MedicAlert - Lifetime membership or what?

A long time ago in childhood the doctors discovered that I am allergic to penicillin and tetracyclines. These are cumulative allergies ie they are worse each time you suffer them and could at some point kill you.

As medical probelms go this is not the worst as it is unlikley that in the instances that I might be administered either of those drugs that I would not be able to tell the medical staff of my allergies.

As a precaution my parents bought a liftime(?) membership of MedicAlert an organisation that gives one a neckelt or bracelet with a distinctive emblem that records your condition and holds a membership number and central phone number. In instances of medical emergency the presence of the token alerts attending to staff to the existence of an issue and on phoning the telephone number they can receive contact details along with doctor's details and other prescribed information.

I have now had this over 30 years, though I confess I have not worn it for most of the last 20. That said I did pay extra to have a silver necklet rather than the standard stainless steel. I have moved house and doctors rarely and my parents are still alive as primary contacts so the instances where I have needed or wanted to update information had been few and far between.

So it was with some surprise that I opened a letter from MedicAlert at the beginning of this month telling me that my lifetime membership is no longer lifetime. Quite bluntly the letter told me that I have three options;

• To start paying an annual fee (remember we had paid for a lifetime membership!);
• To stay "free" but undertake to contact and update my details at least once a year, the catch being that should I miss an annual update then I would be automatically placed on the annual fee with no return to "free" ie they would wait until I slip and then start charging me having taken credit card details as part of the "free" option; or
• Cancel my membership, but then I would be required for return my emblem to them for "safe destruction"

While I recognise that the world has changed and would accept a cost to update details WHEN I needed to update them, I objected

• the the imposition of an annual fee on what had been contracted as a lifetime membership
• the sneaky way to catch the unwary who opt for the "free" option, but slip up; and
• the suggestion that I was obliged to return my property (the emblem) to them for "safe" (what is that about?) destruction.

Oh yes, and I had until the end of the month to decide.

I emailed them immediately and over two weeks later I had heard nothing so last night I sent a follow up email asking if I would get a response? What I received today was a simple reiteration of the contents of the original letter and no acknowledgement of my issues. Frankly this incensed me as it suggested no customer/client interest.

I had just responded to this email registering my disgust at the poor service and that I would cancel the service and would NOT be returning my emblem or filling in any more paperwork, when I received a call.

This was from a "nurse" working for the organisation. Let me politely say that english was clearly not her first language. She said that she was responding to my first (or was it my second?) email. After checking my details she once again told me the options - yes, I knew them by now - and proceeded to chastise me for not updating them for a number of years. Well I still have the same condition, I still have the same father, I still live in the same house and I still have the same doctor. Forgive me for not moving enough. She then told me that she had to tell me to return the emblem, but I did not have to do that (work that out!).

To me she was not listening to my issues and continually talked over me. Fortunately this is not key to my future wellbeing so can cut this out - I think she finally got that! However it is a crass example of client service and certainly triggered my Friday rant.

Rant over!