Conexis sucks! What a bunch of bureaucratic asses. I wrote this to my Benefits Coordinator, but got absolutely nowhere with them. So all I can do is warn anyone who may have a choice in their FSA, or when considering your place of employment, find out who runs their FSA, if it's Conexis, you may want to reconsider working for your employer.
(A letter written to our benefits coordinator...)
I don’t know if you have been collecting issues with Conexis, but I want to voice my concerns with the program. I was hoping that the program would finally bring some convenience to having a flexible spending account. Having a Visa card tied to the FSA seemed to make a lot of sense and ease in reporting FSA activity. However it is not the case. Conexis challenges every purchase, loses paperwork and has draconian rules for use of their cards (Employees better know what is reimbursable or we will shut you down).
Every time I try to use this card, I can count on a letter from Conexis demanding paperwork. The paperwork is unclear to what they want and to what constitutes legitimate proof of service. To pick up 3 prescriptions, I have to turn in 11 pieces of paperwork. But my biggest issue is with their latest challenge. I received a notice in the mail on September 6 for a July payment of $49.80 to my child’s doctor. I sent in the paperwork as requested on September 13, 2007. I did not know that I could not use the FSA for services rendered prior to my employment, so on September 27th, I received a “FINAL REQUEST: YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION TO THIS NOTICE IS APPRECIATED” notice from Conexis stating in small type on their generic form letter “Reason Denied: Expense incurred outside of plan dates.”
I can understand their position, but the notice was very generic and took a while to find the cause of the notice. Last week, I traveled for the company to Albuquerque, NM, Atlanta, GA and Ft. Worth, TX. On my return on Friday, my wife fell in our house and severely sprained her ankle. I had school all day Saturday, so she had to go to urgent care on her own, so I gave her the Conexis card so she could make the co-payment. When she tried to use the Conexis card for the Co-Pay, she was denied. On Saturday, October 20, I received a Cobra notice from Conexis with no explanation. I called Conexis today to inquire on the problem, and they stated since 60 days passed (I am not sure from when as my first notice was received on September 6), they halted service on the card. I explained the misunderstanding of the rules and I would send the payment (Even though I have over $49 in co pays that they denied this weekend) but I want the card reactivated. They refuse to turn on the card until a check is in hand in Dallas, TX and an additional 24 hours to restart service. I requested to speak to a supervisor, who I was supposed to be transferred to, but was disconnected and had to call back and spend another 15 minutes to leave him a voice mail.
This process is ludicrous. This is my money in my flex account to pay my medical payments. How they get to set such draconian policies is beyond me. I have had to repeatedly re-send information that they lose (I now keep fax receipts to prove I sent paperwork in), and send an exorbitant amount of paperwork that I really question their value to our company. If you have any influence over them, I would appreciate some assistance or consideration of moving to another provider in the next opportunity to do so.
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9 comments:
I know that this post is about two years old, but my employer signed up with Conexis, too, and for the last year or so, I have been going through the EXACT same kind of runaround as you did. Isn't there any kind of legal action that we can take against these bastards?
Hello to you both!! Just wanted to let you know that Conexis has a D+ rating with the Better Business Bureau of Dallas - I just logged my complaint today - they have 67 now - you all should log yours as well. They promise a resolution within 30 days
OMG completely agree. Have been spending HOURS and HOURS of my time trying to get them to pay me back MY money. Completely infuriating. They just want to hold onto your money as long as possible. The people who work there seem to be automatons who have drunk the Kool-Aid and/or are too scared or intimidated (probably the latter) to think for themselves. A horrible, horrible company. I have decided to forego an FSA for next year because of the hassle (not worth the psychic energy expended). I think some type of consumer class action lawsuit is warranted. I am married to a lawyer, so let me know if anyone wants to join in on this. I am also going to complain vociferously to my employer (the University of California, no less!) Chris, please send me your complaint so I can see it.
I am so angry at them right now that I'm not sure I can even talk about it anymore. They have done everything in their power to make sure the clock runs down on how many days I can use my card to access MY OWN MONEY, so that they get to keep it!!! After repeated attempts to get someone to help me, they have not sent me a replacement card for the one I lost, (they tell me replacement FSA cards take up to TEN BUSINESS DAYS TO PROCESS, and there's less than two weeks left in this year!) They hogtie you and stall you with all kinds of IRS regulations they say that have to be followed, and yet they put a spin on the situation so that it always works out in THEIR favor. And complaining to my employer about this is USELESS. Our HR department is pretty much a bad joke. At this point, unless I get my card in the mail next week, there is nothing I can do about the money I'm going to lose this year...and I can't even use it as a write-off for my taxes (it was already taken out of my paychecks pre-taxes and all.)
WHO gets to keep the money if you don't use it? If it is the company (Conexis) then obviously this is a great scam for them. This should be completely illegal. By the way, I did speak to my husband about this last night and he will talk to a colleague about a possible class-action lawsuit. Please let me know if you are interested in participating. He will be looking into it. One named plaintiff is needed, but then the whole CLASS of people who have been wronged have to be notified, so he says it's expensive to mount one of these cases. However, I would like to try because I think this is outrageous. Another tack would be to try to interest a reporter in the story.
This company manages my FSA.
I'm more than a little disgusted with this enterprise and their practice of routinely refusing my claims, and routinely losing paperwork. I have now had two claims denied for having inadequate paperwork. Funny thing regarding the first is that I used their electronic uploading feature to send them the required documentation. How do you lose an upload? Regarding the second, a request for reimbursement of mileage, they refused my request on the basis of their being no supporting documentation. Funny thing about that is they never once indicated what appropriate supporting documentation for mileage reimbursement might be.
When I receive my EOB from my insurance company, I shall MAIL them ALL related documents for both claims (as the mileage claim relates to the first claim) to once again submit these claims - and I shall be mailing in all of my claims from now on. I can see now that they routinely "lose" documents that are uploaded, or faxed, to them. I shall fax it to them as well as sending by mail.
I plan on including a cover letter with both the package by mail, as well as the fax, detailing all of the documents enclosed in each and noting that the fax and package by mail each include the same information. These packages will include all correspondence, and refer to all conversations by phone
This outfit needs to get its act together, but fast - and I WILL get satisfaction from this, I vow.
Does anyone know where they are located? I am trying to file a suit against them but can only find a PO Box and they will not give me a physical address over the phone for some reason.
We are having a horrible time with them as well, they have frozen our card with a lot of money left on it due to something they already paid. This company is INSANE! I wish their was a law suit going.
Same experience. In my I don't recall my password or 'secret question' to reset it. I've emailed the address they give for login issues, and gotten no response. I have no way to even download the forms to submit through the mail to document my expenses. They will do whatever they can to deny your claims. I plan to take it up with HR and see if I can get them to drop Conexis, they're horrible.
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