ComplaintsforInsight Psychological Inc

• Initial Complaint

  03/02/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Over the last few years my sons mom and I have been undergoing a Practice Note 8 assessment for Family Court. I paid 10,500 (I believe) upfront for a retainer/down payment on the assessment so we could begin. I have always made myself available to them and their schedule for any appointments, even redundant and repeat ones that I felt were not needed. Even on one occasion, after years of being forceful withheld from seeing our son an appointment was scheduled for him and I to assess how we interact with each other. Insight knew the situation. I had not seen my son in years. Excited for the chance to see him again, even in a clinical setting, I eagerly awaited the day. On the day I was so anxious, nervous, excited and overjoyed I couldn’t even drive myself there. My world seemed brighter, my steps bouncier, and my smile smilier than it had been in ages. Insight neglected to schedule him to come, and my soul was crushed. Over the years my lawyer and I have hd to chase ****** ********* for updates, info, answer, and timelines… when I asked how much the final cost of the assesment would be She told me “about on track, with in a few hundred” Fast track to court a few months ago, the judge advised me that she hd spoken to ******- and the bill was $8000 above the estimate. Real professional. I hd to find out from a judge in open court instead of Insight. Insight has been deceptive, evasive, and unhelpful in any attempts to resolve these concerns. We have been promised and end date repeatedly, but the end never comes.

  Business response

  09/02/2023

  We want to start our response by expressing our deep and sincere empathy for our client. We can only imagine how angering and frustrating this whole long process has been. At the same time, we are saddened by the complaint considering that our therapists, administrators, and Insight as a whole have worked extra hard to support the client and to try to get this whole assessment and case concluded as soon as we possibly can. As the client knows, so much is truly not within Insight’s or the lead therapist’s control.
  
  The client signed the Service Agreement for a bilateral custody assessment, otherwise known as a PN8.  Such an assessment is intended to determine child custody and access. In almost all cases, when it gets to this stage, the relationship between the parents is at least contentious and in worse cases, can be volatile and vindictive. Such an assessment involves numerous activities, numerous interactions with parties, and the collaboration of at least two families, their children, all caregivers, legal counsels, the children’s teachers and social workers where applicable as well as personal and professional references.  In addition to the many activities and parties listed above, the timeline for the completion of such an assessment is also affected by many other factors including the court hearing dates and subsequent directions, lawyers requiring and reviewing more/new information, social workers involvement and handling/holding materials and information, one parent or another party introducing new documents/materials/information at multiple intervals along the process, the assessing psychologist having difficulties receiving essential documents/information, and more. All of these can delay the completion of the assessment again and again. As well, when there is an extended delay, some parts of the assessment need to be redone to ensure that the information gain is still valid/accurate considering the time that has passed. This further delays the completion of the assessment. The more complex, contentious, and/or convoluted the case is, the more delay as well as the more hours of work would be required to complete the assessment since the assessing psychologist need to: 1) wait and connect with different parties again and again to get required or updated information, 2) review, take into consideration, and summarize for the court - new documents/information that is suddenly presented to her along the way, 3) redo some parts of the assessment, 4) write additional content in the assessment report, and much more.
  
  We can understand why the client would be angry and frustrated when his case has been affected by almost all of the above plus unanticipated delays due to the pandemic. As far as the assessment process is concerned, the client himself has indeed made himself available and has been present for all of his scheduled appointments. Unfortunately, delays occurred elsewhere. We are also frustrated with how long the case has taken and have done the best that we can including the following:
  
  1) Thus far, the lead psychologist and her supporting psychologists have worked almost twice as many hours as those which would be billed to the client. The service agreement stated “Your cost of this assessment is based on an average of XX hours of professional time at a legal rate of $yyy.00 per hour, not including disbursements. The actual cost will depend on: number of participants, if the children are special needs, complexity of issues in dispute, amount of documents reviewed and amount of disbursements for travel, expenses, etc.” At one point early in the assessment process, the client asked about assessment costs. The lead psychologist did indicate to the client that they were at the time on track to be within a few hours of the estimate but she also indicated to the client that she had only just started to take a look at the documents that were provided at the time. The client was later advised that there was an extensive amount of documentation to review. He never asked again about fees or cost. The cost of the assessment has been impacted by several factors including: a child with special needs; very complex issues; delays resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic; changes to the client’s living and relationship status; and a much larger than average amount of documentation to review. With changes and unanticipated additions of a very significant amount of new information/materials for review and consideration, more work hours are necessary. Such additions were unforeseen at the time of service-hour/cost-estimation and the additional hours/costs are fully in line with the terms agreed to by the client in the service agreement. Still, while there would be additional costs, a very significant chunk of the actual work hours has been rendered by the lead psychologist PRO BONO and a significant amount of cost incurred by other supporting psychologists/personnel and other work has been absorbed by Insight. This is our way of demonstrating compassion towards the client and the fact that we recognize the hardship that the extra costs may have on the client.
  
  In response to the client’s concern that he found out about the increased costs for the assessment in open court; there was never an intent for him to find out in that manner.  The judge emailed the lead psychologist stating that she had a meeting with the parties that afternoon and asked “I need to have a better idea of where the PN 8 stands at this time, how much more time must be spent, whether you have been paid for what you have done so far, what the cost for any further steps is estimated to be, and when this can be completed.”  The lead psychologist provided the information to the judge, which was presumably communicated to the client that day in court.  There was no intent to withhold fee information from him, but rather the question had not been raised prior to that.
  
  2) Both the lead psychologist as well as our ******** ** ********** have contacted the client numerous times (we can provide record of exact dates) to 1) provide him and all relevant parties with an update whenever there is one or 2) to request for more information or complete tasks where necessary for the assessment.
  
  There have indeed been many delays in this assessment.  The most notable delay was due to difficulties receiving essential documents.  For example, the client was asked by the lead psychologist to obtain pertinent information in March 2020; it was received two years later, in March 2022.  The lead psychologist has been open and communicative with the parties about delays and the reasons for them. Thus far, updates had been sent by the lead psychologist and/or her co-assessor to the client and/or his lawyer on 8 occasions. In addition, updates were provided upon request from the lead psychologist directly to the case management judge on 3 other occasions.
  In addition to the lead psychologist, Insight’s ******** ** ********** has thus far also connected and followed up with the client on 14 occasions to address billing and other concerns that the client might have. In total, 28 separate email conversations and multiple phone calls have been made by the ******** ** ********** including calling the client 4 times in the span of 3 months to provide updates over and above the updates provided by the lead psychologist.
  
  Recognizing the complexity of the case, the lead psychologist had never and could never promise a completion date; although she did make statements such as “Provided the above items can be completed within the next few weeks, and no new relevant information is received, the assessment report should be finalized by xx month.”  When the anticipated timeframe could not be met due emerging factors, updated communication was provided to the client.
  
  Our latest online meeting with the client occurred on Monday, February 6th, 2023 where we once again addressed the delays and billing concerns, but also asked for a task to be completed by the client and the other relevant party for what we hope would be the last item needed in order for the lead psychologist to complete the assessment report. Barring any further delays, missing information, and/or emergence of new concern/information by any party, the lead psychologist should be able to complete her assessment report in a timely manner.
  
  With reference to the client’s son not arriving for a scheduled appointment with the client, the lead psychologist immediately investigated the incident to determine what went wrong. She discovered that a new administrative assistant booked the appointment for the client but did not understand the custody dynamics where multiple parties had to be contacted separately to make the appointment possible. The assistant was not aware that she had to inform the other parent to bring the child (as the appointment was booked in the client’s name). The lead psychologist explained the error to client and expressed sincere apologies as he had been anxiously anticipated the meeting. The client left with an understanding and acknowledgement of what had happened. The appointment was later successfully rebooked.
  
  Again, we recognize how upsetting and frustrating the delays have been for the client. Insight has never once been evasive or deceptive, though we do feel helpless at times for not being able to move the process along faster due to delays that are NOT of our doing and NOT within our control to eliminate or avoid. We have, however, done what is within our control to do and that is to: 1) waive a noticeable portion of the cost incurred by the extra work, 2) keep the client and all relevant parties updated when there is an update, 3) do our best to complete our own tasks as timely as possible, and 4) try to prompt the process along the best we can.
  
  Ultimately, we will continue to do our best for the client, with honor, integrity, and compassion.

  Customer response

  13/02/2023

  
  Complaint: 19330790
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I am awaiting completion of documents: an invoice and an arrangement addendum to be provided- as well as an answer to the question of proof regarding the service log where deductions have stated to have been made. 
  

  I have been in touch with Insight by phone and email since this complaint was lodged, and am eager to see the complaint resolved and report released. 
  

  Once the report is released, and service log and invoices are provided- I will close this complaint as accepted.

   

  I must note that I resent the finger pointing at me in Insights response. ****** was instructed that if the estimate was to change substantially then I expected to be notified so arrangements could be made. This did not happen. Further to that I did not leave the appointment with any answers only that it would be investigated. I was later advised of the cause.

   

  And even now as the ******* has issued a timeline to complete the remaining step to release the report- namely a payment arrangement- I again have to explain and break down the circumstances to achieve any sense of advancement  

   

  I do not expect things to be resolved within 10 days of the previous response, so I am rejecting it until I see material progress instead of promises, and assurances  

  Sincerely,

  
  ***** ******

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