Farm journal 2009 10-28, Trakfone and BCBS problems
High: 96.9 Low 71.4 Rain 0.06 A little more rain.
Morning: Finished weeding chia and broccoli-kale-cauliflower rows in the c4 garden. Applied granular fertilizer to a trench down the center of the row. Transplanted seedlings to the spots that had not germinated. I did not have enough seedlings for a few of the broccoli and cauliflower varieties, so I will need to reseed some spots.
Next: I spent the next 4 hours on the phone with Trakfone and BCBS.
Trakfone:
Problem: Trakfone didn't ring, minutes and airtime added did not show, voice mail had become invalid, keypad occasionally showed extraneous numbers.
I called trakfone. After a long time and keying in 800 numbers or so, they made my minutes and airtime show, and said I should set up my voice mail. Voice mail and phone book are apparently functions that they cannot transfer. I tried to set up my voice mail, but it kept saying failed, or asking me for a 10 digit code, which was invalid. The keyboard kept acting up, showing extraneous numbers that I didn't type. I called trakfone a 2nd time, tried to get it working. The rep promised to restore my 6 minutes from failed attempts. Somehow we got disconnected. I called a 3rd time. By then I was in the midst of back and forth calls with BCBS, so I actually had to put the 3rd trakfone guy on hold. He could not get the voice mail working, so he reset something, restored 9 minutes accrued through various attempts and tests. He said that I should wait 15 minutes and try to set up voice mail again, and opened a ticket. I decided that I'd had enough of the phone's typing extraneous digits, so he created a second ticket, and will send a replacement phone. I will have to call again to get them to transfer the double minutes for life which came with the phone, the minutes and the airtime. There is no point in setting up the voice mail on this phone, since it won't transfer. So, that's it for a few days.
BCBS:
Called BCBS to ask why I received a bill for $260 from the anesthesiologist for the colonoscopy that was supposed to be covered in full. They told me that it was entered with a code that meant something other than routine. She started telling me that I had to call this doctor and that doctor to tell them they had submitted paperwork incorrectly, because of a code that I could not see, and BCBS would not divulge. I was very angy and asked the BCBS rep if she gets a bonus for not covering the procedure. Why do I have to correct a paperwork problem that I can't see? She tried to call the doctor for a conference call, but they were at lunch. She called Brandon Surgery Center, and they just said that the error was generated from the surgeon, who was not the one who sent a bill. So, I was supposed to call BCBS back at 1:00 to conference with the surgeon. She call me back, and we conferenced with the doctor's office, that said they will resubmit, so I should get a new set of paperwork. I asked her how will this result in a refund from the anesthesiologist? She said that they will have to talk to the doctors office and resubmit as well, and I had to call them. She gave me a number to call, which was the wrong one. I called the number for billing questions, and explained what I could of the situation. She said that it would take a month to process the forms, and another 6 weeks to get a refund, but I would get it, unless something else went wrong. I asked her to call me if anything happened that would cause the refund to be delayed or denied.
Moral of the story, if you are going to a medical procedure, get a business card from everyone who may be near enough to bill you for something. Even though you are drugged and you have no pockets in your robe, somehow you need to stay on top of the situation. OK, its ridiculous.
Trakfone and BCBS took all my energy. I didn't do much the rest of the day.
Morning: Finished weeding chia and broccoli-kale-cauliflower rows in the c4 garden. Applied granular fertilizer to a trench down the center of the row. Transplanted seedlings to the spots that had not germinated. I did not have enough seedlings for a few of the broccoli and cauliflower varieties, so I will need to reseed some spots.
Next: I spent the next 4 hours on the phone with Trakfone and BCBS.
Trakfone:
Problem: Trakfone didn't ring, minutes and airtime added did not show, voice mail had become invalid, keypad occasionally showed extraneous numbers.
I called trakfone. After a long time and keying in 800 numbers or so, they made my minutes and airtime show, and said I should set up my voice mail. Voice mail and phone book are apparently functions that they cannot transfer. I tried to set up my voice mail, but it kept saying failed, or asking me for a 10 digit code, which was invalid. The keyboard kept acting up, showing extraneous numbers that I didn't type. I called trakfone a 2nd time, tried to get it working. The rep promised to restore my 6 minutes from failed attempts. Somehow we got disconnected. I called a 3rd time. By then I was in the midst of back and forth calls with BCBS, so I actually had to put the 3rd trakfone guy on hold. He could not get the voice mail working, so he reset something, restored 9 minutes accrued through various attempts and tests. He said that I should wait 15 minutes and try to set up voice mail again, and opened a ticket. I decided that I'd had enough of the phone's typing extraneous digits, so he created a second ticket, and will send a replacement phone. I will have to call again to get them to transfer the double minutes for life which came with the phone, the minutes and the airtime. There is no point in setting up the voice mail on this phone, since it won't transfer. So, that's it for a few days.
BCBS:
Called BCBS to ask why I received a bill for $260 from the anesthesiologist for the colonoscopy that was supposed to be covered in full. They told me that it was entered with a code that meant something other than routine. She started telling me that I had to call this doctor and that doctor to tell them they had submitted paperwork incorrectly, because of a code that I could not see, and BCBS would not divulge. I was very angy and asked the BCBS rep if she gets a bonus for not covering the procedure. Why do I have to correct a paperwork problem that I can't see? She tried to call the doctor for a conference call, but they were at lunch. She called Brandon Surgery Center, and they just said that the error was generated from the surgeon, who was not the one who sent a bill. So, I was supposed to call BCBS back at 1:00 to conference with the surgeon. She call me back, and we conferenced with the doctor's office, that said they will resubmit, so I should get a new set of paperwork. I asked her how will this result in a refund from the anesthesiologist? She said that they will have to talk to the doctors office and resubmit as well, and I had to call them. She gave me a number to call, which was the wrong one. I called the number for billing questions, and explained what I could of the situation. She said that it would take a month to process the forms, and another 6 weeks to get a refund, but I would get it, unless something else went wrong. I asked her to call me if anything happened that would cause the refund to be delayed or denied.
Moral of the story, if you are going to a medical procedure, get a business card from everyone who may be near enough to bill you for something. Even though you are drugged and you have no pockets in your robe, somehow you need to stay on top of the situation. OK, its ridiculous.
Trakfone and BCBS took all my energy. I didn't do much the rest of the day.