DentalPlans.com
Reviews and Complaints

I was looking to sign up for a dental plan, but, finding a few complaints really have made me nervous. I signed up for a plan today, I saw something that could be useful for other members.
In their list of "Member FAQs", it does provide "guidance" to change your plan from the default of an auto renew to receive notification, which I hope will help prevent charges from being made unexpectedly.

15. When will my plan renew?
Plans are renewed up to 45 days prior to your plan expiration date, to ensure there is no lapse in membership and to offer continued savings on your dental care needs. Your plan will be renewed under the terms on your Member's Agreement.

Here's a link to that page: https://www.dentalplans.com/members/faq

When you select the "my account" link, it will bring you to a page that appears to give you access to change a few things in your account.
The links shown are: Member Profile, Member Information, Contact Preferences, Membership Renewal Options, and Payment Information.

The "Membership Renewal Options" provides the following choices:

* Please renew my plan automatically.
* Please contact me prior to my renewal.

Hopefully this is helpful, and relieves some concerns.

Same thing happened to me. They charged my credit card for a year renewal -$155. The customer service rep told me all their plans auto renew, but I was never aware of the autorenew. Normally, you must either check that you want auto renewal, or uncheck a box that auto competes as auto renewal.. I did not see either of these disclosures when I purchased the plan.
They advised that i was sent a letter about the auto renewal several months ago, however, I did not receive it. I did request a refund before the plan actually renewed, and was told they would refund all but the $15 processing fee. I disputed the processing fee, saying I shouldn't be charged anything. The CSR spoke to her supervisor, and they agreed to refund the $15. I think these practices are deceptive.

Some how a charge of $147.46 from Dental Plans.com was posted to my account and they refused to credit my account unless I sent them a copy of my bank statement. The bank told me "we do not send any one a bank statement". So I have to wait 10 days while the bank does all of the work and go without food because these people are to lazy to look this up. on there tapes. NEVER do business with this kind of a company.
Marjorie Vickers

We are sorry to hear about your experience with your mother's renewal. We automatically renew our plans annually as part of the original Member's Agreement to ensure our Members never experience a lapse in membership when they might need it most. Our Members do have the ability to opt out of their upcoming automatic renewal at any time during their membership. We also take multiple steps to ensure our Members are aware of any pending renewals - mailed communication to the address on their account, as well as attempted e-mails and phone calls. Our intention is not to hide any information, but to ensure our Members are made aware in advance.

The $15 processing fee you mentioned is applied to all enrollments and renewals due to additional administrative costs associated with the purchase of dental plans. While all memberships and renewals are subject to a 90-day refund, this fee is charged to help DentalPlans.com keep the cost down so that Members may continue to experience the benefit of low plan costs and membership perks.

We truly apologize if you feel your mother was not given notification of her renewal, as we are very proud of our A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. For over 12 years, our company has been trusted by more than 30 leading Discount Dental Plan networks to market their plans with us. We encourage you and anyone with questions or concerns about our Discount Dental Plans to contact us at [protected], and we would be happy to assist you.

This dentist office is one that will try to find something wrong just for the sake of price gouging. They are not honest and they are not really competent. A young [unfriendly] dentist was allowed to put fillings in my mouth and he screwed up so much that I have to go back to let them fix his mess. I will go back and let them do that, but that will be my last visit. I strongly advise against visiting this dentist, which only rewards their unethical behavior.

We are sorry to hear that your dentist charged you incorrectly. We have offered to switch you to another plan free of charge. If that is not an option for you, our Member CARE team is prepared to honor a full refund. We hope that the customer service you have received makes up for the bad experience you had at the dentist.

For future reference, it is important to refer to the name of the discount dental plan as it appears on your Membership ID card when contacting participating dental practices.

For over 12 years, our company has been trusted by more than 30 discount dental plan networks, including Careington, Aetna, Cigna and others to market their plans on our website and we are proud of our A+ rating with the BetterBusinessBureu. Feel free to call us toll free at [protected], Monday through Friday from 8 am – 6 pm CST, if you we can be of additional assistance

How would they be able to review the account of the complainant? That person did not include his full name and address.

Here's how you cancel:
Any communication given or required under this Agreement must be sent by first class mail, postage prepaid, or by an overnight delivery service such as Fed Ex or United Parcel Service, and addressed to the Member, at the address shown in DENTALPLANS.COMs records, or from the Member to DENTALPLANS.COM, at:

DENTALPLANS.COM Member C.A.R.E.
250 S. Northwest Highway, Suite 340
Park Ridge, IL 60068

As someone who used to work in the discount dental plan industry for several years I can attest that most often it is foolish to purchase a dental plan even if you don't have dental insurance.
I have found when looking for a new dentist that they will often negotiate their fees below Careington's fee schedule and others fee schedules as well. It's a win win situation for both parties. You (the client) get a discounted rate and don't have to pay for Careington's fees and the dentist gets a new and loyal client.
Kdog

We are sorry to hear about the misunderstanding regarding the Careington discount dental plan you purchased through DentalPlans.com. After reviewing your account, I can confirm your credit card was immediately refunded in full, per your request.

We hope you will consider DentalPlans.com in the future for your discount dental plan needs. For over 12 years, DentalPlans.com has been trusted by more than 30 discount dental plan networks, including Careington, Aetna, Cigna and others to market their plans on our website and we are proud of our A+ rating with the BetterBusinessBureu.
Feel free to call us toll free at [protected], Monday through Friday from 8 am – 6 pm CST, if you have any additional questions

We are sorry to hear about the misunderstanding regarding the Careington discount dental plan you purchased through us. After reviewing your account, I can confirm your credit card was immediately refunded in full, per your request.

We hope you will consider us in the future for your discount dental plan needs. For over 12 years, our company has been trusted by more than 30 discount dental plan networks, including Careington, Aetna, Cigna and others to market their plans on our website and we are proud of our A+ rating with the BetterBusinessBureu.
Feel free to call us toll free at [protected], Monday through Friday from 8 am – 6 pm CST, if you have any additional questions

Hello Catherine,

We are sorry to hear about your unsatisfactory experience, and we will do what we can to resolve this issue that you have brought to our attention.

Please call us toll free at [protected], Monday through Friday from 8 am – 5 pm CST, so that we can help you with one of the following solutions:

1. Contact your dentist – Please call us and provide the name of your dentist and ZIP code of the dental practice, so that we can contact the plan network to confirm your dentist’s participation in the plan. If the dentist does participate, then we can contact him on your behalf to correct this misunderstanding. If the dentist does not participate, then we can help you with one of the following options:

2. Choose a participating dentist – We can help you choose a participating dentist in your area that offers deep discounts on the dental care services you need.

3. Switch plans – We can even help you choose another discount dental plan and switch your plan at no cost.

Please understand that we make every effort to ensure that only participating dentists are listed on DentalPlans.com. These dentist listings are provided to us directly from each plan network and are continuously being updated. We strongly recommend that you confirm the dentist’s participation in the plan before receiving any services from that provider, as noted in our Member’s Agreement.

When contacting dentists participating in the Preferred Network Access by CIGNA plan, be sure to refer to this plan as "CIGNA Dental Network Access, " not DentalPlans.com, to ensure that the dental office receptionist recognizes the name of the plan or network. If you still experience problems, please contact our Member Services Department at [protected]. Our staff will be happy to assist you.

We have been dedicated to helping our members save money on their dental care since 1999, and we would love to do the same for you.

Please give us a call at [protected]. We look forward to your giving us another opportunity to better serve you.

The DentalPlans.com Member Services Department

I've had the same thing happen to me with Solstice Dental. My dentist was listed on their web site and therefor I bought the dental plan from them. I even paid for the full year up-front. After my next scheduled appointment with my dentist for a cleaning that should have been covered, I find out that they sold me a HMO plan that my dentist does not take. I called Solstice about this and asked them to put me on a PPO plan that my dentist accepts and that this was all caused by their web site. They would not fix the issue and instead offered to cancel my plan with a full refund since I was sold the wrong plan and had not received any benefits. I just received my refund and they only gave me back 1/3 of the cost I paid. No one should do business with Solstice they false advertise and do not stand behind their own mistakes.

John S.

I'm glad to see that DentalPlans.com took the initiative to tender to a client's complaint. The last thing any company needs is a "bad rep". Word of mouth is the best defense we have as consumers, and consumers take bad complaints very serious.

- Armando
miami_veteran@yahoo.com

Hello Kat,

We are sorry to hear about your unsatisfactory experience, and we will do what we can to resolve this issue that you have brought to our attention. Please contact me at Samantha@DentalPlans.com or call us toll free at [protected], Monday through Friday from 8 am – 5 pm CST.

DentalPlans.com provides refunds to the payment on file, for all approved cancellations requests. Processing time of refunds will vary depending on the form of payment used to process your membership. We will be able to provide you with more assistance if we know more about your experience. You may contact me personally at Member Services (Samantha@DentalPlans.com) to discuss the matter further.

We have been dedicated to helping our members save money on their dental care since 1999, and we would love to do the same for you. We look forward to your giving us another opportunity to better serve you.

Samantha
The DentalPlans.com Member Services Department

It is strange how comments about dentalplans.com that are positive and appear on deifferents review websites are just copied and pasted and have different names of senders although the text is identical... Seems like people are paid to submit good reviews in different places...

Hello DentalPlans.com Member,

We are sorry to hear about your unsatisfactory experience. As noted in our Member’s Agreement, renewals are processed two to three weeks prior to expiration date to avoid lapse in coverage. To ensure that members do not loose membership days due to the renewal process, DentalPlans.com adds these days to the member’s renewed order.

Please call us toll free at [protected], Monday through Friday from 8 am – 5 pm CST, so that we can help you with any membership questions.

We have been dedicated to helping our members save money on their dental care since 1999, and we would love to do the same for you. Please give us a call at [protected].

We look forward to your giving us another opportunity to better serve you.

The DentalPlans.com Member Services Department

We first purchased a Aetna Dental from DentalPlans.com on May 23, 2006. This plan was ERRONEOUSLY renewed on May 11, 2008—TWELVE DAYS BEFORE IT EXPIRED.

I informed DentalPlans.com and was told it was corrected.

The next year, you renewed our plan on May 6, 2008—SEVENTEEN DAYS BEFORE IT EXPIRED.

I informed DentalPlans.com and was told it was corrected.

This year, once again, you are trying to cheat us out of seventeen days of coverage. I also note that you attempted to charge my credit card well in advance of the fraudulent due date as well.

In spite of repeated requests, this has not been resolved. Very dishonest company.

I bought GE Wellness dental plan a year and half ago, never used its benefit. The plan is renewed every six months. Last September we renewed the plan, shortly after, she got her dental insurance coverage thru employment

When we tried to cancel the plan, they told us all they could do is not to renew the plan when it expires six months later. We argued that it's not fair for us to pay a service that we'll never use. They give us no response.

Beware before you buy or renew.

I have been having problems with the dentists that DO accept the dental plans. They are typically not dentists you would chose if you could go anywhere you desired. The choices are very limited.

My plan auto-renewed, without my knowledge, almost a full 2 month before it even expired. I requested a refund, and was told the 15 dollar processing fee was non-refundable. Awesome. I've purchased these plans in the past, and never had this happen, so I was completely unaware. I also don't use this particular bank account very often, so of course it overdrew costing me 50dollars in fees. Super awesome.Jerks. Never again.

My plan just auto renewed for $194 which is higher than advertised, they did it to me last year too and were supposed to refund excess amount of $79 and take me off auto renewal. I did not get money back and was hit again. When I called they transferred me to another department and when I said I did not have my acct number they hung up. After the third call I said not to transfer but put supervisor on and take care of reimbursement which they say will take 10 days and they will not refund overdraft fee's. STAY AWAY FROM DENTAL PLANS .COM

You have to remember it's a "plan" not insurance. Every state is different. We live in Florida...it is very affordable and saved us thousands of $'s! You can register an account online and check the option to not automatically renew. I question the charges up front at the dentist office so there is no surprises! All in all we are happy and plan to renew.

To benefit from the plans listed, you'll have to do your research. It'll pay off. I called my dentist and they said that the plans come in 2 forms: coverage backed by a major insurance carrier irregardless of the plan name (Aetna, Cigna, Humana...), or a membership plan where the dentist has to be a member (Careington...). My dentist will accept most plans backed by a major carrier but they needed to know what Fee Schedule to use. If they already accepted the Fee Schedule, they would charge me the discounted rates on that exact schedule. Major insurance carriers use different Fee Schedules. I called DentalPlans.com and found the names of the actual Fee Schedules for 3 plans: Preferred Network Access by Cigna uses Cigna PPO Fee Schedule, Aetna Dental Access uses Aetna PPO Fee schedule, and OptumHealth Allies uses Humana fee schedule. Even though my dentist was not on any of their lists, the dental office would accept the plans because they already used the 3 Fee Schedules and knew what to charge. (You'll need to check before buying any plan because the Fee Schedules might change at any time.)

So why not go directly to Atena, Cigna, or Humana? It's always good to try, but watch out for wait periods for some services, they might charge more, or longer activation times. Again, it pays to shop around.

After all this research, contacting my dentist's billing department, and comparing discounts/costs, I chose the Atena Dental Access plan using DentalPlans.com. DentalPlans.com was cheaper, and I was able to find a 25% discount code online. Note: DentalPlans acts as a broker for the various dental discount plans, the list of dentists is piped in to their site by the individual insurance companies, and may not be accurate. Even if you don't see your dentist or a good dentist listed, it pays to give the dentist a call and check if they accept the Fee Schedule/Discount Plan. After reading this blog I will not use DPs auto renewal, and have Bank of America issue a temporary credit card number with a set cash limit, so they cannot apply their glitchy auto renewal on my account. (One final note, when searching for a new dentist, look them up on Google Maps and read their reviews. Some dentist have great reviews, while others are scary with billing issues, unnecessary charges, poor quality control...)
Thanks everyone for writing in, and helping us new customers avoid future headaches:)

Watch out folks.. I was very interested in this Discount Plan that DentalPlans.com offered..my dentist was on their list, I was thrilled! I called and asked a question about the plan and the guy who answered was very enthusiastic, "oh yes your dentist does have the plan", etc etc he tried to get me to sign up right then but I told him I wanted to be sure my dentist did in fact honor the plan. Im so glad I waited because my dentist had no knowledge of it. I called DentalPlans.com back and they said well, they just didnt recognize it because you told them the name of the card..tell them it is a dental discount plan by cigna ..so I call my dentist back and once again no..he did accept health insurance thru cigna but he had NEVER signed up for this dental discount plan, he had called DentalPlans.com to inquire about why his name was associated with it and was told that if a dentist signed up with Cigna or Aetna Insurance that they are automatically enrolled in this discount plan, but then it is up to them if they want to ACCEPT it or not...apparently they arent informed of it, because I have read other complaints online of other dentists having NO idea they are supposedly signed up with these dental discount plans...ANYWAY..so now we know the truth..my dentist was AUTMATICALLY ENROLLED and put on the website even though he had never signed up for it...so I called DentalPlans.com back and told a different person this time that my dentist who was listed with them said he had no idea about it..he says Oh yes your dentist IS listed, how did you describe the plan to him? I told him and he said well sometimes dentists get confused..I interupted and said no he is not confused, and that he had never signed up for it, that he was automatically enrolled but had never accepted it..the guy then says Oh yes that is possible! DUH well, if I had not checked with my dentist before purchasing I would have been ripped off! It is FALSE ADVERTISING when you have a list of dentists on your website as being part of a plan and they really ARE NOT.

I did my research before I put any money down... I was looking for a dentist in my area and found one that i liked. Before enrolling in the plan, I called up the dentist and found out that they didn't accept their plan. Also the average dental rates are completely off for the area that I live.

Thank you. I almost fall for it.

Thanks for this post. If I had not seen this my plan would have automatically renewed in April and I did not realize this. I just logged into my account and selected to NOT renew automatically. I've moved and the plan I had does not work here. I am buying another one though because it was great savings for me. I paid like, $130 for the card and I saved AT LEAST $1, 000.00 at the beginning of this year on a root canal and crown that I otherwise would have had to pay over $2, 000 for all parts of the procedures. Just make sure you change your settings in your account and they shouldn't automatically renew. These plans can save you tons of money, especially if you find one that saves you on vision, dental, chiropractic and fitness!

I came close to getting a plan from Dentalplans.com and the dentist I chose was listed as accepting 4 plans from this outfit. I called the dentist before jumping on the plan and he said he had never accepted any of these plans. When I contacted Dentalplans.com, they sent me an acknowledgement email and that was that. No further communications; however, they did want my address, phone number and other personal information undoubtedly to sell to other con artists. Glad I bypassed this outfit.