James River Family Dentistry

Review: I have been going to [redacted] dental practice for a couple of years. I called Monday morning before they opened and spoke with the secretary to tell her my situation.I told her that my car had died over the weekend, so my family was down to one car. I could not make the appointment today because my husband works until 5pm (the time of the appointment) and he has the car.This only the 2nd time in the few years that I have been going to [redacted] dental practice that I have called and been unable to make it.They told me they would be charging me 50$. This is more money than you pay for a dental visit, so I do not believe that amount can even be considered appropriate.I told them this was an unusual circumstance and I called as soon as they opened. If they wanted to charge me that I would not be coming back to their practice. The secretary said 'Okay' and that was the end of our relationship.The staff was insensitive and unpractical. They were harsh in their response and obviously do not care very much about their patients lives, just making sure they get their Money.Terrible customer service. I do not recommend the practice.Desired Settlement: I do not believe I should be charged 50$ because I called the moment they opened their offices and they were closed the day before. It was an unusual circumstance, I did not have a way to get to the appointment and if they value me as a patient then they would have made an exception.

Business

Response:

Our office is very compassionate about our patients. We consider our patients as part of our family and try to treat them as such. Our office policy for cancellation is to provide 24 hours notice. The patient cancelled without 24 hours notice in the past and was informed of this policy. We waived the cancellation as a courtesy and informed that there would be a charge the next time there was a cancellation with less than 24 hours. While we are a dental office, we are also a business with overhead and expenses. Each patient has a reserved time that we make for them. We always do our best to provide the best customer service and to go above and beyond for every patient. We are happy to waive the cancellation fee again as a courtesy and would kindly ask for more than 24 hours notice moving forward with future cancellations