I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: Home Dialysis => Topic started by: beachbum on March 27, 2012, 11:45:32 AM
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I had the worst delivery experience today. Normally I get a call early in the morning of my delivery date giving me a small delivery window for that day, like say 8-11am. My normal guy almost always shows up early which is fine by me because I can get on with my day. I never have to wait past 9. Today I got no call and no delivery until 2pm. But that's only the beginning of this nightmare.
The guy knocks on my door twice very quickly and before I can even get to the door he gets in his truck to leave. I wave at him through the window to get his attention. He didn't even give me 20 seconds to answer the door!
This isn't the normal Baxter truck. It's obviously a subcontractor. It's just a plain white, broken-down looking truck. The guy doesn't speak English. I think he was Nigerian. He had a headset on and was talking to someone on his cellphone the entire time. He hands me some generic looking paperwork that had my name and address on it. The normal guy delivers my boxes in less than 5 minutes. This guy didn't use a handtruck. He brought in the boxes one by one! He kept leaving my front door wide open and it's not even 40 degrees today. I kept getting up to shut it and he still left it open. Even after I told him to shut it. I also have cats and was worried they could get out.
To top it all off he stacks all the boxes bad. All the colors were mixed up and he was sloppy. I'm not supposed to lift these boxes so now I'm going to have to have someone help me organize them. I called Baxter to complain and just as I'm on the phone the guy said he's done but I noticed In didn't have any yellows. I then look at the boxes and realized they had someone else's name and address on them! This was the wrong order!
He realizes what he did and after about 20 minutes finds my order in the back of the truck. He now has to carry out all the boxes that were wrong. Had I not noticed this error I would have used the wrong solution and these boxes were for overnight dialysis, not my type. I couldn't have even used them.
You would think one would hang up the phone after they made such huge mistakes. Nope. He continued to talk on his phone and deliver my boxes and just throw them on top of my other boxes in a sloppy manner.
I complained to Baxter. The lady was nice but I don't know what can be done. Someone that is older or can't see as well as me might have just accepted the boxes. This is serious because we are talking about peoples' medical supplies. I think Baxter needs to monitor its subcontractors much better. I have no issues with the normal guy. I hope this doesn't happen again anytime soon. If you don't see your normal delivery guy make sure to check all your boxes.
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Wow. So far (over a year) all of my deliveries have been via a Baxter truck. I have no idea if these are Baxter employees or subcontractors, but they all wear a Baxter uniform. It may make a difference where patients live and the density of deliveries as to whether they contract this work out. The only quibble I have (or actually my wife who is at home for deliveries) is that some of the drivers are all business and in a hurry. But even these drivers have always made a professional delivery. The driver who has delivered most often (about 1/2 the time) is very talkative, rotates the boxes, checks them to see if expiration is coming soon, and always stacks them very neatly and according to color.
You have a right to complain! Considering your experience, I think I should do the opposite and get the driver's name and give him a good report to Baxter HQs. So often we fail to appreciate those who do a good job with a smile on their face!
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Regular Baxter delivery people are great. Sub-contractors are a pain.
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I have Fresenius, and sometimes they use a sub-contractors too and I hate it! The last one came super early and I had to get unhooked and answer the door. He was very rude and couldn't understand why I didn't get the door right away. Then he put the boxes where asked but just like threw them there and didn't seem to have any respect! Thank goodness they haven't used them again with me for awhile now.
My delivery guys from Fresenius are both very curious to me! They make sure the boxes are line up by color and stacked up nicely and neatly!
Definitely complain about the bad service you got but also call if your delivery guy is doing a good job. A lot of the time the company will give them a reward for it!
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My normal Baxter delivery guy is great. He rotates the stock and ensures the older stuff is out front so it gets used first. He's been great for all the deliveries he's made. I haven't had a contractor make any deliveries, at least not yet.
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I normally have very good deliveries from Baxter here in Boston. My regular guy comes super early (I'm a teacher and I'm already gone for the day - my wife kindly takes delivery).
I will tell you about a delivery to our house in Mexico one Christmas. We are in Puerto Vallarta, about a four hour drive from Guadalajara, where the supply comes from. My wife was expecting delivery one Dec. 24 (I was still in Boston). It didn't come and she waited and waited, calling the Mexico Baxter number. Finally, just before closing, they told her that it had not been put on the truck in Guadalajara, and that they would have to send out a special truck. This puts earliest delivery now at 9PM. Well, no supply was delivered. My wife fell asleep on the couch, and at 2AM the bell rang. Up the stairs came a family - a woman, her husband and child, all carrying my boxes. Seems the replacement truck had crashed and the driver let go of the product, allowing this very kind family to bring it way out of the way to my house. They were on vacation and just happened by the crash site of the truck.
How's that for a Christmas miracle (and poor service from Baxter - Mexcico?)