Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Coughing is Still my all-day Activity


I will be glad when this coughing stops. My ribs are sore, my nose is sore, and my throat is very tired. My coughs sound as if they are coming from my toes. I really must be sick, sick as today my temper flared.

I went to the pharmacy to pick up some paperwork printed off by one of the technicians. I am still trying to recover a payment we made for the shots I got for blood clot prevention after my surgery. The hospital didn't give me my daily shot they day I went home, and they didn't let my doctor know in time to fax the request to my insurance. Well it cost us $300 that night instead of our $5 or $10 copay.

I had to have the shots daily. I was at high risk of blood clots. I took these shots for 10 days to help prevent them. We had no choice but to pay that night. Well the insurance hasn't refunded us our money and it has been since Nov 9, 2007. Because we had to pay with a credit card, we are also paying interest on the money every month.

The insurance shows...even after I provided original credit card receipts when I applied for the refund..that we only paid the copay. I decided to resubmit everything again.

We have called at least 4-5 times to the insurance company. Each time we have to go thru the whole situation to at least 3 or more people as we get transferred around thru departments. What a fun way to waste an afternoon. And after each phone call, we are told they will process the payment. We wait a month and call again.

In order to resubmit, I need the paperwork from the pharmacy. When I was there today, I was told that I would have to come back when the lady was working who printed out the info. I sat there for 20 minutes hacking and coughing for her to tell me that. Here I am already there, I know the papers are printed out already, and I can't get them. All that and I am sick on top of it and didn't feel like driving over there.

Well my temper flared. I didn't say much to her. Since I became a Christian, I have tried to control my temper. It used to flare easily and calm slowly if at all but that is not being a good Christian. That has been a hard road for me to conquer. But I have been doing a pretty good job of it until today. But since I "control" it, it hurts me worse than anyone else with raised blood pressure and general irritability.

Tomorrow I will once again drive to the pharmacy, wait in line while I hack and cough, and infect all in line with my cold just to collect paperwork I shouldn't have to need in the first place. And another day has passed with no refund in sight.

Oh how I yearn for the customer service of yesteryear. When the customer was always right even if they were wrong. And we smiled and "made nice" even if the customer was not happy. We were there to represent our place of business and how the business was perceived was all important. I am sure glad that I learned that at 19 years old on my first job. It made me a better person and a more polite person, and I learned to handle situations with wisdom beyond my years. I was working for a bank. Their customers expected good service, and we were expected to give it.

Here is what I did today for the scavenger hunt. Tomorrow is the last day of this hunt. A new list will post tomorrow. I finally finished one list after a "way too long" dry spell. Now I am on a roll.

2 comments:

Beamer said...

I really dislike dealing with insurance companies. I think some times they forget all about customer service.

Still hoping you get feeling better.

Beamer

Joan said...

Dealing with people is so frustrating at times!!! Hope your cold improves quickly. Glad you got back into sketching for the hunts.