Sonora Quest Laboratories

Get your shit together Sonora Quest. Don’t push for people to make appointments if you’re not going to honor the time. Some of us are working individuals that make an appointment because we are using our lunch breaks to come in… we don’t have the luxury to sit around your waiting rooms and twiddle our thumbs. We secure a time thinking we can get in and out and get back to our jobs. Having your office staff tell us the appointment process is irrelevant and they take you in the order you arrive is a bunch of crap.

No way!
This location is convenient for me BUT… it’s not worth it. I’ve been here several times now and they’re always 1. running VERY late (even if you have an appointment time, it doesn’t guarantee you anything.) 2. disrespectful (office staff is very unprofessional and disrespectful. Thankfully the nurses are very kind and professional) 3. PACKED wall to wall with people.

Horrible! for the past 5 years I have been with the Mayo Clinic. They have their own lab, I have never went outside of Mayo Clinic for my labs. A few months ago, I am with new insurance and a new dr. and they use Sonoran Labs. Last months we drew labs, no problems, my insurance pays 100% of labs! Today I had to drop off specimens and have a lab drawn. 1. the people in that office is on edge, rude and have no respect for people privacy. 2. They treat the people in the waiting areas like cattle, they order them around tell them to sit down like they are animals. 3. You can literally hear them talking about other patients in the waiting area.
The lady comes up to the window and calls my name and she has 2 pieces of paper and tell me, You have a bill from 2012 and it needs to be paid before we draw your labs or take your specimens. I explained to her that is impossible because I have been with the mayo clinic for the past 5 years and mayo does not use Sonora Quest, they have their own Lab. She told me word for word «One of our dr. may have ordered some lab that they could not do and sent them to us and that is why you have a bill» I told her NO Mayo does not use your lab and my insurance pays 100% of labs! I had her hold while I called my Dr. Office and I told them what was going on. I went back into the lab and asked for my orders. She looked at me and said, «You going some place else» I said yes, She did not want to give me my order and kept trying to give me a bill from 2012 that she could not verify was mine, just a piece of paper demanding a payment of 125.00. I told her NO, please give me my order, she held my orders «hostage» I literally had to snatch my orders out her hand. She did all of this in a room full of people.

Very professional staff. If you don’t have an appt. be prepared to wait. Even people late for their appt. go before you. So make an appointment. Other than that everyone is very nice and friendly!

Where do I start? DON’T GO HERE, USE ANOTHER LOCATION!
1. I knew that I needed to get my blood drawn before 10:00, but the earliest appointments this location offers start at 10:00 (even though they open at 7:00 and start drawing blood at 8:00). I showed up at 9:30 hoping to get in under the deadline, and mentioned it to the receptionist when I got there. She instructed me to «go ahead and have a seat, and we’ll get to you shortly.» At 10:20 (remember, appointment was at 10:00), the receptionist called me up to the counter to tell me that the one test that I needed to have done before 10:00 couldn’t be done, because it was too late, but that they would do the rest of the tests today, and I would have to come back at 8:00 the next morning to do the other test. I asked if I could get an appointment for that, and she told me that they don’t start the appointments until 10:00, but that she would make a note that I would not have to wait in line.
2. At 10:35, I was called back by a nice phlebotomist. She shuffled around through the paperwork and pulled out 8 vials for the draw, and I joked that after taking that much blood, they would owe me a cookie and some orange juice. she said «oh, we don’t allow food back here.» Ok, she was nice, but had no sense of humor… no problem. I have blood drawn quarterly, usually at a different location, and I know which vein in my arm is the pipeline. I pointed it out to her, but she wasn’t sure it would work. I told her that it was the one that I use when donating blood during blood drives, so she agreed to use it. When she went to put in the needle, she missed by a solid 3 mm. I was surprised that she put the needle in where she did, because the vein was clearly visible next to where she put the needle. When nothing cane through the tube, she pulled the needle half-​way out, pointed it towards the vein, got a little blood, pulled it half-​way out again, pointed it more towards the vein, and tried again… she got some, but it was slow. She explained the slow flow by saying «this is a small needle, so it’s going to be slower than usual.» During the first 3 vials, she kept repositioning the needle within my arm, trying to get more blood flow. Eventually, all her repositioning made the blood flow stop, and we still had 3 vials to go. She kept blaming the needle size (which I KNOW was not true, because it’s identical to the size of needle every other blood test at Sonora Quest has been), and kept moving the needle around in my arm, sliding it out partially and back in trying to find more blood. I finally asked her if she wanted to use the other arm, and she said «no, you just have slow blood flow through these tiny needles.» Eventually, we was able to stab enough holes in the side of my vein to fill the vials, but it took over 15 minutes to do it.
3. The next morning, I showed up at 7:55 for my remaining blood test. To my horror, I got the same tech. I joked with her that I brought more blood this time, so I hoped the vial would fill faster. She had a blank look, and didn’t remember me, but that’s fine, because I’m sure she performed bad draws on dozens of people per day, so it was probably hard to remember them all. But, I remembered her. So, since she was unable to properly get the vein in my right arm, I pointed her towards my left arm vein that is also great for blood tests. This time, as she was about to miss the vein again, I stopped her and asked her to re-​check where she was going to put the needle, because she was not on the vein. She said «oops», moved the needle over the vein, and stabbed. This time, the vial filled right up with a good blood flow. IT WAS THE SAME SIZE NEEDLE AS THE PREVIOUS DAY.
This tech was awful, the service was awful, and I will not go back to this location. I thought they would be more convenient since they are closer to my office, but I’ll go back to going out of my way to the usual location I use.

Should get no star period. I had an APPOINTMENT and checked in. The place
Was packed.
I waited 30 minutes and went to front desk to find out what the delay is and nobody was at the front. What a joke since i had to take time of work and i still need the lab work. I’ll never go back to this dump. I’ll a new doctor that uses a different lab before I come back here.

Slowest service ever. The front receptionist had no customer service skills. Always stated «I don’t know» for people’s questioned. Phlebotomist talking with other employees instead of calling next patient in line.

YOUR TIME IS WORTH NOTHING
SQ on 12^th Street in the Edwards Medical Bldg in Phoenix is always overcrowded. I’ve tried walking in. I’ve tried making appointments — either way there is a long, long wait.
YOUR CONVENIENCE AND COMFORT IS WORTH NOTHING
The front desk is scatterbrained and inefficient. Rather than handling most of what each patient needs at the time they approach the desk in terms of: signing into the log, showing their medical card, presenting their lab order, exchanging patient information or making payments, they call each patient up separately for each step. In addition, the waiting room is too small for their client traffic yet they jammed several chairs into it, creating less walking space. So Patient #1 approaches the front desk and signs in with their medical card ready, but they are told to only sign the log and sit down without showing it. Then Patient #2, same thing. Then Patient #3, same thing. THEN they call up Patient #1 to show their medical card (which gets photocopied during EACH visit and is apparently not saved on file as an electronic document anywhere). Then Patient #2, same thing and Patient #3 same thing. Then Patient #1 is called up again, this time to answer a question about their address or phone number, then Patient #2, and Patient #3. After each step, the patients are to return to their seats and wait to be called up for the next step. Finally, the patients are called back up to actually go to the back of the lab to a treatment room, necessitating another walk-​thru of the crowded lobby. This creates a lot of unnecessary «excuse me, pardon me, here’s your child’s toy, pardon my butt, excuse me, pardon me» as people navigate the narrow to non-​existent chair aisles to approach the front desk again and again. Many of the patients are with walking canes, wheelchairs, family members, infants in strollers, young kids with ADD, etc., making the navigation all the more tense.
NO ENTERTAINMENT OR NEWS FOR YOU
The flatscreen TV in the waiting room is broken and has been for a long time. But that’s okay since even when it worked all they showed was commercials for some kind of medical service or product, which is a separate problem: why can’t they turn on a local TV station like most other medical offices do? The TV shouldn’t be there as a selling tool for the office, but rather a way of helping the waiting room time for patients suck less (at least that is what most patients assume will be going on when they see a TV screen in a medical office waiting room…).
WE’RE GOING BROKE — IT’S GOING TO BE YOUR PROBLEM TOO
Also, I think they are having financial issues because if you happen to come to their lab any moment after their office has generated a mailed bill to you (whether it has made it to your mailbox or not…), they will collect from you at the lab before providing service. In order to do this, they don’t call you to the front desk to pay the receptionist. Instead, they call you to the INSIDE of the lab and seat you in a treatment room (like they would to draw blood), but instead they have their billing representative come in and present you with the minutes-​old bill and demand payment before service, even if it’s only $ 7. The billing representative at the lab then takes your money to the front desk person while you wait in one of the treatment rooms while they process the paperwork. Then they bring you your receipt and draw your blood.
WE WANT YOUR FULL ATTENTION WHEN WE ARE DRAWING BLOOD, OTHERWISE WE CAN’T DO IT (for some unknown reason)
Also, if you happen to be on your cell phone when the phlebotomist is about to start doing their job, they will stand there with their hands folded until you turn off your phone, even if your participation is not required and all they need is one arm to draw blood.
I’m switching to a different company for future lab work.

Quick, and good customer service, especially considering how busy they are and the fact that they have to deal with all kinds of people — from rowdy kids to cantankerous elderly. There was a woman in the packed waiting room who was loudly talking and swearing on her cell phone like she wasn’t in a room sitting shoulder to shoulder with 30+ people. That’s not Sonora Quest’s fault, but I’m docking 1 star for the waiting area (too packed). The wait wasn’t too long because I’d made an appointment. I’d recommend going here for a blood draw if you have more than one provider requesting blood tests (only one draw needed) and they are professionals — almost painless, no bruising, etc.

I would give them no stars, but that is not an option. I can say that I have been going to this facility for nearly nine years now and they used to be the place to go. Not so much recently. I am going through a medical treatment that requires me to have blood drawn every two weeks. I made my appointments for the entire time of my treatment. Usually that means you are in and out of there within 15 minutes or so, not 30+. I do not know what the deal is with this place anymore, but they totally lack the kindness and professionalism of the past. They are now rude, unprofessional and have no problem making comments about clients who are sitting in the waiting room loud enough so they can hear them. I will not go into the entire details, but I can just sum it up to say that I will never darken their doorstep again after the way I have been treated lately. I would rather wait at one of their competitors than to return to Sonora Quest!

Bad service! I came three times, all three times the young lady at registration was in too much of a hurry to text, so she was not paying attention to what she was doing. i handed her my insurance card and was left with my hand extended, she didn’t notice because she was texting… when she finally took it she made a quick copy of it, sat down and started texting again. i asked if i could get my card and she looked clueless as to what i was talking about! i specified «…my insurance card…» she went «oh yeah!» then handed it to me and sat down to keep texting. After that my son needed to go to the restroom and since they were going to ask for a urine sample i asked for a cup. Days later i took my son for a blood draw, same girl, same thing… texting. My son used the restroom and when he came out they asked him if he could pee again in a cup because they had tossed out the last one! He is 7yo, so no, he couldn’t! apparently they couldn’t read the bottom of the reference, jerks! couldn’t they call his doctor and ask what she wanted tested?!! ugh who knows maybe the girl upfront can only read things like «omg, TGIF, stfu, ttyl,…»

I was impressed. This particular location isn’t in the best part of town, but it is close to my work and attached to a hospital. The facility was super clean and organized, the staff were all friendly and knowledgeable, and they had me in and out within 15 minutes of my apointment time, which I truly appreciate.

I am a fan for 2 main reasons, convenience and professionalism. If I can offer 3 hints.
(1) If you are immunologically challenged (i.e. have cancer and in chemo, elderly or otherwise need to avoid the sick or crowded areas) I would see if your doctor could set up an in office blood draw. This place is busy and filled with the sick, coughing and sniffling.
(2) I am not the biggest germaphobe [hell I have eaten a chapulin (grasshopper) out of the hand of an old lady selling them on the streets of Mexico] and I am not a fan generally of hand sanitizer, but even I wish they offered a Purell dispenser near the door upon exiting. The location is not dirty per say but knowing the quaNtity of people that run through here with most of them being all sneezy, sniffly and coughing, statistically speaking there is higher risk of contraction or exposure. Well I kind of feel the same way at a mall, amusement park or airplane.
(3) Make an appointment. Either call or register online. If you don’t make an appointment go in just after they open (usually around 7a) sign in and wait. I have been pretty lucky when i have gone early. The later you go in without an appointment the longer you stand the chance of waiting.
The intake staff are professional and helpful. The process is quicker if you are ready with the necessary forms/​cards and you know to sign in as soon as you walk in.
The lab techs and phlebotomists are some of the best. On my most recent visit the phlebotomist was so smooth. I could not even feel the transition of the tubes as they filled one and replaced it with another. I am not afraid of shots or needles but for someone who is, you don’t want to have to see or feel it more than you have to or fear that if you or they move they will rupture the vein. *arg* Scary right!

decently short wait, actual appt time was very quick, only downfall is if you havent been there, go a little early. it can be a little tricky to find the first time! lol

This is one of the worst labs I have ever been to and I tried it more than once. One time I sat in the jam packed waiting room for over 45 minutes without a single patient being called. The staff were unbelievably rude and it is always insanely crowded. If you can manage the Sonora Quest in Glendale takes appointments and has always been great.

Pretty busy lab. either make an appt or expect a wait!