The administrator of our AFLAC policies reported that the AFLAC organization had notified her that I have been paying for 2 short term disbaility policies since 2002----so 7 years of duplicate deductions from my paycheck that neither I nor my human resources department had noticed. So the agent cancelled the smaller of the 2 policies and indicated that I may be able to get a sizeable refund. AFLAC sent me the generic "sorry you decided to cancel your policy-are you sure you won't reconsider?" letter. It indicated that no refund is due.

I have not replied or contacted AFLAC because I do not know whether there is any recourse on this. Can you help?

Write a polite letter, with a stamp, to the CEO of AFLAC (you can get his name and address from the AFLAC website or the shareholder documents the firm files with the SEC (www.sec.gov) -- such as the Annual Report or Form 10-K -- and explain the situation.

Explain that they were charging you by error, and you had only one policy and would have been unable to collect double coverage, and ask that they make a full refund on one of the duplicate charges for the same policy.

My sense is that you should get something back, but given the time that has passed, not everything. Also, complain to your employer and ask it to intercede for you with AFLAC as it has clout with AFLAC because relies on employer deductions from payroll for its livelihood.