Untrained staff

Discovery clearly have some very clever people in their back office. They come up with innovative ideas and products and are clearly the market leader in their industry in that regard. My confusion is why then they persist with putting such low level people as the interface with the customer. It is apparent that little, if any, training takes place but worst is that these people are left to manage on their own with no supervision.

I received a mail advising that they have decreased the amount which they will pay for my chronic medication by approx 20%. At around the same time I was informed that I was being penalised because I had not nominated a GP. Bear in mind that Discovery has just put up their fees by around 8%. An 8% increase plus a 20% decrease in benefits adds up to approx 25 - 28% increase in my medical costs.

I phoned to try to understand what was going on. The person I spoke to in the chronic department initially admitted that I would be better off not being registered for chronic as then the medication would be paid in full. He also told me that I needed to change my GP. Please bear in mind that I have been going to the same GP for over 30 years but now to suit Discovery I have to change to some GP who has no knowledge of my medical history.

I then asked for an explanation on the benefit to me on registering for chronic. He couldnt tell me because they are all experts in their separate fields. He is an expert in chronic (didnt appear to be in my view) and therefore knows nothing about what takes place in customer service. If I speak to customer service they will not be able to assist regarding chronic. I asked if there was no-one with knowledge of both departments and was assured that there was not but that he would get a supervisor to contact me. That was 2 weeks ago and I am still waiting.

Coincidentally I then received a SMS remarking that I had not nominated a primary care doctor and that if I was experiencing any difficulty in doing so I was to contact the chatbox, which I did. That was a complete waste of time but the bot did ask if I would like to be connected to a human. I must confess that I was expecting to speak to someone. That was not the case. All that happened was that Tevin sent a SMS asking what I needed assistance with. After hanging on for some time while he/she was supposedly trying to find a response to my query I received a message stating that Tevin has left the conversation.

1. Surely there must be someone in the organisation who can explain the benefit or otherwise of belonging to Chronic. This is not the first time I have asked what I would have thought was a simple question but to which I have never had an answer? 2. Why is Discovery demanding that I not continue to see the doctor I have been seeing for over 30 years and head off to some unknown and possibly inexperienced doctor who will not have my medical history? 3. Why has Discovery demanded that I no longer see the specialist who has been managing my chronic condition for around 10 years? 4. Why has Discovery reduced the benefits given to me whilst at the same time increasing the subscriptions? 5. Why does Discovery not train their staff or at the very least ensure that there are trained supervisors available to assist their untrained staff when they come up with a query that they cannot manage? 6. Why does no-one ever return calls even after assurances have been given that someone will respond?