31 October 2020
Yesterday afternoon, I logged onto the Apria site to see if there was a way to track shipments. Joyce had ordered 20 large white foam packs (she needs three for each dressing change) on Wednesday after Salwa had used the second to last one. She had asked for a Friday delivery, when she would be out of them.
They come same day Fed Ex so giving them two days is a courtesy. But after the 3:30 window passed, I logged on. No delivery was scheduled.
Joyce called Apria and sat through the half-hour "We're glad you called. Your call is important to us. We'll be with you shortly," or some such song and dance without the music or feet moving.
When she reached someone she learned the order had been "keyed incorrectly" and never placed.
Just fell through the cracks. Sorry.
Not having any supplies on hand is an issue. If the dressing fails and needs to be replaced, it can't be. Even when we go to the clinic, we have to bring supplies because the clinic doesn't have them.
The Apria rep promised to get them to us that night. Yeah, we've been through that before. But being a good soldier, I turned the porch light on.
Around 8 p.m., we got a call from Wireless Caller (who is usually Tyler but it can be anyone on a smartphone, especially during Medicare Sign-Up Days and Election Season). They hung up. No surprise.
Then they called back so Joyce picked up. It was Apria. The local warehouse. They won't have the foam in stock until later tonight. Would it be OK to deliver tomorrow.
Joyce was surprisingly tough on them. She said she had to have it by 10 a.m. They promised.
I turned off the porch light.
℘
JUST BEFORE NINE the doorbell rang this morning with the supplies.
But rather than the two packs of 10 white foams Apria had promised, Joyce got one pack of five. We've never seen these mythical 10 packs.
That's only good enough for Monday's dressing change.
So she'll have to reorder again today. Another 45 minutes on the phone.
Apria has shorted her on the last two foam orders, in fact. They're having a supply problem.
But they also have an ordering problem. They aren't keeping track of what they don't deliver. You have to keep begging for more like some scene from Oliver Twist. "Please, ma'am, may I have some more?"
It seems to be a rule of thumb during these pandemic days that online customer service and deliveries both are broken.
What we're experiencing with Apria is not all that different from what we're experiencing with Lowe's (no, we haven't heard anything more about the dryer).
It is hard not feel everything is broken.