ComplaintsforMedical Answering Services LLC

• Initial Complaint

  04/04/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  ON APRIL 4 2023 I HAD AN APPOINTMENT AT 1215 P.M. WITH MEDANSWERING .COM THROUGH A+D TRANSPORT *** *** **** FOR A M-E-D-I-C-A-L TRANSPORT TO COOPERSTOWN NY HOSPITAL........THIS WAS PAID BY M-E-D-I-C-A-I-D.... .........NO ONE CALLED..........NO ONE SHOWED UP........AND TRYING TO TALK TO CUSTOMER SERVICE IS N-O-T POSSIBLE!!!!!!!! ....NO ONE ANSWERS BUT THEY CHARGE MEDICAID ANYWAY!!!!!!!!!! I had to find a way there and almost lost my treatment at neurology!!!! 

• Initial Complaint

  03/20/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  On March 9th, March 15th, and March 20th I made appointments to see my health care provider and scheduled rides through Medical Answering Service of Syracuse to attend these appointments. Each time they called they said they exhausted all transportation services for my appointment and I scheduled these well in advance. This is three times that they have done this to us. I am in a wheelchair and cannot go in a regular vehicle because of this. Something needs to be done about this. It is getting ridiculous that they do this to disabled people.

  Business response

  04/03/2023

  From a complaint perspective, there is not much I can share without a release of information as we deal with protected health information protected by HIPAA laws, rules and regulations. Thank you

  Customer response

  04/03/2023

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. Signed HIPPA is attached.  Regards,  ***** *******  

• Initial Complaint

  03/17/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I’ve been a customer of Medicaid transportion from this company and former company since 2015. They have zero communications with clients. A year ago they refused to allow me to book appts online stating there were unverified rides to my case mgr when she tried to book a ride. In early February I learned services expired and required recertification from primary care doc. There was no notice by mail, email or text. My doctor has submitted at least 2 applications yet every person at MAS seems to not know how to deal with recertification. My health conditions that qualify for this service have only progressed in mobility challenges.

• Initial Complaint

  02/19/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Dear Sir/Madam, I hope you are doing well in NY. I'm writing to you because I would like to file a complaint against my medical transportation company Medical Answering Services LLC from Syracuse.  I've been a member of the company for several years. Some of the car services and drivers have been causing me a lot of problems. This is the company that is providing my medical transportation to my medical, dental, radiology appointments and physical therapy sessions through my insurance company. They have very bad transportation companies and bad taxi companies working for them. I had terrible experiences with them. Some drivers that were coming even several hours late and drivers that were very bad and mean to me when they transported me to my medical appointments. I had a few drivers who were even racist to me.  I had several cases when they made me miss medical appointments and I arrived late to physical therapy because they were very late to pick me up.  The worst of everything happened to me last February 13th,2023 in the night. I was coming from my physical therapy appointment in Brooklyn. I was waiting for my car to come to pick me up for around 3 hours and 17 minutes.  I called the car service  pick me up in my therapy center but they never showed up to pick me up. One of the car companies ****** ******* *** ******* was supposed to pick me up from my therapy center to my home in Brooklyn.  They were lying to me the entire time without any compassion about my health problems. They were saying to me that they were looking for a driver for more than 3 hours. I suffer from Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome and Osteoarthritis in my spinal cord. I have 3 herniated discs,I have sciatica and also several pinched nerves. I feel pain and I can't stand in the cold for a very long time. I was waiting in very cold weather and I was calling them many times but they were lying to me telling me that they were looking for a driver to take me home.  The car never came to pick me up. I waited in a terrible cold weather and I got sick with a cold because of them. I had a very bad driver who came from the company *** **** ********* * *** ********. I got inside the car thinking that he was going to take me home after I was waiting for more than 2 hours and 24 minutes.  He was a gentleman from Pakistan and after he found out that the taxi ride was going to get paid by ********, he said in a rude way that he was only taking cash, I told him that I was a ******** patient to have a little compassion.  He told me that he couldn't take me to my house and he told me to get out of his car in a rude way. I called the company *** **** ********* * *** ******** and they lied to me by phone telling me that they didn't have that trip from Medical Answering Services.   I called my medical transportation company and I explained the situation to Medical Answering Services by phone but they didn't want to call them to resolve this terrible situation. I have already waited outside for 3 hours and 17 minutes for the car to pick me up in the freezing weather. My wife felt sorry for me because it was very cold that night, I was waiting for three hours and 17 minutes and she called me an **** Taxi to pick me up. We paid $24 Dollars for an **** taxi because it was already 12:57 A.M and the car from Medical Answering Services never arrived to pick me up and they were not telling when the car was going to arrive. I was on the phone with them for hours trying to resolve this problem but they were not helpful or understandable for my situation.  I called the car service to pick me up around 9.40 P.M and I was waiting for someone to pick me up until 12:57 A.M. This is when my wife called the taxi for me.  I'm a low income person, I'm earning very little and I don't deserve to be treated like this by this transportation company. We wasted $24 Dollars that I don't have. I'm a good person and I have been loyal, polite, kind, grateful and respectful to the transportation company. Medical Answering Services doesn't want to reimburse the $24 Dollars even though it was their fault that they didn't replace the car service with a good one. This is not right to me or to my wife. All done concerning this matter will be greatly appreciated. I will be glad to provide you with a copy of the **** Taxi receipt and records of my phone calls. Kind regards, **** ***** *

  Business response

  02/24/2023

  We do genuinely apologize for your experience. We need to investigate the concerns that you have submitted. There was no mention of any specific detail to how we will address your concern because there is a need to review the concern as well as audit calls to rectify and prevent this from happening again. We want to ensure that the Transportation Provider is communicating timely if they are not able to accommodate as well as communicate when they know when they are running late. This is very unfortunate however we do have to allow the TP to provide us with what occurred as well. As for the reimbursement request, we can see that there was no return transport provided by the TP who failed to pick you up from your medical appointment on Feb 13 however with a receipt and after further review I am sure we can reimburse you for the money that you spent that I understand was not expected. Please provide the approximate date and times of the calls and we can audit the calls and advise. Although a TP can have your transportation request on their roster for days, weeks and month. There are times that things occur unexpectedly that prevent them from being able to provide the transportation whether it be weather, limited staffing, car trouble and etc. I am not excusing any of this however after further review we will advise asap. There are multiple steps that is necessary to address your concern and if you will allow us to get the necessary information to advise you of the status of your request to receive reimbursement. We would greatly appreciate that as we work on getting to the bottom of this unfortunate situation with what your experienced with this Transportation Provider this is unacceptable and will be addressed.

  Business response

  03/06/2023

  No problem I completely understand. We are going to make this exception to reimburse Mr. ******** for $21.90 for the **** he had to pay for.  Typically, when reimbursement is provided, we require a receipt that has a breakdown of the services fees.  A lot of the fees that **** charges are not reimbursable fees per NYSDOH reimbursement guidelines. Some of the additional surcharges they charge in the cost which sometimes includes a tip which isn’t reimbursable and or insurance.   I want to apologize for Mr. ******** experience. We will not ask for the enrollee to provide what is normally required for reimbursement however what is normally required is listed below:   I have also attached the Reimbursement guidelines and the mileage reimbursement claim form although he is not requesting mileage reimbursement the reimbursement request would need to be completed in the future. A mileage reimbursement claim form is required moving forward as proof of attendance, etc. which would need to have the Medical Providers signature to verify the enrollee’s attendance. See attached. We require a receipt that has a breakdown of the services fees otherwise the reimburse may be denied.

  Customer response

  03/07/2023

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.  Thanks for your kind understanding about this matter. I will wait for the check for the money that we paid because any of those cars never came to pick me up and they made me wait for 3 hours and 18 minutes in the cold weather. Please call me. This delay with those cars caused me many problems and I came late to medical appointments because of these car drivers several times. I missed some appointments because of these drivers.  Many times I complained  to the company about this problem. I complained when the cars were very late,some drivers were very rude to me but unfortunately  Medical Answering Service was not doing anything about it. They can call me at ************* I'm available after 4:15 P.M. I requested the compliance department to call me to talk about this matter but they didn't call me. Unfortunately I can only provide the receipt from **** that is in my wife's phone. My wife called me an **** Car because the car was around 3 hours and 18 minutes late and we thought that the car would never come. She was very concerned.  She felt very sorry for me because I was waiting in the cold weather for a very long time. I also got sick with a cold because of this. It was not my fault that both drivers never came to pick me up.  If they need me to fill out a form for the reimbursement they can mail it to me and I can send it to you. I have a letter from the physical therapy center confirming that I attended my physical therapy that evening. Please tell them to include a prepaid postage envelope.  Regards,  **** ********

• Initial Complaint

  02/15/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Company would not pick me up even though there was a standing order and they were contracted to. I had previously complained about one driver who got us evicted from a 55+ senior place i was residing from sept to feb, he did not listen when i said DONT BEEP THE HORN. i did not yell at him of course i was polite but the words didnt sink in. i was on the 3rd floor. the dispatcher would be calling me not the driver. when i moved andre drove me, there was no issue until one day i forgot my phone, and was unable to tox. this led to him dropping me. the only thing i can think of is i walk slower with a cane/ stick and am legally handicapped. i dont think this should have any bearing on whether they drop me as a client. i RELY ON THIS FOR MY DAILY MEDICINE IN THE MORNING. i called today an sal, another driver was willing to drive me, but then andre told him no. this is a personal grudge not even with the owner . i have never had an issue or missed day at the clinic and my remedy is having them finish the job they were contracted to do but did not do going forward. i need a reliable taxi service and this is not right. Contact Information ********* * ***** ************ * ***** *** ** ******** ** *** * ********* ** ********** ****** ************ Manage Trips Single Trip Round Trip Standing Orders Appointment Drop-off Transportation Status Reason Action 02/15/2023 8:00am * ********** ** ***** Transportation LLC Active OTP Services

  Business response

  02/20/2023

  Attempted to contact enrollee there was no answer. We are following up with the program that he attends to rectify the enrollees concern. As well as touching base with the TP to determine if there any resolution if this enrollee wishes to use them as their Preferred Transportation Provider.  

  Customer response

  02/21/2023

  Better Business Bureau: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. The two drivers are insincere and dropped me from getting to daily medication that I get very ill without. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. Regards, ****** *******

  Business response

  02/23/2023

  My apologies regarding the two drivers. Please provide more and as much details as possible to what you experienced ****************************************** or you can provide via your response. However any future  complaints questions and or feedback can be submitted via the link provided. We have a Customer Care and Quality Assurance Department that will follow up with the Transportation Provider regarding the experience you had with their drivers upon review and investigation. 

• Initial Complaint

  01/26/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  The company has denied my service they have made it personal I have already reached out to the state and the insurance and all said that it's not policy I have had the forms signed my doctor gave all the paperwork and this company is forcing. Me to find and go to another doctor I have PTSD I also have health issues the hospital I go to I have been going since I was 14 years old this company has not did anything but disrespectful and has been denying myself to get my health safe this is been going to long and something needs to be I was told to take it court and I was told find another doctor

  Customer response

  01/25/2023

  Yes it's in New York City and my health is being on hold because of this I have trouble walking my doctor has all my forms 

  Customer response

  01/25/2023

  Medical Answering Service*** **** ** *** street  New York NY 10036*** *** ****

  Business response

  02/10/2023

  Enrollee was contacted and advised that she should request and attend a fair hearing. This fair hearing will allow the enrollee to tell an Administrative law judge why think a decision about their case made by MAS (Medical Answering Services LLC) is wrong. The Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance will then issue a written decision which will state whether MAS was right or wrong.  

  Customer response

  02/10/2023

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.   Regards,  ****** ******* 

• Initial Complaint

  01/24/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am having issues scheduling trips on the MAS website. My account says I am blocked and have been flagged and need to contact MAS. I have tried reaching out but was unable to speak to anyone that could assist. I have used MAS transportation services since 2018 and have not had any issues until now. I am very dependent on Medicaid transportation due to my heart condition, spinal kyphosis, psychiatry appointments, and other special needs. I have important appointments for this month to see a specialist and also my primary doctor. I would like to speak to someone to resolve this as soon as possible.

  Business response

  02/09/2023

  Enrollee was contacted and advise of the status of her account. 

• Initial Complaint

  01/11/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My account for online use with MAS Transportation, does not work. It has not worked for a year. I have talked to a couple of people there and no one can fit my account. I mainly cannot understand the people. I do not speak Spanish. I think there is an issue with my current account. I have asked MAS to delete this account and start over new. They will not do this. I just want to have access to my online MAS account so I can schedule my medical trips.

  Business response

  02/09/2023

  Enrollee was contacted and has been able to access her online account to schedule transportation and has scheduled transportation via the online portal. 

• Initial Complaint

  01/11/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I been having a problem with this place since 2019, 2020 all through 2021 and 2022 no rides for 2 yrs now 2023 1st medical trip for the yr and I been calling since the 5th for this appt coming this Friday fazed them with them not even contacting me back they are HORRIBLE WITH THE PHONES CAUSING A LOT OF MEDICAL TRIPS MISSED CAUSING CLIENTS TO PAY OUT OF POCKET FOR MISSED DRS APPT NO FAIR AND NOT TOLERATING ANY MORE TOO MANY YRS AND NO CHANGE

  Business response

  02/09/2023

  Enrollee was contacted to confirm how we can allow seamless access to healthcare. One of the appointments she was attempting to secure is a non-covered medical service. She became to become very belligerent when this was communicated to her. She advised that she will be filing another complaint however we are complying to NYSDOH  (New York State Department of Health) NEMT (Non-emergency Medical Transportation Policy) although she is seeing an MD that medical provider is providing a service that is not covered by Medicaid therefore Medicaid transportation cannot authorize the medical transportation.   

• Initial Complaint

  12/04/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have been using MAS for years and have not been needing rides for the last month or two and now I try logging in again and it says I am deactivated?? Says to call the help center but the number is just the regular number to book a trip so I am not getting any resolution to this and just need someone to reach out to me to help me reactivate my account because I can’t get ahold of anyone 

  Business response

  12/12/2022

  We are following up with this enrollee so that  she can have access her account. There has also been an update to allow those who are not accessing their account frequently to still be able to authenticate to allow access preventing the inability to access the MAS web portal in the future.  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩