Lively Mobile Plus

First we were told that the necessary updates they sent to his phone had not gone through and therefore that was why Alexa would not work. Three more phone calls to Lively with tries to send "updates" through to the phone, plus MORE hours on the phone with customer service and the service still did not work with them on the phone to hear the error messages. They then gave us an option to get a new phone. New phone received in a few days....again - good service.

Alexa still would not work, even after setting up through Amazon twice. Again more phone calls. Customer Service had me disconnect Alexa and reconnect through Amazon while they listened on the phone. STILL did not work....so they "expedited" a call to us from their IT dept. Received a call stating Lively was have issues with Alexa "on their end" and to wait two to three weeks and try again. A month has past. More phone calls to Lively Customer Service who AGAIN said they would expedite and call to us from IT. Still no call from IT - PLUS Alexa still does not work for my husband.

We purchased the phone on 9/18/21. It is now 6/23/22. NINE months paying for a phone that a visually impaired person is supposed to be able to use and IT STILL DOES NOT WORK. My husband cannot use an iPhone...we've tried. A flip phone is best for him. Does anyone know of another phone or service the visually impaired can use. He needs a phone for safety and emergency reasons. I'm not always with him. Thanks.

Last week there was another battery issue and a week later I asked where the replacement unit was as we did not receive it a week later. They said I would have to purchase an entire new unit. I said that this was not satisfactory. In fact I requested a refund for the six weeks that I never had service out of the last eight months due to the continuous returning of defective units/batteries. The customer service rep then hung up on me. Honestly only half of the customer service reps there actually seem to enjoy their jobs. The rest are rude and useless. Very few were excellent and knowledgable. Not only is Lively Customer Service for the most part very poor, it usually takes twenty-thirty minutes to get through to a rep per phone call.

I have been more than patient for many months. Seriously, I have heard excuses from 5G upgrade issues (not an issue at all) to not having the correct email on file for notifications to properly function. I have the correct email on file. Funny how notifications worked for the first three months of service with my original email on record and for the other five no one could figure the problem out even after changing to a secondary email address. Stay away from this firm. You get what you pay for. Buy a unit and service plan from a reputable firm that costs more but is reliable. Reliability is definitely a requirement for a device like this.

A couple years ago, his Lively failed in the middle of the night during a medical emergency. His life was saved only because he still has a Lifestation in his condo and was able to summon paramedics using that. Customer Service did not want to send him a new Lively until they received the old one back to examine it to be sure it was really not working. It was only after I told the rep that the only reason my father was in the hospital and not the morgue was due to the Lifestation that she agreed to send him a new Lively right away. I did not want him returning from the hospital to only one functioning Lively. (He uses one during the day and sleeps with the second while the other one charges overnight.) So just know that you may have to push for what you need.

Fast forward to today: Our plans provide for free annual device replacements. Or at least we were told they were free. And when I called to get the replacements to confirm that they would be free, she checked the account and confirmed that our plans included free annual replacements. Except I received the bill today and they aren't really free. For each Lively, we were charged a $15 "processing fee" and for the Jitterbug $20. If I am remembering what the customer service rep just told me, the fee for a smartphone is $25. Had I been advised of these fees upfront, we might have waited longer to request replacements. Regardless, these processing fees should be disclosed upfront so that customers can make informed decisions.

If you have multiple devices, you must have a separate online account for each. So every time we need to upgrade my father's contacts, medications, doctors, etc., I must do this three times. If you don't have to update frequently, it's not a big deal. But if you do, it may be something to consider in your choice of medical alert devices.

We have been very happy with the call centers. My father's first Great Call device was the Jitterbug. He noted that the call center answered much more quickly than the Lifestation call center so he got the Livelies, as well. The fact remains, that the only reason he is alive today is because I had convinced him to keep the Lifestation as a backup and he had that when the Lively device failed. As a result, he always has two alert devices with him at any time in case one fails, and you may want to do the same, especially if you live alone.

My mom received her Greatcall emergency response system yesterday. In the box was the form we were to fill out and send back with contact information, her medical condition and medicine she was taking. Or according to the form you can go to www.greatcall.com and update your information. That’s where over three hours of phone calls were made and still nothing was resolved. I started with her insurance company anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield who transferred me to Critical signal technologies, who then transferred me to GreatCall. The issue has still not been resolved so now I’m wondering if Greatcall is the right emergency response system for my mother. If I can’t even get an online account set up how are you guys gonna respond to an emergency.

I asked LifeLine to come and pick up the old system. When they showed this morning I told them to leave it here because I don’t have a reliable system in hand. So I paid another $53.00 for another month of service. I respectfully ask that someone return my call so we can get this issue resolved so I know my mother's in safe hands.

I did send a message via Messenger. I received a call from an individual with the Office of the President for GreatCall. Still no fix to the problem. The excuse was this was a new program through my mom‘s insurance company and they were going forward they will remove the information stating that you can set up an online account so you can monitor the health and welfare of the patient wearing it. Next step I guess is to write an email to the CEO of Best Buy but really not relying on any feedback there. I suggest if you’re looking for a emergency medical device for your love ones that has 2020 technology that you look elsewhere. Sincerely Michael **