ComplaintsforZakhor Dental Group

• Initial Complaint

  07/29/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I wrote the following review on yelp:I was a patient at *********************************** for several years. While the front desk staff are always friendly and provide kind customer service, my personal experience with the dental treatment was not satisfactory. I underwent Invisalign treatment for approximately five years and frequently found the process challenging and tiring. I was charged for multiple refinements, which added to my overall stress and concern about the costs. During my treatment, I received retainers that did not fit properly. I followed the advice given by the office to work towards fitting these retainers, but ultimately, they did not fit as expected. When I communicated this issue, I was informed that I would need to purchase new retainers, even though I had already paid for the previous ones.Additionally, I missed a cleaning appointment due to a personal emergency--the sudden death of a close friend. Despite explaining my situation, I was still charged $200 for the missed appointment. Based on my experience, I recommend considering other dental offices to avoid potential issues. This was a learning experience for me, and I hope others can benefit from my account. The ********************** office later contacted me and threatened to pursue legal action against me for my review. Furthermore they wrote this message : You currently have a balance of $523.20 on your account.We are willing to write off this amount, transfer your case to a provider of your choice, and refrain from pursuing any legal action regarding the reviews you have posted, provided you remove the slanderous review in full. Considering the false information that has been publicly shared, our remedy is for you to agree to refrain from posting any further reviews, without infringing on your First Amendment rights. In return, we will write off your balance and ensure it does not go to collections, which could affect your credit score. But I was never made aware of any outstanding balances.

• Initial Complaint

  02/02/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On 01/22/2024 my son ******* **** (32) had a terribly swollen face and tooth pain. He looked up (googled) local dentists to get emergency help. I babysat his 18 month old son while he took care of this. That night he got a consult antibiotics and pain meds and was told to come back the next day for assesment. The next morning he went back and I stayed home with the baby. He was there a long time for a couple of hours or more then I get a call from the office saying they had a treatment plan that involved 12 teeth but they wanted ***** just for today, ******* was between jobs at this time with no insurance, . I told them to just to treat the pain for now and to resolve the effected tooth. In another hour after a consult with an oral surgeon **** called again and said he needed a root canal AND implant today and now the estimate for the teeth was ********!! I told her again that I wanted to help my son but that I only wanted to take care of the tooth in pain. She told me about care credit and said they would give me a loan to pay for the full bill. I told her again that I didnt want a loan I only wanted to pay for what happened while he was there. knowing he was in pain and in their chair I asked her to send me the bill just for the care he got. She said she needed time to do that. She also asked me for my last 4 digits of my social security # and my address. I was busy with the baby and my son came home in about 30 minutes saying they pulled his 2 teeth!! They never did the root canal or the implant prep, he said he never got a bone graft on his 2 teeth!! I called **** right back and asked her what happened!? She said the teeth could not be saved and that now I had a loan with Care Credit of $******** to pay off for the planned treatment! I said how can that be since he never got the root canal or the implant?! I called Care Credit right away and cancelled the plan, I called 3 times to check and see if it went through and it finally did after 72 hours.

  Business response

  02/13/2024

  **** ******-signed for financing for son's treatment plan decided to negate on her responsibility AFTER treatment was rendered.  The course of treatment changed for the patient and a root canal was not an option. So he had 2 extractions done with adj. ********** including bone graft and membrane after draining a large infection he had that landed him at our office as an emergency patient.  

  At this point, we have provided documentation to the financing company and awaiting their response.  It should be added that **** spoke to the office 4 times and laters said I don't want to use financing and will provide my credit card to refund the finance card, but she never did this. Instead, she made an attempt to say that certain ********** were not done, even though she was not in the operatory during the procedure and insinuated that the clinic is making bogus claims.  However, clinical documents have been provided to demonstrate the ********** completed. 

  It should be added that an informed consent was given and patient fully understood the treatment being rendered. He had 2 consults done with the general dentist and the root canal specialist.  He was admitted right away as a patient and with no wait period. He had a cleaning scheduled the next day, which he never showed up for.  

  At this point, the remainder of the account has been refunded and the account has been closed. The patient has also been dismissed and advised to find a different provider. 

• Initial Complaint

  01/30/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  On 12/3/23, I visited Dr. ********************** for an emergency tooth extraction. I paid him $2450 out of pocket. He initially said he would not file a claim with my insurance and provided me with a statement of services rendered receipt to file a claim myself to receive reimbursement for payment over the *** allowed. Dr. ********************** then went and filed a claim with Guardian and selected for the reimbursement to be sent to him instead of me, the patient. On January 4th, I received an email from Guardian that they processed the claim and made a payment of $758 to the dental group via direct deposit. When I called the dental group, they continuously stated they never received the payment and they would not be reimbursing me. After several calls with Guardian and the dental group, I confirmed that the payment was made on December 15th and the Dental group posted the payment to my account on the 19th. They are refusing to reimburse me the $758.00 stating since Guardian has not filed their latest claim for a cleaning I received on December 11th, they are keeping the money. They cannot keep funds that should not have been issued to them in the first place. On December 11th, I went back to the dental group for an extraction follow-up to ensure my mouth was healing. I was told this follow-up was no charge. During that visit, I was supposed to receive my basic cleaning but they gave me a periodontal cleaning which is not covered 100% by my insurance and which I did not agree to. On the ledger I received, in addition to charging me for the periodontal cleaning, they charged me for a flouride treatment which should be removed and a light consultation. I did not have nor did I request a consultation for any additional or future treatments. No one can tell me what the consultation charge is for and they refuse to remove it. The company was paid twice for my emergency extraction and they are now trying to receive payment for erroneous charges.

  Business response

  02/13/2024

  We welcomed the patient to the office as an emergency during Christmas holidays.  She was not a clinet of ours and we admitted her the same day during the weekend. As a fee for service practice, she was given a treatment plan and paid for the procedure and received treatment right away and was dismissed in good condition. 

  She came back for a follow up and had her cleaning done.  She was not charged for this appointment and was told that she has claims pending which should cover the 2nd visit.  

  She was advised that she has a credit of $183 and we are waiting for the last claim to be processed to issue a refund. She was also given the option to have the partial refund send to her.  She did notb follow up with our staff regading this matter and instead filed a complaint here. 

  As a reminder, it is NOT the office's responsibility to process claims though we do this a a courtesy for our patients.  

  The patient is extremely rude to the staff members and has created a hostile environment where our staff are not comfortable providing services to her. 

  At this point, we will refund her what is on her ledger and she can follow up on the last claim she has pending with her insurance provider.  

   

  Customer response

  02/13/2024

   
  Complaint: 2****719
  
  I am rejecting this response because the "credit" they are claiming I have is because they are applying the $758 that was supposed to be refunded to me to the charges from December 11th. They cannot apply funds that were never intended for them. Secondly, they are not addressing the incorrect ledger. They are trying to apply the payment to incorrect charges and services not rendered. 

  When I went to their office on 12/3 for the emergency extraction, I was not a current client. I found them online as they present themselves as a 24/7 dental provider. That is the only reason I went to them. 

  Their office staff has been equally as rude and I express the same sentiments that I want nothing more to do with them after closing out these 2 claims. Their front office staff has hung up in my face, they have belittled me and their lead dentist, Dr. ********************** has also hung up in my face because he did not want to answer my questions regarding the claim. I have communicated with them several times trying to resolve this matter before making a complaint with the BBB. Their reimbursement of $183 is unacceptable. They need to refund me the $758, reprocess the second visit for 12/11 to only include the cleaning and then send me a bill for whatever my insurance has not covered. As of today, there are no claims on file with Guardian for the 12/11 visit. Guardian claims nothing has ever been sent to them from Dr. **********************'s office for 12/11. 

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩