Lincare Holdings
reviews and complaints

I was hired as a "health care specialist" on a "contract" basis. So far, I have had little training and was sent out twice now to teach people how to use a product that I had poor training on. I took an oath as a nurse NOT to do any harm and have always taken good care of all of my patients. If I asked any questions about the products I was expected to handle, my supervisor said "I don't know, you are the specialist." She has so far belittled my medical knowledge, used my license to excuse a set up that was done by unqualified personnel, and is generally arrogant and high handed. I truly do not know how she keeps any employees. She has also held my pay invoices for two weeks or more and then told me I did them wrong. I am very disappointed as I was excited to work for these people and now I would not recommend them to anyone, either as a customer or an employee.

I don't know how this company stays in business without any customer care. I am on a deadline to receive my BiPap machine before wintering in Florida for 6 months. I just want to check on the progress of my machine getting approved by Medicare. No one has returned my phone calls.

My husband took his c pap machine in today for the simple fact that it wasnt working right. It has a humidifier on it. They had him leave it there. They never bothered to have him put it on with the water in the machine to see what it was doing. Went back and picked it up and hooked it up at home and it is just exactly like it was when he took that there. Pretty sad. You have a c pap machine for a reason. Its not saying much for your company. Way to go Lincare playing with his life.

Have Lincare for O2 in home. Over 2 weeks ago MD determined that I needed O2 24 hrs/day. Contacted Lincare to order a portable O2 compressor for outdoor use. Since then have not had any response from them in spite of numerous phone calls MD office contacted them again last Thurs. and still no response from Lincare. Keep telling me they have to have someone come up to the apartment to checkf O2 stats without O2 but fail to schedule anybody. In the meantime, I am housebound, especially in this very humid, rainy weather. Am looking for an alternative respiratory supplier. They seem to have a monopoly on business here in No. VA, and cannot understand why..

This company was supposed to deliver oxygen refills for my bosses mom two weeks ago. when she called them last week, they told her that they forgot to put her on the list. They said they would deliver this week (on Tues) but she needed to call and remind them on Monday. She called yesterday and was told that they would be delivering today before 7 pm. Still no oxygen. She does have a concentrator that she lugs around. but the woman is in her 70's. This is unacceptable. She will be changing companies tomorrow.

I have been out of the hospital for a week after suffering a heart attack and being in a coma for most of the month of June. A CPAP machine was ordered for my home along with an oxygen concentrator. The machines were delivered, but no mask! i have made numerous calls. and was finally told that a mask would be delivered between 4 and 5 pm today. It is now 6:44pm. their office is closed. and I was told maybe call back Monday. I am so very upset about this, as I have had interrupted sleep since arriving home 7 days ago. It has now been a full week since these people were assigned to my case. What a farce! Lincare office in New London Ct is very poor when it comes to customer care. How do these people keep their jobs? Now it is Friday evening and they, unlike me, can sleep over the weekend.

Lincare delivered a used oxygen concentrator that hadn't been serviced in a year{ the filter] should have been washed weekly. The hoses and canulas, as I discovered at njh, the number 1 pulmonary hospital in the nation, should have been replaced every 3 weeks. The 30 foot hose from the concentrator to the bed hadn't been replaced in 4 months, until I called lincare realizing since i'd been getting sicker and sicker with a sinus and lung infection, that there must be bacteria and fungus growing in the hose. Indeed my sinuses and lungs were cultured and infected with a virulent bacteria. Stay away from this company and be aware of the things i've pointed out if you have another company!

Delivery was prompt and set up went fine but delivery driver tried to get me to pay him a $35 'fee' that he couldn't explain what it was for. When i questioned him about it, he said never mind and set up the needed equipment and left. Kudos for his being here on a weekend but bad business to try getting paid over his normal fee / rate that the company pays him for. Delivery is his job, and his pay comes from medicare paying for the equipment 'prescribed'.
Also, pick up is nearly impossible. Called this morning. . . Bed and wheelchair no longer needed as mom is at a care facility as of yesterday. When i called them yesterday for pick up, they said the soonest 'might be tues' but i would have to call in the morning to confirm that. Called this morning. . . They said this area is serviced for pick up only on thursday but they 'might be able to get someone here sooner'. Driver (Not same one as was for delivery) came at 4pm. . . Said his truck was full and he had to unload, would be back. He called me 5 minutes later to say he would be back later tonite, with no specific time or even a near time. (In the 5 minutes he was here, he mentioned he had only been employed a week. Oh this explains a lot) at 7pm i called the cell phone the driver / kid had called me from. . . No voice mail had been set up. Called office. . . No one there knows what kid came out and they doubt a pick up can be done today but would take my number for a call back. They weren't even sure if the call back would be tonite or tomorrow and no one of the 3 girls i spoke with on phone could tell me if equipment would be picked up tonite or not. Funny how when medicare is paying the bill, theres no rush to pick things up. I will be calling medicare in the morning to alert them to this little scam for extra pay. This is out and out fraud to the government. Also, i will not be responsible for paying any extra days lincare bills either to me or medicare. This is wholly on lincare. Not a reliable place apparently. Certainly not trained in customer service in the least.

Terrible customer service! Rude service providers!
For a company that deals with cpap machines in volume, why on earth would they not have any units on hand to fulfill patient rx?
This office is extremely unorganized with handling paperwork, and thinks nothing of being i. Nappropriately rude to the customer.
My physician sent an order for a replacement cpap unit on the 6th of this month. It is now the 23rd. They misplaced the order and chose to lie to me; telling me the doctor had not sent the request. When checking with the dr., it was confirmed and proven the order was completed on the 6th.
I have been waiting nearly three weeks for a replacement machine — or for someone to even contact me from the lincare office.. The communication skills in this office are atrocious. Contacting the evansville facility several times, there appears to be a pattern of behavior: ineptness. Their repetitive excuse is they have no paperwork, nor do they have any machines on-hand, others are waiting for a machine; they will get theirs first.
Finally, today (The 23rd), it was acknowledged they have the prescription (And have had it for over 20 days...) I let them know I did not appreciate the unnecessary delay due to their disorganization.
When I asked why I could not be added to the list in an earlier que because of the original rx order date (Remember, they lost the rx within their own office), I was asked "why do you think you should get one before anyone else?" what!?!?
I am now at the bottom of their wait list due to their terrible organization, buck-passing, rude service providers.
Lincare: please provide your employees with *profession development* on the art of customer care, communication, and organization.

Workers never bothered to call me back twice after saying they would. Kept insisting they had faxed a release which the other company said they never got. I had a relative fax the other company and they received it right away. It was obviously never faxed from Lincare. There now has been a five day delay for my 88 year old mother in receiving her oxygen. If I owned this company, two of the office personnel would be looking for new jobs. The girl who answers the phone and "Joanna."

I had a nebulizer delivered to my home for respiratory care after contacting an illness. The medication was supposed to arrive the next day. Two days later, still no medicine. I contacted the company and was told the office is closed until next Monday, so that means at least four more days without the medication. Why would this business be closed on a business day (Friday)? I asked the answering service that if there was a way to get the medicine to me quicker but she apologized and said I would have to wait until their office is open for business on Monday. I've only been doing business with this company since Wednesday and already I've lost confidence in them. My advice, if you need respiratory care, ask your primary care facility to go to another source if possible.

1) I was hired by the “Area Manager” Shannon McDaniel, who advised me that the “Health Care Specialist” Shelly Saltink would be training me (as she was the only other Health Care Specialist working for this particular location). I am a Registered Respiratory Therapist. Shelly is a Certified Respiratory Therapist. This is only relevant because Shelly made it clear from the day I was hired that this “didn’t matter” and refused to train me. She repeatedly stated that I was a respiratory therapist and “should be able to figure everything out”. As a result I was forced to “guess” when it came to patient care and company protocols. As I am sure you are well aware, this is incredibly irresponsible and potentially harmful to patients and the company. Shelly was extremely hostile toward me. Her hostility spread to other employees throughout the office. I was warned of this hostility by an employee (who was quitting after two years of excellent service as a sales representative) on my second day.
2) Shelly then gave me an itinerary of patients to visit on a daily basis who did not require respiratory care. I traveled an average of 1 hour per client. When I would leave a patients home humiliated, I would then call the office and ask for Shelly, who would then tell me to “just go to the next patient’s home”. None of the patients needed care (i.e. they had already been visited the previous day). There was no explanation when I confronted Shelly about these issues. I am sure you can understand what a waste of company time and money it was to repeatedly send me on these fabricated patient calls. A seasoned driver stood up for me and told Shelly that it was wrong to put those miles on an RT’s car, especially for work that the drivers had already accomplished. None of these "made up patient calls" were respiratory related! Shelly went on to give me a book of codes for masks that were incorrect, blamed me for delivery tickets that were completed incorrectly by another employee, and continued to say hateful things about me to other employees when I was around the corner from her. The North Kansas City branch is unethical, irrepesponsible, hostile, and verbally abusive toward patients and thier families on a daily basis.
3) I brought my concerns about my lack of training and being sent to patients who did not need our services to Shannon McDaniel, the Area Manager. Her reply was: “Shelly is dry, you just have to get used to her personality”. Shannon assumed zero accountability nor did she attempt to rectify any of these situations.
4) Another respiratory therapist (a CRT) named Shaun Bentley was hired one week after I was hired, and received the professional respect and courtesy any employee deserves. Shelly answered his questions. He approached me more than once for guidance and I gladly answered his questions (as I had trained myself).
5) In the state of Missouri the Labor Law states that an employee must be paid their entire wage in the event of termination, on the day they are terminated. I still have not received mileage reimbursement, and it has now been 12 days.
6) Lastly, and most importantly, Shelly Saltink and another customer service representative named Sherri McCallon are verbally abusive toward patients and their families. Both of these employees use profane language throughout the day every day in reference to Lincare patients, their families, their contact at Kansas University Medical Department and myself.
I was terminated by Shannon McDaniel on March 10, 2015. Her reasons were unclear. She made statements such as: “It just seems like you don’t get it” and “you were rude to another employee”. She refused to elaborate or give examples of these claims.

My name is Raul E. Moreno. Last May, while in the Military stationed at Ft. Drum, NY, I contracted Pneumonia and I was taken to Samaritan hospital. A Nebulizer was deliver to me at the hospital by Lincare. The person NEVER told me that it was a RENTAL. I was Medically retired last October and I move to South Carolina and of course, I brought the equipment with me. Now, last week, I received a bill for $10.58 (costumer ID: 805-5762, invoice date: 01/05/2015, invoice number: BB4CQFLH). I talked to Debby at [protected] ext. 258 last week. I explained to her what happened. She told me she will find a Lincare here in SC where I can return the Nebulizer and she will see what can be done with the bill. Today I called her again. She gave me the Watertown phone number which I called. The person who answered told me that there is a Lincare office in West Columbia, but they might not take the equipment because several month have passed. Tricare will not pay $10.58 because I am not covered with them. NO ONE told me it was a rental. I could have returned it before I left Ft. Drum, but how could I knew?. Billing office told me I have to pay that money and the rest because I have the equipment. When I got it I WAS SICK with Pneumonia!. You should bill the person who deliver it to me. He didn’t tell me was rented! I am a responsible person. I don’t need that equipment for now, and if for some reason I will, it will be given to me by VA. I will do what is necessary not to pay that because it is not fair.
You can contact me at [protected]. My e-mail is: [protected]@msn.com . I am no longer in the Army. I was medically retired. The last thing I need are problems like this. Thanks for your attention. Hoping to hear from you soon.

Raul E. Moreno

Family member left rehab with a feeding tube unable to take anything by mouth. Lincare was supposed to deliver two cases of Jevity supplement and a hospital bed. Neither arrived for five days and several phone calls from me, the rehab social worker and a speech therapist after he came home. Fortunately the rehab supplied us with Jevity when I told them we were still waiting although it wasn't their responsibility.

Eventually he began to run out and the process of endless phone calls and confusion began again. For three days I went in circles with them at 3 or 4 different numbers (they just kept telling me to call rep A who would say to call rep B, who would say to call rep C, then refer me back to A) . Finally on day three I learned they hadn't even contacted his insurance yet. At that point I had to give up and begin looking for suppliers to buy it out of pocket as he was nearly out and this is his only source of nutrition (which I stressed to Lincare again and again but it apparently it didn't mean anything to them).

After another long series of phone calls I found someone to buy it from. I also found another company called Medline who were able to set him up in a matter of minutes and one phone call. They say they will be able to get in touch with insurance and deliver several cases in two days. We'll see what happens but I certainly found their customer service to be 100% more efficient and professional. I encourage you to drop Lincare as soon as possible if you value your physical and mental health. Medline 1-800-MEDLINE [protected])