The nightmare of the "Walker"

<p>Good day. I am writing on behalf of my grandmother Mrs XX ***, medical aid number: *********XX. On 7 June 2017 I phoned into the scheme to find out what paperwork and what the process would be to apply for a walker for my grandmother as since she has been diagnosed with COPD and spent a significant amount of time in hospital last year she has been struggling to keep her balance and move around by herself. I spoke to a lady named Phaphifa and the call ref number is 070617Q9TMYB. She explained to me that my grandmothers doctor would need to write a motivation letter(which by the way the doctors office charges for) then send that information to whichever mobility supplier we choose(CE Mobility is who we chose) and then the medial aid would review this information and related ICD10 codes and make a decision based on all of this. Fairly complicated but do-able as I am fami**** with medical aid processes, thank goodness! So I did all of this the same day and sent it off to CE Mobility, a few days later I had not heard back and decided to phone email CE Mobility to query the apparent delay, Sharlene from CE Mobility forwarded me the call ref number and said I should enquire with Bonitas because they had not heard back yet. Ok, so I phone the medical aid AGAIN to do a simple query. I am then informed that the ICD10 code submitted to the doctor was not specific enough(I mean COPD is a very unspecific disease right?) Anyways off I am back to Bay Medical Centre to query with their lovely employee Zelda who I assume deals with all these admin related queries, she quickly sorts out the unspecific ICD 10 code with the doctor and off we are again to CE Mobility so that they can resubmit the (hopefully) correct ICD10 codes which will (hopefully) be specific enough for Bonitas to approve a R695.40.00 aluminium walker. So after waiting a sufficient amount of days still not having heard anything back from CE Mobility OR Bonitas RE the status of the application for authorisation for the walker I decided to phone Sharlene from CE Mobility AGAIN to inquire, she informed me that they had also not received an answer from Bonitas and that perhaps I should follow up AGAIN on the status of the authorisation. Which bring us to today where I once again phoned and spoke to Adelaide ref number: 200617QBB9TL who (PLOT TWIST) informed me that infact the MEMBER was supposed to: 1. Get the motivation from the doctor 2. Obtain two separate quotes from two desperate mobility suppliers and submit all of this to Bonitas who will then either approve or decline the walker. Question 1: Why was this not communicated to me when I originally phoned on the 7 June 2017, nor when I or Zelda queried after submitting the "required" information and documentation. 2. Do you think that it is fair to put the onus on the member to oversee this process. My grandmother is 83 years old, does not know how to use email, fax or even interact with your call centre push button system. You are not catering to your older members which in all honestly are your elderly members. 3. After spending hours on the line and on hold with your call centre, after the costs spent on acquiring the motivation letter, I may as well have gone to buy the walker in cash and saved the trouble, do you maybe think that the processes you have in place are not optimal for the member? As well as for you guys as this whole process is built to create re-work? Anyways if you decide that you might want to assist me with this query I can be reached on 0*********. I am literally sitting writing this with tears of pure frustration. It is beyond me how something seemingly so simple has caused so much unpleasantness in our lives. All in the meanwhile my grandmother is without a walker and is struggling to move about comfortably. I am not angry, I am extremely disappointed in how I as a 'customer' have been dealt with, from being given incorrect information to being spoken by people who do not want to help me, who I virtually had to beg to assist me. Could somebody PLEASE I beg once again, help me get this walker for my grandmother.</p> <p>EDIT:</p> <p>After sending this message to their Facebook inbox on a Tuesday at 15:09 I recieved the following automated message:</p> <p>Thank you for your message. Currently we are offline. We run Mon - Fri, 8am – 4.30pm, excl. public holidays & weekends. Please provide us your membership number & contact details so we can assist you when we are back online. Kindest, Bonitas.</p>