The matter of my prior complaint on your website regarding The Standard Insurance Company has been resolved. Please withdraw my public comments and contact at the email provided regarding the status of this request. I may also be reach at the provided phone number. Thank you.
Consumer Complaints & Reviews
I have excellent claim review records and I am currently completing an extensive binder of back-up documentation that clearly proves my allegations of The Standard's bad faith claim tactics to be true. I have far more than just a claim file. My claim review process and claim file has been investigated so well that an attorney has little left to do in "proving" my bad faith allegations against this insurance carrier. It is important to note that I was a private investigator for 7 years before coming down sick with fibromyalgia, and I also have over 25 years of administrative office experience that has enabled me to investigate and record the bad faith tactics throughout the months.
It has been a slow process since I have not been feeling well and have had to rely on my husband for help as time permits him. The good news is I am still within the 3 year statute of limitations per the terms of my policy. I have until 2012 to file a civil lawsuit against my carrier. The bad faith evidence that I have is compelling and damaging to The Standard. I need to hire an attorney in the near future, and I am looking for an attorney who is honest, hard working, and values justice as well as making a living. If you are an attorney and interested in my case, please contact me at *******@yahoo.com.
Also, I am interested in "maybe" writing a book someday about my and other claim denial experiences of other Standard victims. A decision to write a book will depend upon my future health and advice from my future attorney. However, in the meantime, if you are a victim of this company or know someone who is, please feel free to contact me with your story. Your story might be considered for a future book should my future attorney advise me to write one and if I am able to.
Being a victim of this company really makes me angry. It also sickens me to see them getting by with this bad faith behavior over and over again. Evidence of this kind of insurance bad faith is over the internet once one Googles it. But nothing seems to be getting done about it.
I have contacted the media and they have interviewed me regarding my claim review. More claimants need to get "on the air" with their bad faith claim review stories. I am interested in spending more time with the media if given the okay from my future attorney. Every victim of bad faith practice should attempt to do the same. Think of future victims, and try to help them. The problem is, most people don't Google "insurance bad faith" until they are a victim of it.
I just read the April 25, 2010 posting from Cheryl of Stateline, NV for the second time. I initially read and printed her posting on May 11, 2010 just days after I received my own bad faith denial letter from The Standard Insurance Company dated April 29, 2010. My denial letter is 25 pages of lies and deception all for the purpose of denying my claim, attacking my character, and attempting to embarrass me with untruthful and irrelevant comments that had nothing to do with my disability claim or their denial.
These embarrassing statements were clearly done to deter me from sending my denial letter to the media or to an attorney. The reason for this is that most females would not want personal and irrelevant private medical record notations to be included in their denial letters that would eventually have to be given to an attorney, the media, and/or state regulatory boards in an effort to fight a bad faith claim review.
Based upon Cheryl's April 25, 2010 posting, my own experience, and the experiences of others on the Internet, I believe The Standard Insurance Company is systematically defrauding the American disability insurance consumer with their false sales pitches and marketing brochures, particularly the one called "The Protector", which is what I purchased. This disability insurance product did not protect me at all, but rather I was defrauded out of my disability benefits with some of the most egregious bad faith tactics.
Other claimants such as Cheryl from Stateline, NV and I are also being defrauded throughout the claim review process and being treated in an unprofessional manner not consistent with the state insurance laws, the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing applicable to all insurance contracts, or even with The Standard's own Business Conduct Guide posted on their website. The Standard appears to routinely deny claims whenever they think they can get by with it while "writing" something different in their damage control materials as noted above? They particularly appear to deny the claims of "females" with fibromyalgia and/or similar medical conditions with subjective symptoms.
After my initial claim denial in September 2009, my husband and I began conducting an investigation of The Standard's claim denial tactics via my own claim process as well as others written about on the Internet and on news media websites such as Good Morning America Gets Answers. Much of the bad faith tactics I have read about mirrors what The Standard did to me. Likewise, Cheryl's April 25, 2010 posting is very similar to my experience. I don't know about Cheryl, but The Standard inflicted me with a number of bad faith claim denial tactics too extensive in amount and nature to cover in this posting.I was forced to endure this for nearly a year.
The evidence that my husband and I have exposes a very arbitrary and deceptive bad faith claim review that would curl anyone's teeth. I was a private investigator with an "own occupation" individual disability policy. I stopped working in June 2009 due to symptoms of pain and fatigue that were soon diagnosed as fibromyalgia. My claim was filed on August 12, 2009, and the initial denial letter was written September 24, 2009. It took 6 weeks to review my claim, but no "real" review took place.
The swift and arbitrary claim review was not conducted fairly, accurately or thoroughly. Nor was it conducted per the state laws of California where I purchased the policy. In fact, The Standard deliberately reviewed my claim in a very arbitrary and capricious manner that reeks of bad faith and deliberate lies. For example, they did not even request a job description from my employer or consult with their own in-house SIU Department about the physical requirements of my job.
Instead, The Standard used a 1977 outdated and irrelevant Dictionary of Occupational Title because it has a "light duty" classification. To conceal the 1977 date, The Standard deliberately excluded the "DLU-77" code from the claim review records because they knew my job did not exist in 1977. DLU-77 means "Date Last Updated, 1977. They insisted upon using this irrelevant 1977 job title instead of my real job description from my employer because the 1977 DOT title had a "light duty" classification.
They used this "light duty" classification as a justification to deny my claim on my own occupation policy. Also in the initial claim denial they twisted and lied about my medical records while at the same time they ignored the fibromyalgia diagnosis. They also lied and claimed to not have received certain medical records and information when they did have the information. I have proof of these lies.
If you are a claimant and get treated like I did, please beware of their condescending and hostile agenda toward you. They want to discredit you and will do so in any way possible, including writing false phone logs. So don't ever talk with them on the phone. They will write lies in phone logs regarding your conversations with them. I learned this early on and have proof of it. This is why I corresponded with them mostly via email which can be electronically verified in both content and date. If treated like me, you will find their bad faith claim denial tactics are very insulting and illegal.
I paid $14,000.00 over a 7 year period in premiums for my own occupation policy, and I was treated like trash so they could deny my claim and save themselves $1640 a month for 5 years. (This was my total benefit). Since my policy is not subject to ERISA laws, I found it very odd that they would deny my "own occupation" claim with such blatant bad faith tactics. But they did. A month into the appeal process I told them that I believed they must have thought my claim was ERISA to have blatantly done this to me.
FYI, ERISA claims are not subjected to punitive damages in a bad faith civil lawsuit. 7 days after I told them my claim was Non-ERISA, they agreed to pay my claim under reservation or rights. Then they put me through 7 more months of another arbitrary and bad faith administrative review before denying my claim a second and final time. My final denial letter dated April 29, 2010, is 25 pages long and contains so many lies and deceptions for the purpose of denying my claim that you would think this company would be scared to write such a denial letter that could be easily proven to be false. But The Standard does not appear to have any shame or fear of accountability with regard to bad faith and dishonest tactics used to deny claims.
It is mid-October 2010, and I am just about done with my complaint binder of back-up documentation that will prove my allegations of egregious lies and bad faith to be true about this company. Any attorney, media, consumer organizations, Standard customer, or insurance consumer that would like to see this compelling piece of bad faith evidence can be provided to support my allegations to be true. Please feel free to contact me.
If I find your email to be credible and sincere, I will then provide my telephone number to you so we call talk on the telephone. My goal is to litigate my case, report The Standard to as many state departments of insurances as possible with request for a comprehensive investigation into this company, and to help other consumers or customers avoid the bad faith business practices of this company. Their corruptness is evidenced in my documentation which clearly does not match the 13 page "Guide to Business Conduct" that they post on their website. This company is a master of the use of "deceptive words" to increase their bottom line.
Examples of this can be found in their sales and marketing materials, their claim review processes, in their denial letters, and even in some of their public documentation made available to their shareholders on their website. I can provide proof of the above noted statements and I am prepared to do so, if needed. The Standard Insurance Company clearly defrauded me and I believe they will defraud anyone if they think they can get by with it. And "deceptive words" and "intimidation" are two of their main tools to increase their bottom line. I have written documentation that shows their in-house attorneys directly involved in this deception, which by the way is a violation of the codes of conduct of the Oregon State Bar.
Due to the extent of what occurred in my 7 year relationship with The Standard and what I have read from their other victims, I believe they have also violated RICCO statues. I have also been told that this company is one of the best in the business as deception with the written word. Everything that I have read by The Standard has evidence of deception, especially where they are making money on the deception. Again contact me if you are sincerely interested in learning more about my case in order to help me; or if you are a victim of The Standard and would like to ask me questions about my claim review or tell me your story. In closing, everything that you read that this company writes, read it very, very carefully. Then you will see the deception which is clever but damaging once it is exposed.
They denied my disability application. I have severe fibromyalgia, very painful and debilitating. In their denial, they used a description of fibromyalgia that was 15 years old (and not the accepted current definition). Their report was very hurtful, disdainful in tone. They called my teaching job "sedentary". They implied that I just didn't want to go to work (I love my job). They twisted the truth or ignored the facts completely.
Even though several specialists diagnosed fibromyalgia, they stated that they had no evidence that I had fibromyalgia. Throughout the process (which took five months), it was extremely difficult to communicate with them. In the meantime, I have been too sick to defend myself. I need to gather documents for the appeal, but I have had attacks of pain that last for weeks and prohibit my ability to think or function. (I'm writing this in a moment of clarity!) I know others have had similar problems with The Standard. They have had many complaints.
I will appeal. But I feel strongly that people who are already sick and suffering should not be attacked and denied by their insurance company. Of course, The Standard doesn't want to pay. Isn't that conflict of interest? Something is wrong with this system. My doctor, a pain specialist, supported my claim in writing. The Standard ignored his expertise and opinion.
I nearly lost my home. I borrowed money to pay my bills. I had to get donations from a local food closet. A local church paid one utility bill. I cannot afford health insurance and I need more treatment. The feeling of being accused of being a malingerer who is exaggerating her pain is beyond insulting. No one would choose my life if they felt the pain that I feel.
