I was on 2 weeks break to India and therefore my foremost important thing was time. When I called the Apollo clinic in Dehradun for an executive health check, I was told that the whole executive check up process will take 4-5 hours, 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening. I realised later on that the time lines provided were not correct and I was misled just to ensure that I use their services. I ended up spending whole day from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM (about 10 hours) and that too with very sub optimal services.
The timings of various tests are worked around the convenience of the hospital staff and the visiting doctors and not the patient. For example the Ultrasound should normally be scheduled in the morning and not evenings as it requires patient to be on fasting, but for some strange reasons it was scheduled at 6:00 PM in the evening. Also I was made to wait for more than one hour lying in the bed waiting for the Echo test to happen. In short I did not find the services any better than a government hospital.
The most shocking experience came when I underwent the ultra sound test and the doctor informed me that I sound have been fasting for at least six hours and asked me to come after two days on 16-Aug-09. I was short on time and so cannot afford to go to your clinic on another day just because of the goof-ups of your clinic.
In addition the staff were indulged in a lot of loose talks with me which I tried to ignore. I am not sure if they are trained enough to manage the patients. In stead of doing the loose talks they should be concentrating on the important things they should be informing patients to ensure that the tests are done in most appropriate manner.
I discussed these things with the owner (franchise) he agreed to refund the Rs 4500 to me. However some of his staff came with some vague reasons for not being able to refund, since the payment was made on a credit card. The transaction was infact done on a debit card and not a credit card. anywhere on earth Master Card/Visa card/Amex transactions can be reversed. I myself provide the services to financial services and therefore this argument is totally incorrect and illogical and also tells upon the level of knowledge of the person
Other things that I observed in the clinic:
1. Some basic amenties like tissue papers were missing from bathrooms. On asking for the same I was asked to use my handkerchief. If you are charging handsome amounts for tests why should these facilities not be provided to the patients
2. There is a total lack of coordination between your clinic staff and the visiting doctors.
I called the owner (Mr Atul Garg) from UK and subsequently formally sent a mail to their id ([email protected]) on 31-Aug-09 and then sent reminders on 06-Sep-09 and 19-Sep-09, however the clinic management has decided to ignore my email.
The mail sent is as below:
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Re: Attention Mr Atul Garg: Complaints on the sub quality services received in Apollo Clinic DehradunSaturday, 19 September 12:34 PM
From: "Gulab Singh" View contact detailsTo: [email protected] is the second reminder for response on the complaints lodged.
Gulab
& On Sun, 6/9/09, Gulab Singh wrote:
From: Gulab Singh
Subject: Re: Attention Mr Atul Garg: Complaints on the sub quality services received in Apollo Clinic Dehradun
To: [email protected]
Date: Sunday, 6 September, 4:22 PM
Please let me know the timeframe in which I can expect a respose to this.
Gulab Singh
& On Mon, 31/8/09, Gulab Singh wrote:
From: Gulab Singh
Subject: Attention Mr Atul Garg: Complaints on the sub quality services received in Apollo Clinic Dehradun
To: [email protected]
Date: Monday, 31 August, 1:57 PM
Dear Mr Atul Garg,
Good morning. First of all I must congratulate you in bringing the services of the branded hospitals like Apollo to Dehradun people. I am an old customer of Apollo Delhi and therefore was delighted to note that the executive health check facilities are available in Dehradun.
With these expectations I decided to use the services of the Apollo clinic Dehradun against Delhi as Dehradun is my home town and I thought I will save on sometime.
Please note that I am senior executive in a company and so hard pressed for time. I was on 2 weeks break to India and therefore my foremost important thing was time. When I called your clinic I was told that the whole executive check up process will take 4-5 hours, 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening. I realised later on that the time lines provided were not correct and I was misled just to ensure that I use your services. I ended up spending whole day from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM (about 10 hours) and that too with very sub optimal services.
The timings of various tests are worked around the convenience of the hospital staff and the visiting doctors and not the patient. For example the Ultrasound should normally be scheduled in the morning and not evenings as it requires patient to be on fasting, but for some strange reasons it was scheduled at 6:00 PM in the evening. Also I was made to wait for more than one hour lying in the bed waiting for the Echo test to happen. In short I did not find the services any better than a government hospital.
The most shocking experience came when I underwent the ultra sound test and the doctor informed me that I sound have been fasting for at least six hours and asked me to come after two days on 16-Aug-09. As I mentioned earlier I was short on time and so cannot afford to come to your clinic on another day just because of the goof-ups of your clinic.
The key questions that I have is:
1. Why is ultrasound conducted in the evenings and not in the morning for the patient who starts his check-ups in the morning
2. Your staff was with me full time during the day. Why did they fail to inform me about such an important thing that for ultrasound I should have been fasting for six hours
3. During the whole day your staff were indulged in a lot of loose talks with me which I tried to ignore. Are they trained enough to manage the patients. In stead of doing the loose talks they should be concentrating on the important things they should be informing patients to ensure that the tests are done in most appropriate manner.
I discussed these things with you on 14-Aug-09 and you kindly agreed to refund the Rs 4500 to me. However some of your staff came with some vague reasons for not being able to refund. I would like to bring to your notice that the information provided by your staff was incorrect. I was short on time that day and therefore and also did not want to discuss these in front of your staff.
1. The transactions was on credit card and therefore cannot be refunded: This is totally misleading.
a) The transaction was done on a debit card and not a credit card
b) Anywhere on earth Master Card/Visa card/Amex transactions can be reversed. I myself provide the services to financial services and therefore this argument is totally incorrect and illogical and also tells upon the level of knowledge of the person
2. You offered a cash refund and your staff mentioned that you cannot release the reports: This again shows a lot of inexperience of the person and his inability to understand the whole gravity of the situations. If you cannot release the reports to me then you will need to compensate me for waste one full day of my holidays and also the intangible damages that have been done to me as I would have utilised the day in some other important things.
Please let me know how you want to take this matter further, I have spent a lot of time of this issue already and do not wish to spend more.
Other things that I observed in the clinic:
1. Some basic amenties like tissue papers were missing from bathrooms. On asking for the same I was asked to use my handkerchief. If you are charging handsome amounts for tests why should these facilities not be provided to the patients
2. There is a total lack of coordination between your clinic staff and the visiting doctors.
Thanks and Regards,
Gulab Singh
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