they are. And, yes, I have more lapses with them than with any other company and it's almost always over billing issues.

I just got a text from a 5 Star client a few days ago that pays direct. She wanted to know if there was any other company I could put her with that would let her pay direct because she was tired of dealing with 5 Star.

I lost another one a few months ago on a $240/mo direct pay. They had been with LH for 5 years before I put them with 5 Star. They paid LH direct and had never missed a payment. Maybe everyone doesn't know that when 5 Star sends a bill they send it for 2 months everytime. The person only has to pay one month but they will always get a bill for 2 months. After being on hold for 30 minutes everytime he tried to call 5 Star about the bill he just quit paying. Only person I've ever met that wished he hadn't left LH. I hooked him up with an LH agent.

I assume he has gone back to LH now?

I could go on for days about these issues with them. Then, they complained to my upline that I raised my voice on the phone with them.

 

[John Galt]

So I just opened up my commission statement on their rickety system to find that I just had charge back for $800. The problem is that they never bothered to send me an email or even a letter to let me know the client was having second thoughts. Who knows - this may still be a saveable deal but it bugs me that they just don't care anymore.

This lack of communication really drives me nuts because they used to be so good with that. It was so nice to have a first name relationship with home office staff.

Also - Is it just me or does one need a PhD in Astrophysics and Witchcraft to make sense of their commission statements? I have written with them for 2 years and am still not completely sure how it works.

Also - does anyone else seem to have more persistency issues with 5 Star than other carriers? For some reason my persistency with them is awful. I'm no rock star with my other carriers but I don't lose nearly as much business with other carriers as I do with 5 Star. Just the other day I stopped by to see some folks that had missed a payment on a 5 Star policy. Simple enough - they had changed bank accounts. They called 5 Star to give them the new info and eventually got fed up being on hold and gave up.

Pretty sure I am done with them now. Oh well...on to the next.

Lol, just search my posts and threads on them, this is exactly why I sat to hell with them, one of the worst I have ever dealt with in any industry. In addition to your problems I echo what JD said as well.

But....just had my first death claim. Really surprised me, 51 years old, good health, 15,000 policy, issued 3 months ago, I hope 5 star doesn't f'k this up.

 

[WinoBlues]

Thjey are terrible in that dep and always have been. Then they won't let you rewrite someone lapses the policy.

I had one recently where it was supposed to be taken from the DE card. The lady thought she was being drafted. All of sudden 3 months later I get a chargeback. They never got the first drat. But they never notified the client nor me. No late notices. No trying to draft again, no communications at all.

When I got the chargeback I call the lady and she was surprised to hear that her insurance wasn't paid. I talked to 5 Star about it and they admitted that there had been no communication with the client or the agent.

I asked them if we just start over with a new app or redate the old one. They said they couldn't do it because of their policy of not allowing rewrites on lapses.

I asked if this one could be reconsidered since they dropped the ball. They agreed to take this to "management" and see what could be done. Got a call about 2 hours later saying that management said no exceptions.

This is just how they are. And, yes, I have more lapses with them than with any other company and it's almost always over billing issues.

I just got a text from a 5 Star client a few days ago that pays direct. She wanted to know if there was any other company I could put her with that would let her pay direct because she was tired of dealing with 5 Star.

I lost another one a few months ago on a $240/mo direct pay. They had been with LH for 5 years before I put them with 5 Star. They paid LH direct and had never missed a payment. Maybe everyone doesn't know that when 5 Star sends a bill they send it for 2 months everytime. The person only has to pay one month but they will always get a bill for 2 months. After being on hold for 30 minutes everytime he tried to call 5 Star about the bill he just quit paying. Only person I've ever met that wished he hadn't left LH. I hooked him up with an LH agent.

I assume he has gone back to LH now?

I could go on for days about these issues with them. Then, they complained to my upline that I raised my voice on the phone with them.

I'll bet Newby has a nice woodshed.

 

[slushpuppyking]

I've been getting spam emails all day and I think they are somehow connected to 5 Star. Not sure if their complete agents list got hacked or if they accidentally sent it out but I've been getting stuff from spammers, recruiters, and marketers all day. The email all this crap is going to is:

Final_Expense_Agent_List%[email protected]

Thanks 5 Star!