ComplaintsforKitsap Gentle Dentistry

• Initial Complaint

  10/31/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This is one of the rare times a business has lied to me. This dentist has series issues with its billing and desk people, as online reviews verify. The last time I was in, I was ejected from the place by a hostile receptionist who slammed the door in my face because of their COVID-19 policy. She got nicer on the phone call to schedule the temp check in my car, but the damage was done. They pressure customers into rescheduling months in advance.I was unable to make the October apt. I dont want to get into why and didnt feel like disclosing on the phone. ******* lied and said there would be no charge. She said they could reschedule. I was then given a bill. This made me angry, as they are clearly lying to clients. Since then, I have been repeatedly harassed with an appointment reminder for the original appointment. I want this to be recorded. Im not expecting to get reimbursed, but I want a record of this behavior. I also want verification that the other appointment is cancelled, as they are quite shady.

  Business response

  11/11/2022

  We are very sorry for bothering you with this complaint, we have been here since 2010, and we provide high quality dental care to all ages. We do not practice deceptive business methods to collect payments from our patients. We provide care and we respect our patients. We do not harass or abuse our patients in any way.
  When we accept a new patient, we provide our office policies that we have our patients sign when they first start to see us, which includes a $50 no show fee. This fee is not something that makes up for lost production when our patients do no show for their appointments, but to remind them to please show up to their appointments as scheduled or to notify us ahead of time that they are unable to keep their appointments. This patient had previously no showed an appointment on 3/15/2019, and we waived the fee as a courtesy for a first time offense. She then no showed her appointment on 10/12/2022 for dental cleaning. The patient called back shortly after and rescheduled the visit for 11/21/2022. After statements went out on 10/17/2022, the patient left a very nasty, threatening voicemail the evening of 10/20/2022 (attached audio file). We called the next morning and left her a voicemail letting her know that per her request, we were writing off the fee, cancelling her upcoming appointment, and deactivating her account. We felt bad that this fee may have affected a financial hardship on the patient, and we would not enforce it. On 10/28/2022, we then received a check for $50 along with a note about our deceptive billing practices along with writing Paid under duress on the envelope (photo attached). We then called and left her another voicemail, this time stating that we had already written off the fee and deactivated her account and that we were NOT depositing her check, we, in fact shredded it.
  The claims of being ejected and having a door slammed in her face are entirely false, and never has occurred to any patients in our office since weve been open, as if this is how we treated any of our patients, we would no longer be in business.
  We are very compassionate to our patients, we try our best to be understanding when situations arrive, but during the ***** pandemic, we have been short staffed, and appointments are limited, especially for dental cleanings. We are sorry for the patient being upset about the $50 fee, but we try to make our patients understand that our time is valuable too, and that we deserve to be treated with the same respect that we give to our patients.

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