Manteca Dental Care

Review: I have been behind on my balance due of $208. I made arrangements. They withdrew money then 3 days later threatened collections if I didn't pay full

I have run into tough financial times. I had a dental procedure done and had been paying. I did go a few months of paying and had a balance of $208. I called the dentist office on 8/26/13 explaining that I wanted to pay what I owed but could only afford to pay $50 every 4 Fridays and that they have my permission to auto withdraw on those dates starting 9/6/13. On 9/6/13 they withdrew $50 and then called me on 9/9/13 stating that if I didn't pay in full they will send me to collections because $50 a month was not acceptable. I was not told this when I called on 8/26/13 and they seemed to be ok with withdrawing on 9/6/13 so there should have been no reason to call me on 9/9/13 and attempting to bully me into paying the rest of the $158 or I would be sent to collections. I have sent them a certified letter outlining the terms of our verbal agreement and a copy of the bank transaction showing the $50 payment on 9/6/13. Desired Settlement: I just want them to withdraw the money as outlined on the verbal agreement and in the letter I sent them and have the balanced payed off without being sent to collections after they withdrew $50 on 9/6/13.

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response

Mr. [redacted], we apologize for your financial hardships. We try to make every attempt to help our patients with their accounts in times of hardships however we always give our patients the courtesy to make payments. There was an agreement made in November 2012 to pay $200/month. Account was up to date until January 2013. No payments were made for the month of February, March, April, May, July and August. It is our policy for our patients to adhere to these payment arrangements and thus the reason why we have our patients read and sign the office financial policy for the simple fact to avoid these types of situations. In response to your complaint about us withdrawing $50 and then three days later "bullying" you to send you to collections. The agreement was for $200 and we had only collected $50 therefore there was $150 that was still owed for that month. This is not including the months mentioned. Again we have financial policy in place and try to work with our patients to resolve their accounts. Based on your history of payments or lack there of, we have to follow our financial policy that is to send patients to collection if they are unable to keep their end of the agreement. We have remind you of your obligations in the monthly statements as well. As you can see we still try to work with our patients and in your case we agreed to a $50/month until balance is paid off which is what the desired resolution is for this complaint. Moving forward we would like to make sure financial arrangements are agreed upon by both parties before services are rendered. Thank you.