Hello,
I am giving this office 1/5 stars. The rating is in no way reflecting on the customer service in terms of one-to-one reaction with the employees. Everyone at the office was very friendly and sweet.
I went in for basic cleaning. Because of COVID, they did not use any electrical tools on me, and had to go "old school." Keep in mind; they still charged me the same as they would have had they used electrical tools. The hygienist used a scaling tool and a mirror to do my cleaning cleaning. I know I am not a professional, but generally, when I get scaling done, I can usually feel some pain and a bit of gum bleeding. In this case, I felt this technique included very light scaling, and she was not going deep in the crevices at the back. I had told her that I had my wisdom teeth removed, and I wanted to focus on the back as I know food gets stuck back there. Personally, I did not feel there was much focus on the areas I had requested. Subsequently, the usual flossing was done, and water was provided.
The time for treatment was 48 minutes (according to her). Each unit of scaling is 15 minutes. I was charged 3.5 units of scaling. According to my calculations, 3.5 units of scaling should equal 52.5 minutes. In this case, the 0.5 was the overage from 45 minutes to 48 minutes. So I was charged extra for 3 minutes. I find it quite interesting that I would be charged 0.5 units of scaling for an additional 3 minutes of service...The total for this session, with tax, was $200. I told the hygienist that I didn't feel this was fair, and I could have done better scaling myself. She heard my concerns and validated them. She apologized and explained her reasoning. I understood and still felt, as a new customer, ripped off.
The receptionist was generous enough to remove the 0.5 unit of scaling, so instead of paying 3.5 units, I paid three units. I am glad she did that since charging me extra for 3 minutes above service is ridiculous. Generally, it would make sense to round down to 45 minutes and just charge the customer three units. It would be a good business tactic to get your customer to potentially return.
Ultimately, I did tell them that I will not be back and will be sticking to my usual dental practice.
My issue with dental practices is that it is easy to be charged for services because of a coding system that many customers don't quite understand. I think my mistake is that I should have asked for a quote before going forward with my decision to chose this practice. Also, I need to familiarize myself with the codes or ask for a detailed breakdown. At the end of the day, yes, I do have insurance, but I am still paying for it, and it is only 80%, so I need to be mindful of where I put my money. Also, I am surely going to places that use power tools or waiting until this COVID is over!!! Lesson learned!