LifeWatch USA / MedGuard Alert
Reviews and Complaints

I have 100% covered insurance. My doctor a cardiologist sent me a Lifewatch holter monitor in the mail and I was to wear it for 30 days. I started using it mid July and used it for only about 5 days before I realized it was an annoying piece of junk that made it hard to sleep. There was no contract. I did not ask for this machine. I did not sign anything. No one from the company gave me any indication of the time frame that I was to have the machine.
I had five different atrial flutter events, and they only called me the first time. I called them several times and every time I called them they asked for my current phone number and address to verify my account. Not one time did any of these people tell me that they had the wrong address nor did they attempt to change it . They still had my old address and old phone number from 2014.
I had it for 45 days. I decided to return the monitor on August 28th via UPS. The company received it on September 4th and I have the tracking number and delivery confirmation.
However even though I only had the machine for a month and a half until Aug 28th... ONLY 4 DAYS AFTER SENDING DEVICE THEY WERE SENDING ME INTO COLLECTIONS.!
On September 3rd 2019 I got a letter from a FAKE collectors collections company called Biehl and Biehl, Inc. This fake collection company was asking me to send them a check for $2, 000.!?!
This fake collection department does not answer their phone ever. If you leave a message they do not call back.
Lifewatch a biotel company did not send me any notice for collection of payment, they did not try to contact me via phone or email and they had all of that information.
I have literally spent two weeks of my life almost daily trying to contact anyone in this company to help me resolve this. No one will help me.
2 weeks ago I talked to customer service and they said that they could see that the machine was returned to them. They said it had already been sent out again to a hospital. I asked if they could send me a letter to confirm that and that never got anywhere. They kept passing me from one department to the next. When you call, it says press 2 for billing, but
that is not really billing. Those people give you another number and tell you to call it and that number you must wait for an hour before somebody answers. When they answer they can't help at all. They tell you to call customer service again. I tell them I talked to customer service probably 24 x. They tell me to call them again. I did and questioned them over and over about how to resolve this. No one will help.
I asked to have a supervisor call me several times. A supervisor has never called me.
After two weeks of trying when I really started asking customer service why they could not help me someone finally decided to mention that I needed to talk to device retrieval department.!
I called device retrieval department and they tell me that they cannot see whether the device has been retrieved. BRILLIANT!
I asked them why. They said because the device retrieval department does not have information on whether the device has been retrieved.
They told me to call customer service again. They said they needed the serial number and somehow I was supposed to find that for them. I called customer service again. I asked them if they could give me the serial number from the device. They said they had no record that it was ever returned. I told them that is incorrect. 2 weeks ago the customerservice department had already verified that the device was returned on September 4th. I told them I had the tracking. By now they were just screwing with me... There were two weeks of incredibly frustrating notes that I'm sure they were reading about me and at this point no one wanted to help me.
Today I called their parent company Biotel in PA... And even though their company is the only real website for Lifewatch, and even though lifewatch is a part of biotel, biotel refuses to help at all, saying that they don't even have my information. That man transferred me over to a troubleshooter back at lifewatch who said she was going to get a supervisor for me. In the meantime she started asking me questions. After 45 minutes of waiting for a supervisor she told me that there were no supervisors available and that she would have one call me back, just like I was told several other times...To no avail.
For a company that I have not signed a contract with, who never told me a time limit to have the machine, to then try to penalize me for having the machine for a month-and-a-half, never send any kind of bill to request payment, never check with my insurance company or my doctor to confirm that this was 100% paid by my insurance, only to immediately send it to a fake creditor to try to SCAM $2000 OFF me... Is despicable.
But the fact that I got nowhere
after trying to clear up the issue for 2 weeks is utterly absurd. This fraudulent company who Claims to care and help your heart hasalmost given me a damn heartbattack with stress.
They are undoubtedly perpetrating this scam on elderly patients who have heart disease and sometimes dementia and absolutely no way to fight against this very sophisticated network of fraudulent scammers. I am only 50 years old and I am very intelligent and I could not get them to help me one inch.

THIS COMPANY NEEDS TO BE OUT OUT OF BUSINESS

My Mom, Shirley Hoeh ordered this service. I am unable access her account beyond the end of March and can see this service was billed for month as far back as March. My Mom passed 7/4/18 and my brother and I have taken over POA for my Dad who is severely debilitated and currently in a LTC facility. My Mom's cognitive status was impaired; she was developing paranoia and confusion. MedGuard Alert was the first of three emergency services she ordered. It was never hooked up as far as we can determine because I believe she didn't understand how to. We can only find the pendent this company stated they sent but not the base. I called the company 7/16/18, explained my Mom had passed and I could not even find the equipment. I asked the company to discontinue charging her account. They stated they could not because she was locked into a 2 year contract. I again explained that the service was no longer needed for my parents because my Mom died and Dad was in a LTC facility and again asked for the service to be discontinued. They again stated no and they asked that the equipment be returned as they could use if for another customer. I again explained I had doubts if the service was even hooked up or used as I could not find the equipment of even a box it was shipped in (my Mom kept every and all boxes, I found the boxes and equipment for the other two alert systems she ordered). I told them I would continue to search for the equipment and again asked for the charges to be stopped. They again stated they could not stop charges and explained what the equipment looked like. I have since found only the pendent, not the base. I called again on 7/18/18, asking to be sent a web site to identify the equipment. They did email the site which seemed to have a virus. I also again asked for the charges to be stopped and they refused. 7/18/18 I went to the bank and ordered to have charges stopped for this company. It appears the company pushed yet another charge through before I could do so. My parents account is being charged two separate charges in the amount of 29.95, which comes out on the 13th of the month and 34.95 which comes out on the 18th-20th of the month for a service which has not ever been used. I have researched this company to find an address and am horrified to find it is not backed by the BBB and has many similar complaints posted about them. Today, 7/22/18, I am writting the company as I now have their address and asking in writting for a full refund of all charges made to my parents account. I have been put on alert by her bank to watch this account as they may try to push the charges through in a different manner. I have no client or account # as I can not find even all the equipment or paperwork or the said 2 year contract she supposedly signed. I am requested this company be ordered to repay all charges billed to her account and the account closed. Thank you for your time and assistance in this matter. If you have any questions or need further information, please e-mail me, my e-mail address is: [protected]@live.com. My name is Donna Winks and my home phone is [protected].

In 2013 Medical Alert Systems / LifeWatch / Home Health Alerts (the Company operates under all three names) contacted my parents and convinced them to purchase a alert system that they didn't need (they already had one). They claimed to have shipped the system, but my parents never received it. After two months, my parents sent a letter stating that they had never received the alert system for which they were being billed and did not want the service. The letter was ignored. They were continually billed for a service that they could not use nor needed. Six months later they were billed again AND signed up for a second system when they complained.

In repeated conversations with customer service they have provided confusing information and refused to cancel the service unless my parents returned the system that they never received. After talking to 6 different representatives & supervisors who essentially said they were going to do nothing, I did find one who would cancel the repeat service but refused to be of any further service about canceling the other service. I was forced to begin working with the credit card company, reporting the charges as fraudulent. They claimed to have recordings of the calls on which my father agreed to these services. But when I asked them to play them, they said they were unable to, "they are for internal use only." Why if you have such concrete "proof" of a sale would you refuse to play it? Could it be because it would also show the sales tactics of this company? Or is it because there simply are not tapes.

Be very wary of this company. They take full advantage of their senior customer's tendency for memory problems. They coerce them into making rash decisions and then bill under various company names to further confuse and hide their tactics. As a result they are able to receive funds for services they never provided, double bill with impunity, and then simply refuse to be helpful when you try to correct it.

Of course this complaint is with the billing integrity of the company. I can not speak to the actual alarm service that the company provides, because my parents never received the system to use, nor did they need it. Perhaps they are very good on that side of the company, but do you want to trust a company with deceptive billing practices with the care of your parents?

Last night ( december 4, 2012) around 8 p.m., my mother received a phone call from lifewatch-usa. They were selling medic alert buttons (like lifealert) . The rude and pushy sales lady led my mom to believe that she could have a medic alert device for $35. My mom is a heart patient. She has coronary heart disease, only 15% of lung function with COPD. She is medicated all day and night to keep her going. These medications take a serious toll on you physically and mentally, especially after 21 years. Clearly she was out of it during the phone call, and the rude and pushy sales lady didn't seem to think anything wrong with this ( is assume). So the rude and pushy sales lady very early in the call asked my mom for her debit/credit card info. My mom was coherent enough to say no and ask how else she could do it safely. The rude and pushy sales lady told my mom that she could send them a check and that would start it off. Then she asked my mom for her routing and account number, after she said that she could mail them a check. After the rude and pushy sales lady slyly took down my moms acct information, she then told my mom about a deposit and then tried to tell my mom she would have to have a dsl installed( look at other reviews, that is rare for them to even mention that) also that the service was actually $35/month, which upset my mother because she was led to believe one thing and it was clearly another after she had given them her acct info. My mother is old, and old fashioned. She told the rude and pushy sales lady that she "didn't understand technology and didn't want nothing to do with dsl, internet or nothing like that". But instead of trying to convince my mom that she needed the dsl for the device to work, the rude and pushy sales lady tried to get my mom to commit to the service, even though my mom clearly was confused and frustrated. Hmmm by the way, that is odd that you would send them a check and give them your check info over the phone. Actually that sounds like bull and CLEARLY is a terrible way to access an elderly womans bank account. I (thank god) showed up to visit shortly after the call and my mother was able to tell me the story. I told her to freeze and change her acct because she clearly had been tricked into giving her checking account # well before hardly any of the details came out. I then went home and reseached lifealert-usa reviews and was blown away by the number of similar stories of rudeness and mismanagement. Tons of stories from ex-customers that had horrible experiences with the devices and so many poor customer service complaints and ex-employees with similar poor management and customer satisfaction concerns. My mom the next day finally got ahold of lifewatch-usa on an 800# so she could tell them she was upset and told them not to touch her acct. The rude and pushy customer service lady that my mom spoke with still tried to convince my mom to buy. My mom was coherent enough to stick to her guns and refuse. The rude and pushy customer service lady then said " Fine, be that way" and hung up on my mom. ###! I wish i could meet one of these people in a dark alley :) I wish there were a way to stop people from doing this to other people, how can you, for money, dupe and rob people, especially the elderly. This may not be a big deal to some, but it's my mother and she is on a fixed income. Spend's all her extra money feeding stray cats, she doesn't need to lose what little money she had to scam artists posing as business. Just look up their other reviews and you will see the truth, no matter what they rebut this with.

In mid. Dec 2008, I signed up my elderly mother for LifeWatch USA, after checking them out online and talking to them multiple times on the phone. The customer service has been very disappointing!

1) I was never told in multiple calls that I would need a DSL filter (she has cable TV and internet); When I finally was told about this DSL filter right when I ordered, I had to actually delay my return home to drive into town (far) where my mom lives to buy the DSL filter

from Radio Shack (good thing she had a Radio Shack in town!)

2) The equipment arrived 3 days later than I was told it would.

3) Upon receipt of the box, there was an equipment-return fee that had NEVER been mentioned in phone conversations or on website;

4) There was a photo-copied HAND-DRAWN sketch of how to hook up the unit, and NO mention or instructions on how to use the supposedly required DSL filter;

5) Different places on the website gave different promises of how far the unit "reached" in capability, and how long the battery back up would last. The girl I was talking with said they hadn't updated the website yet.

6) When I called someone about all this when my mom had finally received the unit, the first 2 people I talked to had no answers for me about these issues. I was assured the "supervisor would call me back on Monday." No one ever called. Then came multiple health

crises for 2 sets of parents and the holidays, and I set these concerns aside.

7) I phoned there again recently when my mom was in hospital very ill; I wanted to notify them; customer service ends at 5 PM! I left my name and number, and no one called back.

8) On Wednesday (Jan. 14), I called again. Pam the customer service rep was very dismissive of my questions and

suggestions, saying they were "petty"; she constantly interrupted me, was obviously eating during the call, and made little attempt to respond to my complaints. She did apologize for no one calling me back.

She said the bottom line is that my mom has the emergency system 24/7. I said that there are many companies that can do this, but what would make a company stand out is the quality of their customer service, and as far as I was concerned, they were batting zero with me right now. She said, "Other companies have a very high rate of complaints, and we charge less. Happy New year."... and rang off.

So then I posted an email about all this directly on their website, and have never heard back from any company rep.

Here is the company's defensive response, and what I replied to them:

"by Lifewatch Management:

So what is the complaint? Are you still a customer? Did you ever ask to speak to Pams boss? You only need DSL with DSL on telephone. Maybe you didn't explain clearly what kind of phone you have. They also offer to mail one for free if you really needed it. The customer service is opened to 6pm but arrangements can be made for a call at anytime. They use UPS ground for free. If you needed it on specific day I am sure for a fee they would have guaranteed it.

The range of button is 1500feet and a five day battery back up clearly stated.

The photo copied instrction sheet is designed to be simple. They could do a complicated book with fancy print and raise the price. Is that necessary? I think simple is always better.

The first two people who answered were live receptionist and not a voice mail. You have to ask for the right person to speak to when you call a company. The first people that answer are usually not the problem solvers. much better than voicemail.

Why would Pam be eating on the phone? Maybe it was just your opinion.

Also what Pam said is true. There is only so much a company can do in respect to internet customer service. I feel lifewatch is trying really hard and is doing a great Job considering they have been in business for 28 years and this is the first complaint.

Check competitors and compare."

*

What is my complaint? I have stated my complaints clearly, but will try again for your sake and for that of the readers, and answer your responses one by one.

1) I repeatedly told LifeWatch what sort of computer and phone system we had, and was told I absolutely needed the DSL filter, despite having cable TV and phone. I am an experienced technology user, and the fiasco over this DSL filter was not a lack on my part.

2) There was NEVER any offer of sending a free one.

3) Customer Service might state they are open until 6 PM, but on Fridays, it's only 4 PM, and one never receives a call back when a number is left. This has happened now to me 4x. All I ever get is voice mail.

4) The range and battery back up were stated differently on different pages of the website. The rep with whom I was speaking acknowledged this, but said they had not updated the website yet. So your answer ignores the data I supplied. As of today, (almost 5 months later), your website STILL has contradictory information on separate pages.

5) The HAND-DRAWN clumsy instruction sheet DID NOT INCLUDE anything about the supposedly required DSL filter.

6) If the person I am talking with is a receptionist, it is incumbent upon HER to switch me to the right person; I, the customer, do not know who to ask for. I state my need, and she should get me the correct person to answer that need.

7) Pam was indeed eating or drinking while on the phone with me. Come now; don't be puerile. Do you think this is not possible?

8) Your many month's delayed answer online, with NO answer directly to me, even though I have emailed and called repeatedly and left my number, is indicative of your customer "service."

9) You do not leave a name nor number by which I could contact you.

Today, April 21, 2009 at 11:30 AM CST, I phoned AGAIN to LifeWatch with a need, and neither the Customer Service nor the Operator were available, which is typical of anytime I call in. They did call back within an hour, but could not take my information update over the phone. She told me to NOT use the online email form: she gave me a separate email address. So I had to call, leave a message, get called back, and then email in the information.

Am I still a customer? Yes — Because my mom and gram have been in constant medical crises for the past 6 months, I have not yet changed companies. Next time I am at my mom's, it is likely that I will change."

In June 2009, here is what the CEO said:

"Lifewatch has answered this complaint.

We have been helping senior citizens for over 29 years. We are referred by many hospitals and healthcare orgs.

The complaint above is not related to our job of saving lives when seniors press their button, which is our main priority.

As far as customer service the CEO, Evan Sirlin can be reached directly at evan AT lifewatch.net. His policy is the customer is always right and customer satisfaction is number one.

From: Message Author

Date: Tuesday, 16-Jun-09 22:58:40 CDT"

My response to that:

The CEO has not apologized for the extremely poor customer service. Before complaints.com removed them, there were other postings that indicated the same sort of complaints about this company. My original complaint was titled"Poor customer service" — and that has NOT been addressed.

June, 2010: Here is what the CEO says now:

"Complaints board did ask us to contact you and see if you still have a complaint? if you still are a client etc..

We have improved in all areas you mentioned a year ago. We apologize and have learned alot of lessons. Look at all the comments that came after your complaint. We continue to grow and improve our customer service. Evan AT lifewatch.net"

*

My reply: I am not a customer anymore because my mom passed away. The website is updated now, as of 2010. Altho this happened some while ago, I would encourage others to use caution when dealing with this company. I myself would be very hesitant to use them again.