Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  06/07/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I scheduled an appointment for 3/7/2023 with Dr. *** at Southwest Endodontics for a root canal. When I made the appointment, I told his secretary what tooth needed the canal and my dentist, Dr. ********, sent the referral. During the procedure with Dr. ***, at some point, he said "Okay, we're done for today. You are going to have to come back next week to finish. I put a temporary filling in your tooth." I asked him what he meant and Dr. *** said, "we ran out of time, my next appointment is here. It will take me another 20 minutes to finish your tooth and my next patient is here." I paid $275 that day. When I made the appointment I made it clear that I only had one day left of leave and needed the tooth finished in one appointment. The secretary assured me that could happen. Dr. *** ran out of time because his secretary put in the wrong/shorter type of appointment and double booked him for the latter half of my appointment. I had to retun the next week (3/14/23) to finish the appointment and it caused me to loose money. They admitted they made a mistake and it is costing me money. I contacted Dr. *** (via email on 4/6, 4/13, & 4/17,2023) to ask for a refund or even a partial refund and he refuses to cooperate. The terms and conditions of the service that was supposed to be provided were not met.

  Business response

  06/14/2023

  While it is true I did a root canal procedure for **** ****** that took 2 visits, our staff would never tell him it would be done in one visit. I always schedule 1 hour per appointment and never double book. The reason the appointments are set up that way is we don't know the degree of difficulty of the procedure we will be preforming. Limiting factors would be: 1. Difficultly in diagnosing (as in ****'s case we were sent the wrong xray and tooth number). 2. Difficulty in anesthesia (as in ****'s case I gave about 3x the anesthetic I normally do). 3. Difficulty in treatment (possibly calcified or hard to find canals). 4. Degree of infection we are dealing with (if the tooth is draining we cannot seal it). The numbered tooth we were sent has most commonly 1 canal and sometimes 2 canals. The tooth i worked on had 4 canals which obviously is a more time consuming appointment. Now, no matter how many appointments the procedure takes, we charge the same amount for that tooth (no extra fee for extra appointments). If it was possible to do all the procedures in 1 appointment, I would, as we could generate more income by not doing a 2nd appointment and seeing a new patient in his second appointment spot.

  If more information is needed please do not hesitate to contact me.
  

  Customer response

  06/14/2023

  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: The audacity of Dr. *** to tell such blatant lies and think he can get away with it! His entitlement is out of control. ******, Dr. ***'s secretary, verified she told me it would be one appointment. Also, that she accidentally booked the wrong appointment type creating a shorter amount of time for Dr. *** to perform my procedure. She and Dr. *** told me that was the reason he couldn't finish; that his next appointment was already there and it would take "another 20 minutes" to finish my procedure. Double booking shorter than required appointments was a mistake on ******'s part. She has admitted that and explained to me several times that was the reason. Dr. *** also confirmed that the wrong appointment type was booked. Southwest Endodontics admitted they made a mistake and they are forcing me to pay for it. Not right!
  
  Sincerely,
  **** ******

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