Poor Member Services

Momentum and their un-helpful Member Services

Regarding Flu vaccination

13 April 2022 11:06 AM – I received Letter of Authorisation for flu vaccine signed by Toni van den Bergh, Chief Executive and Principal Officer

Wednesday, April 13, 2022 6:12 PM

I responded with the following query: Please tell me what the published rate that Momentum pays for the flu vaccine and where I may view it? I cannot find the amount published in any documentation received from Momentum. Reply received from member services as follows on 2022-04-15 11:01 (Reference number ***): Please be advised that we will pay for the flu vaccine at agreed rates. Should you not use one of our preferred pharmacies i.e. Clicks/Dischem, the provider may claim a higher amount. I was also asked in this email to rate feedback on this response – which I did not do as they did not answer my question. I responded to this email on 2022-04-16 08:49 as follows quoting the above reference number: Please advise on the PUBLISHED rate that Momentum pays for the flu vaccine. To simply say "Please be advised that we will pay for the flu vaccine at agreed rates" is not good enough. You still do not tell me what the rate is and where this information is publicly available for members to view in documentation. I also provided my membership number. Reply received from member services as follows on 2022-04-19 19:55 (Reference number ***): Please kindly note that the Scheme rate for the flu vaccine is R120. I was also asked in this email to rate feedback on this response – which I did not do as they did not answer my question fully. I responded to this email on 2022-04-19 20:27 as follows quoting both previous reference numbers: Momentum reference numbers *** and *** refer. As previously requested twice - where is this rate published? I do not find it in any Momentum documentation that I have received from Momentum. No further reply from Momentum Member Services so on the 2022-04-25, I sent the following email and this time copied it to the complaints department and read by them on Monday, April 25, 2022 6:45:58 PM (name withheld): I am still waiting for your response as per my request. This is now the third time I am asking for this information. Please respond. If you cannot provide me with the information I have asked for, please direct me to someone who can. I want to know where these details are published for members to view. Simply telling me is not good enough. I want to know where in the documentation you provide to your members is this information published. Reply received from member services as follows on 2022-04-25 11:22 (Reference number ***): Please find attached the response that was already sent to you. Nothing was attached. Momentum simply copied the previous response from them back to me. I was also asked in this email to rate feedback on this response. This time I did respond and was very negative in my response. Nothing happened. As you can see from the above, no answer has been given to my question. I am now posting on Hello Peter as I am not receiving the answer I required; rather my question is simply ignored. My point is that Momentum should be publishing the rate that they pay for the flu vaccine as well as which preferred pharmacies charge at their rate. Without this detail, it is hit and miss as to whether you get the flu vaccine fully covered by Momentum. I had this issue last year as well; they short paid the flu vaccine and I had to pay the balance, despite receiving the same letter authorising the flu vaccine in the first place. This year I have made all the enquiries and quite frankly the response from Momentum leaves a lot to be desired. To cap it all, I went to Dischem (Practice No:967661) on 2022-04-02 (a preferred pharmacy according to the email above – reference number ***). Dischem charged R141.86 for the flu vaccine of which Momentum paid R120 from my Major Medical and the balance of R21.86 from my savings. I asked Dischem if this was the fee for the vaccine and if there was a consultation fee charged as well. I was told this was the fee for the vaccine and no consultation fee charged. So despite using one of their preferred pharmacies they still did not pay the full amount. What now Momentum? I have all the names of the various agents that responded to my emails as well as all the emails if required to back up what I have said. I have a copy of the authorisation letter as well. Unfortunately this is not the first time I have taken issue with Momentum Member Services.