I have no problems revealing my name. I recently went to order some CPAP equipment. Lincare was one of the names provided by my doctor. The woman I spoke to got all my past information, as far back as my original sleep study to the one I had the latter part of 2010. She asked all about my equipment. I even explained to her that the reason I was not going to get the quipment from the prior company was because they were giving me the tubing that was stiff like an elephant hose. She even said to me, that's because they get the cheapest stuff.

However, the next morning, she calls and leaves a message on my recording. First of all, you should not leave personal medical information on someone's recording because of the HIPAA Law. Second, don't be a coward. Talk to the person. So I had no problem in calling her back to ask her to clarify herself.

She said, and I quote, I had to get my CPAP equipment from the original place I ordered it from, which has been the once company until recently, for the following reason: Uh, the equipment you have is still owned by Medicare and so therefore you have to order all of your stuff from the first place, sorry. I also wanted to get a folding walker too.

I told her I was going to call Medicare because I didn't believe that to be true. Then I said, wow, wait a minute, when I initially got the CPAP Machine, I had medicaid. I know the policy of Medicare and Medicaid, that you must use this for a complete 13 months. They come check the equipment to make sure you have been using it. A lot of people do not. If you have been doing as prescribed, you then own it. If not, you must return it. So when I originally received it was in 2008 and I had Medicaid, not Medicare. The gentleman from Medicare said you've only had Medicare since April of 2010 and have only received CPAP supplies once while having Medicare. He also explained to me their rules, just as I know it to be.

So this woman out and out lied to me. I'm not sure exactly why, so I called back and spoke to a woman in the respitory department. She said she would check into it. No return call. I called back again and got the lady on the phone who I originally spoke to. She was dumbfounded that a patient/customer could actually be so smart as to know what was what and was speechless. I told her I was going to be going else where anyway and to make sure she ripped up my personal medical information.

I'm writing this complaint because she out and out lied to me. I don't think you should deal with a company that lies. I even said, hey, I'm an adult, just say the reason the real reason why. So because of their cowardness and what I feel is a corrupt way of handling business by lying, I would recommend not doing business with them and will tell everyone I know not to. It's just plain wrong to lie to people when you're doing business. Everybody you deal with is without a brain. I am one of those people I was not born under a ROCK or BORN YESTERDAY.

I have not hidden my name because I have nothing to hide. I live in Michigan. That is my story and can prove it.

This company consistently practices bad business and employee harassment. They refuse to provide you with the staff necessary and then hold you accountable to produce the same "numbers" as a Center with full staff... they interrogate you constantly and put words in your mouth. They hire bullies and back-stabbers as Area Managers so the RM can hide behind them. They totally discriminate against age and sex. They won't approve orders, yet expect patients to be set-up right away. They are the worst company I have ever had the dis-pleasure to work for. They should be shut down! The upper-management is the Medical Mafia - The patient is NOT their main concern...only $ and numbers. They could give a crap about the employees too. They truly are the poster child for Bad Business.

Lincare representative insisted c-pap had no out of pocket expenses, and deductible was being waived. about six months later, i began receiving bills, then phone calls. when i talked to corporate customer service, and told them of the local conversations about deductible waivers, no out of pocket expenses, etc. and that i was not paying the bills, felt like i had intentionally been deceived regarding cost and that they were to come and get the machine, i was told that they would immediately stop billing and send someone out to get machine. i told them i was calling my insurance company (bcbs) and telling them not to pay another dime, and to get the machine. Didn't hear anything for a few months, and then billing and calls continued, and still, no one came to get the machine. Then six months later, the bill jumped from $311 to over $800. They HAD stopped billing the insurance company, but continued to bill me (but now, instead of 20%, the full 100% even though I had insurance coverage). I guess they didn't want BCBS to find out about their deceptive and fraudulent practices so they just stopped billing them. These people should be ashamed. They will tell you whatever you want to hear, just to leave their equipment with you. Then, they lay low for a while, let the expenses accumulate, and then start hitting you with bills. It's such a shame and I hate that they are praying on the sick and elderly. I'm filing with the BBB (of which they aren't members, of course), and intend to notify the Attorney General and Consumer Affairs. Be very wary. It's not uncommon for medical supply company's to assume deductibles of durable equipment (I have a friend who sells expensive custom wheel chairs $40, 000+), but this company appears to have a disconnect with what their representatives are doing and the insurance company and their billing department. I told them almost a year ago to get this unit out of my house and it's still here and they are still billing me for it. Be very careful of this company!

I got my CPAP from the Lincare on Front Street in Tyler, TX.

A gentleman brought the CPAP machine out to my house and showed me how to use it. He had 2 sizes of a face mask. He put the one he thought would fit on and turned on the machine. Even though the machine was only set to the lower pressure ramp setting the mask could not be adjusted to stop a loud vibrating leak. He tried the second mask on me, same thing. He said those were the only two masks authorized by my Doctor and asked me to try it for a couple of weeks saying he would try to get my Doctor to let me get a different mask if it did not work out.

After a couple of hellish weeks I called to tell them I needed another mask. Not only did that one leak it caused me to get a rash and made my face and neck very sore. The only way I could get it to work at all was to lie face down and pack pillows around it.

He brought out a different type of mask. He tried to collect money from me for the mask. I explained to him that I was insured through medicare and champva and I should not have to pay anything. I can best describe his attitude as aggressive, intimidating, threatening, and manipulative. Only when I told him to just take the CPAP and go did he agree not to charge me, saying he could charge the company he got the original mask from for a replacement, as if he were doing me a favor.

The second mask also leaked even on the lower ramp setting. The representative started talking about a nose mask, saying it would not work with my high setting, and threatening me that if I could not make the second mask work he would call the Doctor and tell him to give me the nose mask next time. He also suggested that I should spend my life sleeping on my face with pillows packed around my mask if that was the only way I could get it to work, even though I told him it was very painful. After an emotionally draining exchange I agreed to give the second mask a try for a couple of weeks.

After about a week I called to tell them that I could not make this mask work either. The muscles in my face would relax when I fell asleep and as soon as they relaxed the mask would start making a very loud vibrating sound that would wake me up. I was exhausted and my face and neck were sore from trying to tighten the mask. I was also developing a sore on my nose where the mask hit it.

The Lincare representative brought out a third mask, this one a full face mask. Again he tried to get me to pay for it. We basically repeated the same conversation as the last time with him threatening me with the nose mask and trying to intimidate me into giving them money even though I had full insurance coverage, this time driving me to tears before I told him to just take the whole machine back, at which time he again left the mask for a trial period. He told me that if I could not make this mask work I would definitely have to pay for the next mask.

After he left I read the instructions that came with the mask. It said not to use this type of mask if you have dry eyes, which I do. I tried it for a couple of days anyway, and although it was better then the other two masks in many ways, it irritated my eyes so much I could not wear it.

At this point I called medicare to check out the Lincare representative's claims that medicare would require me to pay for any other face masks in cash. Medicare responded that Lincare was contractually obligated to replace any medical device which did not fit or did not work to my satisfaction at no charge to me or to medicare. The lady I talked to at Medicare asked me to try to work with Lincare some more and see if I couldn't get them to make it right.

I called Lincare and asked if I could have a different mask and representative. After much arguing with the manager (who basically said the same things the representative had, and took a similar attitude), and getting my doctor to send Lincare a letter stating he would ok any mask that met with my satisfaction, Lincare finally agreed that I could come into their office and try on several masks to find one that worked better at no charge.

Unfortunately I had some health problems that prevented me from going in for over a month. During that time I tried using the second mask with the strap that came with the third mask, and found it fit much better that way, but still had a lot of problems.

When I arrived at the Lincare office I was greeted by a new representative who then told me that my Doctor had instructed her to only try the nose mask on me. I told her that couldn't be right since the other representative from her company used to regularly threaten me with it, and when I had asked my Doctor about it he had also told me I should not use the nose mask at my pressure level. I also told her that my Doctor had told me they sent them a letter saying the Doctor would approve any mask that met my satisfaction. She looked me straight in the eye and said that might have been true a month ago but just yesterday the Doctor sent this order (holding up a piece of paper) to only try the nose mask on you today. After arguing with her briefly she left the room. When she left I picked up the piece of paper she had held up and read it. It was word for word the letter the Doctors office had told me they were sending them authorizing any mask I liked.

The manager then came in and told me they had orders from my Doctor to only try the nose mask on me and there was nothing they could do about it. I asked her if any of them understood English as I picked up the Doctors orders and read them out loud. The manager grabbed the paper from my hand and started screaming at me at the top of her lungs. After several minutes of the manager screaming and arguing with me, until I broke down in tears, she just turned around and left.

When the other lady representative came back she claimed to have misread the Doctor's orders and agreed to let me try on several masks to see if any fit better then what I had. After that she was just as sweet as pie, very helpful, and professional. If I did not know that just a few minutes ago she had looked me straight in the eye and lied to me I would have liked her a lot.

After this experience I felt it was my civic duty to try and warn others about Lincare. It is obvious to me that they do not care about anything but profits. They do not understand the meaning of the words integrity, honesty, or service. They are bullies, liars, and cheats.

I am totally disabled and I am on oxgen. I was prescribe by my doctor to be on oxygen. This is now the 3rd time I have ran out of oxygen and they dont have anyone to deliver any to me. I want to know what it is gonna take to get some delivered to me.