Compunet Clinical Laboratories

Awesome place. Very nice & helpful. I have a port & they can’t normally use it but they called a nurse in from another floor so I could use it & not get poked on. I know I will be going back to this location again & will most definitely recommend it to people. The place was also very clean & didn’t have to wait long at all.

I received a call from Juanita, the supervisor for this location. She informed me that they were staffed «over budget“‘with 5 phlebotomists that day so there should not have been such a long wait (2 people taken back in 20 minutes). She was at lunch when all of this was happening. I was also told that the women I thought were office workers were phlebotomists as well. Perhaps this accounts for the poor customer service skills I observed that day as they did not appear to be trained in handling the actual people at a medical office front desk.
I was also informed that the 3 employees I mentioned in my review had all been questioned and they told her there was a «train wreck» situation where a patient order/​file was messed up and they had to deal with it and try to figure it out. When I told Juanita that what I observed in those 25 minutes in the office did not indicate that an urgent situation was happening as there was smiling and chatting going on, she said that’s what they told her so…
It was indicated at that point that this was a «she said, she said» situation and there were 3 of them. To be fair, I did observe in about 5 of those 25 minutes some computer work and looking at a file, but it was towards the end of my time there. And it certainly wasn’t when the family was visiting and when the hanging out was going on.
I was literally sitting right across from the front window watching everything that was happening. As a long time patient who walked out, I would have absolutely zero motivation for not giving her an honest viewpoint of what was happening while she was away from the office. Not to mention, this crowd of unhappy people in the lobby had built up over at least an hour before I arrived. I also asked Juanita if some of the phlebotomists were at lunch and was told she thought so.
Here is what I would recommend if anyone cares to know:
1. A supervisor should check the front desk and the lobby to see what is happening before they go to lunch. It was 11:52 a.m. and there were far too many people built up in the lobby for an over-​budget, fully staffed office. Perhaps the manager could have overseen the front desk or dealt with this patient paperwork situation so the phlebotomists could work on clearing the patients in the lobby? Even at a McDonalds they know if one order is wrong or is not finished, you move that car over to the side and have one person work on that so the rest of the employees can keep the line moving and not grind to a complete halt.
2. There is no point in going over budget with staffing if you don’t stagger lunch times. One of the girls at the front desk was in training so I don’t know if she was counted as one if the 5 workers there or not. If not, I only ever saw 2 phlebotomists in that 25 minutes. One working the desk and the one who took a person back and was later chatting with the girls out front.
3. Perception is reality. I was told what I saw may have looked like people hanging out, but that wasn’t what was really happening. The manager doesn’t know this as she wasn’t there to observe what I did. The consumer’s perception of what is going on is what sticks with them when making future decisions as to who gets their business. Perception is everything.
4. Some of the staff that made this location so great are gone. When I mentioned a prior employee who was really efficient at running the desk, I was told she was no longer with the company.
5. The tone of the phlebotomist I dealt with at the front desk was unacceptable when working with the public. I understand she may have been overwhelmed and stressed, but as I told Juanita, no person who is frequenting your business should ever be ignored and/​or spoken to like that. It doesn’t matter if there are 2 people or 20 in your lobby. No one appreciates being treated like your time doesn’t matter and you are a number. And if you are going to apologize to someone for your poor service, say it like you mean it. Tell that upset person the situation you are dealing with and actually apologize for not being able to help them.
What is worse is that she was training a new employee! Yikes!
And finally, I would like to thank Juanita for actually calling me and addressing the incident, even though I did not agree with some of what I was told. No one wants to call a person who is unhappy with you and it’s easier to ignore them, so I do appreciate the call.
I did get the compensation of being able to schedule an appointment for my bloodwork and to be taken straight back at that time. I will give Compunet a chance to correct this behavior based on past performance. I hope that now the staff will realize you must treat your consumers and their time as if it was as important to you as your own.