Meinert, James D. - DDS

Review: I have been charged for a canceled appointment that was canceled 60 hrs in advance. 5/13/13 appt date canceled on 5/10/13.

[redacted] (receptionist) called me on 9/12/13 to let me know that me and my daughter [redacted] were unable to keep our upcoming appointments scheduled 9/16/13 due to unpaid balance. I asked her to give me an explanation of my balance due to no statement or call never received from Dr.[redacted]'s office. She then mentioned that I had a charge of $126.85 due to a canceled appointment. She then stated I had an appointment on 5/13/13 that I canceled on 5/10/13, I agreed to that but I inform her that I did not agree with the charge because I gave her 60hours notice. I had a family emergency that weekend, and the office was notified of that as soon as I left town. She then said that I had to pay my balance or I would have to be sent to collections, I had my wife [redacted] contact her since the call was made while I was at work. My wife spoke to her that morning, she was very rude and disrespectful with my wife. My wife asked [redacted] if she could speak to Dr.[redacted] and she replied "no you can not speak to the doctor". My wife then decided to speak to [redacted] the other receptionist and In a very respectful manner asked her to please ask Dr.[redacted] to call us back. We never recieved a call from the doctor or receptionist and on 9/16/13 when we piked up our mail we recieved a statement with a balance of $126.85 and notice that says if not paid within 10 days it will be sent to collections. We also received a letter that indicated he will no longer be able to take care of my or daughters dental needs. Desired Settlement: I would like to be refunded for those charges on my account and also be refunded for the time I've had to spent on this situation and time to find a dentist that can serve my child and my dental needs.

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response

In response to the posting by [redacted] & [redacted]'s complaint: We need to get the facts correct; our anwering machine took the call on Saturday morning 5-11-2013 from [redacted], to cancel his appointment on Monday morning 5-13-2013. Our office requires a patient to give us 24 hours notice if canceling, that means you cannot call on Saturday to cancel a Monday morning appointment without being charged. We need enough time to be able to fill the missed appointment time. He had already canceled an appointment 30 minutes before on 12-27-2012. We had not charged for that one, but we reminded again that we would for the next. [redacted]'s daughter [redacted] canceled her 5-16-2013 without enough notice also, we didn't charge for the first one for her. [redacted] called, made an appointment for [redacted] and [redacted] on Sept 12, 2013, she spoke to [redacted]. [redacted] told me they appointed again, I called and spoke very briefly to [redacted]. I had sent them statements regarding their previous balance and not received them back. He said they had moved, gave me the new address and said his wife handles everything, she would call me back. [redacted] called me, I told her she had an overdue balance from [redacted]'s 4-15-2013 appointment, and [redacted]'s 5-15-2013 filling, plus [redacted]'s missed appointment charge. She demanded that we take the complete balance off, she works at a Dentist office also (but doesn't want to have her family go there) she says she knows I can take it off. I told her no, Dr [redacted] told me to charge him because he had been warned twice. She demanded to talk to Dr. [redacted], I told her he doesn't want to get involved, he employs me to handle these situations. This patient thinks she can intimidate and harass to get her way. They need to pay their balance and the missed appointment charge.

Final Consumer Response

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)

I do not agree with the receptionist. The call was not made on 5/11/13. I know that because that's when my mom had to have her surgery. I called on 5/10/13! I'm not trying to harass or intimidate anyone, I just want this to be taken care of in a good manner. Yes my daughters appointment was canceled not by her because she's only 5 years old and if you remember she did have pink eye that day and she was highly contagious. My wife never asked to remove the entire balance from my account, she did however asked to have that canceled appointment charge to be removed. Yes my wife does work at a dental office but unfortunately they do not accept my insurance that is the reason why we decided to see Dr.[redacted]. He is an awesome doctor and I loved the way he took care of me and my daughter, but his front office staff needs to value their patients a little more and be communicative with each other. I'm willing to pay any balance but the canceled appointment charge. I have received a letter from [redacted] office indicating that he will no longer be taking care of me and my daughters dental needs. I don't see why this had to go so far, but I guess both doctor and staff do not value their patients. I want to make it clear that my wife never asked to have the entire balance removed that is a lie. I have written a Letter to Dr.[redacted] informing him that I'm more than happy to pay for any balance but that canceled appointment.