New Creation Dental Care

I am writing in response to complaint #***. I would first like to say that unlike what has been stated by this patient, our office and staff have been nothing but professional with her. She has painted a very unfair and dishonest picture of what has taken place regarding her
treatment. She did come to our office several days ago (5/8/2018) unannounced and without an appointment. I was in a meeting with a marketing representative and had patients lined up behind him waiting to see me. I didn't even know that she had come to my office until after she had left and been gone for over an hour. There was no time for me to talk to her when she stopped in. If she would have called first, my staff would have arranged a time for me to either meet with her or speak with her over the phone. Instead, she created a scene in the waiting room in front of my other patients which included (according to my staff and some of the patients who witnessed it) calling me names and personally attacking me.This patient has created a narrative in which she says she randomly found our office, then suddenly discovered that we weren't "certified" to do Fastbraces orthodontics (which is not true), and thus decided that this made her incredibly uncomfortable and that she wanted most of her money back. She is also trying to paint a picture that we scammed her out of her money and that I've made no effort to work with her or to office solutions. Non e of this is true.She came to our office in Dec seeking Fastbraces orthodontic treatment. What she did not mention is that we were highly recommended by her best friend who was employed as an orthodontic assistant in my office. Thus, she isn't just some random patient who stumbled upon our office, my orthodontic assistant, the patient's best friend, referred her to me. She came in for her consultation on Dec 11, and started treatment the same day. I examined her during this initial visit, a diagnosis and treatment plan was made based on her records, and then all her Fastbraces brackets were placed. This appointment took over hours. Cost of treatment was $4400, but she received a 10% discount for starting treatment the same day as her consultation. So, her final cost was $3,960. She paid us $2,down in cash and made a few more chunk cash payments, making a grand total of $3,that she paid by the end of March 2018. Normally, our policy is to be paid in full at the start of treatment, but because she was a good friend of my orthodontic assistant, Awe made an exception. She was then seen for more recall appointments (Dec 22, 2017, Feb 12, 2018, March 30, 2018). The recall appointment in Dec did not see her because it was a simple appointment and bracket repair and the ortho assistant saw her. the patient did not raise any objections as it was a quick bracket repair and wire change. At no time was this patient ever upset with me or my service, nor with how Fastbraces was working for her. She was happy with the fact that we were going to be able to straighten her teeth much more quickly than an orthodontist told her that he could straighten them at a previous consultation, and she was excited that her treatment wold be completed in time for her best friend's (my orthodontic assistant's) wedding in September. However, her friend, my orthodontic assistant, was fired on April 4th, for causing some problems within the office (notice she states the date of the problem and the date she spoke with us about this is April 5, 2018...the day after her friend was terminated). After her friend (my former employee) was let go, this patient called and told us that she didn't want to continue her treatment with us and that she wanted an almost complete refund. So, at first there was no mention of her having an issue with certifications. We told her that it was her choice to leave but that the amount she was asking for was unfair. We explained, that although we only saw her times, a lot of the cost of orthodontic treatment is up front and not all appointments are equal. As a solution, we first offered to transfer her case to another Fastbraces provider and I would work out the arrangements with that provider to finish the case. As an alternative, we offered her a partial refund of $1000. We also offered her the simplest solution which was to let us finish her case, considering that her case was simple and that she didn't have that many more appointments to go. However, none of this was good enough, and that it was only after her friend was let go from the office and she was told that she would not be getting a near full refund did she call us back in a different conversation and bring up any issues of dissatisfaction or bogus claims about any of the staff's or my certifications. In reality, my Fastbraces credentials are clearly listed on my website and anyone wanting to check my licensing can check with the Missouri Dental Board to see that my license is in excellent standing with no complaints against it. As far as worker's being "certified," all our assistants are Certified Dental Assistants who have been trained in orthodontics during their assisting program, and/or received continuing education through Fastbraces University, and have been given on the job training, but official certification for support staff is not required by the state. In fact, in most orthodontic offices, there will be a mix of certified and non-certified assistants. Most training is done by the doctor and staff on the job. This patient is not being truthful when she says the certification issue is the reason she wants her money back. She wants her money back because she is upset that her best friend was fired and is not in the office anymore, and she now doesn't want to come here. We have explained the certification/credentialing issue to her and that we even now have a specific orthodontic assistant (with over years of experience) in the office but she still is not satisfied.So again, she's not being truthful that we've tried to scam her out of her money. We did offer her several solutions including a partial refund. We did explain over the phone why the partial refund was more than fair and why her wanting close to $back was not fair. We explained that the first appointment is the most expensive visit because the diagnosis occurs, brackets are used, and the appointment is very long. Total of this appointment is estimated at $1500. In fact, insurance companies allow offices to charge $for this appointment. She was then seen for recall appointments (an average simple case takes about recall appointmentsher case was simple). She also signed an agreement that if she canceled treatment she would be subject to a $cancellation fee. So, based on the $initial appointment, the refund would be $1000. However, I want to be clear that we don't itemize our fees this way. Fastbraces (and all comprehensive orthodontics) has a global fee along with her signed agreement the day she came in and caused a scene. The above calculation is how we arrived at a fair refund amount. Since we only use a global fee, that is the only invoice that there is. An "invoice" for itemized services does not exist. This is why she has not received an itemized invoice of services. We also have logged, and time stamped within this patient's treatment notes several times in which we tried to contact her by phone but could not reach her because her phone was giving us messages that she was not receiving calls. We also have several emails that we sent to her trying to get her to call us to talk this out, but those emails went unanswered. We had not heard anything from her for at least a couple of weeks until she finally came into our office on May 8th unannounced and caused a scene. We did our due diligence and made a good faith effort to genuinely try to resolve this issue with her even though she says that we didn't. I think this person is being unfair and dishonest in her description of what has taken place, has made no mention of her friend and now former employee of our office that referred her to us, has made the entire issue about our certification when in reality she did not express any issue until this friend was fired. She was untruthful about my credentials not being on his website, and most importantly has made not mention of the fact that we offered her solutions including a partial refund