ComplaintsforDr. Katherine Raymond DDS

• Initial Complaint

  05/02/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  04/28/2022 : I was contacted by this business about an upcoming appointment. They were demanding about payment without explaining charges. The woman eventually hung up on me mid-sentence when trying to ask my questions about insurance coverage.

  Business response

  05/04/2022

  As a business owner, I will be happy to share our side of the story.

  The first and only time we saw this patient was on 3/17/22. She had had a recent endodontic procedure and asked for pain medication. We offered prescription strength Motrin but she said she wanted something stronger. We refused. She got angry and combative. 

  We had created a treatment plan for her future dental needs and she wanted to be sedated for this treatment. We require a downpayment to reserve a long sedation appointment regardless of insurance. We always research patients' dental benefits as a courtesy for them, which we did for her, so patients will know their co-pay. But the downpayment requirement remains. In several phone calls after the initial appointment we shared the insurance information with the patient and her husband. They believed the insurance would cover everything. That is never, and never has been, the case with anyone's benefits. They became combative on the phone, using raised voices, dare I say screaming, and profanity with my staff. I know this because we put them on speakerphone and I listened in. They refused to pay. We canceled the patient's visit. I told my staff to stop answering their calls. I sent the patient a dismissal letter, certified.

  In my 30 years as a dental professional, I have never experienced the verbal abuse and profanity as we endured from these two people. The fact that I am still trying to rid our lives of them by having to chase down this complaint is infuriating. Suffice it to say they will never be welcome in our practice again.

  Sincerely, Dr. **** *******, DDS

  Customer response

  05/10/2022

   I am rejecting this response because:
  
  
  My name ******** ****. I reject this accusation completely. I have severe dental anxiety, which is why I was referred to this dentist. I had explained and given the staff a notice that my anxiety can make me extremely nervous on every aspect of the visits/phone calls. This is what you are referring to as "combative". My husband and I did NOT expect the insurance to cover everything, however, the secretary told us that she never did get in touch with our insurance and that we still needed to pay the price of treatment. She told us to contact insurance after to try and get our money back. That isn't a courtesy, seeing as how she told us so late that the payment was already due that day, which gave us no time to prepare. Had I known the prices or the fact that my insurance did not contact this place, I would have assisted the staff in finding out what exactly was covered. I was waiting on a phone call from the secretary, to be able to understand fully what would be covered/not covered. This is the only place that offers sedation, which I need to be able to complete the procedure, and they are refusing me treatment and still haven't explained all the costs involved. I am not able to eat and losing weight rapidly, which I explained to the staff here and I explained the anxiety that this was causing me, but they continued to push my appointment out. By the time my appointment came around, this unnecessary drama unfolded with their secretary and now a patient is left without medically necessary treatment. Without treatment for much longer, I won't have any energy left especially without food. I am extremely disappointed in this business for not recognizing the clear anxiety their patient is having, even after being told about it. I am also disappointed that their staff could not properly explain something as simple as the cost the business charges for procedures.

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