Welbeing Reviews 137

I was an employee of welbeing for many years, and seeing the latest reviews I am going to try and explain what has happened to the service recently.
When the company Doro took over Welbeing a few years ago they made some changes, some good, some bad.
The bad changes:
The worst change is the software we take calls on, it is now a cheaper less robust system, it takes around 10-15 minutes in the evening to answer some calls, before it was rarely more than 30-60 seconds, it crashes and shows no data on customers so sometimes you dont even know who you are talking to, this was a cost cutting measure, not that they need to save money, but they dont like to spend it on software, hardware or staff.
The new software licences cost less but put the customers at higher risk of their calls not being answered, this was considered acceptable because they would save money.
They cut pay and all the experienced staff left, now they are recruiting very young staff willing to work for very low pay and no bonuses. 18-24 year olds that have no work experience. so you will no longer have experieced staff answering your calls, they are lovely but are no where near as good as the ex nurses and care staff and NHS staff welbing paid decent money to recruit and have at the end of the line to your loved ones.

Hardware, the PC's and general equipment is very old and they refuse to replace it, imagine an office back in 1998 thats how the place looks and feels, the staff are frustrated at pc's not working and very slow and clunky systems. This also delays help to customers.

Paying Staff. They recently had someone turn up for an interview and they declined the full time job when they realised they would get paid more working in a newsagents part time down the road.

The staff have not had a pay rise in over three years and they never recieved any bonus for working throughout the pandemic, they got sent some cheap chocolate but no bonus or anything for all the amazing work they tried to do throughout the pandemic for an entire year, working double shifts and weekends. I reiterate .. They got nothing at all...

I can only appologise but the last three years this has not been welbeing as you remember it, this has been Doro who are all about making money even if the customers and staff suffer.
They buy up call centres, cut pay and reduce costs to a minimum and want to make money, thats their bottom line.

I personally would not want anyone I cared about working here or relying on Doro for help. They do not care about the staff or the customers, only profit.
I am sorry this is a harsh review but it is the truth and I think those still using the service deserve to know why the company is struggling and the standards have lowered so dramatically.

Over recent months, response times have been 15 minutes and up to 30 minutes on 2 occasions. I was told on a couple of occasions that they were busy, or that I'd come through at a busy time. A complaint by email over 2 weeks ago, but no response.
On 2 occasions I asked what the response times were, neither person could tell me.
I have since cancelled the contract, neither myself or my husband had any confidence in the service offered.

While the staff I have dealt with have been very professional and courteous, the management team needs to empower them in order to rectify the terrible - no - non existent service being provided.

I have a very independent elderly relative who lives alone (a long way away from me) and had a fall 3 weeks ago. It was 14 hours until she was able to summon assistance. As you can imagine, as soon as she was released from hospital, one of the first things I did was to source a suitable alarm to enable her to summon assistance in minutes rather than hours. After searching online and speaking with one the salespeople - who was very knowledgeable and helpful - I decided to order online.

I filled out the, understandably extensive, information forms and arranged payment for one the GSM alarms with a pendant. It arrived....well, I discovered it on the doorstep of my relative, a day after it was promised. FedEx had not knocked on the door - but that is an issue with FedEx.

I was impressed with the product and managed to set it up with ease. As per the instructions, once it was installed, we triggered the alarm as a test. After a few minutes we were talking to one of the operators via the base unit.

Knowing that the protocol is that: if your operator is unable to communicate with the customer, they will start a series of calls - first to the customer's own telephone, and then to nominated key holders and then if necessary to the emergency services, I was surprised and disappointed that the operator had no idea of which of their customers had triggered an alarm.

Obviously, wanting to be reassured that my elderly relative had the protection of the service that she had paid for, I passed all the required details to the operator at the time. I thought that by doing that it would solve the problem and make sure that the operators had the vital information to provide the service that is assured.

From that point, my relative stopped carrying around her mobile phone - reassured that she now had the protection of the service that Welbeing/Doro says that it provides.

Today, a week later, I was at my relative's home and moved the base unit from being placed on a table, to being mounted on a wall - which was straightforward to do.

As recommended, having disturbed the base unit, I performed another test alert. I was horrified when I had exactly the same experience as the previous week... The operator answered the alarm call but had to admit that they had no details coupled to the device being used. The operator then explained that they were not empowered to update contact details [This needs to change - not doing so is a danger to lives!] on the system and that I would have to contact the administration office.

After being cut off on the first attempt of about 20 minutes duration, waiting in a queue, and another 20 minutes of queuing, I finally got to talk to one of the admin office staff. I explained the issue and the lack of critical coverage. She went into 'the main system' and could not find any details, but then checked 'the other system' [You need to ensure that you have only one system and that it has all the information on it!] and did indeed find the details that I had submitted online. She then said that she would have to chase up the issue and said that she would get back to me.

After about half an hour, I was called back. I was asked to press the alarm again while the member of admin staff was on the line. Again, the same problem occurred. The operator answered the call but had no idea who was calling and so would not be able to contact any of the keyholders or direct the emergency services where to go in order to save lives. We then terminated the conversation with the operator and I resumed my call with the admin staff.

After expressing my disappointment that my elderly relative was not protected by the service that was promised, despite having paid for it, the staff member was very sympathetic and apologetic. After a minute or so more, she said that she could see that the system had been updated and assured me that the operator would now have all the information required.

I had to start my hour long journey home but took the time to try the alert one more time. I was very surprised to discover that the emergency operator STILL HAD NO IDEA WHO HAD TRIGGERED THE ALARM!

I have strongly advised my relative to carry around her mobile phone because we have zero confidence in the service.

Update - the next day, I received an email asking for specific details. Half an hour later I was informed that the issue had been resolved and that a successful test of the system had been carried out.
So a good response - but their system should detect and resolve these issues automatically without the need for a customer to chase it up.

My son ordered and arranged installation and delivery of the alarm system (I use the watch type alarm). Ordering was very easy and the unit despatched and received well within expected timescales.

Installation was simple and straight forward.

Although he completed the required contact details when he rang to confirm the key safe numbers he found the previously advised contacts had been removed however this was simply corrected by the extremely helpful customer service team - although it took a little while to get through to them.

Yesterday (about 11pm) I accidentally activated the alarm without knowing and I was immediately contacted through the system by a pleasant and professional gentleman to check if I was alright. On confirming I was he deactivated that particular call. Although this was an accident it has proved to me the system works and has given me peace of mind

Purchased a personal alarm for my Mom, it worked for one day, we have phoned them twice regarding this and are still awaiting a replacement unit, very dissatisfied with Welbeings customer service.

When I received the package some of the instructions were a little confusing. We were told we needed a special cable which wasn't there and, after acquiring one, we were told it wasn't needed.
Also the pendant had to be returned as it would not 'pair' up.
A new one has been received and all is now well.

Great service. Took a little longer to come than the 72 hours but was quickly rectified when I called them.

I’ve only been on it a couple of weeks but the test call went ok. It’s for peace of mind really, impressed so far

Waiting since November for a refund.

I have phoned countless times, made 2 complaints, been promised refunds but still nothing.

E-mails go unanswered, telephone calls not answered.

Help required.

Excellent service and product. I now feel a lot more at ease if on my own knowing that help can be summoned if I fall.

My mother has been with this company for sometime now with no problems the call center staff are magnificent by they way and have always provided a friendly service to ourselves however just the other day we was contacted to come and change the batteries in the equipment my partner told arranged for an afternoon appointment early in the morning a guy rang and said he was coming this morning my partner pointed out she had asked for afternoon she was rudly told it would have to be now as he had not been told and arranged a time with him not long afterwards he called again while my partner was shopping and said he was nearly there earlier than agreed she contacted the carer and asked him to attend instead when the operative arrived he was rude and inpatient with the carer as he could not immediately find the fall alarm when the carer did find it the guy said he was taking it as i he said shes blatantly not using it my mother suffers from small strokes and afterwards is unsteady on her feet for several weeks afterwards which is when the fall detector is used to note mother hasent had a stroke for some time but we still obviously need the equipment when she does the carer rang me and i rang the guy to tell him to return it which he refused to do i attended the property and he was quickly changing the battery at the back of the van i requested the alarm and eventually he handed it to me which i returned to the carer in the property on the way out i knocked on his window and told him i was ringing wellbeing which i immediately did and both me and the carer explaind the situation to wellbeing they had no management who could deal with the situation and not one of the management knows how to resolve a problem other than trying to blame me there operative also contacted the police as telling him i was calling wellbeing about him was some kind of threat to him one sad individual the management team seem to find this situation funny and want to verbally defend there idiot staff member i would also suggest with the other recent reviews on here company management obviously needs a shake up as well as the new ltd company name keep away from this company the money you might save is not worth the hassle of this extremely poor company

This is my second time reviewing with no response from the company! I returned an alarm system early December last year, it has been received by Welbeing but no refund weeks later. On my previous review about this advised to contact Manal Dalton. Have done many times and still no refund!! Avoid this company like the plague. Refunds are not forthcoming!!

Ordered a personal alarm which arrived in good time. Unfortunately I realised I had ordered the wrong system and immediately returned the package. That was weeks ago and have still not received a refund. I have contacted the company many times both by telephone and e-mail and receive a different reason each time for no refund having been sent to me or my bank account! I have the correct unit now but thank goodness, from a different company who were spot on and professional. I would never recommend Welbeing to anyone! Sorry Welbeing but something not right with your system!

As promised easy install delivery on time

I have recently been in touch with you regarding a pendant that was lost by hospital staff while my mother was in hospital suffering from a stroke the hospital staff removed the pendant from her and unfortunately it has been lost we have contacted the hospital and they are looking into the matter we contacted you and you have said she would have to pay £72 plus £20 installation fee total £92 which I think is utterly ridiculous she is struggling to pay the monthly fee and now you want her to pay another £92 as I say I have been in contact with you and asked to speak to the manager which you said would ring me back I still have not heard from him I hope we can resolve this issue has I think she is being treated unfairly and the price you are asking is very unreasonable also when she arrived home the lifeline was tested and it was 20 minutes before anyone responded regards
Sent from my Huawei phone

Had to exchange took 5 days to sort and another to receive but working now

I wanted the smoke alarms fitted and I am certain I arranged this online but the goods were just posted to my mothers address.

I am now trying to liaise with carers to be around to get them fitted

Disappointing

Very prompt delivery and fast response when testing call was made.

My experience with Welbeing has been nothing short of terrible. My elderly next door neighbour has a Welbeing alarm, which she has unfortunately set off a couple of times when making food, drinks, etc. I have received numerous calls from them to see if I can pop round to make sure she's okay before they call an ambulance? That in itself isn't a problem; I'm more than happy to. The issue arises if I miss a call from them and receive a voicemail asking me to contact them, as happened today. I phoned the number they left me. The first time I rang back I was sat waiting for 17 minutes, the second 9 minutes and the third time 12 minutes with nobody answering at all. This is supposed to be the number you call if there is an issue or emergency with one of their clients. Absolutely terrible service!! If this was for one of my elderly relatives, I wouldn't touch them them with a barge pole. I've advised my neighbour to look into an alternative.

I contacted Wellbeing by phone to discuss the Care Line and the person was very helpful. I was going to order the Care Line by phone but there was a £60 call out charge for the Engineer for fitting. I ordered online instead with no fitting charge. Equipment was delivered promptly by courier. Fitting instructions were clear but may be difficult for anyone with poor fine coordination or not used to setting up or using technology.