ComplaintsforAlexandria Spine & Rehab Center

• Initial Complaint

  05/12/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  05/02/22 $75 for services that were not rendered. Had surgery 4/27 and informed facility that I would need time to recuperate until released bc I had 6 inscisions in my abdomen. Date D/C 5/10. I live an hour away. Called 5/2 to let them know that I was still under the doctor's care and could not make the appointment. I was told that therapy could be done in a chair??? They stated that 24-hour notice was needed. They were made aware that I was having surgery on APR 25. Henceforth, there is no one available on weekends to give 24-hour notice. I was offered a complimentary "stretch" session??? I can stretch at home. They shouldn't have charged my card given the circumstances especially knowing that there is no way to cancel appointments on the weekend.

  Business response

  06/17/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2022/05/31) */ Contact Name and Title: ******* *******, D.C. Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX Contact Email: **********@alexandriaspineandrehab.com Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Our office has been upset at the reaction to this event and really hate that a complaint has been filed. Ms. "R", Our patient that has filed this complaint, was someone our office really enjoyed having and we loved helping her have such great benefits and outcomes. This particular incident really boils down to a policy we have in our office and her apparent dislike in this policy in which she was aware of and had signed. Our policy states, and we are happy to include it if needed, that when you schedule a massage, we have a secured credit card on file and if there is not 24-hour notice of cancellation then the patient will be charged for that massage. We block off the time and of course we have multiple other patients that we cannot see during that time, so we implemented this policy years ago to help prevent last minute cancellations. That said, over the years we have been generous that if it is their first time, we typically won't charge as we understand life events do happen- however they are reminded of the policy and the next time regardless the event, they will be charged without a 24-hour notice. Specifically with this patient MS. "R" we had already given her 2 times where we did not charge due to unforeseen events that prevented her from coming. We reminded her of the policy and she expressed her concern that she books on Mondays and how can she cancel 24 hours in advance if it is a Sunday. Our team had a discussion with her as we have implemented a text reminder system that sends an appointment reminder text 24 hours in advance. All of our patients are able to respond via text, including Ms. "R" and those texts are time-stamped so we know they were done well in advance. We also discussed that she can leave a voicemail which has a time-stamp to record calling in advance, so there is really no need for a live answering service. She understood this and verbally agreed and in fact had used the texting service on more than one occasion to cancel a visit for a Monday on the Sunday. Please keep in mind that our office typically does not get the message till that Monday morning and it still puts us in a difficult situation, but we have allowed that as to keep in line with our policy and commitment to customer service and patient care. Ms. "R" did verbally discuss with us that she was to have surgery and in fact she cancelled in person her Thursday visit due to the surgery. She did, however, leave her Monday visit on the schedule. Unfortunately, as this surgery had to deal with something outside of the scope of our office, we were not aware of time-frames or limitations and relied on the patient to keep us updated. We had assumed that since she kept her visit for Monday that she would have clearance to come in and we blocked the time off for her and did not schedule anyone else at that time. Since she was very familiar with the policy and understood that she could text or call to cancel on Sunday as she had done in the past, when her call came only 45 minutes prior to her scheduled visit, we had applied the policy to her and charged her the cancellation/ no-show fee. Our obvious hope is to be able to give patients quality care and take care of them, we do not have a business model of trying to hope people don't show so we can collect their money. It has never been about the money, it is purely to help prevent consistent cancellations and so we can help as many people as possible. Our office is in a pickle right now as we loved taking care of Ms. "R" and the last thing we wanted to do is try to upset her, however we have had other patients that we have applied the same policy to, with the same allowance for the first time. How can we charge other people, but not charge her? It simply would not be fair, and in my opinion unethical. I understand she does not agree or like our policy, but it is also important we try to remain fair to our entire patient base and cannot continue to make exceptions. Due to our respect for Ms. "R", I had reached out via phone on a couple occasions to speak with her, however we could only talk via text. I offered her a complimentary stretching session, as I do value her care in our office and was attempting in good faith to help her as I understand she was upset. I certainly do hope you and anyone that reads this understands that we made every effort to make this as fair as possible. We truly apologize that she is upset about our policy. We just ask that she understands we were unable to give any more allowances. We wish nothing but success and good health for her. Please feel free to reach out to me or the office to answer any questions and if we can help in any way. In Health, Alexandria Spine & Rehab Center

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