Mantra Care review: Online therapy

I began my membership with Mantra Care in August 2023. I was assigned a therapist and looked forward to our first meeting. I had never had therapy before, and was somewhat anxious about the meeting. I had downloaded the app and arranged with me Therapist a time that was convenient for both of us to meet. I stated this explicitly with the therapist.

However, when the day and the time arrived, my therapist did not appear online. Furthermore, when I messaged her to remind her that we had organised a session and that she was late, my therapist's reply was deeply unprofessional. She informed me that she was running late and that she would be able to begin the session in twenty minutes. Busy as I am, I informed that this was not an appropriate response. She then proceeded to have the temerity to claim that it was my fault, and that I had the day and the time wrong. A very simple look at our chat history would have shown her that she was much mistaken.

At this point, I failed to see the need to discuss this any further with my therapist, and instead spoke directly with customer care. They apologised for the incident and said that they would issue me a new therapist. All the while, my current therapist continued to message me making fresh accusations. The lack of professionalism was quite shocking and I continued to ignore her attacks as this was not an individual I wished to have any more contact with, let alone develop a professional relationship with.

I was reassigned a therapist, and immediately felt more confident with her. She seemed much more professional, and we quickly arranged to have our first session. During the session, she acted very professionally and I felt encouraged, somewhat. There were still certain elements that did ring odd, such as the fact that her husband/partner/flat mate continued to interrupt our sessions by walking in and out of the room. This didn't exactly allow me to feel fully comfortable, but I'm quite tolerant of such things and have lived in housing situations which deprive you of complete privacy, and so looked passed this.

After this session, I decided to pay up front for a month of therapy, which came with a discount and costed me 160 euros. I then waited, eagerly, for my next therapy session. When that day came I logged onto the app and waited for my therapist to arrive. After several minutes I began to feel slightly anxious, and messaged my therapist. There was no response. I waited a few more minutes, and then did finally receive a response. She informed me that she had issues with her internet and therefore was struggling to connect. Fine. I waited another five minutes or so and messaged her again, this time prompting her to give me some more information - how long it would be, for example. Her replies were anything but professional. She failed to give me much information, and it took my continued efforts to contact her to find out that we would have to cancel our therapy session and organise one for the following week. I felt let down and began to lose confidence in my therapist and the company. Internet or no internet, there were a lot of red flags here. Being able to connect by messaging, but not by video was odd. No contacting me beforehand to explain the situation was also inconsiderate. And failing to pass on useful information, relying instead on me to have probe and investigate, once again left me feeling that my time had not been respected and that I was wasting my money.

For the next week, when the day I arrived, I experienced the same thing. The therapist did not appear. My patience, understandably, had dwindled, and it took not but five minutes for me to inform my therapist - who had not responded to my previous message - that she had wasted my time, had lost all confidence in me, and severed any hope of a future professional relationship. I am not someone who enjoys writing vitriol online, and indeed made sure to falter into saying things that I would regret, but I was certainly irked by the whole ordeal.

I contacted Mantra Care immediately to explain the situation. Their response was particularly helpful, but not awful. They questioned the legitimacy of the conversation, but I had made sure to keep screenshots of all the correspondence. Upon loading this information, they agreed that none of it was my fault and that they would provide me with a new therapist. Fool me once.

I stated, very very clearly, that I no longer wanted a new therapist courtesy of Mantra Care. Indeed, I wanted nothing more to do with them, and that I wanted my refund in full. They did not like this. And instead, tried to explain to me that I was eligible for such and such a reason. By now I had realised that Mantra Care is not a business that wishes to help people but wishes to drain them economically. So, I made sure to let them know that I thought their refund policy was as pathetic as their business, and that I gave it as much respect as they had shown me. Besides, even by their appallingly unforgiving refund policy, I was actually eligible, a point I pointed out.

I was told that I needed to complete their refund policy request form. I did. I was emailed by Mantra Care support that I was not eligible. I was. And I told them. They continued to inform me that I wasn't, and that they would provide another therapist. I continued to tell them, again and again and again that they needed to give me back my money.

I finish this complaint by stating that they finally agreed that I was entitled to y refund and that they would send it. It has been twelve days since and I have received nothing. More than this, I have emailed them twice to ask for an update and they have failed to reply.

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