Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  01/25/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am a former patient for well over ten years, I say FORMER patient, because When I called today, January 24th for an appointment, I was told I missed an appointment in August and I was a "no show" and owe $25,00. I DID NOT MISS AN APPOINTMENT IN AUGUST. I was not even HOME for most of August. A new policy, due to a rash of "no shows", means you have to pay 25.00 WHEN you miss an appointment. I understand that if you miss an appointment and do not call to reschedule. I GET IT, that's OK with me and understandable, BUT I have NEVER made then missed an appointment EVER in the years I have gone there. I did not make an appointment in August nor did I ever receive a text or call reminding me, which I always get anytime I have an appointment. I asked to speak to Dr.P**** himself since he knows me and my family and also knows we are not people who "don't show". We are dream patients!! I was not allowed to speak to Dr. P****. It is NOT the 25.00 charge that upsets me, it is the fact that I DID NOT miss an appointment and they would not believe or listen to me. Just a snotty "Its our policy". Well, long story, but my husband and I have an appointment this Friday at a DIFFERENT EYE CARE BUSINESS because I was not believed. IT WAS AWFUL. Again, it is NOT the 25.00. It was the fact that it was the TRUTH, but I was NOT BELIEVED. I have never experienced anything like this and it was terrible. So.....Goodbye Insight Vision Care and Dr. P****. I still cannot believe three great customers will NEVER SET FOOT in that place again, all because of OTHER clients being "no shows". Lots other very reputable local eye doctors will want us, we are prompt payers, pleasant to deal with, in fact we already have an Appointment ELSEWHERE in two days!! I'm SO disappointed in Dr. P**** for letting this happen. Wow, at Insight Vision, I was called a liar, and no one in my family would EVER go back there now, even if they begged us to come back and gave us free vision care for life.

  Business response

  02/01/2023

  In response to the customer complaint filed against us by said patient; while we understand her frustration with the situation, our optometrist, Dr. P****, had to institute a "No Call No Show" policy over two years ago beginning in January of 2020 because of the growing number of no shows. When patients miss their appointments without calling, not only does our practice suffer financially, but we are also forced to book eager patients further out. In this patient's case, we calmly explained that we had to enforce this policy for all patients; even those we had been seeing for years. While we understand that the patient does not believe she made/missed her appointment back in August of last year, we do not have an automated system so we do not make appointments for anyone without them calling our office to set them up. According to our scheduling system and notes written for our clarification, the patient originally scheduled an appointment for Tuesday, August 2nd which she cancelled and rescheduled for Friday, August 19th.

  The patient then called us on Wednesday, August 17, 2022 telling us that she still planned on making her 12PM appointment on Friday, August 19, 2022 but would call us later on that same day (August 17th) to reschedule it IF she was going to be unable to keep the appointment. We did not hear back from the patient to cancel her appointment, so we assumed that she would be keeping it. We understand things happen and sometimes even extremely loyal patients miss appointments. We have been serving the Penn Hills area in this location for over 14 years and pride ourselves on providing quality care and service to all our patients. Although it is unfortunate that she feels the need to go elsewhere for her future eyecare needs, we feel that our current policy and $25.00 fee are fair and reasonable due to the fact that our usual exam costs range between $80-$140. We know that many other medical practices also use a similiar policy to ensure that their patients are seen in a timely fashion without appointment times going to waste. Our goal is always to provide great customer service but we do feel that it is still necessary to enforce our "No Call No Show" policy for efficiency in running our small family practice. Please feel free to contact us with any further questions regarding this particular incident (ID ********). 
  

  Regards, 
  - Jessica, Optician 
  Insight Vision Care 

  ----------------------------------------------------

  Good afternoon ********, 
  
  We sent a fax with a response to this case yesterday, however we would like to submit further proof (see attached) from our text messaging reminder system. Our system only notifies patients of when they're due for their appointments, when they make their appointments, and asks to confirm appointments. It does not schedule appointments for patients. They must call to schedule with us.
  
  ******* **** called to schedule an appointment on August 1st and we had an opening for the following day August 2nd at 1:15pm which accepted and was notified of. She then called to reschedule that appointment for August 19th at 12:00pm which she was again notified about via text message. She received this text and called on August 18th just to verify that she planned on coming to her appointment the next day but would let us know if she could not. She confirmed with a "Y" response the day of her appointment, so we assumed she was still coming. Since we did not receive any call to cancel, we applied a $25 No Call No Show fee as per our policy.
  
  We would also like to add that she published a Google review with the same false information she submitted in her complaint to you. 
  
  We are not sure if you reach out to anyone who files complaints once both sides are heard but if you do, we would appreciate it if you let her know of this evidence.

  
  

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