DME frustrations/ billing questions

My son’s DME (Lincare) has been an absolute nightmare to deal with. Hope someone here can help me figure out some billing issues.

For the first year of CPAP use my son used a Wisp nasal mask. He started having some issues with leaks so his doc prescribed a new mask, the dreamwear nasal. He is set up for automatic delivery and as luck would have it a couple of days day before his appointment to pick up the new mask at our local DME a Wisp mask and headgear arrived in the mail. I brought the new unopened Wisp mask & headgear into our appointment and they exchanged it for the dreamwear mask & headgear. The following month a bill arrived.
Two items were billed for on the date of the Wisp automatic shipment:
A7034 Nasal Appl Device insurance allowed $60.89
A7035 CPAP headgear insurance allowed $20.05
Two additional items were billed a couple of days later on the date we returned the Wisp and picked up the dreamwear.
A7935 CPAP headgear insurance allowed $20.05
A7032 nasal cushion/ gel flap insurance allowed amount $19.60

I called the billing office and was told they would take the 2 items billed on the date of the automatic mailing off the bill and I would be sent a new bill. The items were never removed from the bill. I went back and forth with billing for a few months always being told it would be taken off the bill, but that never happened. Then I talked to a new billing agent who took a different stance. He pretty much told me to that to get me out of his hair and out of the goodness of his heart he would remove one of the headgear charges. He refused to remove any thing else because he didn’t believe I had returned any of the items. I offered to mail him a copy of the receipt I had insisted the DME provide me documenting the exchange. When I dropped a polite but firmly worded letter and copy of the receipt in the mail I hoped the mess would be resolved. Then the letters and calls threatening collection started coming in. The billing agent claimed he never received the letter and receipt i had sent so i resent everything certified/ return receipt. So of course now that i have ample (and traceable) legal documentation the billing agent has to acknowledge that I exchanged the Wisp mask, but his new claim is that the original bill was actually correct and I still owe the full amount. The way they bill for this stuff is so confusing, can anyone who understands the billing tell me what I actually owe lincare?

Thank you to everyone who took the time to read thru this far to long and complicated post. I won’t bore you with the details, but prior to this latest issue i had another long 12 month battle with the DME that thankfully finally resulted in them correcting the nearly $1000 worth erroneous charges they claimed my family owed.
Many of the DME’s clientele are in the middle of a health crisis and live on fixed incomes, most of their clientele have neither the energy or resources to battle them. This to me is about far more than money it’s about principal, I will not pay these vultures a penny more than I owe them.

Welcome to the world of Linn I Don't Care. What you have explained is typical of their billing procedures. Many people have had the same kind of problems with them.

Do you have a HSA? They will go to bat for you over false charges. If you don't talk to your insurance agent. They might be able to help. They generally do not like being double billed.

get away from lincare as fast as you can. i did. ask your insurance what other dme options are available to you,

Report them to your insurer for fraudulent double billing.

You can also rat them out to your state insurance department,
or Medicare, if applicable.
I encourage you to make waves--this crap needs to END.