Guy Beats BS Healthcare Bureaucracy by Sending 300+ Emails

Author image for Eric Lund
Eric Lund
Jun 16, 2019 8:00 PM EDT

After being put on a waiting list for way too long and seeing his wife blown off by incompetent healthcare administration, this guy took the matter into his own hands, with some creative emailing and the use of telemarketing software. The world is full of people complying maliciously, like this IT guy who came up with a masterful plan after being told he had to work on vacation.

Advertisement
  • 01
    Text - Text - Posted by u/cyberphobia_au 9 hours ago 4 3 I can find the email address on the website... ok, if you say so. XL This is without a doubt the best outcome possible from a bit of Malicious Compliance I could have achieved. I was only aiming to support my wife's good deed, but this paid me great dividends. This is a bit detailed as it covers a long span of backstory with a very rapid response once the malicious compliance was engaged in. A TLDR is attached at the bottom The backstory I
    via cyberphobia_au
  • 02
    Text - Text - 6 months later after extensive nagging from my wife I finally called the hospital to see what was happening. Nothing like being told that the case had been closed. After a few firm but polite words my case was returned to the waiting list. Wife was happy, I was content to be back on the list (although rather confused that I'd been removed).. So, I waited... and waited... and waited...
    via cyberphobia_au
  • 03
    Text - Text - The Setup My wife is a loving woman and I'm damn lucky to have her. After her nagging for me to chase it up falling on deaf ears (although this is also because my work hours make me unable to contact the hospital during their office hours) this tremendous woman decided to sort it out for me and find out what was happening, i.e. am I still on the waiting list? After all it was now almost 18 months since the MRI had been taken. My wife contacted the hospital and after being transferr
    via cyberphobia_au
  • 04
    Text - Wife: Thanks Karen, what's the email address? There isn't any on our paperwork. Karen: That's ok, it's on the website. Wife: I have a paper and pen could you tell me the email address Karen: It's on the website, you'll find it there. Wife: Whereabouts on the website? Karen: You'll find it on the website. Wife: I understand you're telling me it's on the website, what I'm asking is where on the website is it? What should I be looking for? Karen: I told you, it's on the website.
    via cyberphobia_au
  • 05
    Text - Text - At this point my wife was frustrated and tired from trying to jump through Karen's hoops. She thanked Karen for her time and finished the call. Frustrated my wife contacted the local member of parliament for advice on how to resolve the situation. During my evening drive I was listening to my frustrated, annoyed wife. She regaled me with the pointless call to the hospital and then her markedly better call with the local MP (member of parliament). I felt anger and annoyance. My wife
    via cyberphobia_au
  • 06
    Text - Text - The Malicious Compliance I arrived home and told my wife that I was thankful for her time and effort, but it was alright I would take care of the situation now and I'm sorry that she'd had such a hard time that day I opened my laptop and downloaded a program. This program is designed for marketing, it will scour through a website and pull any contact details (email address, name, title, contact numbers, etc) and compile them for people to then cold-call employees of a company. I ty
    via cyberphobia_au
  • 07
    Text - Text - After some thoughtful reflection I removed any email address that didn't belong to the hospital, leaving me with a still rather healthy 300+ email addresses. Copy, Paste into the To field. Then to continue to up my game I CC'ed in the department for the minister of health, the minister of health, shadow department for the minister of health, shadow minister of health and then the local MP. I returned to my email and thanked the MP for their assistance, emphasising how thankful I am
    via cyberphobia_au
  • 08
    Text - Text - "I would like to thank Karen from Support Liaison for the limited support she was able to offer my wife despite her not being apparently authorised. I would also like to thank Karen for her clearly perfunctory instructions that the email address I needed to contact was on the Hospital website, albeit with no additional information as to the location of the email address I had to do some searching. Having followed Karen's instructions I had found this email on the Hospital website.
    via cyberphobia_au
  • 09
    Text - With that little extra added I smiled and hit send **As an amusing aside, I found over 3000+ email addresses when I included the sub-domains (I should point out that the Hospital is a large group of hospitals covering a large region)
    via cyberphobia_au
  • 10
    Text - The Outcome Week 1 The following day I returned to work, in my lunch break I did my usual catch-up on emails. Except I noticed I had a few calls too. 9:11-Missed Call 9:18 - Missed Call 9:25-Email 1 Dear cyberphobia_au, Thanks for you feedback and I just wanted to update you and let you know that I have spoken to your spouse and given her the following information at this point.
    via cyberphobia_au
  • 11
    Text - Text - I have logged your complaint and sent it to the Head of Unit for Ortho and Referral Management for investigation and response. I can confirm that you are on the Orthopaedic waitlist and have been since the 27.4.18. . I have put a comment on our database under her details as emergency contact that states "All information about appointments can be given to Mrs cyberphobia_au as per direct permission from Mr cyberphobia_au." I will follow up and escalate the complaint about lack of su
    via cyberphobia_au
  • 12
    Text - Text - Do you wish to have any response or outcome from Hospital about this complaint relayed to the office of Hon. Local MP? May I please have your permission to put your email address on our database? Please feel free to contact me if you wish to discuss anything further. Regards, Not_Karen 11:23 - Missed Call (an appointment has been booked) 1:16 Email 2 - Appointment Details **I received an additional 38 automated email responses and another 5 responses from various individuals/depart
    via cyberphobia_au
  • 13
    Text - Week 2 I attended my orthopaedic appointment. The expected 2-3 hour waiting room experience was a brief 30 minutes to see the surgeon As expected surgery was the outcome. I make my way to the desk to provide my details to be put on the surgical waitlist. The nurse behind the counter makes a quip about it being a priority.... that's strange? I'm not in urgent need for this, I've lived with it for the last decade. I get told I should have some details sent out to me in the next week or so d
    via cyberphobia_au
  • 14
    Text - Text - Week 3 I receive a call about my availability (standard sort of stuff), can I attend same day if they have a late cancellation (I need a few days at least to ensure transition for my work) On the Friday I receive some paperwork detailing that I am a priority 2 and should expect the surgery to occur sometime in the next 9 months. Week 4 Monday morning, 9:20 Missed calls 9:30- Message from my wife Call me I call her during my lunch break, as she answers the phone I ask her 'So when i
    via cyberphobia_au
  • 15
    Text - Text - Week 5 Thursday morning, I get stabbed, jabbed and arthrosscoped. Kept in for observations and then released today on Friday. Only to come home and submit my first reddit post (typing this one handed has been a challenge) **My wife received a call checking up on things and to inform her that Karen has undertaken a review of procedure and if my wife would like a formal apology from Karen... Whilst my wife was frustrated by her actions an apology wasn't needed, knowing she had been u
    via cyberphobia_au
  • 16
    Text - Text - EDIT A huge thank you for the upvotes and awards. Due to popular demand and to save people trawling through the comments; The program I used to secure the email address was 'Atomic Email Hunter, there are others like it out there too. I am also based in Australia, despite the similarities to UK and Canadian healthcare. For those who think Karen was let off easily I doubt the multitude of people who she works for/with who received this email would be thinking the same As an amusing/
    via cyberphobia_au

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

plan email incompetence health healthcare stupid karen marketing win
Scroll Down For The Next Article