Lancet exorbitant charges that were not approved beforehand!

Our 5 year old had been suffering with respiratory problems and our Pediatrician suggested some tests to be done 26 Jan 2018.

We had an amount of R3870 medical aid savings available at his point and were willing to use all of it to do as much of the tests as it would allow (not spend money out of pocket).

Our Pediatrician sent us to Lancet with the form for a range of tests, the Lancet reception checked everything, checked the Discovery details on their system and gave the go-ahead. Blood was taken at the same time (26 Jan).

We also went for an x-ray and a sinus cat-scan on the same day - both these were checked with Discovery and confirmed for go-ahead by the Hillcrest hospital radiology department.

On the 12 of Feb we got a notification from the medical aid that the Lancet amount for the tests were R5331.00!!! and that only an amount of R1595.30 was paid from the medical aid.

This was the first time that we we informed of this EXORBITANT amount! At NO POINT were we contacted by Lancet to inform us that the allergy tests would cost this much or that this amount had exceeded what we had available in our medical aid savings !

Then 21 Feb we received an invoice from Lancet for R3735.61 amount demanding payment of the balance! According to my discovery log - the claim was submitted to discovery on the 9th of Feb!

We never approved that we would be willing to pay this EXORBITANT amount out of our own pocket! Lancet went ahead with the tests without our approval - this is completely unacceptable and in breach of our consumer rights.

If this is a case of timing - that Lancet was not checking the online / realtime medical aid savings balance available at different time intervals, that it is not our problem! Their system is supposed to compensate for actual realtime changes in that savings balance - just like drawing money from an ATM does! Your bank does not allow you to draw more money than you have available and then demand it back from you when you have?!

If one had to compare this to any other industry it would be ****************! Imagine this scenario: You had mechanical breakdown insurance on your car, something breaks and you take it into the service centre. They confirm with your insurance that the work is covered by the policy and proceed with the repairs. They finish the repairs and claim an exorbitant amount directly from you saying your insurance cover is depleted?!!! No! the onus is on the service center to double check and contact the customer to inform them of out-of-pocket charges beforehand and get approval to go ahead with the work - not finish the work and demand payment after the fact!

Lancet should not be allowed to continue with this ********** practice, we demand that these charges be waived and that they change their procedures and systems to prevent this from happening to anyone else ever again!

Here are some other complaints regarding their shocking pricing and practices:

https://www.hellopeter.com/lancet/reviews/******ion-29- ********** https://www.hellopeter.com/lancet/reviews/shocking-pricing- ********** https://www.hellopeter.com/lancet/reviews/hounded-for-payment-for-a-service-i-did-not-approv- ********** https://www.hellopeter.com/lancet/reviews/poor-communication- ********** https://www.hellopeter.com/lancet/reviews/harassment- ********** https://www.hellopeter.com/lancet/reviews/charged-for-tests-not-done-cant-resolve-or-even-answer-query- ********** https://www.facebook.com/pg/LancetLabSouthAfrica/reviews/

If they had learned from prior complaints about their shocking pricing for allergy testing then there would be special procedures and checks & balances in place to communicate costs upfront to customers in an honest and transparent way and get approval beforehand - it seems they have not learned!

We will not pay these exorbitant charges and will go to the Ombudsman if needed!