Terrible Customer Service.

This has been the worst experience I’ve ever had with a medical aid. Simply getting authorisation for wisdom teeth removal is next to impossible. Firstly I’ve had to reschedule my in hospital appointment three times. First I was told the hospital I’ve been booked for is not on the network. The next appointment for the hospital they told me to go to was only available again in the new year, by which time it was no longer on the network. Then when I had to rebook my appointment they couldn’t even advise me which hospital to book for as they kept referring me to look at the website which showed the hospital they told me I can no longer go to. I ended up having to book at the exact hospital they initially told me I can’t go to.

From there no one actually authorised the hospital until I called to follow up two days after the authorisation codes had been sent. A week later they decide that one of my teeth that the surgeon was removing was not impacted. This was three days before my appointment. After sending an amended quotation as Gems clearly know better then the surgeon they advise you to go see, they advise that my email will only be seen to after 24 to 48hrs. At which point it needs to then be validated by another department that also has the same turnaround time. Which would mean my appointment will now be missed, because of Gems’ slow turn around times and non existent customer care. My procedure has been delayed for two months now because of Gems’ incompetence. I’ve escalated to team leaders and called the call center countlessly and I just get a shrug every time as there’s nothing they can do apparently. Essentially getting paid to serve no purpose in life.