West Coast Dental Partners PL

General comments: Rude and unprofessional office staff; bullied a teenager into making a payment before leaving the office; never billed insurance when they said they did resulting in several hundred dollars of out of pocket expense Sent my daughter in to have a tooth holding a space in her mouth rebonded She's and attending college out of state in FL so she was not able to see our regular dentist Smile Design made her pay the amount in full before she could leave the office stating that it was cosmetic and wasn't covered by insurance instead of billing the insurance first to determine what would be paid or instead of billing me (the name on the insurance) What is my daughter supposed to do? Of course, the procedure has been done and she doesn't want an empty space in her mouth where the tooth should be bonded, so she pays in full I would describe Smile Design dealings with my daughter as bullying tactics I then try to follow up to make sure they submit this to insurance They say it was submitted and to call my insurance After calling my insurance, they have no record of this being submitted I then call back Smile Design and spoke with everyone from billing and reception to the office manager Every person was unprofessional and rude They were short, spoke over me not allowing me to speak or express concern over how they handled this with my daughter And, yes, when encountering this type of behavior from a dental office or any business, I tend to be short and rude myself I asked them why this was considered a cosmetic procedure and all they could say is "that's the code the doctor gave and we can't change it" This is NOT purely a cosmetic procedure My daughter needs to have this tooth bonded to maintain the space between permanent teeth until she's able to get an implant At this point, I have several hundred dollars of out of pocket expense that I can't even get reimbursed from my health care flexible spending because they haven't and/or won't file this with my insurance

FRAUDULENT BILLING PRACTICES: My wife and I had been going to this office for the past two years On Apr, the billing office erroneously charged my wife for a service not rendered (fluoride treatment) When I pointed out THEIR error (and the hygienist confirmed), they agreed to credit our ccAfter two months went by with numerous phone calls to the office, they still had not issued the credit for THEIR BILLING ERROR After I disputed the charge with my cc, Smile Design finally issued the credit of $on Jun So my wife shows up today for a scheduled prophy and they began hassling her over the same issue (saying we still owed $for a flouride treatment which they DID NOT administer back on Apr) After explaining I had already spoke to the Regional Director (Angel B***) back in Jun who finally issued the credit they still aruged the point When I asked for the office manager's supervisor and phone number, she refused to provide The office manager (Diana) also refused to provide her last name and hung up the phone
Any business officer manager that refuses to provide their full name, as well as the name of a supervisor and contact information, is disreputable I've already made a verbal complaint to our insurance company Written complaints to our insurance company and the Revdex.com to follow Congrats Smile Design...you just lost two patients over YOUR SCREW UP!
DO NOT GIVE THIS DISREPUTABLE COMPANY, WHICH ENGAGES IN FRAUDULENT BILLING PRACTICES!

General comments:
Rude and unprofessional office staff; bullied a teenager into making a payment before leaving the office; never billed insurance when they said they did resulting in several hundred dollars of out of pocket expense

Sent my daughter in to have a tooth holding a space in her mouth rebonded. She's 19 and attending college out of state in FL so she was not able to see our regular dentist. Smile Design made her pay the amount in full before she could leave the office stating that it was cosmetic and wasn't covered by insurance instead of billing the insurance first to determine what would be paid or instead of billing me (the name on the insurance). What is my daughter supposed to do? Of course, the procedure has been done and she doesn't want an empty space in her mouth where the tooth should be bonded, so she pays in full. I would describe Smile Design dealings with my daughter as bullying tactics.

I then try to follow up to make sure they submit this to insurance. They say it was submitted and to call my insurance. After calling my insurance, they have no record of this being submitted. I then call back Smile Design and spoke with everyone from billing and reception to the office manager. Every person was unprofessional and rude. They were short, spoke over me not allowing me to speak or express concern over how they handled this with my daughter. And, yes, when encountering this type of behavior from a dental office or any business, I tend to be short and rude myself. I asked them why this was considered a cosmetic procedure and all they could say is "that's the code the doctor gave and we can't change it". This is NOT purely a cosmetic procedure. My daughter needs to have this tooth bonded to maintain the space between permanent teeth until she's able to get an implant.

At this point, I have several hundred dollars of out of pocket expense that I can't even get reimbursed from my health care flexible spending because they haven't and/or won't file this with my insurance.