10 missed calls from private health company

Because you’ve paid you think you can make your own rules
they obviously ether need some info or something confirmed without that they can’t go ahead with the scan as I you’d turn up and they couldn’t do it

I believe the NHS send people for private MRIs to keep on top of waiting lists; if wasting the resource of a staffed MRI scanner is not fair on the NHS, it's not fair with a private one either. It's good for everyone to ensure that each scanner is used optimally.

I realise that you're not proposing not turning up, but perhaps if everyone takes the attitude that it's not harming anyone to miss a private appointment, they're ending up with a lot of missed appointments and wasted resource, hence trying to check who is coming.

You seem to have really dug your heels in about not answering the phone and not confirming your appointment, It all just seems a bit daft. Pick up, confirm, then go back to ignoring unknown numbers. They clearly don’t want you to waste your appointment money if you’ve mixed up the time etc. You’ve made it worse by never being available!

No-someone else could have had that slot, and potentially saved their life.
These days, private isn't just about rich people wanting a private room. It's desperate people spending money they don't have to try to save their lives. Even private has a backlog, so IF you don't want the appointment, they can give it to someone desperately waiting.
And yes, sometimes it might be because they get fees from you both, but that's not the important thing.

That stat is disingenuous though. They include in that the telephone appointments. They don't give people a time when they will call - they just call randomly so you may be driving, sorting out dinner or in a work meeting and can't answer. That isn't missing an appointment.

I suspect actual missed face to face appointments are near zero these days as they only usually make them on the day.

That's a helpful comment.

Are you really serious?

Oh I always have to answer the phone or door, even if it's pointless and really inconvenient, because if I don't, someone will accuse me of having a brain problem.

I think this wins MN for the most stupid post I have ever seen, and in the years I've been on here, there have been a few.

No need to swear.

All they needed to do was send a reminder text like my dentist and hairdressers do.

OP have you considered that your behaviour (aggression, defiance, distrust) might be a symptom of something serious? Brain cancer, schizophrenia and dementia can all cause these symptoms especially if it wasn’t something you struggled with before. I say this because adults should be able to answer a phone call even if they feel it’s a waste of their time.

I've had one of these recently.

The message was very wordy with no actual question i.e Do you still require an appointment? With yes, no, maybe boxes at the end.

If I'd clicked on yes they may have taken that to mean yes I no longer need the appointment and then be taken off the waitlist!

You don't deal with the general public much do you.

🙄

The only person behaving like a child is the one who refuses to answer the phone because reasons and then complains that they have 10 missed calls.

Companies do courtesy calls because they reduce the number of no-shows, the no-shows that impact everyone else trying to access that service including you.

So just grow up, eh.

God you sound awful op

The NHS try to trick you out of your appointment - and therefore off the waiting list - by sending messages - some direct to your phone, others in the app - to get you to reconsider whether you really need the appointment. The way the questions are worded means they're designed to cause some confusion and if you don't respond you're off the list. I don't know how some disabled people manage with this system.

It is good business sense. It's called a courtesy call. It demonstrates looking after the customer. Children forget, adults forget. People don't hit an age threshold where they don't forget anything.

Even if I have peeps coming for dinner, I check with them the day before.

Again though, that's not the point.

There are financial implications for missed appointments for the NHS, and besides which, that's not the point.

If you miss an appointment, even if you have paid for it, that's someone else not getting that slot.

It's ironic that you are whinging about being treated like an adult, really, when you are acting like a child about reminders for appointments when there are very good reasons as to why companies do it. It's not for fun, running through a big list of people to phone (10 times, in your case) takes time and money.

And yet people miss appointments all the time, either because they forget or they change their minds or whatever, and don't feel the need to inform the provider. So it doesn't pay for the provider to assume everyone is just going to turn up.

Do you find it hard to get a GP's appointment? I do, and that is partly because according to the GP's own records, about 20% of appointments are wasted because of no shows.

The inability for people to take the easy path to deal with things is ludicrous.

All op needed to do was answer the phone and then she wouldn't have had 10 missed calls.

It's really not fucking hard.