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I have been fighting with the benefits group of my former employer for the past 7 weeks. I was laid off, opted for Cobra, company paid 2 months and I started paying in month 3 (October). I sent my check in time for the due date, the company received and deposited my check but never applied it to my account. I noticed this a week after the payment was due when I logged into the benefits site to confirm everything was all set. When it showed it wasn't paid, I reached out to check on it and I was told they never received the check so I provided them with a front & back copy of the cancelled check that I had received in my bank statement. Proving that they did in fact receive and deposit the check. I also paid month 4 - November payment which they received, cashed and applied to my account and have paid December which has not yet been cashed or applied but not worried since it is well within the grace period and I believe they are holding it and it will eventually come back to me which will become clear why below. For the past 7 weeks I have been getting the run around from the company claiming (A) The check was not received (I provided copy 5 days after they deposited it) (B) They sent the check back to me (they gave no reason why, just that it wasn't applied because they sent it back to me. Reminded them that I uploaded a copy of the front/back of the cashed check so they couldn't have sent it back to me) (C) They sent a refund check to me (I asked for details of when, where & to whom they sent it as well as a copy of front/back of the refund check if it had been cashed - I've gotten no response). (D) They credited my bank account (asked for details including the bank routing #'s and account that they credited and a copy of the receipt for the deposit to my account and the reason for the return of the funds - crickets because it didn't happen). (E) The check was returned for insufficient funds 6.5 weeks ago (This one was my favorite!!! I asked for a copy of the ISF notice they received - once again, it didn't happen because I got the cancelled check back in my statement showing it was paid to their account ). I also received two statements in November, the first just before Thanksgiving, showing the October & November payments and only December due - generated after I called to question the payment and showed proof of payment and the second generated after Thanksgiving and the October payment has been removed again. Last week I gave until Friday afternoon to resolve this or I would file a complaint with Department of Labor COBRA division - On Sunday evening, yesterday, my insurance was cancelled without notice. I immediately opened a claim with DOL, uploaded all my proof of payment, copies of conversations (including the excuses) and statements of amounts owed. They called me back this morning and got to work contacting the former employers corporate lawyer. I also had surgery scheduled for today and DOL contacted the hospital where I was to have the surgery and made sure they knew the insurance was cancelled in error and the hospital agreed to continue the surgery. GO DOL!!! My concern is now that they have cancelled my insurance due to their error that they have refused to fix, does anyone know how long it takes to be reinstated, I cannot get an answer from the worlds worst employer and what about my 2025 insurance? I have previously elected COBRA for my 2025 coverage but if they take this past the final signup date, can they screw me on that too? I am concerned that they are holding the December check and will return it to me at some point since I no longer have active insurance. I am prepared to send a second check for December if/when the check comes back uncashed or sooner so they have it in hand when the insurance is reinstated and to avoid them saying that my payment was out of the grace period. I can't imagine this is legal, cashing my check but not paying my insurance and I understand that mistakes happen but I spoke to no less than 5 different people who all came up with a different, ridiculous excuse for why it was not applied, each excuse instantly proved false by the cancelled check I uploaded to their system weeks ago. I've been told for the past 2 weeks that they are escalating this to the leadership team for review and finally today, after DOL got in touch with their corporate benefits lawyer that "We went through the check images you provided, and are escalating to the bank processor for further review of the October payment." Can they be fined by DOL? Pay a hopefully hefty penalty? Do I have other recourse or based on experience, should I be comfortable that they will reinstate my insurance and stop playing games? I give props to DOL, they reacted quickly and totally took care of me today and I have faith in the DOL rep but no faith in the worlds worst employer who after speaking with 5 different people, getting 5 different excuses and taking 7 weeks with nobody truly looking at this I have two options: Believe these are the most incompetent workers ever hired anywhere or this company is purposely doing this to ex-employees to screw up our insurance. Disclaimer: Writing this on pain killers after surgery today, I realize it's lengthy, I hope it makes sense