Apria Healthcare: A Cautionary Tale of Customer Service

 

Apria Healthcare: A Cautionary Tale of Customer Service

Apria Healthcare is a well-known provider of home healthcare equipment and services, offering a wide range of products such as respiratory therapy, home medical equipment, and home infusion therapy. With a mission to improve the quality of life for their patients at home, Apria serves millions of patients nationwide. However, recent interactions with their Accounts Receivable department have raised serious concerns about their customer service practices.

On July 15, 2024, I received an invoice from Apria Healthcare for $66.62, dated July 3, 2024, and due July 24, 2024. The very next day, I received a call from a representative in their Accounts Receivable department, who spoke with a foreign accent. The purpose of the call was to collect payment on the invoice, which was not even past due. I was incensed by the timing of this call and the approach taken by the representative.

The representative's tone and manner were highly aggressive and intimidating. He insisted that I make the payment immediately over the phone using a credit or debit card. When I asked if I could pay online, he confirmed that I could but still pressured me to pay during the call. I found this tactic to be highly unprofessional and coercive.

The representative further claimed that if I chose to send a check, it could take 3 to 4 weeks to reach their office, a statement I found absurd given that standard postal service delivery times are typically much shorter. When I challenged this claim, he backtracked, saying that the delay was due to both mailing and processing times. I argued that processing a payment should not take more than one day, and if it did, that was not my problem.

Despite my clear intention to pay the invoice by the due date, the representative continued to demand specifics about how and when I would make the payment, insisting on noting this information in my file. His persistence felt like bullying and harassment, and I was deeply frustrated by his refusal to end the call without obtaining this information.

My experience with Apria Healthcare's Accounts Receivable department has been extremely negative. The representative intimidated, threatened, and pressured me into making an immediate payment on an invoice that wasn't yet due. This aggressive approach is unacceptable and has completely eroded my trust in the company.

As a result of this encounter, I have decided not to do business with Apria Healthcare in the future. I strongly advise others to consider this experience before working with Apria Healthcare. If this is how they treat their customers over a simple invoice, it raises serious concerns about their overall customer service practices.

Update
I paid Apria Healthcare online one day after I received their phone call demanding payment. Five days later, after I had already paid, another foreign individual from Apria called me, wanting payment. I let them speak; they demanded payment. After they spoke, I indicated that I had already made the payment. They then ended the call, but before they did, they said if I received another call from Apria, they would just not answer the call, meaning I could continue to receive calls from their collection department even though I had already paid. This abusive, bullying, and threatening collection department must be stopped. The abuse they give people with sleep apnea is unwarranted.