Medical supply delivery

[nmmom95]

I am on peritoneal dialysis and my supplier delivers my dialysate fluid directly to the resort when I travel. I had boxes delivered to HHI and VWL without a problem. I am staying at BLT next week, and they said that there will be a charge, by weight to accept my supplies. This could be a hefty charge, since I will have 13 cases filled with 6 liter bags of fluid. Can they charge me for receiving medically necessary supplies? I know the airlines can't because it would violate the Americans with Disabilities act, according to the rep at US Air.
Is this also true for resorts?

 

[SueM in MN]

That sounds pretty strange to charge for receiving it and to charge by weight. That means they have to weigh anything they receive and do paperwork to make sure they charge the right amount. Just seems like a lot of trouble to me; if they were going to charge a fee, a flat fee would be much easier.


I suggest you call the WDW Special Reservations number at (407) 939-7807 to see if they will help you to sort it out. If you called the resort, the number you call actually goes to a call center, answering for the resort. So, the answer you get from there may not be the answer you actually will get at the resort where you can talk to a front desk manager who can make exceptions.
If that doesn’t work, I would see if your supplier can go to bat for you. I don’t know what kind of heavy things BLT expects people to ship there that they are trying to discourage, but it’s not really fair to charge you by weight.
The ADA doesn’t really have anything in it about a situation like this - probably because it’s not something that comes up. Airlines are governed by the Air Carrier Access Act, not the ADA, and it does spell out some specific things, like not charging for necessary medical supplies (although it’s a grey area about what is meant as far as quantity for necessary).

 

[dclfun]

I had heard that the convention center resorts are now charging for deliveries. I'm not sure if medical supplies are treated differently than people just sending a grocery or bottled water order, or supplies for a convention. As Sue said, best to check it out in advance. I'd call the Contemporary directly and ask to speak with a supervisor in Bell Services.---Kathy

 

[SueM in MN]

I had heard that the convention center resorts are now charging for deliveries. I'm not sure if medical supplies are treated differently than people just sending a grocery or bottled water order, or supplies for a convention. As Sue said, best to check it out in advance. I'd call the Contemporary directly and ask to speak with a supervisor in Bell Services.---Kathy

Thanks
I had not thought of the Convention Center aspect. It does make sense that they would have some different way of dealing with convention items. I've been to quite a few conventions and many of the exhibitors have MANY hundreds of pounds of things - from their displays that break down into pieces for travel to boxes of brochures. It makes sense to charge them by the pound.

My gut feeling is that they apply the fee for convention related items, but not for the general public on vacation. The person the OP talked to probably just saw a freight charge listed and thought it applied in all circumstances.

 

[nmmom95]

Thank you so much for the replies! I called the Special Reservations number and they were able to get the fee waived.

 

[SueM in MN]

Glad it sounds like it is settled. Hope you have a great trip.

 

[cm8]

Thank you so much for the replies! I called the Special Reservations number and they were able to get the fee waived.

So does that mean that it is now a charge for medical equipment?

Does anyone know if oxygen delivery is also included with that?

Guess I had better get calling

 

[SueM in MN]

So does that mean that it is now a charge for medical equipment?

Does anyone know if oxygen delivery is also included with that?

Guess I had better get calling

If you are not at a convention resort, I don't think there will be any issue. It makes sense they would charge for convention related items, since that is a business expense and there are so many items. I think the OP's need for delivery just got put into the wrong 'bin'.
You oxygen supplier would know if they have had any issues and since there will be an actual person delivering it (rather than being shipped), they can clear any difficulties up when they are delivering.

If worse comes to worse and someone does get charged for medical items, it should be easy to clear up with the front desk.

 

[cm8]

If you are not at a convention resort, I don't think there will be any issue. It makes sense they would charge for convention related items, since that is a business expense and there are so many items. I think the OP's need for delivery just got put into the wrong 'bin'.
You oxygen supplier would know if they have had any issues and since there will be an actual person delivering it (rather than being shipped), they can clear any difficulties up when they are delivering.

If worse comes to worse and someone does get charged for medical items, it should be easy to clear up with the front desk.

okay thanks!!!

 

[mom3sonstt]

I am on peritoneal dialysis and my supplier delivers my dialysate fluid directly to the resort when I travel. I had boxes delivered to HHI and VWL without a problem. I am staying at BLT next week, and they said that there will be a charge, by weight to accept my supplies. This could be a hefty charge, since I will have 13 cases filled with 6 liter bags of fluid. Can they charge me for receiving medically necessary supplies? I know the airlines can't because it would violate the Americans with Disabilities act, according to the rep at US Air.
Is this also true for resorts?

That is my same situation - only I was staying at Boardwalk. They did charge me $10 per box.

That sounds pretty strange to charge for receiving it and to charge by weight. That means they have to weigh anything they receive and do paperwork to make sure they charge the right amount. Just seems like a lot of trouble to me; if they were going to charge a fee, a flat fee would be much easier.


I suggest you call the WDW Special Reservations number at (407) 939-7807 to see if they will help you to sort it out. If you called the resort, the number you call actually goes to a call center, answering for the resort. So, the answer you get from there may not be the answer you actually will get at the resort where you can talk to a front desk manager who can make exceptions.
If that doesn’t work, I would see if your supplier can go to bat for you. I don’t know what kind of heavy things BLT expects people to ship there that they are trying to discourage, but it’s not really fair to charge you by weight.
The ADA doesn’t really have anything in it about a situation like this - probably because it’s not something that comes up. Airlines are governed by the Air Carrier Access Act, not the ADA, and it does spell out some specific things, like not charging for necessary medical supplies (although it’s a grey area about what is meant as far as quantity for necessary).

Thanks for listing the number.....just called.

I had heard that the convention center resorts are now charging for deliveries. I'm not sure if medical supplies are treated differently than people just sending a grocery or bottled water order, or supplies for a convention. As Sue said, best to check it out in advance. I'd call the Contemporary directly and ask to speak with a supervisor in Bell Services.---Kathy

I wasn;t aware of it until I checked in, asked for my boxes, and was told that my room would be charged $60. The concierge CM got the package delivery place on the phone for me - I explained it was necessary medical supplies - not extra luggage I didn't feel like hauling with me. She said it did not matter - that they get oxygen and all kinds of things and that was the fee.

Thanks
I had not thought of the Convention Center aspect. It does make sense that they would have some different way of dealing with convention items. I've been to quite a few conventions and many of the exhibitors have MANY hundreds of pounds of things - from their displays that break down into pieces for travel to boxes of brochures. It makes sense to charge them by the pound.

My gut feeling is that they apply the fee for convention related items, but not for the general public on vacation. The person the OP talked to probably just saw a freight charge listed and thought it applied in all circumstances.

Not according to the person I spoke to on the phone - it is the fee for handling the packages regardless of what they are. I told her I could not fly with my supplies - so I had to have them shipped (my supplier actually ships and/or delivers them). And then I had to pay her $10 apiece just to hand them to me??? She kind of chuckled and said that yes, I did.

Thank you so much for the replies! I called the Special Reservations number and they were able to get the fee waived.

Really???? When I called the gal didn't seem to know what I was talking about. She gave me an email address to send my concerns too.

So does that mean that it is now a charge for medical equipment?

Does anyone know if oxygen delivery is also included with that?

Guess I had better get calling

According to the gal at Ikon (the 3rd party package distribution place) yes, oxygen is charged a fee also. Whether there is a way to get it waived or to get around it is what I am trying to find out for future trips.

If you are not at a convention resort, I don't think there will be any issue. It makes sense they would charge for convention related items, since that is a business expense and there are so many items. I think the OP's need for delivery just got put into the wrong 'bin'.
You oxygen supplier would know if they have had any issues and since there will be an actual person delivering it (rather than being shipped), they can clear any difficulties up when they are delivering.

If worse comes to worse and someone does get charged for medical items, it should be easy to clear up with the front desk.

The manager I spoke with at Boardwalk (I don't know if she was the manager of Boardwalk, or just the concierge's supervisor - but when my husband asked to speak to a manager that is who we got) She said she would credit our account for half of the fee being charged, but that it isn't Disney that charges it, it is the 3rd party provider. I don't see why, if she was able to credit half of it why she couldn't credit all of it, but I guess that is neither here nor there. Bottom line is she said that it wasn't a Disney charge so she could not waive it.

okay thanks!!!

Yes - thanks for all the insights. I will try to get my email off today or tomorrow and will let you all know if I find out anything.

 

[cm8]

That is my same situation - only I was staying at Boardwalk. They did charge me $10 per box.



Thanks for listing the number.....just called.




I wasn;t aware of it until I checked in, asked for my boxes, and was told that my room would be charged $60. The concierge CM got the package delivery place on the phone for me - I explained it was necessary medical supplies - not extra luggage I didn't feel like hauling with me. She said it did not matter - that they get oxygen and all kinds of things and that was the fee.



Not according to the person I spoke to on the phone - it is the fee for handling the packages regardless of what they are. I told her I could not fly with my supplies - so I had to have them shipped (my supplier actually ships and/or delivers them). And then I had to pay her $10 apiece just to hand them to me??? She kind of chuckled and said that yes, I did.



Really???? When I called the gal didn't seem to know what I was talking about. She gave me an email address to send my concerns too.



According to the gal at Ikon (the 3rd party package distribution place) yes, oxygen is charged a fee also. Whether there is a way to get it waived or to get around it is what I am trying to find out for future trips.



The manager I spoke with at Boardwalk (I don't know if she was the manager of Boardwalk, or just the concierge's supervisor - but when my husband asked to speak to a manager that is who we got) She said she would credit our account for half of the fee being charged, but that it isn't Disney that charges it, it is the 3rd party provider. I don't see why, if she was able to credit half of it why she couldn't credit all of it, but I guess that is neither here nor there. Bottom line is she said that it wasn't a Disney charge so she could not waive it.



Yes - thanks for all the insights. I will try to get my email off today or tomorrow and will let you all know if I find out anything.

, Thanks for letting me know, that would really upset me. Third party or not it should not apply to medical supplies. They could at least inform you of that as well

 

[dclfun]

Any updates or response to your email yet? This is really unfair and I'd think it's also illegal to charge someone for needed medical supplies. This is very different from the family who is shipping heavy cases of water from Staples to save a few bucks and they have to haul those cases and find a place to store them. You can't survive w/o dialysis supplies and gee, unlike bottled water you can't purchase your supplies in the parks!---Kathy

 

[SueM in MN]

According to the gal at Ikon (the 3rd party package distribution place) yes, oxygen is charged a fee also. Whether there is a way to get it waived or to get around it is what I am trying to find out for future trips.



The manager I spoke with at Boardwalk (I don't know if she was the manager of Boardwalk, or just the concierge's supervisor - but when my husband asked to speak to a manager that is who we got) She said she would credit our account for half of the fee being charged, but that it isn't Disney that charges it, it is the 3rd party provider. I don't see why, if she was able to credit half of it why she couldn't credit all of it, but I guess that is neither here nor there. Bottom line is she said that it wasn't a Disney charge so she could not waive it.


Yes - thanks for all the insights. I will try to get my email off today or tomorrow and will let you all know if I find out anything.

So, it sounds like the change is that Disney is no longer handling the deliveries themselves. A third party company is receiving the deliveries and then bringing them to the resort (sounds like how they are doing deliveries of lugggage on DME.)

One of the first people on this thread was able to get help from the Special Reservations, but it may have been because they also did not know about the change.

When someone finds something out for sure, I will post something to the disABILITIES FAQs thread for future reference.

 

[mom3sonstt]

, Thanks for letting me know, that would really upset me. Third party or not it should not apply to medical supplies. They could at least inform you of that as well

Any updates or response to your email yet? This is really unfair and I'd think it's also illegal to charge someone for needed medical supplies. This is very different from the family who is shipping heavy cases of water from Staples to save a few bucks and they have to haul those cases and find a place to store them. You can't survive w/o dialysis supplies and gee, unlike bottled water you can't purchase your supplies in the parks!---Kathy

So, it sounds like the change is that Disney is no longer handling the deliveries themselves. A third party company is receiving the deliveries and then bringing them to the resort (sounds like how they are doing deliveries of lugggage on DME.)

One of the first people on this thread was able to get help from the Special Reservations, but it may have been because they also did not know about the change.

When someone finds something out for sure, I will post something to the disABILITIES FAQs thread for future reference.

I have not heard anything back from my e-mail yet. The gal at the Special Services phone number gave me the email address - but it's just the standard "contact Disney" email - it didn't go directly to Special Services.

It is my understanding that Ikon (3rd party handler) is only at a few of the resorts - the ones with convention centers. So I pointed out in my email that if I were staying at a different Disney resort there would be no fee for this same service. And apparently if you can figure out how to get packages delivered to the bell services initially to where it by-passes the package distribution center then I guess there is no fee. I just don't know how you go about getting around them. I placed my order through my supplier (Baxter Medical Supplies) - they asked if I had stayed at that location before, I told them I had stayed there the previous November (2009), so they pulled my history and had my supplies shipped to the same address. Both trips were the same length so I would have ordered the same amount of supplies, and they were at the same resort, using the same address. One year bell services brings them right up, the next year I get charged $10 a box

And to top it off - Ikon doesn;t even deliver them - they charge you $10 per box (I think it may be less for smaller packages), then they deliver them to bell services who brings them up who you then feel obligated to tip since they don't receive any part of the "ransom" that you just paid to get your supplies away from package center.

If I don't get something figured out from this trip, my next trip will be planned differently. Right now we are hoping to stay at Boardwalk again. If we stick with that we are also considering flying me down early - having manual boxes delivered along with my machine boxes, DH would bring my machine in the car so I wouldn't have to deal with it at the airport. But if we do it that way, I think instead of me staying at BW initially, I may stay somewhere else, have all my boxes delivered to that room then when I switch over to Boardwalk when the rest of them arrive I will have bell services transfer all of my boxes over to that resort. I hate to do that because that is a lot of unnecesary work, but for a family trip I am there a lot longer and use more boxes. And frankly - if I have to spend the money - I would rather give bell services a bigger tip voluntarily than pay this other company.

 

[mom3sonstt]

So, it sounds like the change is that Disney is no longer handling the deliveries themselves. A third party company is receiving the deliveries and then bringing them to the resort (sounds like how they are doing deliveries of lugggage on DME.)

I must have missed this line before. When I was standing at the counter forever waiting on finding out where my boxes even were....I asked the concierge CM if they were at a separate location. She said that they were at Boardwalk - just over at the business center. So this company must be set up onsite at some of the resorts. So basically my boxes were at the Boardwalk, bell services would physically bring them to me - but I had to pay some 3rd party - who I never see - to hand them to bell services.

 

[canopynut66]

I am on peritoneal dialysis and my supplier delivers my dialysate fluid directly to the resort when I travel. I had boxes delivered to HHI and VWL without a problem. I am staying at BLT next week, and they said that there will be a charge, by weight to accept my supplies. This could be a hefty charge, since I will have 13 cases filled with 6 liter bags of fluid. Can they charge me for receiving medically necessary supplies? I know the airlines can't because it would violate the Americans with Disabilities act, according to the rep at US Air.
Is this also true for resorts?

Was just there November 1-12 at POP Century and was no charge for my oxygen and they delivered to bell services "as required by Disney" then brought to my room. Garden Grocer had the water for the concentrator and delivered it and they also had to deliver to bell services "per Disney" they said this is to be sure the one ordering this is in their room. But just had to tip bell services which was fine

 

[SueM in MN]

I must have missed this line before. When I was standing at the counter forever waiting on finding out where my boxes even were....I asked the concierge CM if they were at a separate location. She said that they were at Boardwalk - just over at the business center. So this company must be set up onsite at some of the resorts. So basically my boxes were at the Boardwalk, bell services would physically bring them to me - but I had to pay some 3rd party - who I never see - to hand them to bell services.

I had missed that too, but someone posted the name of the service (Ikon).
It all seems like a very strange way to do things.

I am not sure it would be illegal to charge a service fee for disability related supplies, as long as the fee is reasonable and not out of line with fees charged others. I DO think it is unreasonable to charge a weight based fee for needed medical supplies because many are quite heavy, which is something the person needing the supplies should not be penalized for; as was already pointed out, it's not like groceries, these are things necessary for life.
I personally think it is distasteful and kind of unethical to charge a fee for delivery of these needed medical supplies, especially if it is WDW somehow preventing the supplies from being delivered right to the resort.

 

[dclfun]

I had missed that too, but someone posted the name of the service (Ikon).
It all seems like a very strange way to do things.

I am not sure it would be illegal to charge a service fee for disability related supplies, as long as the fee is reasonable and not out of line with fees charged others. I DO think it is unreasonable to charge a weight based fee for needed medical supplies because many are quite heavy, which is something the person needing the supplies should not be penalized for; as was already pointed out, it's not like groceries, these are things necessary for life.
I personally think it is distasteful and kind of unethical to charge a fee for delivery of these needed medical supplies, especially if it is WDW somehow preventing the supplies from being delivered right to the resort.

I think there are ADA protections though just like the airlines not being able to charge extra for medical supplies. It sounds like the issue only comes in at convention resorts so this is also discrimination as medical supply delivery is at no additional cost at every other WDW resort. I'd definitely fight this one tooth and nail.---Kathy

 

[kittycat9]

Now it's all making sense.

We're being charged by Ikon as well. Only we were lead to believe that it was Disney-wide. My son's medical supplier is delivering food and syringes. We were afraid to have them ship his feeding bags and extensions, so we packed those, and they're coming with us on the plane. Mainly because they couldn't promise us how they would be packaged (if the boxes would be consolidated). Once the box exceeds 10lbs, you get charged $10. If I ended up with 5 boxes, that's $50. I know I have at least 3 cases, and all are over 10lbs each - I didn't want to risk more than that. I probably have 4, but I won't know until we arrive - the boxes landed there Friday.

It really angered me that we were charged for my son's food, of all things. Especially with all the grief we've been through just trying to plan this stupid trip with the rest of us being on a dining plan - which totally messes up the room reservations, booking dining, trip insurance, etc.

 

[mom3sonstt]

So you talked to somebody down there about it ahead of time? Do you know who....I mean was it special services, the resort, or somebody else? I was so blindsided by it when I arrived. I have sent an email, in addition to the automatically generated reply I have received another one from somebody who said they would be the one responding and that I should hear from her within 7 business days.