The OctaPharma Plasma Plano center staff are wonderful - knowledgeable, friendly, helpful. I have never had a hematoma there and only one re-stick which was years ago with a trainee. I have donated with this center for years and have stayed at this OP Plano center for well over a year and have without feeling a need to rotate out to any other center or company. So, Five Stars for them.
OctaPharma corporate and information services (push info on the app, customer service phone center, is ABSOLUTE:LY HORRIBLE.
"Lies, damned lies, and OctaPharma Customer Service information" - Benjamin Disraeli
Yesterday morning, due to the fact that people in my part of the South (USA) get scared to death when a snowflake falls, I called in to see if my center was open. Remember, with OctaPharma, the ONLY way we have to know such information is to call in to the Customer "Service" Center (CSC). They think that all kinds of info pushes out on the OctaApp that doesn't. So, one has to call.
Of course, I called at 7:15 because forgot that despite the donation centers being open 7am-7pm, the bottleneck/CSC is only open during "normal business hours" 9am-5pm. So, I waited.
My app was telling me I was able to donate but I suspect that is only "me" info, not taking into account anything about the donation center, and I didn't want to make the drive if they weren't open.
Thus, just before 10am, I called back and got a rep on the phone:
"Your center is open today from 7am-7pm."
"You are sure that this info is good for the Plano TX center?"
"Yes, that center is open from 7am-7pm."
"And that is info for today, correct?"
"Correct."
So, I had a few errands to do and wanted to let meals kick in, so I went to the center at 5pm.
Sign on the door said (not exact wording): "Reduced hours today. Our center will be open from 10am until 4pm."
Arrrgh.
I called the CSC and asked what hours the center would be open. "That center will be open from 10am until 4pm." Hmmm. "Are you able to tell what time you received that notification?" "Yes, sir, we received it at 10:03 am."
So, either the center did not inform the CSC of their decision about operating hours until at least 3 hours after the center's decision was made (to not open at 7am) or the CSC had the info available but did not push it out officially to the reps for up to 3 hours after receiving it. I seriously doubt that the donation center left the phone center uninformed. I checked with the donation center and learned that they had made the modified-hours decision DAYS prior to the ice storm. I cannot believe for a moment they kept this decision secret for several days.
And, of course, none of this updated-hours info was on the OctaApp beyond a message that some centers might be closed and donors should check first before going.
Forcing us through this info bottleneck of uninformed script-readers and then ALSO giving out completely false information makes OctaPharma the worst of the worst in my opinion when it comes to helping donors with information.
The drive in to the center wasn't hazardous, but it was very slow. They wasted my time yet again by not having the right info available in the right place at the right time, and essentially lying to donors.
Everything else about OctaPharma is really great, as far as I'm concerned. But their corporate setup for info sharing is ATROCIOUS . read more