Stephen Gianino, DMD

I met [redacted] around October 2012, for root canal. [redacted] performed an oral surgery and charged me and my insurance about 30% more than average. To complete the treatment, I needed a crown to be placed on the same tooth he operated on. This treatment requires, a temporary crown (prepared in the dentist's office) and a permanent one (ordered from an outsider lab)I met [redacted] on/around January 3rd. I was told that the whole treatment would cost me around $850 (plus $1400 on my dental insurance) Other dental offices do the same work for the crown for half of this price. I agreed to this treatment although it was pricey. I was told that, on the day the temporary is done, I would pay for $250, which would then be counted towards the $850 total that I would owe. On the day that they would order the permanent crown from the lab, I would pay (850 - 250), $600. [redacted] prepared the temporary crown on/around January 3rd, which came off in 3 days. I went back to his office several times to get it placed back. It broke within a few weeks. I was told by other dentists later, that this is unacceptable medical practice and shows negligence and poor quality of work. Because of these re-adjustments on the temporary, the order for the permanent crown was delayed. I told [redacted] I would pay them in FULL on the day they would place the order for a permanent crown from the outsider lab. Although this order has NEVER been placed (so they never needed additional payment) [redacted]'s [redacted] and [redacted] started harassing me with phone calls and inappropriate messages. When I raised this concern, [redacted] acknowledged and apologized for his crew, but he sent me a letter in the mail, asking me to sign a release form, releasing him from all medical obligations, which said he would give me a full refund of $250 if I sign it, which he never fulfilled. I signed this letter and sent it back to him. [redacted] is completely dishonest and lacks proper business ethics.Product_Or_Service: Dental crown placementDesired Settlement[redacted] must keep his word, and provide me with a full refund on my payment for $250.Business' Initial Response This patient is wrong on her allegation as follows:1. All her assertions about my fees are incorrect. She is confusing the portion of the bill that is covered by insurance, with what is the total fee involved. She fails to factor in copayments which are due on all procedures at all offices in the United States. Every one of my fees are considered Standard Reasonable and Customary as determined by the Massachusetts Dental Society. I will provide a copy of my fee schedule with insurance codes to verify this if desired by Revdex.com.2. Throughout her course of treatment, she confused what myself and all my staff members believed to be clear understandings about costs, payments, and scheduling. My records show that she had multiple and repeated consultation visits (each and every one at no charge or fee), to clarify these matters, as well as to clarify treatment issues that were made clear at previous visits. I had no problem providing these additional consultations, and free of charge.3. My office provided all aspects of costs, scheduling, and treatment plans, in writing to this patient; she signed these documents indicating she understood and agreed to each of these aspects. I can provide these signed documents to Revdex.com if necessary.3. My staff always treats all patients with utmost respect. I have received The Readers Choice Award for outstanding service to the community four times within the last four years. My phone records and medical records show that we called this patient only twice during the interval she refers to, and certainly never "harrassed" her. She in fact called the office, then hung up on a staff member during a conversation that she herself had initiated. I can provide documentation to support this. If she has "inappropriate messages" left on her voicemail by myself or any member of my staff, I invite her to provide such.4. I offered no apology for my staff other than to tell this patient that I was sorry she was so angry and upset; I actually never got an answer from her as to the reason for this during a 42 minute phone conversation, other than that she was experiencing financial difficulties in her personal life.5. The patient left my practice with an outstanding balance of approximately $750 for services fully provided according to guidelines set by the American Dental Association. I have always given excellent services to all my patients throughout the years. I have received awards for the quality of my work and services. I have never had a complaint filed against me with the Revdex.com in all my 31 years of practice prior to this one.6. As a gesture of goodwill, I offered to rescind her outstanding balance of $750 for services already provided, which included writing off approximately $500, and refunding $250. I did this with the proviso that she sign and return to my office a release within 2 weeks. She did in fact sign and return the release, but not until approximately a month after it was due; she gave no explanation for this lengthy delay. The post mark date on her envelope will confirm this.I hope this response resolves this matter. Please know that I can provide clear and exact documentation to support each of my above statements.[redacted], [redacted].