Good News, bad news with APRIA

[TalonNYC]

Got my quarterly shipment from Apria, and it was - literally - a mixed bag.

They have finally come around to my side, a process which started a few months back but wasn't fully complete yet. I still got pushback on some stuff. Now they are being much more helpful and getting me what I want and need. That's the good news.

Bad news is that they're sill a bunch of raving lunatics. I ordered:
1 hose
1 water tank
2 packs of filters
1 Quattro Mirage FX (medium)
2 replacement cushions for that mask

Split across 2 shipments, I got:
1 hose
1 tank
1 pack of filters
1 Quattro Mirage FX, size SMALL
no cushions

WTG Apria.

After 20 minutes of "Press 1 to get ignored, Press 2 to get ignored faster" and being on hold, I finally got through the right group over there. They're sending the correct mask and the cushions ASAP, but wow did they mess up the order! Phone system is still horrific, but hey, I'm getting my mask. Eventually. Maybe.

[nanwilson]

Mike, now you know why everyone calls them Crapria .

[TalonNYC]

Mike, now you know why everyone calls them Crapria .

And I now know that it is also an understatement =(

And they were SO good the last time I called them, go figure.

[Lizzzabeth]

I feel your pain! I don't use Apria, but this week I called ahead to the DME and requested an exchange of the Mirage Quattro instead of the Mirage Liberty (this was my very first mask exchange). I sent in a complete mask system--headgear, mask, pillows, cushions, user's guide and DVD in a mesh bag. They sent back the old headgear and a new mask--they kept my storage bag and didn't include a user's guide. After calling to explain the mixup--request the correct headgear and my mesh bag back, I sent my hubby again. He returned with the correct headgear, and my mesh bag--which still contains the old mask, cushions and pillows. Still no user's guide, but I can live with that. At least I only lost one night's treatment for their mixups.

If they think I'm sending my husband out of his way a third time to return the mask they incorrectly returned to me, they can just sit and wait. I'm not calling them--see if they figure it out themselves!

If this is going to be the norm for them, I'll switch to mail order for masks and supplies.

[GumbyCT]

If they think I'm sending my husband out of his way a third time to return the mask they incorrectly returned to me, they can just sit and wait. I'm not calling them--see if they figure it out themselves!

Most suppliers don't ask for or take the old mask back.

[Starlette]

I don't use Apria anymore, I go to cpap.com

[fuzzy96]

I don't use Apria anymore, I go to cpap.com

i'd love to use cpap.com but unfortunately my insurance company (and thier vendors) violates every anti-trust code,law and statute ever written by making them "out of network" therefore i would have to spend more than $3000.00 out of pocket to get to an 80/20 benefit reimbursement. no wonder there is a healthcare crisis in this country when they dont even enforce the laws on the books. i have bought from our sponsors small items and am very happy with the service. will this country ever wise up?

[TalonNYC]

Same here, fuzzy. I use CPAP.com for anything the insurance doesn't cover, but everything they do cover, it's to Apria I go =(

[Roger2]

I don't use Apria anymore, I go to cpap.com

I would like to do the same but unfortunately, Aprea is the only O2 and cpap approved company on Anthem BCBS's list for this area and they will not pay the bill for any company not on their list. This may be only for their medicare advantage coverage, I am not sure on their regular policies. I checked with United since the time period in which medicare clients can switch companies begins next month and ends in December and theirs is the same, I guess Apria has most of the medicare advantage carriers sewed up. I wonder if that constitutes a monopoly???

Roger

[NCHawk]

When I first got a CPAP in 2005 it was from Apria in Chicago, and the only problem I had was that they didn't offer me a choice of what type of mask I got; fortunately I didn't have any problem with the nasal mask they gave me. I also wasn't told that BCBS would pay for a replacement mask every six months, so I just kept using the same one until 2007, when the gel padding started to split. By that time I had moved to North Carolina, so I had to track down the local office and find out what I had to do to get a replacement. That's when I found out that I could have been getting new masks all that time. There was a bit of a problem because the NC office had to contact the Chicago office and get a copy of my prescription before they could do anything, which took a while. But after that I didn't have any problems until my original CPAP died. For some reason they couldn't use the original prescription to provide a replacement, sop I had to get in touch with the neurologist I had started seeing here to have her fax them a prescription and DME verification. Fortunately, she didn't think it was necessary to have me do another sleep study, which would have delayed things even further.

The North Carolina Apria office seems to be fairly decent; they sent someone to my house with the new CPAP, and he was much more informative than the Chicago office had been. He suggested that I try using nasal pillows instead of the mask, and told me that if I didn't like them I had 30 days to get a mask instead. After six months I'm pretty happy with the pillows, and yesterday I called to request a new hose, pillows, and filter; all of which cost me only $15.24 after BCBS pays their share.