Can you imagine the emotional roller coaster ride the sick, the elderly and the low education persons deal with in the insurance co or billing department?
Part of the strategy. If the patient dies from a stress induced stroke or heart attack, the estate generally has to settle especially if the family is already exhausted and overtaxed due to the death of a loved one.
It's the same with routinely denying claims related to injuries severe enough to require surgery. If the patient is, say, a victim of domestic violence or has been in a sports related accident, he or she is generally under enough other kinds of stress to be pressured into accepting responsibility for the bill.
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I have no experience with this and so do not wish to comment on it. I will say that there are bottom feeders that will try to saddle individuals and companies with small inconvienences and hope that they just pay them off rather than cause problems. I'll give an example. My company uses Centurylink for their phone service. About 7 months ago a company called asking to speak to "whoever handles the Centurlink account," whenever someone calls in and doesn't know the name of the person my spidey-sense kicks in, and so I probed and the person said that they were from Telpex and that they could 'lower my phone bill.' I tell him that we aren't interested and to take off his list and then hang up. I $@$@ hate these calls. If someone were to call my business and say, "I am a competitor to ___ and want to get your business," I'll listen to them and maybe we can work something out. But when anyone calls without a contact name, my response is to go away*. I #%% hate these calls. We exhibit at a few shows and it pisses me off how many calls we get from people that will try to pretend like they are from that show when in reality they are either freight brokers or people trying to book hotels from us, not because they are trying to get business but because they represent themselves as being from the show. Well anyways, Telpex called again and spoke to my warehouse manager who hearing that they can save us money decided to get some figures. Wel, that company took that message as confirmation that we had their business and used that recording (he wasn't authorized to make any such decision, and swears he said that to the salesperson) to call Centurylink to cancel our phone service and switch it over to us. Next thing we know we get an invoice for triple what our regular phone bill is and harassing phone messages.
I didn't think much of Telpex after I told them to go away, but after my warehouse manager talked to them I did a little Googling and see that it is a fraud service. Multiple complain that they call saying that they are with a provider and then rip them off by saying that they agreed to use them.
So by that point it my warehouse manager comes to me. I got a copy of the invoice and ask him WTF? He tells me what happens and then I speak to Telpex and tell them we didn't sign any agreement and that we plan to litigate the invoice if they pursue it. They say that they will. Instead, they call us for the next few weeks and then our phone line is cut off.
We get Centurylink to re-institute service. Problem with centurylink is that they are an oligopoly and honestly don't give a fuck about customer service. You would think that they would call before switching an account to a 'rival.'
I'm guessing that Telpex think that most businesses will just pay them to go away. We aren't like that, the principal owner says, "Feel free to file a suit, I'm sure a judge would love to see any agreements we allegedly signed." That was the last we heard of them on the invoice matter. Fast forward to 3 weeks ago, I just got a call from Telpex.
*If someone calls and says that they are with company ___ and would like to speak to the person responsible for that area, I"m more likely to transfer them if I answer the phone (we don't have a receptionist any longer).
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I had this happen years ago, but with a twist. I was working for a small business and got a call from one of the scam phone companies. They asked enough questions to verify the owner's full name and ended the call. Our service was switched, the bills exploded, and they tried to collect. At that point they actually presented a forged document with the owner's signature, requesting service. Back when everybody had land lines, and the industry deregulated, this type of crap was an epidemic. Also had a case of an elderly FIL who spent years paying $8/month to another shitbag phone company to lease a $50 ring volume amplifier. He passed, and the MIL just kept on paying the bill. After the MIL passed the bastards demanded that it be returned to them before they would cancel the contract. They billed well over a grand for the "service" over at least a decade.