A California insurance company, Covered California, mistakenly sent some hearing-impaired callers to a chat line that offered “hot ladies” rather than an insurance navigator.

As the deadline to sign up for health insurance loomed, one Auburn man tried to sign up for coverage. A website page for Covered California erroneously listed the incorrect phone number as 1-888-899-4500. The correct number is off by just one number, and is 1-888-889-4500. Instead of the expected health insurance advice, callers were instead greeted with the following message:

“Welcome to America’s hottest talk line. Ladies, to talk to interesting and exciting guys free, press one now. Guys, hot ladies are waiting to talk to you. Press two to connect free now.”

The man who had been trying to sign up for health insurance coverage, Jeff Brown, decided to try the number again, in case he had dialed it incorrectly the first time, and got the same automated message. He said, “I’ll try this number again just in case I dialed it wrong – same thing.”

A Covered California spokesman, Roy Kennedy, did not want to be interviewed on camera, and explained through email that, “We’ve never had the incorrect number on our site.”

CBS13 captured a screenshot that shows the incorrect number on the insurance company’s website.

The company later sent an email to CBS13 stating, “…After investigating it further, we are reviewing the shop and compare tool as an incorrect number. We’re currently working to correct the problem.”

Kennedy later stated that the wrong number only appeared under certain circumstances but he did not offer further explanation as to what those circumstances are.

Brown said, “I guess it’s an honest mistake, but website’s aren’t that hard to keep up right.”

The company has since repaired the mistake on its website.

Other users who rushed to sign up for health insurance by the deadline had other issues with the website, noting that they needed to sign up in person. Ron Randolph, who went to a Sacramento facility for help signing up in person, said, “I already signed up, so I have an account on the website, but I haven’t been able to access it.”