That's the way COBRA works though: you have 2 months to elect it, but if/when you do, you have to pay premiums starting from the moment you lost your original coverage (and have retroactive coverage).
But the I continuously got the "we have you down for this provider" when my COBRA admin told me that that provider could no longer give me coverage. I needed to AETNA to file me under a new provider.
Then I called AETNA and they still said "so and so" is listed as my provider. I told them to change it. "It's gonna be at least a week to update your information, sir."
Call back next week, "sir, you are still listed on 'so and so' provider."
It was exhausting.
edit: but the thing was, I trust them to give me good advice. The HR providers. I figured, well if they haven't said anything about deferred payments, it might not be applicable to my situation so I never brought it up...