BEWARE THE LANCET LABORATORIES ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT: IT'S DANGEROUS

In 2021, Lancet's pecu**** accounting procedures plundered my medical savings account and messed up my medical aid so badly - they mixed up not only doctors but also procedures - that it took over a year to sort out and required my personally visiting the Lancet Head Office twice. And truth to tell, my medical aid is still not really right. Now they're at it again. I received a Tax Invoice/Statement dated June 26, attached to an e-mail, which showed that the "Amount due by Patient/Member" was R50.72. This was confirmed in the e-mail. When I tried to pay (yesterday - June 28), I realised that the OTP was being sent to my husband's mobile phone, which was with him in hospital. So I called Lancet's Accounts Receivable Department to confirm the company's banking details so I could EFT the payment. That's when I was told that the amount owing was wrong. I really owed R446.90. I must ignore the documentation and pay the different amount. The credits showing on the Statement, I was told, were actually overpayments by my medical aid which were not applicable to me or to the amount I owed. I pointed out that the credits dated back to October 2021 and May 2022. Had Lancet suddenly realised, between Monday and Wednesday, that it owed my medical aid money it had been hanging on to for a couple of years? No no, I was told, the medical aid must reverse the payments. No no, I said. Lancet had the money. It had had the money for over a year, actually for nearly two years in one case. It was up to Lancet to pay the money back to Discovery. Discovery did not have to do anything at all. And, I said, I wanted a revised accurate Tax Invoice/Statement showing the true figures and with the correct amount outstanding before I would pay anything. Hang on, said the Accounts Department. We'll send an updated Statement. More updated than June 26? I asked. Yes. So I hung on. And hung on. And hung on. When the Accounts Department came back on the line I was told the Statement would take a few days. Make a note, I said, that I would not pay a cent without accurate documentation. And so the situation stands. I have not yet received any further communication from Lancet. Anyone dealing with Lancet should be warned: the Accounts Department is lethal. You must check your documentation very carefully indeed. Check that the name of the doctor is correct, and check that the procedure and the coding is right. With me, they combined different blood tests taken on different days for different doctors into one procedure for the wrong doctor on the wrong diagnostic code. It meant a lot was thrown out by my medical aid, and tests that should have been paid for from Oncology were paid from my medical savings. It became a twisted mess. Here we go again . . .