Hassles

This is a complaining entry so let that be said.

Two days ago I called Medtronic to put in my order of new glucose sensors and other supplies that work with my pump. I need to do this about every month or so. I put the order in over the phone suing an automated system and a day later, yesterday, I called to find out if the order went through. In the past I have found that my orders go through but then they do not ship because Medtronic is waiting on me to give the go-ahead to use the credit card on file to pay for my co-pay on the order.

Why no one gets in touch with me once the items are cleared through insurance and the bill needs to be paid before shipping is beyond me.

Yesterday the automated system tells me my order is “in process”, and I can check the status of the order online as well. Today I did just that. It still says “in process” and I know that this means I have to call. I know my order is ready to go but is sitting in purgatory until it’s paid for (which I only know from having to do this over and over).

So I call and go through the automated verification system (name, birth date, zip code), followed by a million prompts working you towards using their automated system. It take a while to get an actual human.

Once I do, he confirms that my order is ready and the sensors will be $94.50.

“It’s always been $80 for a box in the past” I say

“Let me just refresh the system” he tells me, and sure enough, it’s suddenly $80.

So while I was initially thinking it would be nice to simply put my order in and get my items. I’m now seeing that I would have been charged more than I should be and that would have been a giant hassle to figure out, if I even noticed I was over-charged later on.

This isn’t really about Medtronic. They do great things and my interactions with them have always been perfectly fine. I just wish everything wasn’t such a PROJECT all the time. This also really burns me on behalf of people who don’t know how to or can’t advocate for themselves.