MetLife

• Cash Benefit
• Payment Options
• Bundling

Cash Benefit

MetLife’s accident insurance is paid in cash, check, or direct deposit, with payouts going directly to the policyholder — not doctors, hospitals or medical services. This gives customers more flexibility in determining how, when, and where to spend claim funds. Competitor Buddy is also known for quick and easy payments via cash or direct deposit.

Payment Options

The company offers flexible payment plans, from every other week to monthly and other options. For customers who need to parse out budget expenses, this is very helpful and makes affording insurance more manageable.

Bundling 

Due to the wide range of insurance policies MetLife covers, customers can bundle several together for a slightly discounted rate and make one payment for multiple services. This is particularly convenient, as any customer with multiple policies under different providers can attest to the hassle of multiple logins, payment dates, and information spread out among different companies.

• Availability
• Customer Service
• Online Capabilities

Availability

MetLife does not sell policies to individuals — insurance is only available through a company group policy. This hamstrings many customers who are not employed, whose employer does not offer insurance benefits, or whose roles do not merit full-time benefits. 

Customer Service

Customers complain that communication with service representatives is difficult. Representatives are not always able to answer questions and not all of them are located in the United States. Aflac and Unum are also known to have had complaints from customers about poor communication.

Online Capabilities

While customers can apply for policies and request a claim for many things online, not everything can be done online. This makes submitting claims or other information cumbersome.

Competitor Aflac is noted for not being able to sign up for policies online; so at least MetLife covers that basic function. However, it is definitely an area the company could improve to serve customers better.