@toddsingleton.net
President Obama better start looking out for the growing drug war in Mexico. The Governor of Texas wants one thousand extra troops at the border to stop the rampant smuggling.
If he’s not careful some of this activity could spill onto our soil and become his 9/11 to deal with.
Yesterday I was indirectly informed by the Knightdale and WakeForest Pediatrics accounts receivables clerk, Diane, that these practices care more about money than they do about children. I will elaborate on how this information was derived but I want to focus specifically on one of Diane’s comments: “Care of the children is our primary concern but our physicians deserved to get paid”. Now, through an account of factual events I will show exactly how much more hypocritical Diane’s comment was than it even appears on the surface.
Prologue: During a 24 hour period on Feb. 9th and 10th my 23 month old, Logan, had a Grandma seizure and two full seizures. During this course of events we turned to Knightdale Pediatrics, our Pediatrician of record with our insurance company, and the practice denied treatment to Logan, stating financial reasons. Fifteen minutes after Amy left their practice, ashamed and in tears, my son had his second seizure in the parking lot of the Carolina Urgent Care Center in Knightdale. He is in the care of Wake Medical Center this morning as I write this.
Up until yesterday my sons had been patients at Knightdale Pediatrics and occasionally Wake Forest Pediatrics here in NC. Through some service or treatment that is honestly unknown to me we ended up owing one of these practices approximately $400.00. I do not know the actual amount because Amy had all of the conversations about this balance with Diane and to date I have not seen a hard copy of an invoice.
Apparently Amy set up payment arrangements with Diane for a monthly amount. It is unclear if she signed anything authorizing payments in the form of automatic withdraws of my checking account. Even if she did it’s not valid because her names not on the account and her signature would not authorize this. That’s beside the point. The dispute between Amy and Diane began when the practice tried to run my card for a monthly payment. It wasn’t denied. My card number had been changed by Bank of America fraud alert services because a company in Florida, the Xacti Corporation, was trying to fraudulently process transactions against my Visa check card.
So Diane called Amy for a payment last week that I think Amy committed to. She called Amy’s cell number, the one everyone had ending in 4715. Everyone that knows us personally and well knows that Amy washed that phone about two weeks ago and it hasn’t been replaced because she’s carrying the phone ending in 6029 now. She could not check the old messages. Regardless, at some point in the last two weeks Amy did commit to pay $60 to Diane and the practice but neglected to call Diane to make the payment last Thursday.
So after Logan had a Grandma seizure Saturday, a full seizure Monday night and a trip to the ER Amy called Tuesday morning to see if she could take Logan to Knightdale Pediatrics for follow up. She had to call “Diane” for clearance because the practice wouldn’t see her until she said it was okay. So much for caring about the children before money.
Amy asked Dianne if she could come Tuesday morning and make a payment to them on Thursday. Note: we could pay the entire outstanding balance that very day but it would have been nice to wait until Thursday. It was just a request. Amy explained to Diane about the seizure. Diane told Amy she could not bring Logan in unless she made a payment to her on the phone at that moment. Amy got mad and cussed at Diane. Amy just wanted Logan taken care of. Eventually in the conversation Amy agreed to make the payment to Diane and went to okay it with me. I was in the shower.
Amy didn’t want to make the payment without asking me. She got back on the phone with Diane who told her Logan wouldn’t be seen without a $60 payment on the account and the co-payment of $20. Amy got mad and cussed some more at Diane.
So I got out of the shower, gave Amy a wad of cash (she could have paid anything they asked for) and sent her to Knightdale Pediatrics. Money was not an object and we are insured. When she arrived the receptionist would not admit Logan right away. Amy told me the receptionist turned to speak to a doctor in their hallway (I’ll get his name from Amy later). The receptionist returned and said “We have no responsibility to see your children anymore, we can give you the forms to release your records to another practice”.
So there stood my wife with my 23-month old who was shaking with fever in a medical practice that was refusing him treatment. Amy told them she had their money and what “Diane” said about the $60 payment on the co-payment on the phone. They refused to see Logan because apparently “Diane” calls the shots at this practice and if you don’t speak kindly to her the doctors will not like you and they will not treat your children.
Minutes later I met Amy at Carolina Urgent Care in Knightdale. I was going to get back all the money I had given her and put it back in the bank on the way to work. Amy got Logan out of the car and laid him in the front seat to change his diaper. That’s when he had his second full seizure and I ran him into the Urgent Care. Amy couldn’t help but speak about the whole ordeal at Knightdale Pediatrics. The attending physician recommended we go to The Growing Child in Zebulon which Amy says she’s heard good things about.
I called Diane myself that morning. I started the call by letting her know I would never, under any circumstances, return my children to their practice but I wanted to know where the breakdown was between her telling Amy to pay the $80 and when Logan was denied treatment in the office. Her response was “ya, that was before she cussed me out”. She then went on to elaborate to me about how she had never spoken to me about the account and said “I might still be able to work something out with you guys”. I guess it was because I was being pleasant. I responded “Okay, thanks, I understand now. You tried to pressure account collections on Amy, she got mad and cussed you out, you got pissed and decided to refuse my child treatment”. I heard the beginning of her next sentence “No sir…”. I hung up.
So there you have it. Form your own opinion. Apparently if a parent makes harsh remarks to an Accounts Receivables clerk at a medical practice they will refuse treatment. Funny thing is, I can tell you from my own conversation that Diane is not a pleasant person to talk to. After all she’s an account receivables (i.e. collections) clerk.
Knightdale and Wake Forest Pediatrics biggest mistake was never discussing this with me before denying treatment to my child. I will now spread this account of events in every public venue I can find. These events are factual and not opinion. Sure it’s up to their discretion who they treat and they were within their bounds to eliminate my children from their patient list. I will provide them the publicity they asked for.
Now I will only pay the $400 as soon as I actually see a bill. Then maybe the Doctors of Knightdale and Wake Forest Pediatrics can get their paychecks because their “care of the children is their primary concern but (they) deserve to be paid”.
All repercussions aside, this is a fight to me worth having and I’m taking it to the NC medical board.
Republicans listed what they thought was “wasteful spending” in the stimulus bill currently being debated. Here’s their logic:
• $2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the Department of Energy defunded last year because it said the project was inefficient.
If the Dept. of Energy labels anything “inefficient” it probably is.
• A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film.
I don’t get it either.
• $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program.
I didn’t get a coupon, did you? Oh wait. I don’t need one.
• $88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship).
Manufacturing creates jobs.
• $448 million for constructing the Department of Homeland Security headquarters.
Again, construction creates jobs. It’s stimulus.
• $248 million for furniture at the new Homeland Security headquarters.
• $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees.
Uh, hell no.
• $400 million for the Centers for Disease Control to screen and prevent STD’s.
• $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs.
• $125 million for the Washington sewer system.
• $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities.
I don’t see how this is creating jobs. Sounds like stimulus for inside the beltway to me.
• $1 billion for the 2010 Census, which has a projected cost overrun of $3 billion.
• $75 million for “smoking cessation activities.”
Will save on health costs. Should be included.
• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges.
Not a bad idea.
• $75 million for salaries of employees at the FBI.
• $25 million for tribal alcohol and substance abuse reduction.
• $500 million for flood reduction projects on the Mississippi River.
• $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas.
• $6 billion to turn federal buildings into “green” buildings.
• $500 million for state and local fire stations.
• $650 million for wildland fire management on forest service lands.
If you live in CA this would be a plus.
• $1.2 billion for “youth activities,” including youth summer job programs.
• $88 million for renovating the headquarters of the Public Health Service.
• $412 million for CDC buildings and property.
• $500 million for building and repairing National Institutes of Health facilities in Bethesda, Maryland.
A half a billion dollars for “repairs”? Seriously?
• $160 million for “paid volunteers” at the Corporation for National and Community Service.
• $5.5 million for “energy efficiency initiatives” at the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration.
• $850 million for Amtrak.
Long overdue. We need to upgrade our rail systems now.
• $100 million for reducing the hazard of lead-based paint.
• $75 million to construct a “security training” facility for State Department Security officers when they can be trained at existing facilities of other agencies.
• $110 million to the Farm Service Agency to upgrade computer systems.
So they can disburse those subsidies to millionaires and corporate farms more efficiently.
• $200 million in funding for the lease of alternative energy vehicles for use on military installations.
Because every man in uniform wants to drive a Prius.
As long as we continue to hemorrhage jobs there will be no economic recovery. For all the talk about economic stimulus and job creation there is little or no talk about creating financial incentives that will allow companies to keep workers. Businesses can cut employees in a heartbeat to maintain revenues or stave off losses. And they will. Those positions rarely, if ever, return.
Without political intervention to create financial incentives fro comapnies to keep workers the cuts will continue until we are a nation of unemployed. We don’t need to just look at ways to create “new jobs” that people are unqualified to fill. We need to find an immediate way to let people keep their current positions. No one seems to be interested in including this in the agenda if it creates even the slightest hardship on companies to find a way to keep their workers. It’s an easy out and they’ll take it every time, especially if there’s no embarrassment because all other companies are doing it.
Today I added Amazon.com on the list of companies I will never do business with again. Last week I attempted to purchase a Haynes service manual for Amy’s car. Amazon directed me to the reseller discountbooks.com. This is a site run by the Xacti corporation out of Boca Raton Florida. It is a front for the phishing scam site SmartSavingsCenter.com. Whenever you buy from discountbooks.com you are invisibly agreeing to a “trial membership” for SmartSavingsCenter.com. If you don’t cancel this intentionally obscured trial within 7 days they hit your card with a $29.95 fee. You will never see it coming.
This scam put forth by the immoral and ethically corrupt Xacti corporation is well documented in any Google search for SmartSavingsCenter. The Editor of Ripoffreport.com even has a site informing “how to get your money back into your bank account” if you are a victim of Xacti’s deception. He makes it sound like it could be difficult for your bank to agree to the refund. In fact when I called Bank of America this morning the scam is so well known that they didn’t resist one bit. Other Xacti websites that are a front for the SmartSavingsCenter.com scam are HotMovieSale.com and Rushmore Towing and Locksmiths. There are probably others.
If you’re a victim of the Xacti corporations immoral internet trade practices you can contact them directly using the information at the bottom of this post. Personally I wouldn’t bother as I understand they won’t cancel the “subscription” over the phone.
Instead try to locate the welcome email sent by these fraudsters when they initiated their malicious activity against you (mine was in the spam filter), retrieve the password for your account, go to SmartSavingsCenter.com and cancel the account. There is even a selection in the “Reason for Canceling” that says “I believe SmartSavingsCenter is a fraudulent service”. Pick this one. Then call your bank, dispute their fraudulent charges and place a fraud alert on your account against this company. The Attorney General of Florida should move to shut these crooks down ASAP. Here’s where the dishonest cowards hide…
Xacti 999 West Yamato Road Suite 100 Boca Raton, FL 33431-4478 Telephone: 561-989-7400 Fax: 561-989-7401
UPDATE:
Since posting this article I received a letter from the Florida Attorney Generals office informing me, as one of many complainants, that they are beginning an investigation of the company. Hopefully they’ll be shut down soon and anyone who requires additional reimbursement from their fraud will get some money back. If you’ve been affected by this scam file your complaint on-line with the Florida Attorney General. Here is a link.
I am establishing the guidelines for what I will consider good customer service in 2009. This is my oath: If I come in contact with any company using the practices described here I will work to discontinue all business relationships that will result in a monetary gain for the company engaging in reduced or bad customer service.
Perhaps they are in charge thanks to the calls for Corporate America and Capitalism at any and all cost. The cost has been reliable products and quality services. It’s been replaced by rampant dishonesty creating consumer distrust and a struggling consumer market. I know full well that great big companies worth billions, some facing bankruptcy, could care less about my one little account. I’m still canceling it if the service sucks.
I’m on the phone canceling all of my service with Sirius satellite radio. My decision lies ENTIRELY with Sirius’s poor customer service. Not to mention the fact that they are trying to complicate and delay the return of $106 to me.
On January 2nd I ordered two Stratus 4 radios from them. One was to replace my aging original Sportster and one was to add a radio to the account for my Dad as a Christmas present. January 7th came and went with no radios and the hold on my account had been removed for the $106.72. So I called and canceled the order. Sirius confirms the cancellation is in their notes on the account.
I went to Best Buy and bought two Stratus 5 radios for a total of $143. Forward to January 13th. Today I look at my bank account and what do you know there’s a new hold for $106.72 from Sirius. Apparently they didn’t cancel the order. And as far as I can tell they’ve run my card again for a new hold.
So I made the dreaded call to sort it out. First you’ve got to verbally navigate through the highly annoying automated attendant. Any company that resorts to automated attendants for first line customer service stands a high chance of losing my business under the best of conditions. As a life rule I don’t talk to computers. Cus at them a lot but never talk.
Once I finally got a human on the phone she said “yes, I see where you canceled on the 7th. Let me let you talk to ‘Ecom’ about the billing and why the charges haven’t come off your account.”
So the guy from “Ecom” gets on the phone. He said the order “couldn’t have been canceled”. I told him the previous customer service rep told me that it was. He replied, with attitude, “that person doesn’t work in Ecom and could not have canceled the order”.
So did the radios ship? “I can’t tell you at this time”. What about the charges for the radio, how do I get those back? His response “there’s nothing I can do about it at this time sir”.
So here I was trying to buy additional radios and add service to my account so Sirius could have more revenue. Instead they screw up the order, the cancellation, charged me for the canceled order and can’t even tell me if the radios shipped. Send me to cancellations.
Now customer retention is on the case right? Problem is that if Sirius screws up bad, like they have, customer retention can’t do a damn thing despite their efforts. She tried contacting corporate customer relations and a lot more but couldn’t get an answer on what’s going on or what to do. So “cancel my service” I said. “That’s why I was transferred to ‘cancellations’ in the first place.”
She responded, “Well, can I give you three months for free for the inconvenience?” And I asked “Can you tell me when I can expect my money back? Or how many more times you guys will keep putting holds on my card without shipping any product?” She could not.
Then she put me on hold again. She came back to inform me that “I’ve escalated your issue to my manager who will have someone from corporate customer relations contact you within 5 to 7 days.” 5 to 7 days??? “Are you for real?” Of course she was.
So I had no alternative, “Cancel the service.” The battle presses on.
Bad customer service will cost revenue. This, along with other management reasons, is why Sirius closed at $0.13 a share today. They’re scheduled to be delisted from Nasdaq on April 20, 2009.
I don’t think so. Of course some action by the government is better than nothing but let’s allow common sense and business logic to prevail. First, let’s think about state infrastructure projects and construction jobs. The very second that money is allocated to infrastructure projects (which will take months or years of debate before allocation) the state and municipal governments will put those jobs out to bid. The awards processes will be partisan and corrupted through social networks and politics. A few rich guys will make some other rich guys richer.
But somewhere along the line a rich guy has got to get the job done. That’s when he’ll hire some cheap labor. Real cheap. Like non English speaking, work visa, Hispanic cheap. The Mexicans have not stopped crossing the border looking for work and now they’ll work for even less. So the labor money will go in large sums to Mexico, Puerto Rico and other Hispanic origins. I’ve personally known white and black males who’ve tried to work on mostly Hispanic construction crews and it is reported to be intolerable. It is also a closed club where the American stands out as the only non Spanish speaking guy on the crew. Prepare to see more real cheap lobor on job sites everywhere as the true American middle class suffers and politicians proclaim they’ve created jobs.
I also question the common sense behind other areas of economic “stimulus” that have been discussed like renewable energy technology. How many people do you know with education or experience in crystalline silicone solar technology that’s looking for a job? Didn’t think so. What about Vanadium Bromide battery manufacturing? Me neither. So how is government investment in renewable energy technology going to create jobs among a populous without training in such technologies? This problem reaches from the raw materials handling to the actual manufacturing of things like solar cells. The people I know who are out of work are not in a position to quickly re-train to work in this new, complex industry. There has to be education first.
To date I have not heard any actual solutions discussed that could really turn this country and this economy around in the short or long term. I think we need mandates for increases in teacher pay. If we want the best people instructing our kids and preparing them to compete in a future economy we have to entice the best among us to take the instructional jobs through financial incentive. We have to invest in workforce training. If we actually want to convert our economy back into one that manufactures high end technologies being discussed we’ve got to have a workforce that knows more than how to put a door on a car and paint it. And if the cost of goods rise slightly to facilitate stateside manufacturing that is a sacrifice we should be prepared to live with, through increased salaries.
I also feel we need to give companies incentives to hire Americans inside the US for all jobs, not just the construction and services sector. Otherwise companies will always look for the cheapest labor first and that seems to come readily available from outside our borders. I’m not calling it a legal or illegal immigration issue. I’m stating that we need to make hiring US citizens the better financial option to businesses as opposed to the hiring of foreigners on work Visas. Until this key issue is resolved the American middle class will continue in a downward economic spiral.
In a time when bank executives would rather eat their own children than give one penny of shareholder profit to help consumers and the economy at large, one bank has stepped forward to support legislation that is way overdue. Citibank has agreed to support changes in bankruptcy laws so that primary residences can be protected in bankruptcy court by judges who can write the mortgages into debt repayment plans.
It’s absurd that someone can file for bankruptcy and protect their motorcycle, vacation home or boat but can’t save their primary residence. This has long been a hold out of the mortgage lenders for no other reason than sheer greed. Why should they take a risk? Loans are suppose to be all profit and no risk for them right? And when the gamble doesn’t pay off we’ve seen what happens. They cry to the Fed like whimpering little children who aren’t getting their way. And big daddy Fed is more than happy to quiet them with $700 billion dollars. Thinking about it makes my stomach worse than it already was fighting this Crohns flare up. I will continue to close all my entries about financial institutions with the same ‘ol quote from Dr. Willis Martin of Rocky Mount who said to me “Son, the bank is not your friend”.
Roland “Don’t Lynch Me” Burris is an over-zealous prosecutor who worked diligently to put an innocent man in prison despite the objections of his prosecuting staff. The man Burris maliciously prosecuted was acquitted 10 years later after DNA was used as exculpatory evidence. He’s a black Mike Nifong only worse. The entire country should be appalled this damned thug is going to be seated as a US Senator upon his appointment by a corrupt Governor.
If I were a Senator I wouldn’t even look at this piece of crap in the halls of the Capital. You, Roland Burris are a disgrace to honorable men everywhere.