Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/12/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I visited this practice from 20th Jan 2021 to 3rd March 2021, totally 5 times Zoom meeting, 30 minutes each. Before I go I confirmed with them my copay is $30 each time, and I paid. The therapist said will give a report in 4-6 weeks, but I didn't receive the report until 12 weeks.I moved out my apartment at August 2021, and updated my new address to my insurance company. After 2 years, at 7th April 2023, I received a collection call saying I own this practice $700, billed at June 2021. I Never received any kind of notification before August 2021, no mail, email or phone call. I checked Yelp reviews, similar things happened to other people with practice.My insurance company already paid them good amount. They have my credit cards information, pre charge my visit each time. I'm very disappointed with this situation. They charged me wrongly and hurt my credits. That's unacceptable.

  Business Response

  Date: 04/14/2023

  The dates of service include 2/8/21, 3/2/21, and 3/22/21. I cannot speak to the length of the appointments on 2/8 and 3/22, as we do not keep record of the duration of those appointments. However, the appointment on 3/2 would take no less than half of a day to complete and I am confident that is the case. We completed several assessments via zoom and then the client came in to complete one hour of tests in person on the same date. So the statement about the duration of the appointments is inaccurate. Additionally, a 20 page report takes hours and hours to complete. Because we were in the middle of the pandemic, this evaluation actually took a great deal of additional effort and time to maintain safety of the client and to make the services available remotely, in an effort to protect the health of the client and the staff. A report was delivered to the client 10 weeks following the completion of the final session. We sent the report to the client via secure email with instruction stating that the client would need to download the report within 7 days of the email delivery because the email would self-destruct to protect her privacy. We attempt to call the client to confirm receipt but a voice mailbox was either not set up or the voicemail box was filled. We kept record of all of this as a standard procedure. The client never called to request their report and never communicated with our office again until the client received a collections notice. At that point, the client did not call us but instead made an inaccurate review of the events on ****** reviews which prompted me to reach out to the client to address her concerns and make sure that she did receive her report. If the client had called at any point after completing the assessment process, we would have sent the report again. Instead, the client actually made false statements about our practice on ****** reviews stating that we never sent the report and that our practice was a "scam." The client has since refused to correct the ****** review despite the fact that she has acknowledge that the report was delivered. She states that she will not correct the libel statement, despite her acknowledgment that the information is inaccurate. I have attached the email that was sent to the client delivering the report. While the 20 page report was later than estimated, it was delivered. We were struggling with getting reports out on time because of the additional time that was involved in test administration while we figured out how to provide standardized assessments via zoom. In fact, this set up a long period of delayed reports for us which has recently been corrected.
  

  In regards to the financial matter, the client was mailed a statement five separate times on the following dates: 7/13/21, 9/22/21,3/2/22, 10/26/22, and 3/21/23. Had the client contacted us to discuss the amount owed, we would have been happy to set up a payment plan after discussing the fact that the balance was her responsibility to pay. The client has stated that she moved in August of 2021, but a statement was mailed to what would have been her current address on 7/13/21 so she should have received at least one statement. The client has also stated that she changed her address with the insurance company, but this is generally irrelevant to us because we are not the insurance company and we are not employed by the insurance company. It is the client's responsibility to let us know about a change of address. We continued to mail statements to the client but did not send the client to collections because we had halted all use of a collections agency during the pandemic because we knew that times were rough for everyone and we didn't want to add to the burden that was put on all people during that time period.

  In regards to the insurance matter, the client signed initial paperwork that stated that she understood that in the event that her insurance did not honor the charges or did not pay 100% of the charges, she would be liable for the unpaid portion(s) for the service(s) rendered. The document that she signed states that she understood that the Austin Center for Therapy and Assessment, LLC staff *** check her insurance benefits and that it is possible that the managed care company *** give the incorrect information about her copays, deductibles, and/or out-of-pocket expenses and that she would not hold the Austin Center for Therapy and Assessment, LLC financially responsible for these benefit misquotes. The document she signed states that she understand that she will be responsible for all fees, even if the ultimate expense differs from what the insurance company has quoted to her or to the Austin Center for Therapy and Assessment, LLC staff.

  This client also referenced similar situations that she read about on yelp. Unfortunately, most of what is written about us on yelp is completely inaccurate and because of our protection of client confidentiality, we are unable to respond with factual information. We take our responsibility to protect client confidentiality very seriously. The only reason I am able to respond to this complaint is because of the ***** waiver signed by the client and provided to me by BBB.

  I have attached a screen shot of the emails sending the report and of the client acknowledging receipt of the report. I have also attached a screen shot of the document that the client signed regarding their financial responsibility.
  

  I am happy to provide additional information that *** be require, but I am want to protect the privacy of this client as much as possible. The detailed personal information in the report is highly sensitive and we don't want to cause any damage to the client by sharing the document with others who are not a part of her care.