Grifols Biomat USA - Plasma Donation Center — Local services in Rexburg

I have been donating at this center off and on for around 10 years now. I have seen Employees come and go management change and the business and their practices transform over the years. Some of the changes they have made aren’t my favorite but many things have improved the whole experience over all. I appreciate that you can set appointments on your phone and the check in questions. They do promotions from time to time too and it’s very nice when you have a chance to win something like a hoodie, a bag or even some cash. Kind caring staff honestly make the difference when coming here. While almost all the original people are gone the staff there are full of great people. To name a few Melinda is great, caring mindful and down to earth. She has worked at the center for a while now and is always a kind caring face. Wes this bearded funny man is a kind personable person also never backing done from having a good day. Shay is a kind gal to always willing to answer questions with a smile on her face like the other two I mentioned also on med staff. There are many more people i could mention by name but this review would be pages long. The good thing is if i had to write about what i will call the grumpy people there the list would be very very short. I like to give them the benefit doubt that they are human, like me and have a bad day or two… it’s just every day for some. Now with all this being said if i was new reading this i would be looking for pros and cons. So here they are; Pros -Promotions: while they use to happen more often they do happen still. Cash prizes are always great but some cool things do pop up like Xbox giveaways or swag. Personally I wish they did more like they use to! Short wait times: because of the app it makes it easier to get an appointment and get signed in to be screened. -Kind Staff: like i said before there are so many kind staff members here at this center. With very few grumpy/ non smiling or personable people… most of the staff will treat you very kindly no mater if you are just meeting them or old friends. -Clean bathroom: for the most part the bathrooms are clean. A bit worn in places and with the occasional dribble of people who clearly missed a class or two in preschool… they seem to clean it often and have it smelling like a new air freshener often. -Available Beds: in years past this place has been so packed you could hardly get an appointment. When you did you had to wait in line before screening, after screening and before you got a bed to donate in. Today (if you set up your appointment on the app and filled everything out before getting there) you walk in, scan your QR code (the pre check in app gave you) side down for maybe 2-5 min get screened, tell the front desk which arm walk back to your bed and wait a few minutes to get hooked up and start. I can be in and out in around an hour every time I have donated. I haven’t seen the place (all 4 bays) full in years. -Needles: yes they have to use a large needle for your donation. However it’s not that bad if you just don’t look or can think of something like butterflies and rainbows for the brief second it takes to get stuck. PRO-TIP when you are new their policy is to have only senior phlebotomists stick you with the needle. The tip here is if you are nervous about this part always ask for a “senior Phleb”! This has helped me tons over the years. Cons -Parking: Anyone that works here or that has donated over the years here is not surprised at all this is first on my list. Parking on the road and the back lot is limited but free. It seems to be very safe too but it competes with other local businesses. Those that can’t parallel park need to steal clear of the side street parking and park up front or in the back far lot. Go at non peak times and you will be just fine parking anywhere. -$$$: You are allowed to donated twice in a 7 day period with at least 1 day between required. So Mon and WEd or Tues and Thurs or Wed and Sat are just a few examples of what you can do. Your first donation is always $30 then $70...

Of the worst customer service experienced I have ever had in my life, Grifols in Rexburg is perhaps number 1.

Keep in mind, I have been a weekly patron at Grifols for the past two years. The only reason I continue to give them my business is because earning $65 dollars a week to sit down and work on personal projects is too hard to turn down despite feeling as if they do not care at all.

Other than that, there is very little that is positive about this Grifols location. 50% of the employees are shockingly rude or discourteous. The rest either have poor communication skills, or barely manage to handle their duties at the job. Despite being paid above minimum wage, I could find much better customer service in the local McDonalds. That's pathetic.

On an all-too-frequent basis employees are unhelpful, unskilled, lazy, or lacking in basic decency. Just from rote observation I watch them regularly wasting time. I can't begin to remember the number of times that I have been waiting to be unhooked from the machine for 10 minutes or more, while watching all the phlebs having a chummy conversation about things that are not work-related. Other times I can regularly hear them talking about how they will screw over customers by closing the location early (against protocol), or deferring their donation (meaning they will have donated for nothing) for childish reasons. I wish I could say this was a joke, but it happens quite frequently. On days when the employees are actually working, I usually get through in less than 2 hours (if it is not busy).

The management at Grifols is not much different. Their screening process is inconsistent, and often I have been sitting in the waiting room almost alone, and still must wait 30 minutes to be brought in. Not to mention, they will change hours at random, or close the facility early for employee meetings without making any effort whatsoever to notify us.

Then there is the unacceptable process through which they defer donors. Since a donation requires preparing yourself physically for that day (drinking lots of water, eating a big meal a certain time before donation, etc.) I often plan my schedule around my bi-weekly donation. Many times I have arrived for my donation, only to find out I am being deferred because a past donation had low protein, or for some other reason. This fact does not bother me. What does is that that they will do absolutely NOTHING to notify me. I cannot even call and ask (even if I somehow could divine the future) because their policy states that they must tell you in person. Then I will be deferred for a month while they take blood samples that take seemingly an eternity to be processed. This means that when I finally am cleared to donate again, all I can do is go in for my next donation and hope to not be sent home.

Even more ridiculous is how they handle taking temperatures. According to policy, if your temperature is below the norm after 3 screenings, you will be deferred from donating that day. If it is above, you will be deferred immediately. Clearly, after walking in after a hot summer day or a freezing winter night, my temperature will not be normal. Instead of taking this into account, I have been penalized occasionaly for a low temperature after being outside in negative weather only a few minutes prior. This is a poor method to handle this obvious exception.

I could continue, but this review is already dreadfully long. If you can find another way to make money, please take it and do not come here. I would only recommend Grifols to those who have a long patience, or are perhaps struggling to make ends meet. If they were to lower their payouts, I doubt I...

OVERALL I have been a regular donor at this center and have overall felt pleased with the staff, atmosphere, and process. Everyone there is nice and I've never had issues with the actual donation process.

FIRST-TIMERS Expect to take a long time for your first physical and donation as they have a mandatory procedure to go through for physical health and medical history... maybe even 3 hours worth from start to finish. Its the only time you have to make an appointment in advance so call in as soon as the semester starts to get a spot and eat what sounds like a ton of food no more than 30 minutes prior or they will turn you away (even if you felt full, if it doesn't sound like a lot they will turn you away!) Every time after that first donation though (as long as you donate regularly enough) will have a small physical and medical history questionnaire to fulfill before a donation making the entire process go about an hour and a half to 2 hours; so about half the time as the first donation. Your first few donations, you are paid quite a bit even but after your 5 or 6th donation (I believe) it goes to a schedule of $20 the first time in the week and $40 the second time (as of Feb 2014). Pretty worth it most of the time

ONE COMPLAINT My complaint however has to do with overall forecasting of how many anticipated donors they will have at given times. Usually I donate early mornings and the time from sign in to complete donation is 1:45, so just under two hour with about 50 minutes being donation itself. I feel that's reasonable especially since I have had to wait to warm up from being cold outside and still been in that time frame. But today I donated and there were a good amount of donors but it was so slow! In my hour and a half prior to being initially called in for my physical I watched a Bourne movie start to finish! Then I accidentally left the aids bulletin (a paper they require you pick up and read at each sign in) on my seat and so was asked to wait which usually means another 15 minutes! Not like I didn't have or read it! It just took so long I set it aside and forgot and wasn't given leniency. I ended up having to leave for classes at college to start so didn't even end up donating because anticipated time to donate ended up being how long I would wait for a physical. Again, it is just this one time I've had an issue, but it was rather frustrating how unprepared the staff was to accommodate everyone there and how they seemed unsympathetic when I said I would then have to leave because I couldn't wait any more. My only complaint and deterrent to donate to date. Learn what days and times are busiest and try to avoid them if you can because for the time being they don't seem to adjust well and their website doesn't seem to allow me to submit...