Difficult to obtain pre-authorisations

Earlier on this year struggled to get dental pre-authorisation. Terrible service. Today I phoned about 1.30 to get a hospital authorisation for my son. The call was cut off after I had given all the details. Phoned again, cut off again, and the phone didn't ring after that. Logged the request on the website. Request acknowledged but by 4.30 no reply. At 4.30 main telephone number gets answered with "our hours are until 5, Goodbye." I need the authorisation for tomorrow morning. Twice this year, Medshield has let me down when I most need a response.