Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  08/15/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I tried to participate in a locally run blood drive and was massively disappointed. There was only 1 person drawing blood and half of the set up was not complete. The employees were running around still getting supplies with a line waiting. Then when it was finally my turn, I asked for my left arm to be drawn from and the women who were setting the donors up said I don't have that option because they cant move the chair. Once I was sat, the woman could not find a vein so her solution was to put the arm band so tight that my arm turned purple! Then proceeded to attempt to "trace" my vein out with some sort of metal clamp? I now have trace marks all over my arm and can already see bruising from what she attempted to do. Frustrated that she couldn't locate a large enough vein, she told me she could try to find a larger one on the side of my arm but she might miss a few times!! If you are not confident enough as a phlebotomist to find a vein then you need to find another job. I expressed my concern over this, and the possibility of massive bruising if she continued to draw from a missed vein, and was told "I cant guarantee I will find a vein so it might be a slow bleed and you will likely have bruising". I walked out after this and will not be donating with this organization.

  Business response

  08/29/2023

  Thank you for your time and interest to support the patients in our local hospitals through making an appointment to make a lifesaving donation. I see this was your first time donating with Hoxworth Blood Center and we're sorry you didn't have a positive experience. I appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns and hopefully encourage you to give blood donation another chance. 

  We are committed to providing a great experience for our donors to ensure you feel the gratitude for making an important decision to make a difference in people's lives through your donation. Mobile drives allow us to come out to our community to collect donations.  Mobile drives do limit the donor experience from our full-service neighborhood donor center due to restrictions with space or positioning of donation chairs, but we do try our best to ensure a great experience. 

  Depending on when you arrive the staff could be setting up the donation service area. When we are setting up during appointment start times, it may be caused by a connectivity issue which will delay the set up for service. This would not be our best practice, but we can face challenges we have to overcome to set up collection services.  We love to be set up and ready to serve our donors to ensure a timely, organized and positive experience. We do our best to train our collections team to quickly and accurately identify the best point of entry for the blood draw while managing expectations for their experience with keeping donor safety top of mind. 

  Our chairs are positioned to draw from a specific arm as the staff indicated during your experience and their attempt to do the opposite arm would create challenges as the chair was not positioned to do the left arm.  The employee was providing you with the potential challenges with trying to draw from your left side after the attempt with your right arm.  We encourage the staff to explain the experience with the donor to ensure their comfortable with how we proceed with the donation experience. I'm sure hearing feedback about potential bruising or challenges with a positive first stick doesn't sound appealing and may be discouraging from a donor perspective. 

  Blood donations are vital to our community and patients in our local hospitals. We recognize the effort it takes for every donor who walks through our doors to volunteer their time and blood to save lives in our community.  Please consider donating again, it's an important decision you made, and we want to ensure that you're able to fulfill your desire to save lives. 

  I would love to work with you and our team to provide you a better experience for your next donation. I hope you will reconsider. I welcome you to connect with me if you would like to walk through your experience so we can learn and grow together. I will reach out to you direct to ensure that you're doing well and to provide you with my contact information if you're interested in donating in the future. 

  Thanks for your time and feedback. 
  

  
  

   

  Customer response

  09/05/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, reasons for rejection are included below. 

  The chairs referred to were going in both directions, I was told directly no when I stated which arm I would like to have blood taken from. There was no attempt at the right arm, only my left. There was ZERO explanation from the employee as to what they were doing as they were tracing my veins or when they left the tourniquet on so to tight my arm turned purple! They did not even think of taking it off, after about 2 minutes, until I said something! Once they took it off they said they wanted to take from a vein on the side of my arm. When i ASKED about the risk of that then the employee said that there WOULD be bruising and that she would most likely have to try a few times to get the vein. 

  
  Regards,
  
  **** ****
  

  Customer response

  10/17/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  
  Regards,
  
  **** ****
  

• Initial Complaint

  06/07/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On April 12 I had an appointment to donate blood. However, after waiting for about an hour, I finally was able to speak to someone. After filling out the information I was told that I needed my doctor's permission. I asked why and I was told that they cannot take everyone. I was not given a reason why even though I asked. I do not have a blood disease or am I a drug user. I do not see any reason that I should be denied. Therefore, I wasted my time and was refused a reason why I was denied. In addition, when I contacted Hoxworth about this I left a couple of messages and no one has contacted me. Furthermore, I emailed them on April 12, 18, May 9, 15, and the 19. The first person that I contacted via email was Lisa C*****. When I counted Hoxworth I was told that they would contact me but they never did. I do not appreciate receiving emails asking me to donate blood after being treated like this

  Customer response

  07/11/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, reasons for rejection are included below.
  
  Regards,
  
  **** *****
  I first complained about why I was not told that I couldn't donate because I wasn't given an answer at the time of the donation. I contacted Hoxworth and did not get a response. I waited about a month and still no response. I had to keep contacting them multiple times before any communication was made. I was even told that I would be called only to wait and not receive a call. Finally, I was contacted by someone who was very professional in her communication with me. However, due to the way I was treated by Hoxworth I will never have anything to do with them again. Furthermore, I should not have been turned away when applying to give blood. I also should have been told why I was denied. I asked why and did not receive a specific answer.  My doctor has never told me that I shouldn't give blood. I have had my heart checked any everything is good. I had to call them multiple times  and then given the run around. This is the second time I have visited Hoxworth.the first time was over 20 years ago. I was in Cincinnati and my blood pressure went up do to seeing the big needles they had, After being refused I was mocked by one of the  people at Hoxworth. I know this was a long time ago, but by me showing up to donate blood and finding out my blood type I tried to give them a second chance. This is the last time I will have anything to do with Hoxworth. 

  Business response

  07/13/2023

  Thank you for the opportunity to respond.  I will be general is some of my responses to protect the information of the donor's information related to the donation questionnaire completed by each volunteer donor. Please let me know if my response is adequate for the complaint filed. Thanks for allowing me to complete this reply in response to the consumer complaint. 
  
  Donor safety is one of the top priorities at Hoxworth Blood Center. Volunteer donors are generous members of our community that support the mission to save lives close to home by donating blood products.  We are committed to ensuring the safety of our donors and the blood products we provide to area medical facilities. *** ***** is a valued donor and respected member of our community. We strive to ensure our donors feel safe, secure, informed and valued with each donation experience with Hoxworth. 
  
  *** ***** did inquire why he was not eligible to donate, and his request was submitted for review by our quality team in our donor collections department. Due to internal staff out of office and volume, his request was reviewed and responded to by June 9, 2023. 
  
  I left a voicemail for *** ***** on June 9 and requested he call me to discuss his question and concern. *** ***** emailed me on June 12th and said why should I donate, in response to an automatic message that was sent from our recruitment team asking for donors to donate. I responded to *** ***** on June 12th via email and let him know that I left him a voicemail to call me on June 9th. He responded on June 13th, and we exchanged about a good time for me to call him.  He asked me to call him at 12noon on June 14th. I called *** ***** on June 14th at 12noon to review why he received the response from our collections team at the time of his last donation.  As long as he took the action that he was given by our collection team at the time of his last donation, he would be eligible to come in and donate at a time that worked best for him. 
  
  *** ***** said he appreciated the call, but he wants to be taken off of our call list and doesn't want to donate with us any longer. He stated that he was not pleased with my response or response time which I understood his concern with that. I did not provide *** ***** with great detail as to the delay as I felt he would receive my feedback as excuses, and I didn't want to further damage his perception of our organization. I felt he needed to hear the why behind the direction that was given to him at his last donation and that it does not prevent him from donating again. The direction provided to *** ***** was given to him based on information we received from him at the time of his last donation. We must comply with FDA guidelines in processing our volunteer donors for donation eligibility.  We would never want *** ***** or any of our generous blood donors to feel unwelcomed but we will always work with their safety as top priority based on the exchange of information that is provided at the time of their donation. 
  
  I did close the conversation with *** ***** with my deepest apologies for how he felt based on his last donation experience, and I did confirm I would honor his request to remove him from our contact list, which I did that day. I shared with *** ***** he will always be welcomed back to Hoxworth should he change his mind in the future, and we appreciated his lifetime donations that made a difference in so many lives throughout our community. 

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩