Laser Endodontics of Northern Virginia

May 16, 2014Dear *** ***,
First of all, I am sorry for your inconvenience in this matterTo start, your dentist, called us and told me that you needed a consultation for 13, 15, and and a root canal for Your appointment was set up for April 24, The fee for a
consultation alone was $and did not include root canal treatmentYour insurance company was contacted and they informed us that there were other claims submitted April 16, for $Since your maximum is $1500, that means that you have roughly $remaining and would be running out of benefits for the root canalAnd,we quoted you $as your copay for a root canal treatment on a molar that was never treated beforeOn Thursday, April 24, treated tooth at your request. There is a higher fee for retreatments of old root canalsThat is when we calculated your fee to be $which includes the 20% copay plus deductible of $and the amount remaining after the $out of the $was paid to your other dentistSo we thought.At one point, we thought we perhaps made a mathematical errorWe decided that because of the uncertainty of amounts of payments from your insurance company, to both our office and your dental office at the same time, that we would wait and see what the insurance company would pay usThat is why we could not with certainty, know what to return to youIt would be a guess, had we not waited for the insurance to contact us..This is why there was a delay in contacting youPlease find enclosed a refund check for $Please note enclosed a copy of the explanation of benefits that may help you understand why we waited for confirmation of your balance due youRegards,

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:The purpose of the complaint was to point out the way this office handled a matter of misunderstanding, miscalculation, etc.
We are humans. We make mistakes. That's not the point. It's how you deal with it afterwards. 
My complaint was their lack of follow-up (in this case, absence thereof) after they were notified by my regular dentist the first time. 
When you think about it, there is really no reason for the receptionist of my regular dentist to hear all the details about their miscalculation (at the time) and TO BE TOLD TO HAVE THE PATIENT CALL BACK their office the following Monday.
All they could have done was to contact me directly and told me that it'll take some time for them to figure out the exact treatment amount. End of story.
I truly wonder what would have happened if I wasn't first informed by my receptionist or if I had not reached out to Revdex.com.
But in the end, I do appreciate the office fixing the matter and sending a letter with details and a check.    
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Review: Received a retreatment of root canal at [redacted] Laser Endodontics of Northern VA on 4/24/14. My benefits are 80% coverage of (in-network) endotherapy. The receptionist called the day before and said I'd have to pay $87 for office visit/consultation. My dental insurance info (member id, DOB, etc.) was submitted prior to my appointment and so I trusted that the receptionist had checked my benefits and coverage information. On the day of the treatment, the receptionist had left early and left a note with the amount of payment that I had to pay, which was $495.00. The doctor said she (the receptionist) had checked everything and that this was the amount that I'd have to pay.I had another appointment with my regular dentist the next day. His receptionist asked me how much I paid for this retreatment service and she found it relatively high, called the endodontist's office and verified it with the doctor herself. She was told that the receptionist at this endodontist office had made a mistake and charged an incorrect amount, said she'll CANCEL the charge (I made two payments of $247.50 on separate cards), will only charge 20% on one of my cards and told the receptionist at my dentist office to HAVE ME CALL HER BACK on Monday.Why does a customer have to call back the dentist office when its receptionist had made a mistake? And shouldn't the doctor also be responsible for its employees and customer service? She could've at least had her receptionist call me and apologize for the mistake but they never called back and it's been exactly a week since 4/24/14.I could've called them back, sure, but it's their attitude regarding their mistake that I find insulting and disrespectful. Is it a matter of incompetence or a negligence on their part?Desired Settlement: Public Report on Revdex.com and a full, thorough explanation about what, how and why they made a mistake, WHY either the receptionist or the doctor herself had not called its patient for their mistake, as well as an apology.

Business

Response:

May 16, 2014Dear [redacted],First of all, I am sorry for your inconvenience in this matter. To start, your dentist, called us and told me that you needed a consultation for 13, 15, and 30 and a root canal for 18. Your appointment was set up for April 24, 2014. The fee for a consultation alone was $87 and did not include root canal treatment. Your insurance company was contacted and they informed us that there were other claims submitted April 16, 2014 for $592. Since your maximum is $1500, that means that you have roughly $900 remaining and would be running out of benefits for the root canal. And, , we quoted you $280 as your copay for a root canal treatment on a molar that was never treated before. On Thursday, April 24, 2014 treated tooth 30 at your request. There is a higher fee for retreatments of old root canals. That is when we calculated your fee to be $495 which includes the 20% copay plus deductible of $50 and the amount remaining after the $592 out of the $1500 was paid to your other dentist. So we thought.At one point, we thought we perhaps made a mathematical error. We decided that because of the uncertainty of amounts of payments from your insurance company, to both our office and your dental office at the same time, that we would wait and see what the insurance company would pay us. That is why we could not with certainty, know what to return to you. It would be a guess, had we not waited for the insurance to contact us..This is why there was a delay in contacting you.Please find enclosed a refund check for $161.80. Please note enclosed a copy of the explanation of benefits that may help you understand why we waited for confirmation of your balance due you.Regards,

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

The purpose of the complaint was to point out the way this office handled a matter of misunderstanding, miscalculation, etc.We are humans. We make mistakes. That's not the point. It's how you deal with it afterwards.