They Made Me Miss My Appointment!
By StacyB
@Srbageldog (7716)
United States
September 18, 2017 2:15pm CST
I am so annoyed this morning. I have had an appointment scheduled with my gynecologist for over two months and had arranged for my insurance's taxi service to take me to it this morning. They were supposed to get me between 9:30 and 10:00 and I waited...and waited...and they just never showed up. Finally around 10 after 10 I called the "Where's My Ride?" number to see what was going on, only to be told that the patient they'd picked up before me had gotten sick and they had to pull over and were behind schedule. Okay...so they only have one driver working? I know they have at least two drivers, because I have ridden with both of them. And why didn't anyone call to tell me this? The representative I spoke to did try to call my doctor's office to explain the situation, but got stuck on hold for over 5 minutes and never was able to get through. Anyway, I was assured that the driver was on his way that moment, and asked if I still wanted to go to my appointment even though I would be a little late. I said yes, since my doctor's office isn't that far away and I figured if the driver picked me up in the next 5 or 10 minutes, I'd only be a little late and the doctor would still see me.
Well another half hour passed...still no calls from the driver or anything. By this time it was 15 minutes to 11:00, and I knew that even if I made it to my doctor's office they wouldn't take me in, as by that point I was a no-show. So I tried to call the "Where's My Ride?" number back, and kept getting an "all circuits are busy" message, until after the third or fourth try I finally got through. This time I spoke to a different rep who said that the last time they'd communicated with the taxi dispatcher they'd said they wouldn't be able to get to me until at least 11:00. Well that did me no good, as my appointment was at 10:30! Nobody even bothered to tell me that, or I would have said forget it and cancelled to begin with! Anyway so I cancelled my ride (which I doubt would have ever shown up anyway) and tried calling my doctor's office to explain why I wasn't there. And I kept getting the stupid "all circuits are busy" message at that number too! It took me several tries to finally get through, then I was immediately stuck on hold for a few minutes. When I finally got a receptionist on the line, I explained to her my predicament and asked if I could reschedule. Which she said was fine, but they are booked until the middle of next month! So now my annual exam and followup on my endometriosis treatment has to wait yet another month. And I was wanting to discuss other treatment options, because my current one isn't working -- in fact it's made things worse.
I am so annoyed right now, even though I realize that sometimes things happen. It would have been nice if the driver had at least called me to let me know what was going on instead of making me call my insurance company's transportation hotline to try to figure out where the hell my ride was. That was totally unprofessional, and now I don't trust this taxi company to ever get me to my appointments on time, or at all. I don't like not knowing if they will actually show up or not. This is the second time I've had issues with getting to my appointment when using the insurance's taxi services; granted, the other time was a different taxi company, but I still think it's unacceptable to make people late or never show up at all. The least they could have done was called when they realized they'd be way behind schedule so I could have had the option to call my doctor before my appointment time passed to reschedule or see if they could switch me to a later time today.
5 people like this
6 responses
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
18 Sep 17
I had to reschedule it. But my new appointment isn't until October 13th!
2 people like this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
19 Sep 17
@vsai2008 I know. I am really unhappy about that!
2 people like this
@kobesbuddy (78871)
• East Tawas, Michigan
18 Sep 17
This is absolutely ridiculous, trusting them to get you somewhere on time, isn't asking too much! I'd never use their service, ever again:(
2 people like this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
18 Sep 17
I would have been better off taking the city bus! Unfortunately I don't have any other transportation options for appointments that are out of the area, and until today I hadn't had any issues with this company.
1 person likes this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
18 Sep 17
@kobesbuddy They are definitely unreliable. If they had at least called to communicate with me what was going on, I would have been understanding. From what I was told, it sounds like the patient before me vomited in the car. Well, they should have more than just one driver on call and should have sent someone else out to get me. Making me miss my appointment and not communicating that they weren't coming was not an acceptable way to handle that situation.
1 person likes this
@kobesbuddy (78871)
• East Tawas, Michigan
18 Sep 17
@Srbageldog I wouldn't trust them ever again, for a ride to an appointment:(
1 person likes this
@TiarasOceanView (70022)
• United States
18 Sep 17
Yes I have had this happen to me when depending on taxis for medical appts.
From now on, I train or bus it.
Sorry this happened today Stacy
2 people like this
@TiarasOceanView (70022)
• United States
19 Sep 17
@Srbageldog I know what you mean..luckily our transport system buses and trains work well. I wish you the best Stacy.
2 people like this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
19 Sep 17
@TiarasOceanView Thank you. It's frustrating when you never know for sure if you'll make it to your appointment on time.
2 people like this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
19 Sep 17
I may have to just start riding the bus again, although that costs and this taxi service is covered by my insurance. And our buses are unreliable too. They don't always stick to their schedules and sometimes they don't show up at all.
2 people like this
@Courtlynn (67080)
• United States
18 Sep 17
You have every right to be angry! Sometimes shyt does unexpectedly happen in life, but they definitely should have called. THAT they could've controlled.
2 people like this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
19 Sep 17
Exactly. Even if the driver was preoccupied handling whatever was happening, he should have called the dispatcher and they should have called me or sent someone else out to get me.
2 people like this
@Courtlynn (67080)
• United States
19 Sep 17
@Srbageldog yes! So rude and wrong not to.
2 people like this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
20 Sep 17
Yes, and they moved my appointment again to October 20th. So now it's an even longer wait.
1 person likes this