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Report: #1061351

Complaint Review: John Wardell Chesapeake Benefits Group CBGHelps.com - Arnold Maryland

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  • Reported By: BR — Arlington Texas
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  • John Wardell Chesapeake Benefits Group CBGHelps.com PO Box 790 Arnold, Maryland USA

John Wardell Chesapeake Benefits Group CBGHelps.com This guy claimed to work for the VA and charged my mom $500 for help she can get for free from the real VA Arnold Maryland

*General Comment: Chesapeake Benefits Group preys on Veterans with special needs.

*Consumer Comment: Factually Incorrect Rip-Off Report

*Consumer Comment: Excellent Experience with John Wardell

*REBUTTAL Owner of company: ???

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I live out of state, my mom found this guy, John Wardell of Chesapeake Benefits Group who claimed to work for the VA and he said he would help her get Veterans benefits from the VA to pay for my Dad's care.  My Dad was in World War II.  He charged her $500 for his "advice".  

His brilliant advice ended in a denial from the VA after a long wait and many letters back and forth with the VA.  We went back to Chesapeake Benefits Group for help and mysteriously the calls were not returned in any kind of timely manner and in the end all we heard was excuses.

I spoke with the Veterans Service Officer where I live and found out that John Wardell does not work for the VA, it is illegal for him to charge even $1.00 for assistance, and he gave my Mom and Dad bad advice about their finances to begin with.  

I have checked around we should have either gone with a company that does not charge or gone to a county service officer who could have helped my family for FREE.

Beware - John Wardell is acting illegally by charging, he won't help if there is a problem, and he is not working on behalf of the Veterans Administration.  DO NOT PAY FOR ADVICE WITH VETERANS BENEFITS!!!

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 06/22/2013 08:15 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/john-wardell-chesapeake-benefits-group-cbghelpscom/arnold-maryland-21012/john-wardell-chesapeake-benefits-group-cbghelpscom-this-guy-claimed-to-work-for-the-va-1061351. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
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3Consumer
1Employee/Owner

#4 General Comment

Chesapeake Benefits Group preys on Veterans with special needs.

AUTHOR: Max - ()

POSTED: Thursday, February 26, 2015

Chesapeake Benefits Group preys on Veterans with special needs.

When a Veteran is eligible for a pension or service related benefits and it is deemed they are to be paid, there is always lots of paperwork to fill in or file.  If a veteran is deemed incompetent to handle these monies, then the VA will select a Fiduciary to handle their bill paying etc.

There are others out there that can be an accredited agent, who cannot handle any of the monies or complete bill pay.

They can only fill-in paperwork and can charge a nominal fee for filing on behalf of the beneficiary!

Chesapeake Benefits Group has a country-wide operation which is preying on veterans who are in the "incompetent" category, they dupe them in supposedly helping with all the paperwork and making their life easier and Chesapeake Benefits bank account larger.

How you may ask?

Simple, they ask the veteran to sign a bank deposit slip which has an account listed, which is not the beneficiaries.  

The moneys are either going into a corporate account of Chesapeake Benefits Group of John F Wardell II's personal account.

The veteran then recieves his or her money, less a fee charged, either once a month of the next month.  So delay of payment less a fee.

Chesapeake Benefits Group or John F. Wardell II is not authorized by the VA to make such transactions and is outside of his status as an accredited agent.

In fact it goes far further in the acts of Chesapeake Benefits Group, they are pre-filling the forms with additional information, which when signed by the veteran, it allows Chesapeake benefits access to all medical records, including Alcohol and drug abuse, HIV with full medical disclosure.  This contravenes the HIPPA laws of the United States of America.  Furthermore, Chesapeake Benefits change the address for all information without the veterans knowledge.

As for an investigation, oh yes!  The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has the details, as do other departments within the VA.

Our veterans serve this nation and are being ripped off by the likes of people like this.

If you have a veteran in your family, check that their monies are really reaching them, if not contact the VA, they will investigate.

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#3 Consumer Comment

Factually Incorrect Rip-Off Report

AUTHOR: Bea's Grandaughter - ()

POSTED: Sunday, February 15, 2015

It is factually untrue that these services are illegal and that it is illegal to charge for them. Reading John Wardell's website (cbghelps.com), Chesapeake Benefits Group NEVER claims to be an employee of the VA. He factually claims that he an VA accredited claims agent – which by its very nature is a third-party.

Here is the link to the VA explaining their accreditation program, which is governed by the Public Law 109-461.

va.gov/ogc/accreditation.asp

Hiring somone to do the work for you is a valuable service if you are not capable of doing it yourself. And it is completely reasonable to pay someone for their time. I am a consumer researching these services for my grandmother because I am out of state and she cannot do this on her own. It is also my understanding that it would be illegal for any accredited claims agent to guarantee results by the VA. Denials are from the VA, not from the claims agent.

Furthermore, I question the validity of the assertion above because if they did contact their local VA, they would have been informed that the VA has venues for complaining about an accredited provider and challenging their fees.

The above scam report was obviously filed by someone that didn't understand the services their mother purchased and blew of steam without realizing that they themselves would be breaking defamation and libel laws in doing so.

Please do not rely on the report above to make any decisions in purchasing services from Chesapeake Benefits Group or any other VA Accredited Agent. They are ill informed

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#2 Consumer Comment

Excellent Experience with John Wardell

AUTHOR: MReader - ()

POSTED: Thursday, March 20, 2014

John Wardell acted on my family's behalf to seek VA benefits for my mom, based on my dad's army experiences during WWII.  He was recommended by several highly regarded professionals in the "senior care" (health/legal) community where I live.   

In contrast to the complaint noted above, I found him completely knowledgable, accessible, friendly, and supportive during the entire process.  He represented himself honestly and worked hard on our behalf. 

 

We recently learned that the application made on behalf of my mom was approved and that VA benefits will start quite soon.  It took 7 months from the date of submission to the date of notification, which isn't bad (many report it taking a year or longer) - considering there was a government shut down during that time! 

 

We are thrilled to have the benefits and tremendously indebted to John for all his hard work.  His fee was extraordinarily reasonable given all the hard work that he did on our behalf.  I have pretty high standards for myself and those around me - and I'm happy to say that John exceeded all of them!

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#1 REBUTTAL Owner of company

???

AUTHOR: CBG - ()

POSTED: Thursday, July 04, 2013

To Whom it May Concern:

We are very confused as to this report, as no one has advised anyone at CBG that a family was denied a claim.

There are two accredited claims agents with the VA that are on staff. At no point does anyone say that they work directly for the VA. 

We would be more than happy to review any decision on any case that any family has submitted.

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