The HR service my new employer uses, JustWorks, does not, it seems, partner with the best service companies. Our health insurance is with Aetna, and is awful by comparison with other plans. The dental and vision benefits are also through Aetna, and worse than the more common plans I’ve had previously.

All of that is nothing compared to BenefitsWallet though. JustWorks are using BenefitsWallet to provide the FSA and HSA options. They sent me information to sign up in the middle of June, and again on July 1. I was traveling however, and only got around to it trying to sign up this evening.

Following the instructions from their letter, I start by entering my personal information. Click submit and their website disconnected instead of responding. Another try and I got to the next step, selecting username & password. Followed by “security” questions. Then it threw me out saying my session had ended.

Back to the home page, enter my newly selected username and rather than taking me to a screen asking for a password I get this:

Customer Service

It was 6pm PT, so still 2 hours before they close. So I called. None of the IVR options mentioned getting a security code. None of the options mentioned members (they had choices for employers, brokers, potential members and sales). I started with the first and was told they were closed, followed by it hanging up. Same for the second option. Third time I picked sales, and I got somebody who asked for all my information and then ended by asking for my BenefitWallet debit card number.

Problem is, despite the most recent of these letters being dated over ten days ago, I have not received a debit card from them. Without the card, apparently, she could do nothing more. Two supervisor levels later (which I’m not actually convinced were supervisors) and I’m still getting nowhere.

I cannot even report the debit card as presumed missing and get another one sent, and they cannot tell me when they sent it out. Unless I have the card or a verification code which will take another 7-10 days to get here.

Complaint

To file a complaint I need to send it in the mail. Seriously. No online form, no way to contact them other than via the unhelpful customer service center (I did discover that there is a hidden option, #9, to get through the menu to a human directly). There is an email address, which the customer service person omitted to mention: info.mybenefitwallet@conduent.com. I will probably send them this whole sorry tale and see what kind of disingenuous apologies they come up with, while doing nothing to resolve their poor service or grant me access to my account.

The name is a brand. The companies behind it appear to be Conduent and Bank of New York Mellon. The reviews online for it are universally bad. Based on the reviews, customer service is universally described as terrible, they are slow to process any requests, try to hold on to funds and charge fees randomly. I have a feeling this will not end well.

JustWorks is not impressing me so far with their choices. They could have done some basic research on this provider, and then moved on. TriNet, for all their many flaws, did at least manage to select decent quality partners. I had no problem signing up for any of their services, and no issues using most of them (the FSA company was not great at first, but latterly they seemed to have sorted out their issues). Tonight’s experience makes me think I’m probably back to a place worse than even the starting point there.