Apria are criminals

[Perediablo]

I just found out that Apria has been billing my insurance $800 per month. I had only been paying $29 every month. I was told this was a tank rental and filing thing. Not too terrible to pay $29 to be assured I will always have an M tank full and ready at my disposal. This is not the case.

There is a $300 charge pending on my checking account that I did not approve, nor was aware of. It is from Apria. I called my local Apria store number..LOCAL..and was rerouted to India for fuck's sake. This guy barely spoke English. He says that it has been on my account since early 2009 and that it was time that I took care of it. So, he is in charge of when and how I pay my bills? He also asked that I pay him another $150 over the phone via credit card. He failed to understand that the pending charge + $150 was $450. He stated that the charge was due to me not meeting my deductible. Wait!! my deductible? Now he works for my insurance company? He then asks me if the oxygen concentrator is working for my COPD. When I explained that I had only a measly $200 oxygen cylinder that has been billed to my insurance company at $800 a month for 3 years he shut up and put me on hold. He came back in 5 minutes and said that my balance is now $0 and that I owe Apria nothing. And that I would be receiving a monthly statement showing a $0 balance. Hmmm...sound pretty fishy to me.

I am getting ready to go to the local Apria office to explain to them what has happened, and that I no longer require their services.

Does anyone know where I can purchase an M tank? Welding supply houses here will not sell to an individual for some reason. I gave them a copy of my prescription even..they said I had to go a medical supply company. If individuals cannot buy a tank, then how to private welders operate? This is beginning to make me want to do some pretty rash things.

There has to be someone in west Texas that will sell me a freakin tank. I really hate dealing with stupidity on such a massive and wide-spread level. I am going to start educating people with a baseball bat in about 1 hour. Hope y'all have a wonderful day.

PS I haven't even used my O2 in like 2 weeks. That was for a little pesky shadow. Woot!! Since April only 3 hits and they were minor. You guys rock!

O2-less,

Eric

[alleyoop]

Eric,

If you plan to get welder's o2, then the last thing you want to tell the welding supply house is that you are using it medically. They won't touch you with a fork lift! 

Just tell them that you need it for your torch to do some cutting if they ask, which they shouldn't. 

Since you have already presented a script for o2, you may have to find another welding gas supplier.

I paid $200 each for my 2 M tanks from my local Linde (now AirGas) several years ago. 

I would suggest you rent the tank from your supplier.  The rates are usually quite reasonable.  You should also inquire about refill prices when you call.  Since you have insurance, you may want to consider staying with medical o2 after you resolve your issue with Apria.

All the best with it.

bb

[Cassidy]

I totally agree about Apria. I had some lung surgery about 6 years ago and was sent home from the hospital with some O2. The one little tank would have been fine. But then the big machine came, and 3 more tanks. I used the 02 for about 3 days. I requested them to come pick up their equipment and it took two weeks. Then the bills came rolling in. I had no insurance at the time. After many applications for help and begging for a reduction in price, we did get the bill taken care of. I have to wonder how much insurance companies and Medicare are ripped off.

I could have had a party with all the 02 I had at my house. A cluster party. Or cluster something.

On top of having surgery, dealing with this was so frustrating. The person I dealt with at Apria was insulting and rude. Just my experience.

Have to wonder how many very sick old people get taken advantage of. And how much Medicare gets over billed.

                                     Leslie

[alleyoop]

I could have had a party with all the 02 I had at my house. A cluster party. Or cluster something.

:

[Gaius]

      I agree that Apria are schmucks. After I had gone a while without any clusters, I returned all the equipment. All of it. BUT They kept on billing and billing and billing .... It took forever to get cleared up.

       So another cycle starts. I use another company. After the cycle was over and going a spell without any clusters, I returned everything. I kept on getting billed. Same as Apria. Monthly bills for equipment I did not have. Got a lawyer friend to handle it.

        DME (Durable Medical Equipment) suppliers are notorious for behavior like this. 

[Psiloscribe]

I always had the same problems with apria. The company I used to use was sold to Apria and they were never anything but problems from day one. From over billing to delivering the wrong orders, Several times they would not pick up all the equipment until the following month arrived so they could bill for another month.

We also had to force them to remove continued billing after the equipment was picked up.

Another trick was automatic deliveries without them being requested. I once had about 30 tanks in my house. I should have sold them. I know that they had NO idea how many tanks I had.

Bobw