AHCO Maternity Card Provider Being Sued
By Theresa M. Erickson
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The Texas attorney general’s office has filed a lawsuit accusing an Austin company of selling fraudulent discount health card plans to pregnant women, the office announced Monday.
The lawsuit claims that Austin-based AHCO Direct, also known as Affordable HealthCare Options, and its owners, Brian McDonald and Aaron Bouren, sold fake discount cards to uninsured pregnant women that promised to cover up to 60 percent of maternity-related costs.
The two are accused of multiple violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Abbott said in a statement.
The cards were marketed to uninsured pregnant women via Google ads, the lawsuit said.
See remainder of article here: http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/04/15/0415aghealth.html
Posted in Blog, Egg Donation, Surrogacy, Uncategorized | (31) Comments/Questions
I would like to know if there is a class action suit going on. I was also taken in by these people that claim that they are doing right by the pregnant women and pretty much I was told the same thing. I was sent to collection over a bill that they claim they sent out an “estimate of savings” to the provider. I would love to see that they get what they deserve. I filed a report with the BBB, but was told that I would have to put out another $70.00 for arbitration services. I have all the comments and so forth that were sent via the BBB from AHCO. This is a huge scam and I am very angry. I live in California and had no idea that when I became pregnant and scared because of the cost of having to take care of myself and the baby during pregnancy and then birth would be astronomical. I was taken in by these people by being told by a representative that she had used the service and it had saved her so much money and that she was so pleased with the whole thing. This is horrible that they take advantage of women in a scary place and then can’t back up what they tell you originally.
AHCO advertises to provide maternity discount programs to persons who are pregnant without insurance coverage, and/or persons who do not qualify for state medicaid plans. I contacted the organization in 07/2008 to and paid the enrollmen fee of $199.00 with monthly payments of $90.00 thereafter. ACHCO was to set me up with a physician/clinic where I could use there discount card. Upon contacting the clinic I was referred to by AHCO, I was advised they do not accept this program. I returned back to AHCO, who states they now cannot assist me because I am too far along in my pregnancy. This information was made available to AHCO prior to enrollment, and there website states they are able to assist persons who are already pregnant right on the homepage. I requested a refund of my enrollment fee, and cancellation from AHCO because they could not provide me with what I have purchased, which was a doctor to use their program with. AHCO has refused to refund my money, and cancel my membership. Furthermore, they have mislead the clinic they set me up with to believe that they are actually an insurance company, and now this clinic refuses to schedule me for a financial appointment. They state AHCO has advised them I have insurance. Because of AHCO’s misleading statements, I am without ANY prenatal care at all. No one will assist me until I provide a cancellation letter from AHCO, saying they are not insurance, and that I am not covered by them. This has now become a health concern, as I cannot see a doctor.
I ALSO HAVE PAID THIS SERVICE FOR MY WIFE . AND FOUND OUT THAT NO ONE ACCEPTS THIS CO. ANY MORE
I just found out that AHCO is not operating under the name “maternity savings”. BE AWARE it is the same company, see the link below.
http://www.maternitysavings.com/enrolld3.asp?source=0D0H0R-content-www.complaints.com
I had a friend that worked there a year or so ago, and I hear that they are racist. He told me that he was told to follow the rules but the other’s wern’t, he said it was probably because he wasn’t in their little circle, but that would also be because he is african american.
These typs of companies always flurish, because they by their way out.
That and they hire people who have no values. My buddy left, but I heard they hired another token, and he was let go as well.
AHCO is big fraud. They will take your money and give you nothing but pain and agony. No one consider them as a legitimate service giver and they promised to cut ur bill for no apparent reason. Dont elude by their promise and as a sufferer I urges not to do business with them. They many different names as Maternity advantage, Affordable Health care ,,,
This has nothing to do with MaternityCard or AHCO, but I can say that he is just as much a fraud on a personal level as he seems to be on a business level. I can tell you this from personal experience since I dated him on and off for over 10 years. He’s charming, charismatic, and an out and out pathological liar. I won’t bore you with the ridiculous details, but I wanted to just confirm what kind of person he really is based on very personal experience. It looks like he is attempting to gloss over this negative press he’s receiving over this lawsuit. And, I’m sure he’ll manage to fool hundreds, even thousands, more in some new way. It seems to just be his nature. Watch out. It’s all about the money with him. And, it’s all about HIM….Period.
I too was scammed by “Maternity Advantage” just yesterday. So easy to get a hold of before you give them your financial information but once, you’ve paid, you can’t ever talk to anyone! Something needs to happen so that more women needing help with care for their babies don’t get into this trap ANYMORE! I am very upset about the whole situation and they said that they have been in business helping women for over 14 years!
I was going to sign up for this program today and then I researched this program and wow. Every woman who is planning to get pregnant or is pregnant must be warned of all the fraud going on. With everything that is going on with our economy people need to be warned about this program. Run Away.
I am also paying this faud services. there is no way you can contact them. By phone they let you always on hold.I really wanted to know if someone is filing a complaint against them. i live in california.
I was scammed by them too. Recently I emailed them, told them I never used their service because when I went to get medical care no one had heard of them, and I wanted a refund. They emailed some crap I was supposed to fill out to get a hearing about a refund. I said I dont know how I am supposed to fill out this stuff asking about how much of my medical bills were paid etc, since I never used their service. I also told them I would be looking into small claims court and that I found it funny that it was so easy for them to accept my money, that only took less than an hour, yet after doing nothing for me, giving my money back was going to take all this effort. What a bunch of scam artists!!!
I was also a victim of this fraud. I had enrolled for my wife for $199 up fron then $99/month thereafter! The next day I did some research on the internet for any complaints that this company may have had in the past. Turns out there were multiple complaints on BBB website as well as complaint.com. After reading all the complaints I had called to get my money refunded, and they told me that I had verbally agreed to the enrollment so they weren’t going to refund back my money. Turns out after I confronted them about all the complaints and copied them several website complaints on their email.. they said they would refund my money back as a courtesy! I told them that doing this is a crime. Especially for people like us who are trying to get help in paying our bills and they come around as a savior only to scam and defraud us! I hope they pay for the serious crimes that they are committing!!
This is true. They are difficult to work with and I will be part of any lawsuit. Just let me know.
Can anyone tell me how they were able to get reimbursed? Also, I am so scared to give them my credit card if they would agree to reimbursement, fearing that they would charge my credit card fraudulently.
Please advise.
Sarah Lanza
sarahanne2@msn.com
A lot of people here appear to want to do a class action suit, but no one has left contact info in order to communicate about this.
Sarah Lanza
Sarahanne2@msn.com
Im glad i got to this , i was almost brought into it . My fiance and i are having twins and my company wont insure so i went to this AHCO and wow , it felt to good to be true and look i almost got screwed . If anyone knows of an insurance company please let me know that will take us . Thanks so much and i will not be falling for this scam
I signed up with this company and right from the start i started smelling something when i told them i could not afford to pay the $199 right away they said they will cut it down to $99 but i went ahead anyway and signed up but after speaking the the so called maternity advocate was when i knew this was a scam so demanded my money back then he was trying to sweet talk me then i got mad and cursed him out so he transfered me to to the lady that signed me up and she caught her self being smart with me so i let her have it too and threated them that i was going to email CNN and all the local tv ststion and expose them so he tranfered to her head boss and he told me they will refund my money which i got back in 2 days.
Thanks for all the warnings, I almost get into their trapped.
They will continue to bill you even after the cutoff date, so make sure you bring that up to your bank right away. Best thing is to cancel your card right away. Maternity Solution is another one of their companies you do not want to get involved with. Labcorp, who does a lot of the testing, is the only company that accepted this card a couple of times, so for $1500 we saved about $100. This is a horrible thing to do to anyone.
I am in the same boat as many of you. I never verbally agreed to the terms and conditions set by AHCO but they charged my card anyway. After a number of emails and phone calls which failed to illicit a response I decided to contact my bank. What I will have to do is file a fraudulant charge claim and the bank will investigate this company.
The worst part of this is that we come to these people in need and they take full advantage of us. I would love to crucify this company and I think with the number of complaints we certainly would have a case.
chantellmorales@yahoo.com – email me if you are interested in doing something about this!!!!
I signed up for this service for my sister in-law who is 8 month pregnate. I was told I would have immediate access to the website and to date have not gained access. I requested a refund under the The Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and have not gotten one. I plan on looking into filing criminal charges against them and Jenki as now I am getting calls from their clients at all times of the day and night. I cancelled my credit card so they can not bill me any more as I have not authorized them to but do not trust them. DO NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS OR GIVE THEM ANY INFORMATION.
Join the group. We are all victims of this fraud.
http://groups.google.com/group/american-maternity-advantage
jayson20091@gmail.com
Jay
This has been an endless mess. I called today and they changed the number I was using and now you get a very unprofessional voicemail. Does anyone have a contact number for them? Three weeks ago they told me they decided to refund my money since they did not save me any money in a year. Wait, wait, wait and no check.
I am in for a class action lawsuit. Someone let me know.
I represented this plan as an agent for years. They must have shut down. All lines ring busy and they do not answer email. They were going downhill for a long time. You can do just what they do for free. Call up your hospital and negotiate for a cash price. That is the full extent of their business model.
I’m in on a class-action lawsuit as well. Please keep me informed if anyone knows anything. These people are pigs.
I also got scammed, I paid a full one time fee of $699.00 in Sept. 2007. I never got my money back. I am in for a class action law suit. Let me know. I live in CO.
After reading everyone’s comments, I feel we have enough support and people to make this company pay. All day I have been trying to get in touch with this company. I talked to someone this morning, when I tried to cancel. At first he was very polite, but as soon ashe found out I wanted to cancel, the air froze. I had been trying to contact them all week to cancel my “policy”, but kept getting “this number is no longer in service”. I called the number you would call if you were new, and just signing up and this is when I got the man. He said they had been having some “glitches” and had to change their numbers and the I should have gotten an email about it. I hadnt. He said he’d email me my advocate’s new number and contact info. This was about 9 hours ago. I tried that same number I reached some one on this morning, but its almost like they blocked my number and now all I get is an unprofessional answering service. I need my money back. I needed to cancel before this month’s payment got drafted, but I couldnt get a hold of them and how we’re overdrawn. Does anybody want to help my bring this company to their knees??????
email me at gypsy323_03@yahoo.com
,..] http://www.surrogacyissuesblog.com is one another useful source of information on this topic,..]
My son was sick with leukemia and I couldn’t get him insurance I could afford. After much crying and head aches I thought I finally found a solution when I came across DirectMed who said they could help me with a discount card. The lady on the phone assured me that this would make my son’s treatments and prescriptions would be significantly cheaper by means of up to 80% at my local hospital and pharmacy. So, I purchased the plan and after giving them my credit card information and signing the contract I began to pay only $112 a month and I put a $249 deposit. That’s when the problems started. I called DirectMed right after not being able to use my card because the hospital said it’s not a valid and they can’t accept it to either pay or reduce the bill. After arguing for about 30 minutes with the lady on the phone when she said the company cannot do anything if a hospital doesn’t accept it, I replied, “I was told I would be able to use it at my local hospital.” she then said, “You’re policy states that you will be given up to an 80% savings… meaning we can give you anywhere from 0-80% in this case you got 0. You got a problem with that? I don’t really give a fuck. My job is to sell the policy not to hear you wine about it.” She then hung up and I could do nothing but cry. It took me 2 years to finally get them to stop billing me for this useless service that never benefited my family in anyway. I am now swarming in debt and on the verge of losing everything, including my house, my car, my husband, and my mind. But I will continue to fight for my son. My advice. Stay as far as humanly possible away from these fake cards!
They promise they will give you back your money IF you provide them with proof of this and that and that and this and this and that and that and this. It’s basically a win win situation for them if you try to follow their hoops to get your money back. The representative even told us to try to apply to the hospitals programs to get our pregnancy taken care of and this violated their “rules” of our being able to get our money back. He never called any of the companies we owed (as far as we can tell). My wife was being sued by one doctor and so we had to pay the bill. This was 4 months after the birth, and he calls us saying he was too busy moving their office to have done anything-and he couldn’t understand why we were so mad and frustrated. And then he calls back a few days later claiming he had tried to do all he could. Somewhat of a contradiction. My advice is the same as the others-stay away from this organization which has multiple corporate names to probably protect themselves.
It sounds like we are all on the same boat I got it not only once but twice from these people. My wife and I signed up the first time and they paint you a pretty picture. I fell for it and they even made us believe through out the process by sending us emails showing us how much they were supposedly saving us which we never did see any savings. I was dumb enough to fall for it a second time since the first one seemed so helpful we got pregnant again while the first one was still trying to be settled it looked so promising that we decided to take a chance on it the second time.
Long story short I received a phone call supposedly from the founder of the company some Brian Mcdonald telling me that he 100% agreed we should be getting our money back, however he told me the company was not doing very well and it was likely they would be going out of business so more then likely we would not be getting our money back due to the company going under. Therfor we will be out the cost of 2 programs nearly $2000.00 and I can’t believe I was that stupid to fall for this.
My question to anyone else in this position how can we go about getting our money back from these losers????? I saved the phone # this Brian guy called me from and have tried calling it a few times and as you can imagine there has been no answer. WHAT CAN I DO??? anyone have any suggestions for me?