NHS Business Services Authority Reviews 

An organisation which exists entirely to extract money from the poorest and most vulnerable in society through a complex web of confusion and collaboration with DWP. When in receipt of benefits DWP do not make it clear what type of JSA you are on and NHS BSA are ready to pounce if you think you're on one which enables you to claim a prescription. The staff are un-kind, un-helpful and the entire organisation is disconnected with one department having no idea what the other is doing. Make sure everything is in writing and don't trust anything you are told over the phone. Essentially just another tax going towards very well paid civil servants.

shocking, not one person can give me a straight answer, not one person will confirm any £. the worst company i have dealt with, and does not help that they cut me off after not being able to answer 1 single question

I am writing to express my deep dissatisfaction and indignation regarding the unjust charge I experienced with your company. I was charged an amount which I believe was taken advantage of my innocence and that of other customers.

Even my dentist was unaware of the discrepancy that resulted in this charge, highlighting the lack of transparency and fairness in this situation.

It is regrettable to see that you profit at the expense of innocent people. I feel wronged and disrespected by this abusive practice.

I want to make my discontent clear and hope that, in the future, your company will review its practices to prevent other customers from experiencing the same unfairness and injustice.

If I could give zero stars I absolutely would. I need to vent my anger and frustration, so here goes. I have been in receipt of certain benefits for some years and up until the beginning of this year I had been entitled to Free NHS dental and prescription help. However, because my daughter has now turned 19,I no
longer fall into the category of elgability. ( something I was NOT aware of given that I fall bellow a certain income threshold. Much of my help has stopped which i knew would happen, but to my detriment, i didnt beleive an essential service like NHS support, a public funded service i might add, would fall into this category. Strangly enough 'my wages have not marraclously rissen either, so no increases to compansate my dramatically reduced income! As a consequence I have received two penalty charges, one for essential prescriptions which I can not do without and one for a dental procedure. I Have desperately tired to eppeal my predicament to the thoroughly uncaring, cold and insensitive staff at NHSBSA. Unsurprisingly it got me absolutely nowhere! ( Where does this corrupt organisation think people on very low incomes are supposed to get this money from! Its an absolute disgrace. I hold my hand up to making an mistake,but to be heavily
penalised at a time when evey penny matters,its beyond disgusting. To hit the most funerable with such heavy fines is an outrage. There should be something in place to stop things like this from happening. (What is the point in giving it to you in one hand but then taking it from the other!!!.

would be zero - they target people as guilty until proven otherwise - this company is shameful and people who work for them should leave immediately for their own good - you are chasing after vulnerable people . taxing the poor and sick for single human errors when ill and painting us as payment dodgers. Hateful, cruel and without compassion (or the ability to listen to people.)

sent a fine even tho i meet the u c criteria?

they tell me that the information i sent does not give me free dental treatment even tho uc said it does

so i wait for my day in court as i am not paying a penny incompetence rude staff too

The system that The nhsbsa operates is appalling.I’ve not claimed since September 2023 and so how can I claim free dental treatment if I don’t have a certificate.Never even had an nhs dentist for years .Been fined for listening to BUPA receptionist advice .She even knew my certificate was out of date .Once they press that button .I was fined £100 & treatment on top .Why couldn’t they of rung me .Scotland gives you the chance to pay .👍

I got a pre-payment certificate in November which runs out at the end of October 2024. I have recently been lucky enough to be told that I now do not need any prescription medication that I have relied on for years.

I telephoned to see if I could get any kind of refund and was told no by a very officious sounding man saying that I should have read the terms and conditions before I applied for it; so I wrote an email of complaint and received an equally wooden reply which did not address one word of my complaint, barring the fact that I was not entitled to a refund, which I already knew!

I suggested that a partial refund as a goodwill gesture would have gone some way to restore faith that NHS Business Services is interested in patient care, as well as making money.

Both on the phone, and via email, I might as well have been conversing with one of those annoying online chatbots - for an organisation aligned to the NHS they have shown no consideration or empathy. This has been confirmed to me now that I have looked at these Trustpilot reviews. I conducted their 'satisfaction survey' and promised to add to the reviews.

I am not that bothered about the money - but angry about the way they approached it - very disappointing organisation and I am feeling for those people whose stories I have read which are much worse than mine.

AVOID at all costs, it Is convenient that you can pay monthly for your prescription and get it cheaper than normal, but what's not convenient is after years of paying for my prescription, one day I picked up my tablets and as always at the pharmacy it says pre paid on my account so the pharmacist just hands me my tablets and tells me it's still pre paid, THIS ONE TIME my pre payment had run out 3 days before I picked up my prescription, BUT the pharmacist did not tell me this has I was late picking my tablets up and on the day they were ready they put a label on the tablets saying pre paid, HOWEVER WHEN I PICKED THEM UP 3 DAYS LATER MY PRE PAYMENT HAD RUN OUT BUT THE PHARMACIST DID NOT TELL ME THIS AND JUST SAID I AM STILL ON PRE PAYMENT, SO I GOT FINED.

My mum phoned up to change some details and the first adviser we got literally didn't take a breathe and wouldn't let my mum speak...on the flip side we got through to Ellie (Customer Contact Officer) who was a breathe of fresh air . Ellie took her time with the call, made sure everything was understood before proceeding and overall a very charming experience once Ellie had come to the rescue. Keep up the good work Ellie

Typical NHS website,tried to sign up for pensions,nothing opened, can’t say I’m surprised the spend millions on IT but never get it right.

After I applied for my GHIC card and completed online I received my card without 10 days
I also completed my husbands information which I have done before and he has never had an issue with obtaining a card
He works
He is a British National- born here
Served both Army and Police here
Is a resident of the UK
We are both on the electrol role

He had provided his UK address and bare in mind this company also wrote to him at this address
He had provided his nationality, date of birth, NI number but none of that is any good

Spoke with an advisor todsy 16th Feb who was less than useless and couldn't provide suitable answer to questions claiming it was down to the computer requesting this information and decided to cut the call without any notifications or allowing me to speak to someone higher up
He has also provided his NHS number also

They are 11 points on the letter sent which relate to information that is not relevant to him - such as date you plan to move to another country- we are not
If you are studying - which he is not
If you have healthcare cover from another country - which he doesn't so 4 points are NOT even relevant to him and yet he complied with all other points the same points that are required for a passport which he has had renewed, and his driving license

Unless you are not a British Citizen you are wasting your time obtaining one of these cards the staff are no help, it seems they are discriminating against the over 60's who they expect to jump through hoops to prove who they are - Discrimination at its best

Especially when they can not explain the real reason except its computer generated

Yet mine was applied on the same day and was granted the only difference is I'm a female and under 60

Disgusting customer service too

Not everyone who falls under the umbrella of NHS are kind caring or considerate especially if you let a computer decide who is eligible and who is not

My dental surgery ticked the wrong b9x & wrongly stated that I was receiving income based ESA when I clearly stated that it was contributions based!
I wouldn't have even said anything because I didn't even consider that I wld be exempt anyway-but THEY asked me!
I received a letter informing me that I'd wrongly claimed free treatment. I contacted the practice manager who said that it had happened before & contacted NHSBC to explain the mistake..they very curtly replied to her that it was my duty to ensure that I was entitled to free treatment!
NHSBC is unapproachable-except when it comes to kindly telling you all about ways to pay the ruddy bill.
I was supposed to receive the PCN email today in order that I pay in time to avoid additional penalties-haven't

I paid for my PPC via direct debit, which Business Services cancelled without telling me. Six months later I then received a £100 fine for taking medication without payment. I protested but they did not care one jot.

Two months later they came back, having picked another month to fine me on, from way back. Again protests were ignored. But they cancelled the DD, not me, but didn't tell me. They must tell me when they make a change, so it's their mistake. Terrible attitude and culture. Maybe this is the next public services scandal after the Post Office? There must be many more than just me...

These people are basically like highwaymen if you make an honest mistake with your PPC and you have very little recourse. If they know your ppc has expired then they have the tech to check it at the pharmacy, or, do not allow people to take a prescription without showing a ppc at the pharmacy then you cannot forget to renew it. Hold on that would be too easy and they could not make millions in fines……

Got a letter say I havnt paid for prescription yesterday. Phoned them got through told to send a email, to say chemist had made a mistake. Sent off like they requested. Got reply to say no. Got to be a hand written letter. So I have sent that off now but how do you prove you paid with cash nobody keeps receipts of months ago. I have a feeling reading reviews where this will end. Me paying a fine for a crime I did not commit. I am only guessing the chemist I used because it was so long ago. My tip if you read this is pay on your card in future then you got proof.
Am going to chemist to complain today. I will update if they back down.
Update
They have now backed down with the help of the chemist.
They said they give you one strike anyway before they fine you. I have proved I paid and all I got of them was case closed. No sorry.
Shocking service

I would give this 0 rating, as it is hard to express what distress and worry this checking service is causing. It borders on demanding money with menaces.

I had never heard on a PCN notice until I got one 2 months after a visit to the dentist with my wife.
BOTH us and the dental practice assumed we had an exemption certificate that covered the costs, but I later found out the date had expired after 6 months, instead of a year which I expected. It was an HONEST mistake, that I immediately offered to pay all the dental costs incurred. I was not allowed to because the notice prevented me paying the dentist.
I immediately sent payment to the checking service stating it was an honest mistake. I had to pay her fine of £100 and the service supervisor agreed to drop my fine, because their agent had previously told me I owed them nothing and he had now corrected their system.
A month later I got a further fine when I thought the cases were all closed. It was clear the supervisor had lied to me and 5 months after our dental visit £175 was now due (including a £50 surcharge) ontop of the other fine I had already paid and all the dental charges.
I naturally logged a complaint to the NHS which I did not get a reply or answer back.
I have been told I owed the service nothing TWICE, but in reality they are still pursuing me for a further £175.00 of fines they created.

All in all our checkups of £96.00 has cost us nearly £400.

You would expect after making a genuine error you would be able to pay what you owed, and be fined if you didn't, but not here. You get issued a fine even after you are told your cases are closed.

Their complaints team don't reply, their agents miss lead you, and the review process is not worth the time as everything you say is ignored.
Their recording system would provide evidence of what happened in conversations, but again they never check them even though I have provided names, dates and times.

If they had checked this latest fine would never have happened. I think they are using PCN notice legislation as a fund raiser, as last week there were over 4000 views of what to do if you get a notice. Not bad if each case is worth £150 or so to the service.

I think for a hospital service keen on mental health of patients, please revise this awful system so the honest and vulnerable in our society are better protected. Just be fair and read your own website that states honest payment mistakes would be accepted.
So beware any bouncing cheques or out of date certificates, as you are guilty NO MATTER WHAT as soon as you leave the dentists. DONT expect any compassion, you won't get any.

It is time to change the system that has token P.R. complaint and review services to a system that actually works.

Furious at the injustice of it all. Seeking legal advice now.

Awful just awful, poor service they don’t care that they have made a mistake and expect me to pay a fine of £96 because of their error????

Absolute disgrace!!!

Dreadful service again nobody answers the phones and they don’t respond to anyone

They pray on the vulnerable who make honest mistakes due to an over complicated system. £100 fine for submitting free dental care on the wrong Jobseeker’s Allowance is unjust. Why not give people the opportunity to just pay the initial cost??