Extremely disappointing customer service…read more
I have been trying to get a CPAP machine through this local Jackson Medical Supply store in Boone, Iowa, and the experience has been unbelievably frustrating.
It took THREE WEEKS just to get any meaningful information. During that time, I called every Monday asking for an update. Each time, I received essentially the same scripted response: "We're working on it", "We need to confirm your script" and "I don't think we have all the supplies."
Four weeks later, I called again and got the same response. Then, suddenly, I received a call late in the day saying everything was ready.
Great, right?
Not quite.
When I returned the call, I simply asked what the CPAP would cost me. The employee couldn't tell me the price. I asked the question several different ways, trying to make it as easy as possible to get a straight answer. The only response I could get was some variation of "It's insurance."
Scripted responses are easy to spot. When they use the same wording when responding the different questions, they aren't thinking - they are reading. My question: "How much will I owe?" was followed by "$1600 and you have Blank Insurance which is 70/30" So I followed up with "Is the 1600 my end or the total?" To which they replied, "It is "$1600 and you have Blank Insurance which is 70/30"
I inquired this exact quote, "Is the $1,600 30% of the total bill, making the machine $5,500? Or will I owe 30% for $1600?" And their exact response was "You're bill is $1600 and you have Blank Insurance which is 70/30"
I was then transferred to another employee who apparently handles billing. Surely someone in billing could tell me what I would actually be charged.
Nope.
She couldn't tell me the cost of the machine either. Falling back on the exact same sentence the previous worker used, "You're bill is $1600 and you have Blank Insurance which is 70/30". She couldn't even add the service fees together because, as she explained, "I need a calculator and don't have one."
At this point, I wasn't asking for anything complicated. I wanted to know what I would be paying.
What made this experience particularly frustrating was the complete lack of ownership. Instead of answering questions, both employees repeatedly fell back on the same scripted phrases. No explanation. No effort to find an answer. No attempt to call someone who could provide one. Just the same words repeated over and over.
Four weeks. Multiple phone calls. Two employees. And I still couldn't get a basic answer about the price of the product I was supposedly ready to receive.
Customer service shouldn't require this much persistence from the customer.
If your business sells medical equipment and handles insurance billing, customers deserve clear information, reasonable communication, and someone willing to actually solve the problem instead of reciting a script.
Jackson Medical Supply adds to their 'scammer' feel buy operating under multiple business names. As of today, I've found 4 different names all operating beside or above JMS. Yes, I understand business layers and sub-corps. However using this multi layers to add confusion to clients for the same device at varying prices comes off as very inappropriate and certainly greedy without concern for the client.
This was not merely a delay. It was a frustrating demonstration of poor communication, poor follow-through, and a remarkable lack of customer service.
I ultimately took my business elsewhere.
