ComplaintsforBlissful Birthing TN

• Initial Complaint

  06/24/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I signed a contract for Doula service w/ Blissful Birth & made my first pmt of $*** on 03/26/22. A deposit to hold time on the calendar for my child's birth. Pmt was made by my ******* ******** ******* via ***** directly to the owner **************. A 2nd, & final pmt of $*** was made 04/24/22. My first personal doula visit by ******* provided me info that I had already gained via my midwife. My second visit was mutually agreed to be done via phone 05/19/22 @ 2:30pm. Arranging my day to be available, & waiting 20 minutes past time & no call I texted her. She said she lost track of time pumping & would call soon. The birth plan she prepared had errors that I pointed out & I requested she correct it. My due date was 05/22, but I had still not received the corrected birth plan by 05/24 & had to request it again. I did not call the doula when I went into labor. It happened quickly, & I fully understand if you don't call-you get no refund. Clearly stated in the contract. I called the doula the day after birth 05/27 to tell her I had delivered. It is advertised on their site that the doula will schedule a post-partum visit within 3-5 days after birth. I never heard anything from her, or the company, until my mom reached out to inquire-2 weeks after birth. She spoke to******** & she agreed via phone that if a postpartum visit had not been scheduled ******* was not providing adequate service. She said to allow her time to research & she would get back with us. She called me to hear my birth story, & within the next day ******* tried to set up a postpartum visit. I had several issues that required help, but my mid-wives filled in when ******* disappeared for 2 wks. They refused our many request for a partial refund-due to lack of services provided. Owner even suggested it was my responsibility to alert her if things were not going well. It is my position that it is NOT my job to continually chase after service that should be provided. We have requested $***. Owner refuses.

  Business response

  07/11/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2022/07/11) */ Firstly, we are not a healthcare provider. ****** reached out to me for the first time on 6/21/22 almost a month after her birth and requested a full refund due to the doula not fulfilling her doula role. I addressed her concerns and told her that if she had brought up her concerns while pregnant, we could have addressed her concerns or gotten a new doula for her before her birth. Our contract clearly states reasons for a refund and poor service is not one of them. We feel that the client cannot fully judge the doula's services since she met with her physically once and the client did not call the doula while laboring to come support her, which is the main role of the doula. During labor the client had ample time to call the doula since her labor started early in the morning and she did not give birth until the afternoon. She chose to call the midwife to come to her home twice, but not to call the doula. As our contract states, she does not get a refund. We provided a birth plan, online lactation class, partner skills, childbirth education, labor tools, and offered a postpartum visit. Client declined the postpartum visit. We feel that the client got doula services and we could have improved her support if she had alerted us to the issues prior to birth. Plus, the client actually used the skills we taught her during pregnancy and the company's labor tools we loaned her while in labor. We provided the services and the client used our company tools, but not the doula in labor. We feel that no refund is justified. Consumer Response /* (3000, 16, 2022/07/18) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) ******* and I first spoke on 6/10/22, not 6/21/22 like she states. (The message sent to ******* on 6/21/22 after she never reached back out to us is attached). When we spoke on 6/10/22 this was after my mother called her on 6/8/22 and left a message. ******* called her back on 6/9/22 and she was made aware of our issues at this time. She only wanted to know my birth story when we spoke and didn't apologize or ask anything about my doula not reaching out to schedule my postpartum visit. ******* feels as though we are in violation of our contract for not calling the doula and not communicating my needs. The doula not being called has nothing to do with the requested refund. That is the only part in their contract that mentions a reason for no refund being given which I believe is why ******* continues to include this detail. Also, we requested at least a partial refund, it didn't have to be in full. My mother paid for this service and she reached out to ******* on 6/8/22 to communicate the issues with our doula. There were some issues during my pregnancy that I didn't mention at the time because I wanted to give my doula the benefit of doubt, however, when she neglected to remember to contact me after my labor to set up my postpartum visit, we reached out to *******. This was the main issue. I'm a first time mom and my biggest concern was not the labor, but support after the baby was born. Again my labor has nothing to do with the refund request, but since ******* continues to mention it...yes, the midwives were called twice. The first time just to check my dilation and at this time my midwife told me she thought it could be another 24 hours before I went into active labor. A few hours later, my body was actively pushing my baby out and the midwives made it only 20 minutes before my daughter was born. I was literally having to hold her in for them to make it in time to deliver. So no, there was not ample time for the doula to be called and again, I'm aware this was not their fault and in no means a reason for a refund. The birth plan they supplied was completely wrong. It had duplicate items, things I didn't want to happen included, and things I wanted to happen were left out. Furthermore, I did not get the corrected birth plan until after my due date and I had to remind my doula yet again to fix it. I've attached both plans to show how inaccurate the first one was. My doula didn't reach out until 6/9/22, after my mother communicated our concerns to ******* to schedule my visit. I gave birth on 5/26/22. By then, I didn't want the visit because the aspects of care that the contract states I would receive postpartum had already been addressed by my midwives. As a first time mom I needed help with breastfeeding information and what to look out for regarding PPD/PPA , but after my doula forgot multiple things during my pregnancy I decided to see if she would remember to check on me....she never reached out until we complained. When we hired the doula it stated online and in the contract that we would be contacted within 3-5 days for the postpartum visit and it was almost 2 weeks before my doula said anything. I've attached a screenshot from their website and the contract with this information. However, it looks like ******* recently updated the site and contract took off the "3-5 days" portion. Again, the postpartum support was my main need. My doula even admits she "dropped the ball" and forgot to contact me. I've attached the text message showing this. ******* feels things could have been fixed if they had been alerted of the issues "prior to birth" but the main issue occurred after birth and had nothing to do with anything that happened during my labor. Business Response /* (4000, 18, 2022/07/26) */ The client hired us for birth doula support, not postpartum doula support. If the client wanted a postpartum doula, she would have needed to hire one separately because that it not in the scope of a birth doula. A birth doula is hired to help during labor and birth. When the client reached out to the doula post birth, the doula did respond that day. When the grandmother reached out to me post birth, I spoke with the doula and she reached out to the client that day. The doula offered the mom online resources via email and offered to come do one postpartum visit to talk about the birth, as stated in the contract. The client refused the visit.

*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. ↩