I agree with you (in concept, anyway), except for the patience part. I've never been patient, and I'm sure not starting now.bwexler wrote:I could never have your patience. I would call and insist on holding until a manager could come to the phone. When they disconnect instead of placing me on hold I would call back immediately. I find 3 or 4 consecutive calls will get someone out of the "meeting" to talk to me. I always escalate my request from the worker Bee to the senior bee to the manager, general manager, owner/president.
If the phone fails, just walk into their facility Monday morning with your specific RX in one hand and a pillow and blanket in the other hand. Let them know you will not leave til you have what you came for in hand.
Unfortunately, this is not a brick-n-mortar DME, so there's no physical place to walk into; I only have a toll-free number for them. The office that I'm dealing with is just that - an office. It isn't a place you can walk into and obtain equipment of any kind. It's located south of Miami, and my folks live nearer to West Palm Beach (for those unfamiliar with the area, it's about a 90-minute drive from here with no traffic).
I did call again this afternoon (four times since 4:00 p.m.), and the poor receptionist got an earful of my experience with them thus far. She tells me during the first call that the RTs are waiting for a specific prescription from Dad's PC about the settings (the study report advises an Auto with settings of 5-20), so I asked her why they keep telling me they're coming to set him up (first on Tuesday, then again on Thursday) if they have to get a prescription first? Of course, she has no idea. I insisted on speaking with an RT, and she tells me that all the RTs are in a conference at the moment, that they should be "done soon," and she'll have someone call me. At 4:55 with no return call, it's time for me to call them again.
Call again, tell the receptionist what's going on, that nobody has returned my call after this "conference," and I tell her I want to speak with either Abel (the RT manager) or Juan (an RT). (I got their names a few days ago when I was told one of them would call me back to schedule a visit and set-up for Dad.) Needless to say, I've never spoken to either one. So LSS, she says she's transferring me to Juan. Juan answers after a few minutes, I go through the rigmarole one more time, and he tells me he'll leave a message for one of the RTs to call me back. I said, "But *you're* Juan, aren't you?" He says, "My name is Juan, but I'm in the Call Center. I'm not the RT named Juan." Jeezus, seriously??? How incompetent is this fucking company?
He puts me on hold and, while I'm waiting (now 22 minutes into the call), he disconnects me. Awesome. So I call back, wait on hold for someone to answer, and finally get a girl on the phone, begin speaking with her, and she's suddenly laughing and telling someone that the call froze and "I lost him." (I'm often mistaken for a man on the phone, so no surprise that she referred to me as a "him.") But once again, I'm disconnected and get nowhere on the phone call. Peachy. I call back yet again and get a young man on the phone. I apologized to him straight away, because now I'm really pissed off, and my annoyance is quite obvious. I explain one mo' time why I'm calling, and he puts me on hold (after me telling him to be sure he doesn't disconnect me in the process) to try to reach the RT department. It's now about 5:45, and lo and behold, none of the RTs is answering their phone... (Sure, it's Friday night, and it's time for Happy Hour! ) So the kid in reception apologizes profusely for what I've been through with them thus far, and he then assures me that he's sending the RT Department email outlining the situation with a screenshot of Dad's sleep study/order attached. Again he assures me that someone in the RT Department will call me back, and I reiterate that they've yanked my chain with that line of bullshit all week.
Surprisingly, they're open tomorrow, so I'll be on the phone at 9:00 in the morning to start this crap all over again... GRRRRRRR!!!
My Dad wants me to stop calling them and insists that I not aggravate myself anymore. But I told him I'm stubborn as hell, and this place WILL do what they're supposed to do (even if it kills me). (I rail against this kind of bullshit; can't help myself, as it's just the way I'm built.) I plan to call the folks' insurance plan on Monday, too, and bitch about this experience.
I hate not having any option when it comes to choosing a DME and getting Dad set up with equipment. Believe me, if I had the money, I'd buy from cpap.com and relieve myself of all this hassle... But the situation is what it is, and I'll deal with it.