Timothy Lawrence-Rodriguez

The Michigan.gov SOS office is very helpful when it comes to renewing drivers' licenses and license tags and checking voter information. I give it a 20 star 🌟rating. Michigan SOS Jocelyn Benson has done a great job for all the years in there. She is a great Gubernatorial candidate in 2026. She also earns 20 stars 🌟!!

However, my opinion of the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services is very low. See below for my analysis:

MI Department of Financial and Insurance Services (DIFS) is totally awful. I filed two complaints against Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company (MOO) for their denial of dental services done at University of Michigan Dental School (UMDS). One of my complaints was correctly reversed in my favor by Sophia Cantrell (File#246566-001). However, the other one was denied in error, even though I provided compelling documentation to prove my complaint was legit. It was handled by Niquel Cleaveland (Complaint File # 246379). She really blew it!

Also, just two days ago, a DIFS Departmental Technician named Angie Moon denied a complaint I filed against the University of Michigan Dental School (UMDS), because UMDS is refusing to refund me $72.84 that they owe me. I contacted UMDS several times over the last two months, but they just ignore me. In Angie Moon's denial, she failed to explain the reason for denying my complaint. She did enlist her supervisor's opinion, who also denied my complaint, and stated that their agency only handles complaints against insurance companies, but not providers. Well, insurance companies are providers too, of insurance coverage. They both really blew it!

Michigan DIFS is not that helpful in my opinion. They deserve a -10 🌟 rating!

The name of this Company is Millman IntelliScript, located at 17335 Golf Parkway, Suite 100, Brookfield, WI. 53045. They are a consumer reporting agency that provides insurance companies with medical consumer information, such as prescription medication information.

I received a denial letter from HealthSpring Insurance Company yesterday (8/14/26) regarding a Medicare Supplement Plan that I applied for a couple of weeks ago. HealthSpring stated that they denied my application based SOLELY on a consumer report from Millman IntelliScript, alleging that I use RISPERIDONE to treat Bipolar Disorder.

I am very upset at Millman IntelliScript for their very erroneous information on my file, which influenced HealthSpring to reject me. I do not currently take RISPERIDONE, like they told HealthSpring Insurance Company.

Millman IntelliScript information is totally erroneous and never should have been used by HealthSpring in their decision regarding my Medicare Supplement Plan application. My medical information located in my portal with my Primary Care Provider (PCP) shows that my current medications do NOT include RISPERIDONE. I verified this myself after reading the HealthSpring rejection letter on August 14th.

I requested a copy of my consumer report from Millman IntelliScript on August 14, 2026 on their website. Also, on August 14th, I requested that my PCP file an appeal with HealthSpring Insurance Company on my behalf to get the erroneous HealthSpring Insurance Company denial reversed.

I received a copy of my consumer report from Millman via email on 8/28/26, after waiting two long weeks. It didn't even include any information about HealthSpring, only Humana Insurance Company.

I therefore, have a very low opinion of Millman IntelliScript. They deserve a -10 star rating.

TruAssure Insurance Company works with Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company (MOO), and I currently have a dental insurance policy with MOO.

Ever since I filed two appeals (complaints) with MOO over the last 6 months, on a denial of dental services done at the University of Michigan Dental School (UMDS) and Ann Arbor Smiles, I notice that TruAssure Insurance Company email agents have just jerked me around. MOO denied my appeals at both the Internal Level 1 and Level 2, but the State of Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS) reversed one of the appeals.

I contacted TruAssure Insurance Company a number of times by email since about March of 2026 regarding two specific March 2026 dental services from UMDS, but they have denied ever getting any claims for these services from the UMDS, which I find hard to believe, given the fact that UMDS would certainly want to be reimbursed asap for their 50% share of the costs.

Two other complaints I have against TruAssure, are that their agents never address me by name in their emails. They just say, THANK YOU FOR CONTACTING US. They never sign their emails either, do impersonal and so unprofessional!

Overall, I give TruAssure Insurance Company about a -25 (minus 25) with 1 star being the worst. I don't recommend them to anyone. They absolutely are among the worst companies around!

The specific products I really like that this company makes are the Softsoap hand soaps and body washes. They offer excellent choices of these two Softsoap products.

I have used the Softsoap products for years and have a very high opinion of them. I highly recommend them.

I currently use this company for my Medicare Prescription Drug Plan (PDP), and think that they deserve an failing grade overall. My pluses and minuses are below:

Pluses:

1)They don't charge a monthly premium for my Medicare Prescription Drug Plan (PDP).

2) They process refills of medication fairly quickly.

Minuses:

1) They don't offer email or fax communication.

2) They have a chat platform available, but normally expect you to call for almost all inquiries. When I chatted recently, the chat agent didn't help one bit and was kind of rude. I hate phone calls for many reasons, including long waits on the line, trouble communicating with foreignerd who have poor English and calls offer zero documentation.

3) The costs for their prescription drugs are more expensive than what their predecessor company, Cigna charged. Ever since HealthSpring took over Cigna this year, things have gone downhill.

4) Yesterday, I received a denial letter of my Medicare Supplement Plan application with HealthSpring. Their denial was based on bogus information they received from a Millman IntelliScript consumer report. The bogus information is that Millman IntelliScript claims I am currently taking Risperidone for Bipolar Disorder. I stopped taking that medication about 4 or 5 months, and it shows this in my PCP portal under the "Medication" tab.

My opinion is that HealthSpring should not use consumer reports from Millman IntelliScript or any company. They should simply contact the PCP for the most reliable medical information.

They deserve a -10 (Minus 10) 🌟 rating. I definitely don't recommend them, especially for Medicare Supplement Insurance.

The UTC is overall the UTC is not that good of a place to live. I currently live here and have for many years.
Overall, the UTC deserves a letter grade of D. My bullet points below:

1) Their rent is a lot lower than the prevailing rent for apartments or senior housing facilities in my city of residence, here in Ann Arbor, MI. Their yearly rent increases are better than apartments I have lived at for the last 50 years.

2) They are located in the great city Ann Arbor!

3) Their location is in a very low crime area on the outskirts of the city, with lots of parks and trails nearby providing many places to enjoy physical fitness, especially walking, jogging and bicycling.

4) Their location is conveniently located to dentists, doctors offices, hospitals, restaurants, supermarkets, great colleges and parks.

5) Kenny, Raphael, Eric and Kyle of the maintenance staff do a great job and are always so friendly.

6) The UTC has far too many inspections, which are very disruptive to our daily activities.

7) Some of their policies are unreasonable, like that parking policy of a 5 day limitation for everyone in open parking spaces, which is ridiculous! This restriction should only apply to visitors, not residents or memebers. Requiring residents with fences to stain their fences yearly is unreasonable. Charging a $50.00 penalty if any smoke detector is found inoperable during an inspection is unreasonable. Charging $5.00 to let a resident in who is locked out is unreasonable. It should be free of charge!

8) The Board of Directors and Management staff waste a lot of money on unneeded maintenance, which makes our rent go up faster than necessary. Examples of this is mowing the lawns weekly. Biweekly is more cost-effective and more timely. Replacing windows when they don't need it is ridiculous and a waste of money. Their last window replacement project occurred in 2025 and was totally unnecessary. Our windows were just fine and did not need replacing. It was a big waste of money! Doing a power wash of the siding on all of the Townhouses when the siding is clean is a big waste of money too. They did this in 2025, which was a big waste of money. Our siding was already and didn't need this.

9) There are some unfriendly people who live here or visit here. Some of these people have given me dirty looks when they pass by, even some very young kids here do this. I never did this as a child to total strangers. i was always taught to respect my elders and other people in general.

10) Some of the members' kids throw wrappers of snacks on the ground. I have picked up these on our own lawn a few times. Some people here throw their disgusting cigarette butts {aka cancer sticks} in the parking lot next to our cars. This is so inexcusable and disrespectful to others. They should use their ashtrays instead. Littering is against the rules here anyway!

11} Their office doesn't have the power to intervene when members harass other memebers right outside the UTC grounds. That policy should change. Members should be investigated by the Office if they harass other members right outside the grounds.

Home Depot is a suckass company, and I fully understand why it has a very bad 1.8 star overall rating.

Their selection of products is pretty good, but their customer service is AWFUL! Below are two examples of when I was treated disparagingly by Home Depot:

1) In 2003, I purchased some shrubs from them that had a one-year warranty. After only a couple of weeks after planting them, they dried out and died, even though I watered them and took great care of them. When I tried to refund them to the Customer Service of the local Home Depot store here in Ann Arbor, on Carpenter Road, both the supervisor and a higher level manager were argumentative towards me. The manager claimed the shrubs were covered under some type of "Grandfather Clause" BS. He offered me only a Home Depot gift card, which I quickly turned down. I demanded my money back right then and there. After arguing with me, the manager said I had the option of contacting the corporate office of Home Depot in Atlanta, GA, regarding this matter, which I did right away. I was able to get my refund, but should not have had to work so hard at it.

2) In 2023, I purchased a LG washer and a LG dryer online. When the deliverymen dropped off our washer and dryer, they never hooked either one up for us. They just dropped them off in our basement and left very quickly and didn't utter a word. I wasn't in the basement with them, so I never knew what occurred until they came back upstairs. I specifically remember complimenting how fast they hooked up everything. It was like maybe 5 to 10 minutes they were in our home. But when I went in the basement after the deliverymen left, I was totally shocked! Neither the washer nor the dryer were hooked up and were still in the plastic wrapping and not plugged in to the power. I paid for installation ahead of time. I called the deliverymen, and one of them argued with me on the phone. He claimed that he explained to me while at our home why they couldn't install our washer and dryer, but that was a baldface lie! They left without saying a damn word to me. I complained to the local Home Depot store here in Ann Arbor, and they contacted the deliverymen, and one of them returned to our home a week later and installed ONLY the washer. He was extremely rude, hostile and claimed my dryer was more than 4 feet from the gas line to qualify for installation. I ended up having to contact a maintenance guy I knew to install our dryer.

I definitely do not recommend Home Depot to anyone else.

I think this company is a total ripoff, especially their labor charge! My wife just took her VW Beetle in recently because her A/C didn't work properly - it wasn't pushing out cool air. Ann Arbor VW kept her car for about 8 days or so, because they said they had to order parts, which was reasonable. While it was in the shop, she requested that Steve, her Service Representative, try to find her a coupon to defray the high cost of the work. Steve failed to find any coupons whatsoever. I bet he didn't even try. My wife deserved a senior discount too, but wasn't offered one of them either.

When her car was actually ready to pick up, she was slapped with a huge bill from Steve for $747.88, with the bulk of the cost from about 3.5 hours of labor by the technician. The labor charge was somewhere around $682 or so - at $195 per hour. The rest of the cost was parts and tax.

These auto technicians aren't lawyers, so their hourly rates should not be almost $200 an hour! $100 an hour is a lot more reasonable for an auto technician.

My wife's entire bill should not have been over $330, including a 10% coupon or senior discount. I know this dealership is local and my wife doesn't have many choices of other VW dealerships in our area to go to, but I am appalled at the very exorbitant bill just to get the A/C serviced.

The only good things this dealership has going for it, is that they have free snacks and a great location on State Street.

I don't recommend this dealership to anyone, if you have other choices available to you.

They are fast, friendly and actually reimburse for legitimate vet costs, unlike corrupt companies like Metlife Pet Insurance. Spot also offers a convenient way to file claims online or via email. Their monthly premium is excellent.

The only Improvement I can think of. Is for Spot to insure rabbits as well.

I highly recommend Spot Pet Insurance to all other dog owners.

Overall, Raisin is a good place to invest your money into CDs, Money Market Accounts and HYS accounts. I have a few CDs and a HYS account. The rates that their affiliate banks offer are the very best in the USA and the CDs are insured by the FDIC.

Things I don't like are that when closing an account, your money gets initially transferred to a CASH ACCOUNT, as opposed to going directly into your external account. During this 3 day period you don't earn any interest, which is totally unfair. Raisin also doesn't offer a fax number. They also shouldn't require a security code to login so often - it is monthly. Their customer service has been very friendly and helpful to me for the most part.

I recommend Raisin to others.

Overall, I think Synchrony Bank a little below average - maybe a D+ grade! ! I have had several CDs with then for the last 8 years or so and have about five that mature in 2027, because they offer competitive rates. However, I dislike several things about them:

1) Just to close out a CD that is set to mature, they require you to call, which is ridiculous. But to renew a CD, they allow that to be done online. Customers should be alliwed to renew or close out CDs online. Recently I spent 10 long minutes on the phone talking to a foreigner with terrible English, who talked too fast and was kind of rude to me. Her name was Mary. She sounded Hispanic. They should allow closing out CDs either online, via fax or via email. Other banks do.

2) The automated recording that they have when you call, always tells you to stay on the line after a phone call to complete a survey. After my phone call with Mary, there was no survey offered to me; the phone call just dropped. After a chat session with a very disinterested man of Synchrony Bank was finished a week ago - forgot his name - again no survey was made available to me, even though he told me that one would be after closing out the chat session. I guess Synchrony Bank knows ahead of time that they suck and are afraid to hear in surveys the truth about how awful they really are.

I don't recommend Synchrony Bank to anyone. They should offer regular email and fax communication, because I like things documented, instead of talking to rude foreigners on the phone with terrible English.

Grade reduced on 8/13/26 to 3 stars after very careful analysis of my previous review. We switched from Verizon in 2013 to Sprint, becauuse of very bad customer service and unreasonable rates by Verizon. We were fairly happy with Sprint, up to around 2017 or 2018, when Sprint got bought out by T-Mobile. Since T-Mobile took over, we have been fairly satisfied with the service and rates we have been paying.

But one thing that T-Mobile did that I didn't like, was discontinue paying for our AAA Annual Membership. But T-Mobile offered me a free 40 inch Fire TV for signing up for their home internet service, which is very dependable and costs us only $35 per month. I really like my 40 inch Fire TV.

The only other thing I don't like about T-Mobile is that they don't allow us to communicate via fax transmission or email. I hate business phone calls, so I am not too fond of calling their 611 number. Their chat platform isn't that helpful. Their phone reps are not that friendly either. Have had to complain to the supervisor not too long ago on a phone call.

The experience of my wife and I has been very favorable. Spot Pet Insurance replies very quickly to emailed claims. They honor the contract and submit reimbursement of 90% of the vet costs after the yearly $100 deductible amount is withdrawn. Their website is very easy to navigate. Our premium amount is very reasonable too. I really like how the reimbursement can be done by direct deposit.

I highly recommend this company to others.

Had Comcast Cable service about 20 years ago, after they bought out Media One in the Ann Arbor cable market. Their service was always terrible. The customer reps on the phone were rude, their rates kept going up and there was constant interference in our programming. We switched to Directv in 2009 and had much better service. Now we have YouTubeTV streaming service and never get any interference from inclement weather and save lots of money.

In 2023, when we moved back to Ann Arbor from Tallahassee, the only home internet in our area was Comcast's Xfinity service. So we signed up. We had terrible reception and Xfinity kept trying to raise our rates. We finally canceled and signed up for home internet with T-Mobile and pay only $35 a month and never have WIFI failure, like we constantly had with Xfinity.

Avoid Comcast and Xfinity for your own good.

Overall, DTE Energy Company is way below average. Below are my Pluses and Minuses:

Pluses:

1) Their website allows you to report a power outage, and they do a good job of letting you know the status of the power outage via email and text.

2) Making payments on their website is very fast. You have the choice of making payments month by month or having recurring payments done.

Minuses:

1) They are a monopoly, always constantly trying to get the MPSC to raise rates. Would be nice if there was competition to low rates and improve service.

2) They claim on their website that I would cut my monthly cost $25 a month by choosing their 11 AM to 7 PM peak hour plan, which is BS, because the peak hours have the highest rates. We are retirees and are at home most of the time, so the current plan of 3 PM To 7 PM peak hour plan is less expensive.

3) DTE doesn't offer email or fax communication. They expect you to call and talk to a customer rep.

4) My current bill is $181.68, the highest ever in the 2 1/2 years we lived here.

5) Sometimes DTE will bill for as much as 33 days, like this month, which increases the bill at least 10% over using a 30 day billing period. They do this to pad their profits, in my opinion.

Edited on 7/31/26 to a 5 star rating from a 4 star rating. I like how fast they replied to my inquiry about getting reimbursed because of the Hostess Cupcakes I purchased at my local supermarket not having creme filling inside. They submitted me a couple of coupons within about 12 days. I also like how they signed an actual name of a customer rep in their email messages to me.

Smuckers is a great company hands down!

My Pluses and Minuses are below:

Pluses:

1) Liberty Mutual Auto Insurance Company offers some very competitive auto insurance rates. I just signed up with them on June 11, 2026 for a 6 month term.

2) They offer text message communication.

3) They also offer fax communication.

4) They offer chat communication, but aren't too helpful on chat.

Minuses:

1) Liberty Mutual doesn't offer regular email communication. They only have an email address for sending documents.

2) Their RightTrack phone app that monitors our driving is so stupid! It even records bike trips, which is totally absurd. Allstate Auto insurance and Progressive Auto Insurance use a plug-in device that plugs right into the car under your dashboard. These specifically monitor your vehicle driving only, which is the way it is supposed to be. I suggested this to Liberty Mutual recently, but their RightTrack people tell me to call. I will not call them, because calls offer zero documentation and are very time-consuming.

3) In reply to a recent fax transmission to RightTrack customer service, the agent in an email did not give me helpful information. The agent also didn't sign their name, which is cowardly in my opinion. People should be held accountable for what they say. All emails should have a Closing with an agent's name.

Overall, I don't recommend Liberty Mutual.

Humana sucks for many reasons:

1) As the vast majority of reviewers indicated already, their service sucks bigtime! Their phone reps are mostly foreigners who speak terrible English. That makes phone calls counterproductive.

2) They engage in false advertising in their documents. I mistakenly applied for their Plan F Medicare Supplement Plan two days ago, and their own documents stated that I qualified for a 12% Enhanced Spousal Discount for my specific zip code, which would have saved me almost $40. Instead they quoted me a premium that offered only a 6% Discount, called an "Online Discount." So, they contradicted their own documents, which is illegal in my opinion.

3) I was just on a phone call today with Humana to cancel my Medicare Supplement Plan application about an hour ago, and they took a very long 20 minutes to take care of it.

4) They only offer phone calls with foreigners who speak bad English and chat. But no email, fax or text communication. But the chat agent yesterday left the chat platform without explanation. That was so rude!

I definitely think everyone should boycott Humana. They are among the worst insurance companies out there. They suck bigtime!

I have recently had auto insurance with Progressive Auto. What I have found is that generally their rates are pretty competitive with their competition. However, I don't like how their customer service people on the phone and also on chat are not that friendly. They're pretty rude actually! Another thing I really dislike about Progressive Auto, and this is totally inexcusable, is that they take a long, long time to process documents that you submit to them. If you send docs to them in the mail or by email or fax, they tell you that they take up the 2 weeks to process these documents that you submitted to them. That is totally unacceptable and inexcusable! It's ridiculous! It should only take them like a maybe a couple hours at the most to process documents you sent to them in your policies, especially when you're looking at a possible renewal date that's fast approaching. I specifically sent some documents telling them that i am rejecting PIP coverage, because my wife and I both get Medicare. I submitted to them our Medicare cards and her Medicare advantage ID Card and I also submitted to them signed and initialed documents they mailed me. They even make you send all the documents to them even the ones that don't relate to your specific situation. They're very disorganized, slow, inefficient and they got a lot of rude customer service reps. I definitely don't recommend Progressive Auto Insurance to people even though the rates are competitive. I would recommend a company like AAA, Farmers or The Hartford or or some competitor like that. You would very likely get better customer service and probably competitive rates as well.

Their customer service is bad. They don’t reply to emails too well. The one year warranty on their products is bad. Their website is not user friendly

I don't recommend their products to anyone else.