Victim Location 92054
Total money lost $60,000
Type of a scam Other
I met Nick Macias, insurance agent with American Labor Alliance/Comp One USA at a Chamber of Commerce mixer in Oceanside California in 2016. He introduced himself and explained that his company could save us money on our workman’s comp insurance for our business. I decided to get a quote and yes he was saving us close to $500 a month. At first the customer service was great, as we started finalizing paper work the service went down. I attributed it to not dealing with the actual sales/agent. If you have ever dealt with sales people in a business, once they get you signed up with them you rarely see the agent again unless you tell them you are leaving the company. We started with them in August of 2016. There was supposed to be no lap in coverage as we were doing the switch. After all the paperwork was finalized, we started paying our premiums. It was extremely difficult to get a correct bill or a person on the phone that could answer any questions. We NEVER received a Workman’s Comp Policy which is required by the Labor Board of California to have on hand at all times for your business.
Skip ahead to November 2016. We are greeted by the California Labor Board for a routine audit check. After the audit was complete, the Labor Board auditors tell me that our workman’s comp insurance is not a legitimate company and that the company has been ordered by the State of California to cease and desist all actions of selling any type of insurance to anyone. We had been red flagged by the Labor Board because we showed a lapse in coverage, that our insurance agent Nick Macias said we would have no lapse at all during the switch.
The auditors handed me a copy of the cease and desist order from the California Department of Insurance.
I could go on much more but the bottom line is: This company is still selling insurance to people, Nick Macias is not admitting any fault for anything, and our business has paid 1000’s of dollars to get insurance with Comp One USA, we are also being fined $50,000 from the labor board for the lapse in coverage that was never supposed to be.
After speaking in more detail to the Labor Board, we are truly the lucky ones. There are mom and pop businesses like us who purchased this insurance and had to file a claim. These poor people are out hundreds of thousands in medical bills. There are hundreds of businesses that are in the same boat as us.