Not of Joseph…no way. I’ve had to deal with so much incompetence
with insurance companies, medical supply companies and doctors’ office support
staff since Joseph was born, you would think I would be used to it by now.
Let’s take my most recent
exchange with Apria Enteral Nutrition.
I called Apria on 10/25 to
place Joseph’s monthly nutrition supply refill order. The woman I spoke
to said that the supply order would be shipped out that day and I would receive
it on 10/26. The supplies never came on 10/26. The woman did
mention that it was possible the supplies would come on 10/29 but they didn’t
come that day either.
I called again on 10/30 to check the
status. The woman on the phone told me that the supplies weren’t actually
supposed to arrive until 11/1. Either this lady was lying to me or the
first woman I talked to was as to when the supplies would be delivered.
I made another phone call AGAIN on 11/1 to
find out the status of the supplies and the woman I talked to told me she
couldn’t guarantee that the supplies would be delivered that day. I asked for clarification on when they
actually placed and shipped the order.
She told me the order wasn’t even placed until 10/30!! I think I may have popped a blood vessel at
that point, but since I was in the hallway at the office outside a meeting with
a lot of people I tried to keep my composure.
Why on earth was the order not placed until 10/30 when I called on 10/25
and indicated we only had enough left to make it until 11/1? Momma
bear was pissed.
I called again when I arrived home from work at 6 pm
on 11/1 after I scoped out the front porch and didn’t find supplies. I had to contact the after-hours line at this
point. The agent Richard looked up UPS tracking numbers and said that 2 of the
5 boxes were in Chantilly on a truck and the other 3 were still at the New
Stanton, PA distribution station.
Richard ensured me that the supplies would arrive by 7 pm today.
My question to Richard was what was in those
two boxes that were on the truck in Chantilly?
I explained it is Joseph’s FOOD (Peptamen Jr) that I needed. I can deal with re-using syringes for another
week if needed, but I can’t make up his special formula. I am
grateful that Richard was empathetic to the situation and seemed to be as
concerned as me that the food had not arrived despite me ordering it a week
ago. He took my cell number and said he would call
me back at 7 to see if the truck arrived.
Being a project manager, I asked him for contingency plans in the event UPS didn't make it today. What was the soonest the local branch could
bring over a few days supply of food the next day, and did they even stock
Peptamen Jr? Richard indicated he would
check the inventory of the local branch and be ready with an answer when he
called at 7.
Trying to keep my cool and mentally trying to prepare
for a fiasco and keeping in mind that I need to stay in control of my emotions,
I went to my bedroom to change out of work clothes and get ready for a workout
with my trainer in 30 minutes. While
changing I looked out my closet window and saw what looked to be a UPS truck
driving down the road. I dashed
downstairs and out the front door to see where the truck was going. He went over to the cul de sac next to our
house. I stood there and watched him and
finally saw him drive over to my house and pull into the driveway. FINALLY!
One of the boxes looked like they could contain formula, and sure enough…2
of the 5 cases of Joseph’s formula were in there. That is plenty enough to get us through the
weekend and for a few weeks. That SHOULD
be plenty of time for the rest of the boxes to make their way here from New
Stanton.
This is only a small glimpse into the ineptitude that
I deal with on a constant basis. I’ve
learned to set my expectations extremely low and sometimes people meet them,
most of the time they don’t.
By the way, Richard did call back about 20 minutes to 7,
after the supplies were dropped off, he was watching the UPS tracking tickets
and saw they were marked as delivered on the porch.
