Quest Diagnostics Incorporated

I just had a great experience at this Quest location and I am surprised about the horrible reviews below me.
I went to this Quest for a blood test. Let me tell you: phlebotomists are never able to draw my blood. My veins are small and very hard to find through my skin. I get anxious even thinking about getting blood drawn because it is always a long and painful ordeal.
This location is on Tremont Street in Melrose and I would advise not going after 2PM on a school day because the nearby high school creates horrible traffic. The building itself is connected to a lot with plenty of parking and the room is on the 1^st floor of the building. It was very easy to find.
I walked into this location at approximately 2:20PM on a Monday afternoon and there was no one in the waiting room. I walked right over to the counter and George, the phlebotomist, checked me in. As soon as he verified my address, he walked me right into the back. No wait! I sat in the chair and he worked for about 30 seconds touching the inside of my elbow and asking me to make a fist. As soon as I saw him take the needle out, I looked away.
Then I saw him take out the cotton and tape to bandage the tiny hole in my arm. I couldn’t believe it! I hadn’t felt anything! He showed me the vial full of my blood and laughed at my disbelief.
I was only there for 5 minutes — yup! I was checked in, had my blood drawn, and was out the door in 5 minutes. THAT is great service. My advice would be to call ahead and make sure you get George because he is fantastic!

HORRIBLE SERVICE. The most unfriendly people work here. I go for a blood draw. The guy puts the needle in my vein in the right arm. Blood wont come out good. so he tells me he’s going to shift the needle in my vein to try to get blood. Ow Ow Ooow. I’m in pain so he pulls it out. Then goes for a vein on the top of my hand. and OMG THAT killed all day. Looks like a bee stung me, it’s swollen & risen. I went in the morning so at the end of the day I called the place who requested the blood work for results. One person said the results are in. A nurse would call me back. The nurse called me back to tell me there’s no results yet. like umm ok?! so I went to quest’s website to see if they have a patient gateway which they did so I spent 5 mins filling everything out to get my results and the results are not listed. it is now the next day and I called quest directly for the results. 1 woman said she would fax over a release form to tell me the results. but my fax was out of ink so it printed blank pages. I called back to email the form to me. I Spoke w Alton Goggins. He emailed me the form & I emailed him right back. Still NO results. so I call quest again. I got transferred literally 4 times. One guy didn’t know who Alton Goggins was so got transferred to another rep. and That lady said Alton Goggins works the night shift. Well apparently not if he just spoke to me on the phone at 8:30AM and sent me an email. she said she would transfer me to him. after being on hold for another 2 minutes she kicked me back to the main menu. I hung up. so still no results!!! HORRIBLE company. Can’t draw blood well & customer service sucks. Try to go elsewhere for blood work. I got poked twice for ONE blood draw.

I went to Quest recently for some blood allergy testing as I continue on the seemingly neverending quest (har har) to figure out why my stomach seems to hate me sometimes.
Usually I’m sent to the Winchester Hospital blood lab where sweet Richard makes bloodwork something to legitimately look forward to. Not so much the case with this place.
The girl who answered the phone and who was the only one on duty was kind of rude and I wasn’t sure if she was in a really bad mood or if that’s just the way her personality was and I was interpreting it wrong or something. I think I managed to warm her up a little with small talk, but it was off-​putting.
What was more off-​putting, however, was the weird office. The front window doesn’t open to talk to the receptionist, and there are no clear indicators of what you’re supposed to do. So I had the awkward experience of attempting to talk to her through plexi glass and having her be like «uh, this doesn’t open, you need to COME AROUND». Thanks…
The wall’s internal organs (what do you call that? scaffolding?) were all exposed like everything was under construction, but I don’t think it was being worked on. It was just really run down in there and kinda creepy.
But she was a good phlebotomist and the most painful part was ripping the bandaid off later. Hopefully something will come back on these tests so I don’t have to go back here again, haha.