Yeah. That’s what I thought. Few if any takers on that one. My snark is back because I was hoping that this rough week would be better. Well, it is OK for now, because it finally passed but I had some nice drama this morning that I hadn’t anticipated.
I was finally coming out of the depression & anxiety cycle I had been trapped in for a bit. I also had that donor meeting I missed behind me & yesterday to rest & recover from it.
However, I noticed Wednesday on the way to Philadelphia, my portable oxygen machine wasn’t charging correctly.
I always carry a spare battery but it was the first time the original battery I usually used failed to charge in the car. I was ok, but it bothered me. I thought maybe it was just the car charger going bad.
Yesterday, when I was exercising & had it plugged into the wall next to the row machine (doing what I do), it was acting up too. Barely charging & charging slower than normal. So immediately after I finished my half hour, I called my local oxygen company to tell them the problems I was having and asked if I could have a new battery & new chargers sent out to me. They said they would do that, & scheduled the service call for today.
This morning rolls around & the delivery guy comes out with a new concentrator (oxygen machine). I told him what the rep had told me. I also told him that this concentrator wasn’t equivalent to the one I had & that it wouldn’t support me for exercise & might not even for walking around. The flow on the oxygen didn’t go high enough & it didn’t have the right setting that I use to exercise with.
He goes out, calls, & said I was right but that there was nothing he could do. I had to call the company back. He was trying to take my concentrator in but I told him I couldn’t allow that without some kind of replacement (which none of the alternatives they offered were).
I very politely chewed out the rep for lying to me.
I said, “If you didn’t have the spare parts I asked for, you could have told me then & there. I would have made do for a few days or we could have arranged a work around with some extra tanks. But you can’t come out & not service my machine & not leave me with something workable while you say you have to take mine away for servicing. I’m not letting you take it & leave me with nothing.”
She didn’t have much to say, just that she would discuss it with someone & call back…. That was about 1PM. No call of course.
Now, because this machine sucks battery life quickly period, I do always have a spare battery I carry with me.
However, I paid for it myself because my insurance wouldn’t cover a spare.
If something is bad with one of the cells in this current battery that came with the machine, I don’t want it to affect my spare that I paid over $100 out of my own funds to have as a back up for emergencies or areas where there are no outlets.
So I’m not willing to use it right now until we know what the issue is. I don’t want my spare going bad because of a problem with their equipment that they refuse to look into.
Plus if it’s their battery & their equipment, because it’s going through my insurance & my deductible, they actually do owe it to me to fix this since I’m renting it from them & sharing the cost.
It’s not on me to & I’m not a tech. They are lucky I could narrow down the problem for them.
I don’t know why it’s such a chore to come to service call prepared & ready to actually service something.
Instead I just wasted two hours of my morning to get no help & no resolution.
I’m just tired of the games that both national & local suppliers play with people who need to use oxygen.
I was proud of myself for being as assertive as I was, but like I told them they “really need to get it together.”
Kind of reminds me of gripes with cable or internet service calls.
Probably why I have less tolerance for this b.s. when it happens.
Just had one too many crappy customer service experiences to tolerate it with something that I actually need to function.
So sorry u had to endure that too on top of everything else. You would think since its ONLY a life saving device they would have parts etc. for service calls.
My service call for my dryer came with a knowledgeable employee who carried spare parts in their service van and fixed the problem on the spot.
You would think a company that sells/rents “LIFE SAVING” products would employ capable/educated employees. People who actually realized how IMPORTANT it is to have things resolved asap and with some decency!!!
You are such a inspiration to read…. keep up the great articles!!!!
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Thanks Lynn I really appreciate hearing that and so agree
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