Had previously arranged holiday oxygen with Air Liquide all was set everything arranged spoke to them Thursday last week.
On arriving at hotel 4pm Monday wrong Dewar had been left with a Helios Marathon.
I use a Companion with the liquid 02! It would not fit on to this Dewar
The Helios only lasts an hour and a half on 6L - that’s what I am on ambulatory, have been unable to walk anywhere. Spoke to them 4pm it will be there tomorrow! Rang them 9am Tuesday it will be with you today went out having to use it on pulse returned to the hotel 5pm no change of Dewar rang them - emergency number it’s coming today!!!!! No it did not arrive!
Wednesday 9am rang again we will ring you back - 10.30am I rang BOC to complain! They were ringing Air Liquide, within 10mins had a call to say it would be there within an hour BOC rang to say the same. Guess what time it arrived? 1.45pm!!!
Definitely a complaint going in I ran out of oxygen Wednesday when out luckily had a spare cylinder in our car for emergencies. But had the upset of stopping the car on a dual carriageway!!!
This puts you off going anywhere they knew my prescription 3L at rest 6L ambulatory, I have not been tested for pulsed yet I feel they have put my health at risk, very unhappy about their service. Home today breathed a sigh of relief Val
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Val that is utterly disgraceful. I should make a strong complaint to the company and your consultant (as the hospital pays the company for the servcie they should be providing) and I would also be tempted to contact my MP. I have Air Products and have twice recently had to call them out for an emergency - I chopped my tubing in half with a slamming door and a weeek later the "ball" in the concentrator dropped to the bottom of the scale and refused to move so that I did not know what setting I was on. Both times they said their emergency service meant they would be with me within 4 hours and both times it was less than an hour. How anyone can think that days without oxygen is acceptable is beyond me. Give them hell.
Have my 02 nurse coming out Wed she is in touch with the consultant all the time with a rep from BOC will mention it to her see if she knows who I can complain to many thanks Val
I use Air Products too , first class service , i have had o2 delivered to me while i am out and about in an emergency and the deliveries have never been late , in fact they usually say 2 days for a regular order and it always comes in 1 day , Spot on , you need reliability when you are o2 xxx
Hi Val that is so disgraceful. How upsetting it must have been for you. I have had to complain in the past and the person to address your complaint to is Anne Rutledge, Regulatory Affairs and IMS Manager, Air Liquide (Homecare Ltd), Alpha House, Wassage Way, Hampton Lovett, Droitwich, WR9 0NX. I have also raised my latest issues with my respiratory nurse and PALS. Plus I have been in touch with my local MP. I do hope you get some answers and re-assurance that it is not going to happen again.
Hi Val I did get a response but it didn't give me any reassurances that it wouldn't happen again. Very poor response. I need to chase up PALS and my MPs office. I ran out of steam for a bit but hearing about your latest appalling treatment I am going to get typing again. I hope you get some answers.
Val , That is awfull , you should be able to go away and enjoy your break with peace of mind what shame your break was messed up and you had to endure stress which is not needed.
I do hope you can get some answers and they get their act together its really bad news when they are so relied on . Su x
Trouble is they know people rely on them, it comes across as oh tomorrow will do. Did they want me to sit in a hotel room for 2 full days? Have read loads of complaints on here about Air Liquide and something should be done about it.
I wouldn't care but they were my supplier before BOC took over in November they were ok then, think they have recently taken over in the Chester area not sure who they took over from though.Many thanks Val
The real problem was not being able to walk any where I need 6L, I doubt I will get any joy from them but it will make me feel better complaining Val x
Thats dreadful news and if people lik you don't complain nothing will be done about it, also Val it will help others on here who are in the same position as yourself.x
Hello Val,
That must have been absolutely terrible for you as well as disastrous as it entirely ruined your break/holiday, and the purpose of a holiday is to enjoy and to recuperate if possible, however, undergoing such treatment means that what your time away did for you was instill fear and upset.
Well, I just looked for the Ombudsman, I don't know if Public Bodies/Institutes/The Health System (NHS) was involved but if they were, I have some details for you below.
Aside from the details below, seeing as BLF is all about Lung Illnesses, then it's a good platform for making this known and bad publicity for the company that had failed to deliver and failed to treat you correctly, I mean that is major abuse, there's no way they can say that a single thing they did, was correct, they should have had someone, at their expense, get that oxygen to you on the day you reported that it had not been correctly delivered.
What you need to get access to is their Terms & Conditions of Supply & Delivery.
They may have laid out a clause in it indemnifying themselves from situations like this, but if they have, then they are not a company that could ever be relied on as that means they are giving customers no guarantee, so I'm very curious to locate their terms of delivery and supply to study up on how they operate.
As far as I can see they were in breach, and that’s a very serious matter and BLF is a good platform to protest, and seeing as they have not even offered you a correct and formal apology then all the more that I feel this board should be used to “out them”, and I doubt they'll like that because it will lead to an even worse name than they already have and loss of business = money.
However, loss of money for them is not as bad as loss of health or life is to a client, and they take people's money, therefore, as it is a serious matter, and absolutely not the same as a company failing to deliver milk or coffee, other people need protecting from them and the idea that it's a new company undergoing hiccups with new staff is not acceptable, the company owners if having a will to operate efficiently and caringly, would have had to know as professionals dealing in healthcare, that the main 2 things are deliver correctly and on time and they failed both.
Function: Our role is to consider complaints that government departments, a range of other public bodies in the UK, and the NHS in England, have not acted properly or fairly or have provided a poor service.
We work to put things right where we can and to share lessons learned to improve public services.
Our role is to consider complaints that government departments, a range of other public bodies in the UK, and the NHS in England, have not acted properly or fairly or have provided a poor service.
Here you can find out more about what we can and what we can’t help with and what to do if you have been a victim of crime.
You can also download our leaflets Bringing a complaint to the Health Service Ombudsman (199kb) and Bringing a complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman (128kb).
If you would like to make a complaint, you can use the box above to see if we can help you and what you can do next. Alternatively, please contact us on 0345 015 4033.
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I've had a few episodes just like yours Val and all the complaining in the world does SOD ALL! (scuse the language) I've tried being polite, I've lost my temper,i've cried, I've threatened to go to the press, my MP but all to no avail. The equipment has been faulty on several occassions which makes me think they give everybody on holiday the oldest eqipment they have.
We have to keep plugging away though till they get it right. My last complaint about Dolby has been answered yesterday. Something went wrong with one of the ordering processes please accept our apology. I said NOT GOOD ENOUGH I want to know what process went wrong. It all boiled down to the technician not having the correct van to be able to deliver LOX so he delivered NOTHING but told nobody he just assumed someone would have realised he didnt have the right van with a lift on the back to lower the container of LOX.
Bloody idiot is all i can say!! Dont they realise we need the o2 to survive? Its not like taking 2 paracetomol for a headache, we can manage without the tablets but we need the o2 to sustain life.
I'm going back to the same hotel next month and if they get it wrong them woe betide them!! I'll be sitting outside their offices with a banner
Shocking isn't it? Hope you get your 02 sorted ok this time ring them before you go several times to get the message across wonder if anyone at BLF can help us with this one? Many thanks Val
Sorry but Air Liquide are the pits!! i have had the misfortune of them being my o2 provider since i was diagnosed 16 months ago. I have a concentrator in my house, they are supposed to call every 3 months when i get my electric bill, do a reading and service the concentrator. The guy who does this came the first time on time in april last year, i then didnt see him until the end of SEPTEMBER that year, his excuse, oh i was on holiday in July and came back and fortgot about you. I then moved home end sept. he was due to call to make sure concentrator was ok after the move, he came beginning of December, then came back in February to do a reading, i was due at end of December, i have not had a reading done on time since the first one, i had my last electric bill last month, i will not have a reading until aug. so will not get a rebate for my bill in June until Sept. I have complained to the guy who calls, he just shrugs his shoulders and says nothing, the most annoying thing is, he passes my house daily to go to work and lives 2 miles from me. I have phoned his manager and been told, he will be on time in future, he hasnt, i have written a long letter to the head office in England, who promised they would sort out the situation and actually sent me a rebate for one of the times i was late getting one, but its made no difference, like i say i got a bill in June, wont get a reading until aug. so wont get a rebate until sept. when my next bill will be due approx. 2 weeks later.I just wish these people had to 'walk in our shoes' for one day, or even an hour - i think then they may just realise how important it is to us to get our o2 when needed and readings done on time, my electric bills are always over £200 and i am fortunate i can pay them, but what if i couldnt, what would i do? if i had to rely on rebates to pay my bill with, i dont know how other people manage who cant pay, its an utter disgrace that Air Liquide are putting people in debt because of their ineptitude.
If you have any problems with the delivery of your oxygen you should first of all complain to the oxygen company (of course). If it's a one off issue that is resolved and doesn't occur again, all well and good. You should also complain to the Oxygen Lead for your local PCT/Health Board - every local area will have an oxygen lead who is responsible for monitoring the oxygen contracts and service.
The oxygen lead may well be more interested in issues that aren't getting sorted, recurring issues, and issues where the oxygen companies are not delivering the contracts properly.
I'm not sure if a consultant is the right way to resolve any problems with the oxygen companies - it's just not an issue they would get involved with or be aware of.
There are two types of issues - one where the contracts are not meeting the needs of people - in which case writing to the oxygen leads and your MP is the way forward - all this feedback could be usde to help influence any future changes to the contracts as a whole.
The other issue is where the oxygen providers are consistently not meeting the terms of the contracts e.g. delivery times - the oxygen lead is the person to make aware of this - the oxygen contracts are monitored at an area NHS level.
Thanks Mark have found the oxygen lead for Northumberland will e mail her to high light Air Liquide’s failure to provide correct oxygen for holiday and the effect it has had. It seems to me that this company need investigating the amount of error's it makes Val
You wouldn't believe that I experienced another incident today with AL! They have sorted it but not without several phone calls and stress levels rising again. Too tired to go into the whole thing but another letter is destined for them..............
I am moving up the ranks at AL - he was very apologetic etc etc and has organised the oxygen I need in order to attend a family members funeral! I need to chase up my MP again - yet more letter and email writing. I have to try and fit it all in with everything else and planning the entertainment for a 6 year old! I will keep you posted. Good idea to raise it with the BLF - hopefully they can collate all our concerns.
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