ComplaintsforVisiting Angels

• Initial Complaint

  07/08/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  My father, who has impaired cognition, has been receiving services through Visiting Angels for 4 years which has been paid for through a managed care organization with ******** funding. We were recently contacted and informed that services would be ending due to a business decision. When I asked for further clarification of why services were being ended, I was accused of being hostile and not caring about my family. The co-owner then hung up on me and called my mother. He did not share the reason for ending services with my mother, but informed her that if we continued being hostile, they would remove the caregiver and end services immediately instead of providing a two week notice. I have since been informed by my mother, that the caregiver has been managing and administering medications, although she is not licensed to do so. My mother also reported to me that the caregiver required that they pay her privately for a time which was also paid for through public funding. The co-owner fabricated conversations and stated that we were being hostile and saying negative things about him and Visiting Angels, and informed us that they would be ending services immediately due to those supposed conversation. The co-owner stated that services being ended was my fault and that I directly jeopardized my parents care, despite the conversations not happening.

  Business response

  07/25/2022

  ANSWER TO BBB Complaint

  
  Thank you for reaching out to us.  We take this matter very seriously and we are sorry it has reached this point.

  We had been caring for JoEllen's father, since April of 2019.  He lives with his wife. We were contracted with a *********** organization provider to care for her father, but NOT for her mother. 

  Over the past several months, we began to notice a decline in his wife's mental and physical state:becoming more and more forgetful, accusing our caregivers of misplacing things, setting up both her and her husband's medications in error, etc. Additionally, she was requesting help herself for some of her incontinence issues.  This obviously created some liability concerns for us. This was jeopardizing the care we could provide for her father, as we were NOT contracted to provide care for her mother. 

  Despite our best efforts to communicate with both the wife and daughter that caring for her mother was jeopardizing the care we could provide for her father, there was no progress towards resolution.  We also approached the *********** organization to get help with a resolution, but with no satisfactory conclusion.

  The situation presented a serious risk we were unwilling to take.  Per our minimum required termination clause in our contract with this ***, we gave a two week notice of care.

  ******* took exception to that and accused us of being a "greedy corporation" and "dropping her father due to money".  She was extremely rude and would not even allow us to explain our concerns about her mother. 

  Subsequent to that conversation, 10 days into the 14-day period, the caregiver in the home reported that the wife and ******* started becoming verbally abusive towards her. 

  We had no choice but to terminate services at that time. 

  Customer response

  08/04/2022

  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.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  The response received by Visiting Angels is slanderous.  The only accurate statement was that this is unfortunate.  Since 2019, the only communication we received of potential concern for my mother's health was in the Spring of 2022.  There was no mention of potential liability.  The call was framed as a courtesy.  We appreciated the call and we assured the agency that both parents continue to receive the support of family and medical experts outside of the care provided through the agency.  We asked that they keep us posted if they should have additional concerns.  The next communication was to inform our family care would be dropped due to business reasons stating the critical shortage of caregivers.  As stated, my father had a consistent caregiver.  This led to the assumption the business decision was made based on profit.  It is clear that we should not expect any forthright communication from the Agency.  The caregiver was not subjected to verbal attacks.  The decision to not honor the said 2 week notice, ending care on July 6th vs July 12th, was a business decision.
  Regards,
  
  *************************

*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. ↩