Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  03/03/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I took my son to a consultation for orthodontics at Pacific Northwest Orthodontics in Tacoma Washington on Wednesday February 22nd 2023. I was surprised to see how bad my sons teeth actually were. They suggested a treatment plan and I put down a $1000 deposit. The following day I called his insurance just to see if he might be covered. I described to the insurance representative what the orthodontist from PNW Orthodontics told me about my sons teeth. The insurance representative said that to her it sounded like his orthodontics would be medically necessary and therefore fully covered by his insurance. (******/Apple health). I then Tried to contact PNW Orthodontics to stop payment of the deposit.(at that time payment still pending). I left 2 voice messages. 1 message with a with an another department that was somehow affiliated with pnw ortho. I can't remember what that company or office was called but they said they could get the message to Pnw orthodontics. Also 1 online message. No response from any of these. I talked with my bank about stopping this payment on 02/23/2023. Unfortunately the told me that I would have to let the payment fully process until I could dispute the payment. With no response from my messages I decide to just go up to PNW Orthodontics office in person Wednesday March 1st 2023. To my surprise the office is closed. I double check online to see when they are open....it says open. But there is no one in office and lights are out. I decide to try one more time to call. I was able to get through to someone finally. I tell them I need to Stop treatment plan before it begins (first appointment scheduled Wed 03/22/2023). PNW rep says she doesn't think my deposit is refundable and will have another person call me to discuss the matter further. I have not heard back as of yet. I then look back to the copy of financial agreement plan. And I admit it does say NON refundable deposit.. However I looked this over completely at signing and the definitely didn't draw any attention to that detail either. Im hoping to appeal to this businesses sense of decency. They should have billed my insurance from the start. A deposit was never needed. I made a mistake. I tried to get a hold of them to stop payment while it was still pending but was unable to get through. I feel like I have been scammed. WE have not started treatment. We are a low income family and taking this kind of loss is a big deal. Aside from this we are already in a sort of financial hardship. I'd Like the BBB's help to this resolved so I do not have to take this to court.

  Business response

  04/05/2023

  Thank you **** for taking the time to bring these issues to our attention.  We apologize for any inconvenience or frustration this may have caused you.  Our mission is to provide excellent customer service and orthodontic treatment to our patients and families.  With this, we have multiple locations to serve families in Tacoma, ***********, and Southcenter.  We are very sorry you missed our team on one of the days we were serving patients in another location but we are happy that you were able to get in touch with a team member over the phone.  While we wish we could help with the insurance coverage you mentioned, our office is not contracted with your insurance and therefor you will need to see a provider in your insurance network. Additionally, while our agreements state that our deposits are non-refundable, we find it very important for your child to receive orthodontic treatment and therefor will ***** a full reimbursement of your deposit amount.  Please contact our Director of Operations to coordinate the request via the information below.

  All the best,
  ***********************************
  Pacific Northwest Orthodontics
  Director of Operations
  ***********************************
  

  
  

  Customer response

  04/17/2023

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. I responded to this message 5 days ago with no response from business in question. 

  What is my next step if they do not respond and do not refund payment?. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩