Thank you, @Golden Key. Yes, I do qualify as seriously disabled at this point. I have a Yelp account, and I'm planning to pan them. I'm also planning to write to the president of the company; they usually have flunkies in charge of handling such complaints.
There's a postscript: I finally got into my phone app, and discovered that my system was offline. I called ADT and (mercifully) got a compassionate young woman who patiently worked through it with me.
I had to go downstairs (thank goodness I have a stairlift), look in my office for their special modem (not there), use my walker to go to the other end of the lower level of my (fortunately small) house, find it there in the unfinished area, unplug the power, go back to the office, unplug the regular modem and replug it, go back to the unfinished area, plug in the power, and wait five minutes for it to come back up. Then I went back to the lift, back upstairs, back to the wheelchair...
The Clydesdale Bank will be moving to somewhere much hotter if I have my way after three phone calls and over an hour on hold altogether. Need to use their new 'one-time passcode' to get into my account, but despite their protestations they can't send it by land line or any mobile number we give them. Then they admit that their system isn't set up to accept overseas phone numbers. "Oh, but you can use your security token too'", followed by telling me that mine is obsolete, and they hadn't bothered to advise me, but will be happy to send a new one in the mail. Then they ask for account information to verify that it's really me, and I have to explain that I am locked out of the confounded account and haven't used paper bank statements for donkey's years. Meanwhile, we're still locked out of our account and probably won't get back in until we're in Scotland next week and can talk to a human across a counter. If we can find a branch - there hardly any left now.
@Rossweisse bravo to you for tackling that gargantuan mess up with the ADT. My stepmom used their alarm system and it was always going off for no reason, (inevitably at about 3am in the morning.) Glad to hear that eventually you got to talk to a helpful human being who worked for them.
@Stercus Tauri - Grrrrrr to endless telephone waiting and to the right royal tangle you seem to have ended up in with your bank. I hope you are able to solve it before too long
He took a lot of photographs, then looked at our gas bills for the past couple of years. My local engineer/service person left him to it and the two of us had a cup of coffee and looked at the rain. Boiler man then called someone at Head Office and used the word Urgent.
Now the Big Cheese is speaking to my local chap - they're murmuring in another room.
The first Big Cheese spoke to my chap, then went out (to get better mobile reception) to speak to an even Bigger Cheese, and it has been decreed that the boiler is ... faulty, has always been faulty, the diagnostics run on it haven't worked properly and they (not me, note) estimate I have paid for at least three times more gas than I should have done over the past 7+ years, plus the parts, call outs, etc, etc, etc.
At the moment they are taking copies of all my gas bills, all the servicing records, etc, and sending them to their accounts department to work out how much extra the thing has cost me. Then they will discuss the issues and Make Me An Offer.
One part of the offer is going to be a new boiler FREE but I'm going to call in an independent heating consultant to advise on that: I have an idea in the back of my mind that might just fly.
So-called social workers at the hospital. They have determined, without looking at my converted study, that it must be completely gutted of everything (including the TV) except the hospital bed or they will not provide carers to look after the discharged patient. They claim that the carers will not be able to work on both sides of the bed. Without looking. They claim that the OT said the room needed to be cleared. Which it did when she looked at it. They wouldn't have got the bed in if it hadn't been done. They claim that the private assessment company had concerns about space for one carer. They never told us. And part of the space was taken up by a commode and a hospital chair, which have now gone.
We have the feeling that any excuse will do for them not to spend their money on caring for a very old, very frail lady. It wasn't them that found her not to qualify for continuing care on the grounds that she could do things she can't, but they are joining in with the campaign.
@TheOrganist I feel quite teary that everything has worked out so well! Who'da thought! At last it sounds like justice is being done.... I am happy for you.
@Penny S Your situation sounds immensely frustrating, considering that the social workers haven't back to check out the study since the OT's original assessment. I wish you tenacity ....
Whoever thought that changing their minds and phoning a couple of hours ahead of discharge without any discussion about care plans (in place now) was a professional way to behave. (I was lining up evidence. Them's what's seen the room have cared in much smaller spaces. But no call to say "We've reviewed the situation and have come to the decision that the room is adequate." Just "She's on her way.")
They are now fitting a temporary boiler while A Financial Offer is finalised.
Meanwhile I've had a meeting with my builder, plumber and a heating engineer and I may end up with what I wanted when we moved the kitchen from one side of the house to the other - watch this space!
In today's episode of The Incompetent Security Company (get a drink and some popcorn and settle back), I was sitting in a hospital waiting room, awaiting (what else?) the call to see the oncologist, when I checked my phone and discovered a call from ADT. Both my carbon monoxide detectors, upstairs and downstairs, were going off. I called and arranged for a technician to come by on Tuesday morning.
When I got home, the damned things were still going off every 45 seconds. I called again, and explained the problem, including the fact that I was in a wheelchair. "What I need you to do," said the agent, "is take the batteries out of each of the detectors."
I explained that this would require me to get an 8-foot ladder from the garage, and climb up it, and then take the ladder downstairs to repeat the process. "Yes?" she said. "I'm in a wheelchair," I said again. "Yes?" That means no, I can't do that. "Well, don't you have anyone there who can do it?" No. "Well, I see that you have a technician coming out tomorrow between 8 and 12." How am I supposed to sleep with all that screaming in the background? "Well, can't you get someone to do it for you?"
I gave up on that Village Idiot, called my contractor, and tried again. I got a similar result. With the the third try, I was told that someone could call tonight, "but it's going to cost you a lot of money." I pointed out that - given that they and their equipment had now done this three times in two weeks - and that I'd had to have my contractor out twice already, I thought they could cover it. That VI (there are a lot of villages missing their idiots) put me through to a local manager. He promised to put me through to a regional manager. He called back three hours later, and said "I'm awfully sorry you're having to go through all this," but offered nothing else.
Meanwhile, my contractor came over and pulled the batteries, and I called a local security company with a high rating on Angie's List (which allows people to rate firms). That company's representative is also coming over tomorrow morning. I almost hope that he and the ADT chap run into each other.
I feel almost embarrassed - but my call to hell is Kneipp, the German company who make the world's best bath salts and shower products IMHO. They are no longer exporting their products to NZ
Their lavender bath salts are more effective than any tranquillizer I have ever had (without nasty side-effects) and the red poppy and hemp ones totally bliss me out.
I wonder if I could make a case to the International Court of Justice?
Are you getting them directly from the company? Maybe you could get them through Amazon, Walgreen's, Pharmaca, etc.? I don't know what shipping would be, but might be worth a look.
@Rossweisse More sympathy from here about the incompetence of ADT. Plus sympathy for the awful racket their alarms make when their go off for goodness knows what airy fairy reason. Plus they ought to have a system in place for people with special needs.....
Thank you very much. We are currently having lovely carers in pairs, but what happens next we have no idea.
And I think I'd like to call here whoever it was thought it was a good idea to keep to the Elizabethan (I) method of care by local area and not across the country. We are back to "she is normally resident in X, so she isn't our business" and X won't do anything because she isn't there. The OT who came today is worried.
Does your area have an "Independent Living Center" for folks with disabilities? If so, they might be able to help over the phone.
Thank you!
I'm not sure. But my contractor came and shut them off (say a prayer of blessing for Dean), a kind and competent ADT technician came over today and, I think, got it fixed - and I'm getting a quote from another company delivered by tomorrow at the latest.
TICT the deepest, darkest regions of H- Scammers taking advantage of the elderly. Specifically my very own personal elderly folks.
Since that post, I have contacted the scammers by phone to demand that they take my parents off their mailing list, and Dad has gotten several more scam collections notices.
This is how they get to the elderly...they have harassed Dad enough that he was beginning to doubt his memory of not ever having dealings with the company the scammers claimed he owed money to. Today he showed me a letter he wrote to the scammers. In it, he had made the statement (twice) that perhaps he had forgotten about being a customer of the company the scammers billed him for, and would they please send documents spelling out the amount owed. I tore the letter up and put it in the circular file.
That is how they get money from elderly people!!! They harass and harass until the elder doubts their memory. In my fair state of Florida, there are a multitude of elders with no nearby family members, so they have no advocates. I think the scumbags count on this.
I actually called the company Dad was supposed to owe money to. They, of course, affirmed that Dad had never been one of their customers. But Dad is still somewhat alarmed. I told him to collect the mailings from the scummy scammers and someday, when we don't have anything better to do, we'll go to a lawyer to see if we can mete out some consequences to the rats.
People who can't carry plastic tat more than a few yards so park over our drive.
We live a hop away from the local Ancient and Huge Fair, so parking is always difficult whilst it's on. Today a white van belonging to one of the sellers of things like inflatable unicorn heads and light-up swords parked over our dropped kerb so our car has ended up 2 streets away, and not on our drive.
We have got our revenge by getting the traffic wardens to come and ticket him, and I wouldn't be surprised if they've got a few more people on our road tonight, especially as there are more vans on the double yellows at the bottom of the road.
Since that post, I have contacted the scammers by phone to demand that they take my parents off their mailing list, and Dad has gotten several more scam collections notices.
This is how they get to the elderly...
Can you call in law enforcement, or are they foreign criminals?
My plumber and builder have got together with the independent heating engineer and have produced a costed "If everything and anything were possible and affordable" best solution for the heating of the house and our hot water. There are three possible solutions: either heating house and hot water independent of cooking (as now); having a range cooker to provide hot water and a boiler for heating; or having a range cooker to do the whole thing - in other words, its a toss up between an AGA or a Rayburn. Looking at the whole thing, the best solution for us is going to be a Rayburn.
A fantastic bonus is that the heating engineer's accountant son-in-law has gone over our gas bills from when the boiler was fitted - 2010 - comparing usage figures and costs with what we had before and with what the company said should have been the case: the discrepancy is mind-blowing
On Wednesday the boiler company made their Financial Offer and it was big; however, the accountant says it isn't big enough, and also noted that it didn't include anything for interest, nor for the embu**ment we've had so its back to the drawing board for them
They have now telephoned the accountant to "modify" (their word) their offer - an increase of over 50% Watch this space!
TICTH the people who go to a concert of classical music and leave their devices' alarms on. Today a woman sitting near me sat there stony-faced as first her watch and then her phone alarm went off, the latter for a full 60 seconds, while the usher looked for the source of the interruption in vain. There are spoken reminders to turn these things off for a reason: it's a concert.
A priest friend had this happen during a funeral, during the final commendation in church: the device in question belonged to the DiL of the deceased, a woman who had treated the deceased with disrespect in life and who obviously intended to carry on that way after he had died. Unbelievable.
@TheOrganist Can't believe the way that this is working out!
I'm not counting chickens just yet: to get the best solution I want I'll need the approval of the Heritage Conservation Officer, a person not renowned for their common sense, sympathy or flexibility.
I'm not a lawyer; but I think that here, in the US, what the company is doing, in trying to sort the mess out, would likely indicate they're afraid of a lawsuit.
Hope things get rightly straightened out for you soon!
Social workers - not all of them, just the two yesterday. Who were very late. 1 instead of the planned 11. Who have dumped (they don't like that word) all the care procedures on us, while deciding that D does not have capacity to consent to our friend acting for her, would not allow us to record the meeting as they are not allowed to have recordings made, and would not include our friend by phone as they are not allowed to deal with people they cannot see.
I assume people go into that career because they want to help people, and that they wanted to ensure that no-one was taking advantage of a vulnerable old lady.
I would have thought that best way to do that would be to arrange care themselves, but what do I know. I'm only the scullery maid, laundry maid (five or six sheets a day) etc. The doctor who promised us end of life CHC thought having carers in would release us.... (Whether it would have or not we shall never know because some box ticker decided she was not eligible.)
We have to arrange access to her finances when she has been declared not to have capacity. All the time it was in their favour for her to have it, she had it. Now when it helps them, she hasn't.
At the weekend.
The person who designed anti-pressure sore mattresses. In such a way that they cannot be used with incopads (ie, pads to deal with spillages) which could be used in an area likely to develop sores. As a result, I have to deal with sheets with faeces stuck to them. Napisan, designed in the days when people used towelling and muslin nappies (diapers) for babies, is brilliant stuff, but even so, not how I was expecting to spend my retirement days.
Penny S An issue I faced with an old friend. Go to the Baby & Child section of your local supermarket and you'll find bed pads. There may be adult versions too, but I found the children's ones had better adhesive, or wings, and were designed to be used on top of the sheet, not underneath.
Thanks, however, using nurse's advice now. She can either have pull-ups or pads, but not both, so she is now on a pad. This is not a bed pad, but, following past nurse's advice to protect my carpet using puppy pads, which are indistinguishable from incopads, and of which I have a stockpile. And much cheaper than the branded adult ones, which do exist. Hadn't thought of baby's versions - will investigate. She had had pull-ups on and they couldn't cope.
And, a bit more in line with the thread, the people who price things for adults in need of them. Drinking cup for adult - £7. Drinking cup for baby - £1.50 (OK, it needs a straw hole drilled in it, but that wouldn't cost £5.50.) Bed pads 57p each in packs of 7, puppy pads 45p each in packs of 14. (Slightly smaller, though.)
Still feel that being able to use both might be better for the person. Leaking with no knickers can't feel good.
TICTH my spell check autocorrect thing which failed to recognise the surname Fyffe and autocorrected it to "Effete." Fortunately I spotted it before I insulted Mr Effete.
This is the same autocorrect which changed "Dear Heather" to "Dear Heavier"
Remembering how she felt about control of bowels and bladder, it must be dire for her now, with no control at all. But she doesn't seem to have a reaction to all the wiping and cleaning.
Comments
There's a postscript: I finally got into my phone app, and discovered that my system was offline. I called ADT and (mercifully) got a compassionate young woman who patiently worked through it with me.
I had to go downstairs (thank goodness I have a stairlift), look in my office for their special modem (not there), use my walker to go to the other end of the lower level of my (fortunately small) house, find it there in the unfinished area, unplug the power, go back to the office, unplug the regular modem and replug it, go back to the unfinished area, plug in the power, and wait five minutes for it to come back up. Then I went back to the lift, back upstairs, back to the wheelchair...
I'm going to have some wine with dinner tonight.
@Stercus Tauri - Grrrrrr to endless telephone waiting and to the right royal tangle you seem to have ended up in with your bank. I hope you are able to solve it before too long
He took a lot of photographs, then looked at our gas bills for the past couple of years. My local engineer/service person left him to it and the two of us had a cup of coffee and looked at the rain. Boiler man then called someone at Head Office and used the word Urgent.
Now the Big Cheese is speaking to my local chap - they're murmuring in another room.
Watch this space!
The first Big Cheese spoke to my chap, then went out (to get better mobile reception) to speak to an even Bigger Cheese, and it has been decreed that the boiler is ... faulty, has always been faulty, the diagnostics run on it haven't worked properly and they (not me, note) estimate I have paid for at least three times more gas than I should have done over the past 7+ years, plus the parts, call outs, etc, etc, etc.
At the moment they are taking copies of all my gas bills, all the servicing records, etc, and sending them to their accounts department to work out how much extra the thing has cost me. Then they will discuss the issues and Make Me An Offer.
One part of the offer is going to be a new boiler FREE but I'm going to call in an independent heating consultant to advise on that: I have an idea in the back of my mind that might just fly.
(I am pleased for you, and wish you every success in the next part of your endeavour)
We have the feeling that any excuse will do for them not to spend their money on caring for a very old, very frail lady. It wasn't them that found her not to qualify for continuing care on the grounds that she could do things she can't, but they are joining in with the campaign.
Meanwhile I've had a meeting with my builder, plumber and a heating engineer and I may end up with what I wanted when we moved the kitchen from one side of the house to the other - watch this space!
When I got home, the damned things were still going off every 45 seconds. I called again, and explained the problem, including the fact that I was in a wheelchair. "What I need you to do," said the agent, "is take the batteries out of each of the detectors."
I explained that this would require me to get an 8-foot ladder from the garage, and climb up it, and then take the ladder downstairs to repeat the process. "Yes?" she said. "I'm in a wheelchair," I said again. "Yes?" That means no, I can't do that. "Well, don't you have anyone there who can do it?" No. "Well, I see that you have a technician coming out tomorrow between 8 and 12." How am I supposed to sleep with all that screaming in the background? "Well, can't you get someone to do it for you?"
I gave up on that Village Idiot, called my contractor, and tried again. I got a similar result. With the the third try, I was told that someone could call tonight, "but it's going to cost you a lot of money." I pointed out that - given that they and their equipment had now done this three times in two weeks - and that I'd had to have my contractor out twice already, I thought they could cover it. That VI (there are a lot of villages missing their idiots) put me through to a local manager. He promised to put me through to a regional manager. He called back three hours later, and said "I'm awfully sorry you're having to go through all this," but offered nothing else.
Meanwhile, my contractor came over and pulled the batteries, and I called a local security company with a high rating on Angie's List (which allows people to rate firms). That company's representative is also coming over tomorrow morning. I almost hope that he and the ADT chap run into each other.
I feel almost embarrassed - but my call to hell is Kneipp, the German company who make the world's best bath salts and shower products IMHO. They are no longer exporting their products to NZ
Their lavender bath salts are more effective than any tranquillizer I have ever had (without nasty side-effects) and the red poppy and hemp ones totally bliss me out.
I wonder if I could make a case to the International Court of Justice?
Are you getting them directly from the company? Maybe you could get them through Amazon, Walgreen's, Pharmaca, etc.? I don't know what shipping would be, but might be worth a look.
Grrrrrrrr
Does your area have an "Independent Living Center" for folks with disabilities? If so, they might be able to help over the phone.
And I think I'd like to call here whoever it was thought it was a good idea to keep to the Elizabethan (I) method of care by local area and not across the country. We are back to "she is normally resident in X, so she isn't our business" and X won't do anything because she isn't there. The OT who came today is worried.
[Edited to remove personal information - T]
I'm not sure. But my contractor came and shut them off (say a prayer of blessing for Dean), a kind and competent ADT technician came over today and, I think, got it fixed - and I'm getting a quote from another company delivered by tomorrow at the latest.
Since that post, I have contacted the scammers by phone to demand that they take my parents off their mailing list, and Dad has gotten several more scam collections notices.
This is how they get to the elderly...they have harassed Dad enough that he was beginning to doubt his memory of not ever having dealings with the company the scammers claimed he owed money to. Today he showed me a letter he wrote to the scammers. In it, he had made the statement (twice) that perhaps he had forgotten about being a customer of the company the scammers billed him for, and would they please send documents spelling out the amount owed. I tore the letter up and put it in the circular file.
That is how they get money from elderly people!!! They harass and harass until the elder doubts their memory. In my fair state of Florida, there are a multitude of elders with no nearby family members, so they have no advocates. I think the scumbags count on this.
I actually called the company Dad was supposed to owe money to. They, of course, affirmed that Dad had never been one of their customers. But Dad is still somewhat alarmed. I told him to collect the mailings from the scummy scammers and someday, when we don't have anything better to do, we'll go to a lawyer to see if we can mete out some consequences to the rats.
We live a hop away from the local Ancient and Huge Fair, so parking is always difficult whilst it's on. Today a white van belonging to one of the sellers of things like inflatable unicorn heads and light-up swords parked over our dropped kerb so our car has ended up 2 streets away, and not on our drive.
We have got our revenge by getting the traffic wardens to come and ticket him, and I wouldn't be surprised if they've got a few more people on our road tonight, especially as there are more vans on the double yellows at the bottom of the road.
AARP periodically puts out scam warnings, and tips on protecting yourself. Might be something useful for you there.
This looks like a possibility, and there's a toll-free #:
"Scam-Tracking Map: No matter where you live, fraud is never far away. Protect yourself and others by reporting a scam, or searching for existing scams in your area."
A fantastic bonus is that the heating engineer's accountant son-in-law has gone over our gas bills from when the boiler was fitted - 2010 - comparing usage figures and costs with what we had before and with what the company said should have been the case: the discrepancy is mind-blowing
On Wednesday the boiler company made their Financial Offer and it was big; however, the accountant says it isn't big enough, and also noted that it didn't include anything for interest, nor for the embu**ment we've had so its back to the drawing board for them
They have now telephoned the accountant to "modify" (their word) their offer - an increase of over 50%
Anne-Sophie Mutter: World-famous violinist stops performance in Cincinnati to ask front-row patron to stop recording.
I'm not a lawyer; but I think that here, in the US, what the company is doing, in trying to sort the mess out, would likely indicate they're afraid of a lawsuit.
Hope things get rightly straightened out for you soon!
I assume people go into that career because they want to help people, and that they wanted to ensure that no-one was taking advantage of a vulnerable old lady.
I would have thought that best way to do that would be to arrange care themselves, but what do I know. I'm only the scullery maid, laundry maid (five or six sheets a day) etc. The doctor who promised us end of life CHC thought having carers in would release us.... (Whether it would have or not we shall never know because some box ticker decided she was not eligible.)
We have to arrange access to her finances when she has been declared not to have capacity. All the time it was in their favour for her to have it, she had it. Now when it helps them, she hasn't.
At the weekend.
Might they be willing to talk to the friend via Skype or some such? They'd be able to see the friend.
Hugs to you. And to D.
And, a bit more in line with the thread, the people who price things for adults in need of them. Drinking cup for adult - £7. Drinking cup for baby - £1.50 (OK, it needs a straw hole drilled in it, but that wouldn't cost £5.50.) Bed pads 57p each in packs of 7, puppy pads 45p each in packs of 14. (Slightly smaller, though.)
Still feel that being able to use both might be better for the person. Leaking with no knickers can't feel good.
This is the same autocorrect which changed "Dear Heather" to "Dear Heavier"