ComplaintsforHidden Lakes Dental Care

• Initial Complaint

  04/13/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Instead of Hidden Lakes Dental Care, they should be called "HIDDEN FEES DENTAL CARE"New patients: beware. This dental office charges $15 oral hygiene instructions per cleaning, which I would be ok with paying, had I been notified prior to my appointment. Unfortunately, because I was caught off guard and because I thought that perhaps I might have missed this fee in the fine print of the financial agreement, I paid it on the spot. (I hadn't missed it, I went back home and reviewed the paperwork I signed & it wasn't mentioned in there.)When I sent an email and questioned the charge, they didn't want to credit me back even after they apologized for not letting me know prior to my appointment and mentioned the letter that was mailed out to existing/old clients but acknowledged that I wouldn't have received it because I was a new patient. You would think, as a courtesy they would have waived it the first time, given the circumstances, but no.Highly disappointed at this situation. Needless to say, I will no longer be returning here. I would ideally like my $15 back and for them to start notifying new patients of the $15 fee.

  Business response

  04/24/2023

  OHI (Oral Hygiene Instructions: Code D1330) is a service that we are REQUIRED to provide and have in the past provided as a professional courtesy to our patients for no charge.It includes, but is not limited to, diagnosis of the patient's periodontal condition based on data collection (visual assessment of gingiva, plaque, and calculus build up, probing depths, bleeding, tooth mobility, etc.) performed by the hygienist, as well as instructions for home care (brushing technique, flossing,use of special oral hygiene aids, referral to specialist etc.) that will help improve or maintain periodontal condition.  It is the standard of care in dentistry to provide this service at every cleaning appointment. Due to inflation, the soft state of the economy, massive supply/overhead cost increase, and decreased reimbursement by insurance companies - our business made the difficult decision to start charging, what I believe, is a very reasonable $15 for this service in 2021.

  
  This is not something that would have been addressed in the financial agreement as it is not a policy but rather a billable service.  We submit each insurance claim with ALL the treatment codes performed to each individuals insurance after every visit (as is mandated by law). While this individuals insurance plan did not cover this charge (some plans do cover it), they do allow us to bill the patient for it which is what we did.  The patient paid us at that time.  She is now stating that she would like to be refunded for this $15 charge.  This patient received this service and as such was charged for it.   This is an ethical and legal billable charge (per her insurance provider), therefore we should not have to refund her for it. 

  
  All of our patients who receive cleanings at our office are billed for this service (some insurances cover it and some dont).  

  Customer response

  04/26/2023

   
  Complaint: 19930430
  
  I am rejecting this response because: while i paid at the time, as i explained in my initial email to the business, as well as over the phone, i was caught off gusrd and thought i had missed it in the financial agreement and thought "that was my fault." Not only that, but as I also explained to them in email and over thr phone, i had a huge headache due to allergies and my eyes were watering a lot so I wanted to run out of there as fast as i could to take my medication. Over the phone, the next day when i spoke to ***** (i believe that is her name), she apologized for the fact that i wasnt informrd as a new patient of this charge and said it wss implemented last year and letters were mailed out to EXISTING patients. Existing being the key word. I asked her what would have happened if i had been in my right senses and had refused to pay it at the time and she said they wouldve sent me to collections.

  Therefore for them to come up eith that as an argument saying that i eillingly paid and *** changing my mind is not a valid reason. I did not change my mind. Had I been feeling better and well informed, I would not have paid this up front. I would have asked to speak to a supervisor. Also, not to mention that the next day when I called, I DID ask to speak to a supervisor and they told me someone would call me back. It has been over two weeks, and I am still waiting on that call. Talk about bad customer service.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

  Business response

  05/01/2023

  I will reiterate that OHI (Oral Hygiene Instructions: Code D1330) is a service that we are REQUIRED to provide.  It is the standard of care in dentistry to provide this service at every cleaning appointment.

  This is not something that would have been addressed in the financial agreement as it is not a policy but rather a billable service.  We submit each insurance claim with ALL the treatment codes performed to each individuals insurance after every visit (as is mandated by law). While this individuals insurance plan did not cover this charge (some plans do cover it), they do allow us to bill the patient for it which is what we did. The patient received this service and as such was charged for it.   This is an ethical and legal billable charge (per her insurance provider).  All of our patients who receive cleanings at our office are billed for this service (some insurances cover it and some dont).  I don't understand what the problem is.  This patient received a service that is part of the cleaning appointment and was billed accordingly for it.  She is angry that her insurance company didn't cover this fee and therefore was responsible for the $15.  This seems like an issue that should be taken up with her insurance company, not us. 

  Customer response

  05/03/2023

   
  Complaint: 19930430
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  At this point I am not expecting resolutiin for this matter. It is obvious that this bhsiness has horrible customer service. For starters, whrn I emailed and asked for a callback the next day, thry didnt call me back and i wad the one that had to call. When i asked for a callback from a supervisor, they said somrone eould call me back. This was three weeks ago, and I am STILL waiting for that callback. 

  IF this chargr is such a normal and billable thing then why did you send out notices to EXISTING customers letting them know? The SAME courtesy should br applied to NEW patients. That is ehat I am angry abot NOT the fact my insurance denied it. HAD you given me the proper and same notice as your existing customers, and I had the option to either kept the appointment or canceled, that eould have been on me. 

  I have been to numerous dentists and have spoken yo friends ans famiky and not any of thrm have paid for such service. Had i knoen such a thing even existed, i would've asked for the silent trratment. Ha!

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

• Initial Complaint

  03/25/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This business is absurd. I lost my dental insurance, which they called me to ask about new insurance, and charged me $59 and sent me to COLLECTIONS over for a missed dental appt that I NEVER confirmed. They left me messages to confirm my appt stating I needed to call back to confirm and give updated dental insurance, which I had none. If I didnt call back to confirm my appt, IM NOT COMING. Common sense. You dont charge me, you cancel and fill my spot.

  Business response

  04/20/2022

  To Whom It May ****************** style="color: rgb(44, 54, 58); margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">
  

  I am so sorry about the delay getting back to you.  I have just now received your email that there was a complaint filed.  I had not received any previous notifications.  If possible can you please reopen?  I would like to clarify.

   

  Customer's Statement of the Problem:
  "This business is absurd. I lost my dental insurance, which they called me to ask about new insurance, and charged me $59 and sent me to COLLECTIONS over for a "missed" dental appt that I NEVER confirmed. They left me messages to confirm my appt stating I needed to call back to confirm and give updated dental insurance, which I had none. If I didn't call back to confirm my appt, I'M NOT COMING. Common sense. You don't charge me, you cancel and fill my spot."

   

  This patient was an existing patient who had last been seen for a hygiene appointment on 7/27/21.  At that time she scheduled for her next recommended hygiene appointment for 1/25/22 (6 month recall). 

   

  As a COURTESY to our patients, we send many reminders.  This includes making phone calls and sending texts and emails to remind our patients of their scheduled appointments.  Once the appointment is confirmed, cancelled, or rescheduled no further reminders will be sent.  In this specific case, we called the patient 4 times, emailed 3 times, and sent 2 text messages.  We never received a response from the patient.  This indicated to us that the patient was aware of the appointment and did not have a conflict as they had not reached out to cancel or reschedule.  It is common at our office for unconfirmed appointments to be kept by the patient.  If we cancel a patient's appointment without speaking or hearing from the patient directly, proceed to fill the time slot with another patient, and then have the original patient show up -- this clearly creates a problem for everyone.  

  
  

  *********************** failed her 1/25/22 appointment as she simply did not show; nor did she respond to any of the several reminders to let us know she could not keep her scheduled appointment.  Therefore, she was charged our standard $45 missed appointment fee.  Attached you will find a copy of our financial and scheduling policy of which ***** agreed to and signed.  The additional $15 collections fee (also agreed to when she signed her registration form) was assessed when we had to send her account to collections due to her unpaid outstanding balance. 

   

  Please let us know if you have any further questions or concerns.  Thank you so much.

  
  

  Also, please update your records to show that I am the current owner of this practice, not *************************.  

   

  Sincerely, 

  
  

  *********************************, DDS

  Practice Owner

  680 ***********************
  

  *********** ** 60440
  

  ************ Fax: ************

  Customer response

  04/20/2022

   
  Complaint: 16946740
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I never received emails nor texts. I did receive the phone calls, but, again I did not call back to confirm because I did not have insurance and I was not coming to the appointment. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

  Business response

  05/02/2022

  Attached you will find proof of emails and text correspondences sent to *********************** regarding the appointment that was made for 1/25/2022.  She actually responded to a long term email message regarding this appointment that said, I have no conflicts with this appointment.This clearly indicates she received our emails.  However, we understand that things can change, which is why as a courtesy, additional reminders go out closer to the scheduled appointment.  The rest of the messages were never responded to in order to notify us of any change of circumstances on Jennys part.  ***** also wrote us a note, which is attached, that states she said No to the text to confirm, which will reiterate that the patient did indeed receive our text messages.   However, weve also attached the text thread for this patient that will show, that the only correspondence we received from ***** (other than her aforementioned email response noted above) was Stop in reply to a text to offer an opening available for 2/1.  This response was received on 1/28/22 which was AFTER her failed appointment for 1/25.  The patient is not being fair or truthful in her presentation of the events that took place.   

  
  Regardless of any communication that was made by us as an attempt to gain confirmation (a courtesy reminder we extend to all of our patients), the fact remains that ***** acknowledged and agreed to our scheduling policy by signing it, which she failed to uphold.  Not confirming an appointment IS NOT SYNONYMOUS with cancelling an appointment, as evidenced by the multiple patients that show up for their unconfirmed appointments.  Therefore, ***** was fairly assessed a missed/failed appointment fee. 

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