A while back, I started a process to get something accomplished for myself. It's taken me a long while to work up the courage to even do this, as it's somewhat embarrassing. However, the benefits far outweighed the possible loss of dignity, so I went ahead with it. I'm kind of glad at the time that I didn't realize embarrassment would be the only problem.
Due to the jackassed way that companies have to deal with vendors, I find myself unable to get the product I need in the way that I need it. It's a piece of medical equipment and requires like all these specific details and doctor's signature and blahdeblah. None of this is fun.
The kind of key issue though, is that it requires me finding a company that actually has a way to obtain the damned thing for me in the first place. As I said, this is proving to be far more difficult that I thought it would be. And when I thought about how my doctor tends to like things with the path of least resistance, I decided to do the work for her and locate a company nearby who could help.
Not sure if you're aware of this or not, but there are like 54, 000 medical supply companies in any given area. I knew there was no way I would find what I needed on the first call, so I decided to organize the whole thing so I could keep up with them. I had the name of the company, phone number, if they had the product, if they would work with my insurance. Kind of like this.
Due to the jackassed way that companies have to deal with vendors, I find myself unable to get the product I need in the way that I need it. It's a piece of medical equipment and requires like all these specific details and doctor's signature and blahdeblah. None of this is fun.
The kind of key issue though, is that it requires me finding a company that actually has a way to obtain the damned thing for me in the first place. As I said, this is proving to be far more difficult that I thought it would be. And when I thought about how my doctor tends to like things with the path of least resistance, I decided to do the work for her and locate a company nearby who could help.
Not sure if you're aware of this or not, but there are like 54, 000 medical supply companies in any given area. I knew there was no way I would find what I needed on the first call, so I decided to organize the whole thing so I could keep up with them. I had the name of the company, phone number, if they had the product, if they would work with my insurance. Kind of like this.
Oh, wait . . .. so did you notice how everything is crossed through and x-ed out and how my tears of disappointment have stained the paper?* This is because I called and I called and I called. AND KEPT BEING SHOT DOWN AGAIN AND AGAIN.
Okay, I have a couple of leads. One company sounded like they may be able to do it for me, though the woman never got back to me on the insurance issue. Another company said they weren't sure, but would call me tomorrow.
Still, there are tons of these places in my area and I know I can't be the only person out there asking for this. In fact, I bet they have a lot of people asking for these things. It's bullshit that they don't provide them or at least have a place to order them. It's also bad business because if I can get a company to work with me on this, you best damned be sure I'll do business with them in the future.
But no! Instead almost all of these companies offer the same thing over and over. I'm not sure how "Oh hai, I gotz company an it is same as 20 udder companiez in dis place we all gotz zact same stuff" became a valid business model. You see this on TV all the time. "Oh look, people watches that show! Let's flood the schedule with shows just like it. No one will get bored!"
This is kind of like my frustration with a certain plus size catalog. Said catalog offers clothes up to 7X, but only certain clothes. Like, maybe one out of every 20 items. Most things go up to 4X with maybe about half of them going to 5X. Yet, they waste time offering things in medium and larges too. Because, you know, it's not like you can't buy those everywhere else.
Anyway, whenever they have clearance sales, you always see that all the smaller sizes are still in stock and none of the largest sizes are. In fact, those are always sold out. But instead of realizing they could stop wasting space on inventory in sizes anyone can get from almost any store in a far timely manner and concentrate on the sizes that people have trouble finding but actually sell . . . well, you get the idea.
So, that was my day. A customer in need of a product that I know exists but can't get my hands on. At least I had a list!
*Not actual tears. This is a filter for Gimp to simulate coffee stains, but you know how I exaggerate.
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