Update
UPDATE: I had an awesome call with the clinician I picked when I signed up. She was empathetic, listened to my concerns, and followed up internally with my feedback. She had the power to turn off notifications so I’m not hit with so many messages in the app. Turns out that was part of the problem with people seeming to “push” me. It was the system sending a message under their name. Now I’m only working with her and I have the space and privacy I need. I’ve done two sessions, and I’m optimistic this is going to help me. So my bottom line is this: While I shouldn’t have had to go through what I did, when I spoke up, I was treated well. So if you give this a try and you hit a problem, definitely let your clinician know. Mine was happy to help. ORIGINAL REVIEW: I signed up for this through my employer as a PT once recommended I get pelvic floor therapy. My experience was so horrid I quit before the first session with the device. First, the signup process requires you to indicate whether you have been sexually assaulted, and there’s no way to not answer if you’re uncomfortable revealing that. Then in the intake video call, they started recording me on Zoom without my permission, and I had to ask them to not do that. This is about very private and sensitive health information. How dare they record without first getting my permission? They also want to use your data for research, and I had to opt out, rather than opt in. Then, I ended up with multiple people nagging me with multiple text messages, as well as messages through the app, that my pod had just arrived, and when was I going to start using it? I’m reasonably comfortable with my body, but A. I have other things going on in my life, so just because something arrives in the mail doesn’t mean I can just drop everything to stick it up my crotch. B. I was sick, so I let them know that and said I would start when I felt better. At 9am I was messaged with sympathy. At six pm, the same person messaged again, demanding to know when I was planning to start so she could go look at my data. How absolutely creepy, intrusive, rude, and lacking in basic human empathy. I was lying on the couch with a fever, and she thinks her desire for me to stick a probe in my crotch so she can have data about my body is more important than my fever and exhaustion? Needless to say, I told them where to shove it. There was zero consideration for my privacy or level of comfort with inserting a device into a sensitive area of my body, and they allowed me absolutely no time to figure it out before harassing me with multiple messages. When I explained I was sick and they demanded a specific date I would start so they would know exactly when to go look at the data, it I felt like I had people staring up my crotch through an electronic device, impatiently demanding I insert it. Of course, at the end of their messages, they try to make their disrespectful pressure sound nice by saying “we’re all here cheering you on!”—with a bunch of emojis tacked on to make it sound like they really mean it. How utterly clueless can you be? I want some privacy and respect to go at a comfortable pace while I figure out how to put a foreign object into my body. Not a squad of people staring at my crotch pushing me to insert it. Maybe an exhibitionist would love their approach, but not me. I can’t begin to say how angry I am, and how violated I felt. I find this program very unsupportive and unethical, and I will be complaining to my employer.
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Response from developer
Thank you for your review! We’re thrilled to hear that you're enjoying the app. Your feedback means a lot to us and helps us make the Sword experience even better for our members. If you have suggestions for how to improve the program experience or if you need support, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Thanks for being a part of the Swordr community!
