Please be wary of how Ampath Laboratories treats their customers

With the birth of my daughter in February, we decided to do the Newborn Screening Test that is available. We did the same test with the birth of my son three years back so we understood that this service is rendered by Ampath and you need to pay cash upfront for this service. My husband personally went to Ampath to settle the account and we received the results; hence we were under the impression everything is in order. Once I was discharged and back home, I requested an invoice to match the cash receipt from Ampath for Tax reasons. Upon receiving the invoice, I did not really pay attention to what they sent and immediately filed it away, in order to attend to it once the tax season opened. Today I was contacted by debt collectors stating that we have not settled one of our Ampath accounts. Upon contacting Ampath to understand what account has not been settled I was shocked to learn that it related to the Newborn Screening Test, the test you have to settle upfront and the one we personally went to settle the day my daughter was born. I queried why there is all of a sudden, an outstanding amount and why they did not charge us the correct amount when we visited Ampath to settle the account in person. I also queried why they have not contacted us to bring it to our attention that this account has not been settled in full. Ampath then raised the fact that I did request an invoice to match the cash receipt in March and that they sent a MMS to us during May, since they did not have our contact details. My preferred laboratory is Ampath and on the invoice my ID number is clearly displayed. I draw blood at least every 6 months and you want to tell me that you don’t have my contact details. You can bring to my attention that you did email me an invoice, without alluding to the fact that this invoice does not match the cash receipt. But a MMS is the best reliable way to bring to my attention that I have not settled my account in full. I did not receive any statement indicating clearly that this account was overdue, nor a phone call bringing this to my attention nor a letter of demand, since they did not have my contact details. But luckily, they could send me an invoice to my email address and a MMS to my husband’s phone, without having our contact details. Obviously, I settled this account immediately as I do all accounts. If Ampath also refers to our track record all accounts are settled as soon as we learn that the medical aid did not cover the full account. However, they still feel that a customer with a track record of settling their account should be handed over for collection, since they did not respond to a MMS. Upon further investigation I found that this is Ampath's modus operandi based on the complaints raised via hellopeter and the web. This is just a friendly heads up to friends and family out there, please be aware of how Ampath treats their customers. Please also don’t feel bul**** to pay the debt collectors, based on my research there is nothing like “blacklisting” anymore and the supplier needs to prove that he followed proper procedure to contact you on various occasions to bring the outstanding debt under your attention in order to be successful in raising a judgement against you in the court of law. An unreliable MMS system unfortunately will not suffice. Most of the complaints also alludes to the fact that they never received any correspondence from Ampath, however most customers are afraid of being blacklisted, this fear is being taken advantage off, hence customers end up paying the Ampath account as well as the debt collectors fees. Luckily there are two other laboratory services we can make use of, hopefully they won’t pull the same tricks.