They would rather lose customers than help them.
For two months, I have been trying to get a replacement CPAP machine for my old one, which is wearing out after only two years.
Acquiring a CPAP machine is now a shell game that involves five entities: myself, my doctor, a sleep clinic, my insurance company, and a "medical parts supplier" which in this case, was BP Gamma.
For two months, I had patiently worked with every part of this, filling out forms, correcting mistaken phone numbers, filling in communications that these parties SHOULD have been doing independently. I hit a problematic deadline because my health insurance was about to change, and I didn't want to start all over.
As for BP Gamma, their "customer service" is non-existent. With the exception of one person, everyone I spoke to was unknowledgeable, terse, rude and condescending. The worst culprits are in their "supplies" department, as they will mumble something and transfer you to a voicemail before you can finish your sentence. All this after waiting on hold and being redirected for 20-25 minutes.
When I called back and complained, I was put on the phone with the Vice President of the company, who accused me of "abusing his employees" [read: complaining]. He told me that he would look into the problem himself, call my insurance company, and get back to me in 15 minutes.
He was lying.
I received a call two hours later from my sleep clinic stating the BP Gamma had dropped me and refused to provide service. Because of them, I will now have to pay out-of-pocket for CPAP equipment.
The medical supplies industry is a racket. There are two possibilities here, and I don't know which is the truth:
a) The company does sell CPAP equipment (I have bought from them in the past), but they are actually a front for something else that is illegal. I can say from experience that they attempt to sell extra, unnecessary supplies. From this I presume that it makes both them and the big insurance companies more money.
b) They are a legitimate company, but they play games and willfully make mistakes and lose information with the intent of getting customers to give up in a huff and just pay for the equipment themselves. What they didn't expect from me is that I wouldn't give up.
Consider the following instances:
Medtronic sued in class action suit in Minnesota:
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/minnesota/articles/2018-07-24/minnesota-medical-device-company-agrees-to-43m-settlement
Boston Scientific sued for using counterfeit materials:
https://www.meshmedicaldevicenewsdesk.com/class-action-accuses-boston-scientific-racketeering-fraud-counterfeit-pelvic-mesh/
And of course, EpiPen:
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/03/mylan-hit-with-racketeering-suit-over-big-price-hikes-of-epipen.html
Insys, and the illegal fentanyl:
https://www.fda.gov/iceci/criminalinvestigations/ucm582374.htm
Analgsic Healthcare, sued by GEICO:
https://www.law360.com/articles/847274/geico-says-medical-device-co-bribed-docs-in-rico-suit
Also the $513 million Tenet Healthcare debacle:
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/hospital-chain-will-pay-over-513-million-defrauding-united-states-and-making-illegal-payments
I am not saying that the company is engaging in racketeering, but I am saying with all certainty that they are a quintessential part of the health care problem. If they're so nonchalantly willing to dump a customer, they're priorities are clearly mixed up. I don't know what business school their Vice President went to, but I could not have been very good. read more