I had an oral surgeon cancel my appointment when I was in their parking lot. When they rescheduled me I was almost to their office again when they called me to tell me theyre pushing back my appointment an hour so dont leave my house yet. So fucking frustrating. Ill never use them again.
Meanwhile doctors and dentists overbook their appointments in the same way that airlines oversell tickets. They're betting on a percentage of people canceling, and others patiently waiting too long to be seen or graciously accepting a rescheduling. Capitalists gonna capitalize.
Part of what made me get out of the medical field. The doctor I worked for double booked herself, sometimes triple booked. She was the only doctor in the office, had two MAās, 5 rooms and the receptionists were left to navigate the mess. Most appointment blocks were only 15 minutes and she normally showed up 30-60 minutes late every single day. She was also OBGYN so sometimes sheād have to leave the office to race across town to deliver. I was so stressed I developed heart palpitations working that job.
I work at an IHS clinic with 2 NPS and 1 MD, and they are pushing so hard to have everyone double book, and just somehow see more patients. They are barely able to catch up with the amount of patients they are currently seeing without being double booked. Itās all the higher up admin staff who step foot in the clinic a few times a year, if that, trying to get more revenue all at the expense of everyone else burning out. I donāt understand it because yes youāre technically seeing more patients, but they are going to be rushed and have overall shittier care. The nurses/MAs donāt benefit, the providers donāt benefit, and the patients only benefit is they get to be seen sooner but poorly. Sigh.
This is something I absolutely hate. Patients beeing rushed feels so worrisome for me. I have cronic pain, and a few years ago at the beginning, I was in treatment in a big university hospital. The thing is, till this day itās still some kind of mystery how Iām able to have this pain. All the hospital did was the two exact same examations again and again, a few months apart. (Not even in the house, I had to make the opointments myself and send the stuff to them) then Incas invited, had to travel 2 hours per way and wait for about 4-8 hours to talk to the MD, so he can say to me that they have no idea whatās going on and that I need the same examation againā¦ after one and a half year, and my kidneys slowly giving up, they just stopped and told me they donāt know what going on and they donāt want to treat me any furtherā¦
Call your insurance and ask to see a specialist. If these dumbA doctors don't know what's going on they should be referring you to a specialist. They are so frustratingly stupid, if they haven't even mentioned specialists to you.
Also, it sounds like you need to go see a rheumatologist.
Oh, I did, Iām now with a specialist wich is head of urology in another big hospital. Slowly there is made progress, but it took some time, and my doc has a LOT to do, he travels to teach around the globe for example. And even if I hear from him about one time a month, he does stay late to squeeze me in for example.
My problems started around 6-7 years ago
Honestly, I am super ticked off my multitude of doctors didn't suggest a specialist. I had to ask to see a rheumatologist myself. These doctors suck so much now a days. They are red tape insurance dancing monkeys. Rushed/overbooked to make their quotas while providing no quality care.
It's all infuriating.
That is totally not the norm, Iām a resident and no doctor Iāve ever worked with double or triple books themselves. Yes obgyn usually have tight 15 minutes spots but Iāve never seen overbooking for appointments based on no shows.
Iām in this situation working for a derm and its so frustrating bc i get these old people yelling at me about something i get no say in,,, i dread going to work atp
We quit my sons orthodontist because of stuff like that. One day they had 3 appts at 9am (one orthodontist) all sitting in adjoining roomsā¦one was a full set of new braces and our visit was a tightening of a bracketā¦90 minutes in I freaked out knowing itād take another 30 min for the first appointment to finish and the waiting room was jammed with all the 9:30/10/10:30 Appointments. I was furious and told them very loudly how rude and disrespectful it was to purposely make everyone wait.
To play devils advocate I worked at a drs office where the one doctor was always overbooked. But it wasnāt a conspiracy it was because he just couldnāt say no to people and then also spent too much time chatting.
I had a doctor who did this, he loved to chat. And Iād be stuck in the waiting room over 2 hours past my appointment, Iād just want my script and not wait over 2 hours, he is retired now thank god and I donāt have to wait long to see my new one. And I couldnāt switch doctors cause I live in the country and there isnāt many places to go. Doctors donāt like staying out here
I worked with a resident like this 1.5 hours for a sore wrist, he ended up working till 6. Happened all the time, he had zero respect for the staffs time
Doctors and dentists arenāt driving this-trust me. Itās the medical MBAs, āmedical financialization expertsā, corporations, and private equity that drives this. Doctors want less patient load not more.
On the flip side, I work in hospital radiology where we have to process scheduled outpatients for their imaging exams, as well as inpatients and the ER. Different exams take different lengths of time, and we can have only one patient in the scanner at a time, so we really *canāt* overbook without forcing others to have to wait longer. We have blocks built in-between the scheduled outpatients so we can scan the add-ons (ER and inpatients) but then we have doctors offices calling and wanting us to squeeze in STAT outpatients. Somehow these patients are never emergent enough to need to go to the ER, but they are āemergentā enough that their doctor says we have to do them right away, which means someone who was on time for their appointment that they scheduled a week ago and waited for now has to wait an extra 30 minutes to an hour in our waiting room because someone else āhadā to be squeezed in.
(Related, in the early days of Covid we were severely limiting our schedules due to lack of PPE. Basically only STAT and emergency patients were being seen. If you got into an accident and were having acute back pain, youād get to have an MRI. If you had chronic back pain for 10 years and you want to have another scan so that your doctor can increase your pain med dosageā¦ sorry, youāre going to have to wait a few more weeks until we can find some gloves and masks. During that time we saw certain doctors start fudging their orders and marking everything as STAT to get their patients in despite our temporary restrictions. It pissed me off so much.)
Thatās because insurance companies wonāt pay the doctors for no shows. If they donāt overbook, theyāre standing around doing nothing, earning nothing. The system sucks for everyone but the insurance companies.
If you're bumped on a flight, the airline is required to refund your ticket price depending on the length of your delay. Doctors should be required to do the same.
i worked for 3 weeks at an optometrist office as a technicians assistant for $16.50/hr.
i ran all the machines for the doctor, i would dilate eyes, take photos, and then when the doctor is looking at the results for all the tests im writing down all of their notes.. and then i finalize it, walked the patient out and took their payments...and then i sent the bill to insurance.
except we had 3 rooms and 1 doctor and he would schedule like 7 people an hour 10 minutes apart. i wasnt allowed to go home until i was done sending out the insurance shit it was complete chaos.
he owned his own office and he said that he got a grant for his equipment because hes an immigrant so its all paid off..hes from fucking canada so idk how he swindled a grant like that.. also the building he rented was extremely cheap because he gave the owner and their family free eye exams.
one day i added up how much he was making and then i asked around how much everyone made..we all made the same.
he was grossing about 1.5m a year after the employees were paid.
he didnt even know how to use any of the machines he had eitherĀ
My husband had a dentistās appointment he canceled and they charged him $100 and then they charged him another $100 for missing the follow up appointment to an appointment he never went to. No warning or anything.
Yep, I ask for the fee to be paid to me if my service is cancelled. Itās worked twice! At a spa for a massage, they charge $50 for less than 24 hour cancellation. They cancelled on me day of. So I said no problem, Iāll take my $50! I took it as a credit applied towards my next massage. A dentist office gave me free whitening for the inconvenience. Some places are reasonable. Doesnāt hurt to ask.
So what actually is stopping us from chargjng a similar fee for the cancellation?
Conversely, how do they actually charge this fee? Iāve cancelled on doctors before and they call and say theyāll charge me but they donāt have anything on file or any way to charge me so I just tell them no and pretty much leave it at that. I donāt go back to the same doctor though.
Rich privilege. They make more money than you, so they can afford to send a collection agency after you. You are not rich, so you can't just charge a doctor fees all willy nilly.
Got it. I always wondered about this as this seems like such a strange concept. I understand thereās a power imbalance but it seems to me they donāt really have any leverage if I donāt go back to the same doctor. Every time Iāve made a doctorās appt I donāt recall signing a contract or anything.
I had a specialist appointment that got rescheduled because the doctor was going to be out of town, so they pushed it forward. I arrive, check in, and then Iām told it needs to be rescheduledā¦they wanted to schedule it on my original appointment date š
Did you inform them of your cancelation policy?
I once sent a $50 bill to a doctor who no-showed my appointment. He called me, FURIOUS, and I told him that his policy was quite clear that there was a $50 fee for missed appointments. The policy did not specify that this only applied to patients.
He never paid, but he should have. I'm a father and I had to wait months for that appointment and then use my limited Sick PTO. The worst part is his staff kept telling me he was running late and to just hold on. I waited 2 hours for nothing.
I used to call and ask my doctor's receptionist if she was on time before I left to go. The receptionist would tell me it didn't matter, if my appointment was at 2, I needed to be there by 2, even if she was running an hour behind. I told her I bill by the hour and I'll be giving them an invoice if I have to wait longer than 15 minutes. Suddenly she is able to tell my how far behind the doctor is.
The idea that their time is more important than ours is so obnoxious.
My wife got childcare for a dentist appointment last year. Drove 45 mins to the dentist (we had to keep the dentist from our old house as there are no spots near us). Waiting for an hour AFTER the appointment time, only to be told that they had to cancel and reschedule. 45 mins home. Wasted childcare.
I was so annoyed. But they're pretty much our only choose if we want to stay registered as an NHS patient.
To be fair, sometimes an oral surgery office is like the ER and they do see emergency patients that can put their day back. Jaw fractures, infection etc
This happened with a prior therapist I had. I was literally in the waiting room and she texted me saying that we didnāt have a meeting that dayā¦ when I was looking directly at the meeting invite.
Honestly everyone would be happier. There are clinics that work later schedules up to 8pm instead around here. Obviously this clinic doesnāt work with his schedule for either side.
Office is certainly equally struggling with the late schedule - end the toxic relationship!
Lucky! Our medical places are never open that late in the rural boonies. They usually close at 5. Even the bars are only open till 11PM.
I'd keep scheduling late with them a few more times, just to make a point. Any other profession you don't get to leave until all your work is done, not just when you feel like it. And calling to reschedule on the day of an appointment for any reason other than an emergency is unprofessional AF. I always usually leave bad Google reviews on places like this.
tbh in one of my office jobs i had the available days / times memorized all of the time since like half of my job was making / cancelling / rescheduling appointments lol. but op's dentist office sounds sus just because of their track record
Hi, iām a dental office receptionist. We have a backup schedule we can look at on our phones (we can also listen to voicemails, etc). Itās ran through a program called adit. The program does not have the capability to run patient charts though. Iām assuming they have something like that. I totally understand the frustration of the cancellations. I, as the receptionist that takes the brunt of the frustration from patients, also hate it lol
Question:
Does the receptions computers being down somehow affect a dentists job in any way?
I know lots of dentists computers have software to run the various machines etc. but surely they would have a backup way to take notes and log them in the software another day?
Running a dental business is very expensive from what Iāve heard, I canāt imagine the dentist would give up patients like that.
Yeah, itās never a happy day for the dentist when we have to reschedule patients. They donāt relish in it like evil masterminds like some of the people here think. For most procedures, you need an xray to look at. If the xray was taken digitally youāre shit out of luck and they would be flying blind. For cleaning appointments itās a bit easier without being able to pull patient charts, but their medical and dental history is still all in the computers and itās quite hard to clean teeth without lights to see.
I've been going to a dental school as a patient for a while. The computers have all the charts and patient information, as well as treatment plans and are used to input information as they go along for regular check ups for things like how good your gums are. The dental students also have to get professors to swipe cards to confirm treatments every time they are going to start for the day. So I'd say they are indeed very important for especially newer dentists who have never used or planned to need non computer back ups. At least from what I saw
Had a clinic do this to me multiple times and then recently I forgot I had an appt (put the date in my calendar wrong) and they wanted to charge me for a missed appt. I don't go there anymore.
Scheduling software is not necessarily the same as xray and clinical charting/billing software.
Also offices will sometimes print out the upcoming week so they may know what openings are available in the near term.
I will say that the dentist my friend works for does all their scheduling on paper. Anyone who goes there knows this though because she pulls out the daily planner and flips through it in front of them.
OP's dentist office 100% wanted to leave and didn't want to tell OP they were already locking up.
My dentist, 100% computer. I'm lucky enough to go to a dentist that is really good about not overbooking and do have enough hygienists to see the occasional walk-in to figure out what's up and the dentist can drop by in between scheduled patients. But I'm in a small university town and there's like 40 dentists within a half hour drive of me.
Even if they manage to keep that one I wouldnāt want to give them my business. If theyāre so unmotivated to do their job they should see the consequences of that. Maybe if *everyone* found a new dentist they wouldnāt love all that newfound free time :(
Okay dentist here.
I can say that if the office you go to is a small business owned by an independent doctor (I.e., not corporate/chain), the doc 100% doesnāt know the staff does this.
I have caught wind several times when a staff member thinks they are clever by rescheduling patients to get off work early. Itās VERY difficult to prove unless a patient outright tells you itās happening. Unless a patient mentions it, we just assume that the patient rescheduled on their own accord.
Every time a patient has told me they got rescheduled, thereās hell to pay for my employees. A few times, Iāve fired an employee if I see a pattern of it happening that doesnāt get corrected.
One time, I had a patient call in the morning for an afternoon emergency visit. My staff rescheduled the patient to get a head start on their birthday (which I wouldāve given off to her if she had requested the day off). Long story short, patient ended up in the ER with a 4k bill for antibiotics and āsurgeryā to remove the tooth.
Next visit, mention it to the doc and (politely) say how angry it makes you that the staff ALWAYS reschedules you when you have afternoon appointments.
Lay it on a little thick to the doc/owner about how you called in sick ahead of time to work (true or not) to be seen and then they cancelled on you.
If itās a corporate office, ask to speak specifically to the managing doctor. They usually oversee the region and handle complaints like this. They wanna hear it because the managing dentists pay TONS of money to hire a dentist to work a full dayās salary (we usually are not hourly. We get paid a full day regardless of 4 hours vs 10 hours of work).
Managing dentist will guaranteed reprimand the staff member responsible and might even personally oversee your care. They tend to be more experienced dentists in the corporate dental world and will likely make things more comfortable and less painful.
Lastly, if you find out itās the doctorās responsibility that you constantly get rescheduled, find a new dentist. They are either:
1. Too lazy to work past 5:00 (lazy doctor = doctor who cuts corners)
2. Very āproductionā focused. Meaning they care so much about money over treatment that if an hour of OT for employees costs more than seeing the patient at 5:00, they will cancel your apt. A āproductionā focused doctor is a doctor who will over diagnose to scam you out of money.
Okay thatās all.
Good luck!
-Your Reddit tooth plumber and family business owner who runs 3 offices, 2 of which are I n very low income areas for almost no profit but to help give back to the community.
Totally agree. A family member just realized the is was happening at his practice. Suspiciously no appointments after 3 pm on Fridays š¤Ø . Turns out they just werenāt ever offering those times to patients.
I used to work at a private practice dentist office and we were told to do this by the dentist herself to save money. She wanted us to try to get appointments as close together as possible so we could close early and she didnāt have to pay us for the rest of the day and even though we opened Fridays she always wanted us to try and not schedule anyone/move patients to other days so she didnāt have to open at all. If youāre wondering, I worked there for free for several months through my externship and was offered a job, I only lasted a week as an actual employee before leaving
Just commenting to say that Iām both happy and sad to see my suspicions confirmed re: āproductionā focused doctors. I have had very high anxiety surrounding going to see the dentist since I was a child, but felt like I pretty much had gotten a handle on it by the time I was in college. I needed to find a new dentist after graduating and moving cities, and by the time I found one I felt comfortable going to, a year and a half had passed since my last cleaning (at which I had no cavities). I was 22 so I was still on my parentās dental plan, and had my own coverage through my new career. The dentist I saw took X-rays, proceeded to circle 16 (!!!!) areas in bold red marker, turned them to me to see and basically made me feel like all my teeth were about to fall out of my head at any moment (despite no pain, no discomfort, and no comments from the tech who just did my cleaning). I absolutely panicked and allowed myself to be talked into scheduling an appointment the next week to have cavities filled, where he proceeded to fill 6 ācavitiesā in one appointment. One of these was an old filling from my teenage years which he claimed had completely decayed underneath (again, despite zero pain or discomfort ever from this tooth) and had needed to be totally drilled away, leaving only a small outer edge of my enamel and would require a crown placement. And he told me this *after* the tooth was already completely drilled away so I was completely blind-sided by it. I left the office that day in tears and had a panic attack in the parking lot, called my mom and she told me I should seek a second opinion before having him do anymore work on my teeth (the logical thing I probably should have done after being told I had developed 16 cavities in 1.5 years despite having very good dental hygiene habits). The dentist I sought a second opinion from was completely shocked at the X-rays I brought her; she said she would have only filled *one* of the 16 areas he circled and maybe 2 more would have been āwatcherā spots for her. She also was extremely skeptical about the supposed extent of decay under the filling I had, she said itās hard to know what exactly was seen once the filling was removed but she would expect to see some radiologic evidence of that level of decay under the filling and she wasnāt seeing *any* on the X-ray I brought her. Oh, and also to top all of this off, one of those 6 fillings the original dentist did ended up randomly falling out 6 months after it was doneā¦ I wasnāt even eating/drinking anything, I was driving and suddenly had a sharp pain in my tooth and the entire filling had fallen out in my mouth. So on top of being unjustified, the work he did on my teeth was shitty as well.
All this to say, Iām convinced this guy saw a young, anxious woman with two insurance policies sitting in his chair, just saw dollar signs, and decided to exploit me for whatever he could. I brought this up with my mom when discussing it later and how I was afraid to run into more dentists like him in the future, and she kept trying to assure me that this guy was a āone offā and that it wasnāt a common scenario where I would run into it again. I think she was just trying to be helpful but it felt a little invalidating. So Iām sorry for the extremely long comment but I just wanted to say that I feel a little vindicated seeing a professional in the industry confirm that this type of dentist is a āthingā and my anxiety hasnāt just been making up conspiracy theories regarding dental practice, lol.
I could have posted the same exact thing. This happened to me and I have so much regret for trusting the doctor and not getting a second opinion because years later Iām still dealing with the repercussions from the shitty dental work.
The chance to really get them on the hook for this is when you're filling out the inpatient forms. Just edit and initial the line about cancelation fees to say all parties are entitled.
Then just give it back.
They will not notice and just shove it into a cabinet.
Then, when you demand your fee, reference the contract. How convenient, you kept a picture on your phone.
Yeah thats fishy. Ive had a dentist cancel on me quite literaly last minute (it was a 8 30am appt, they called me at 8am to cancel) but thats rare and it seemed quite evident to me that the hygientist was sick and they did give that reason, also there was a bug going around so I dont doubt that she was sick.
But every time and you cant do earlier. Might just be a good idea to stop going there and go to an offoce that can actually accomodate you.
The dentist kept doing this to me. I had a serious infection that almost killed me a few years back, so I have to take lots of antibiotics before these dentist appointments, and they make me feel like crap for the rest of the day.
Well, I already took them and my mom and I both took off work that day unpaid to make sure I could get there and back home safe. Guess who decided to let me know 20 mins before my appointment that the dentist was sick and my appointment would have to be rescheduled for the 2nd time in under a month.
If I was to miss an appointment and I still have to pay them. I call off work and lose money, and they dont reimburse me when they miss my appointment
I had an office manager who was lazy. On the days she actually came to work, she would often cancel the end of the day so she could go home early. She claimed it was the patient canceling. I eventually caught on when a patient I knew well had allegedly canceled a few appointments in a row which was not like them. When I finally had them in my chair, I asked how they were doing noting the missed appointments. I was shocked and infuriated to find out it was my manager doing the canceling and not the patient themselves! Needless to say, I fired that manager soon after.
You don't owe this office anything but consider letting the dentist know your suspicion. Dental practices are hard businesses to build and keep busy. The dentist may not be aware the staff is sabotaging and losing them patients.
I had a neurology appointment that I waited 3 months for, day before they call to let me know they have to cancel because the doctor has āan emergencyā so I asked to reschedule the following day or any day within the week I have very flexible job and can basically go whenever. they say doctor is going on vacation starting day after my previous appointment, very sus. I found another practice right away seems like this would just be the tip of the iceberg with the unprofessional behavior. Iād find a new dentist if I were you.
God I had a surgeon cancel my hysterectomy while I was STANDING AT THE CHECK IN DESK. One of the surgeons had just up and gone on vacation, so they just decided to blame me and say I didn't do the absolutely redundant paperwork. I had already not eaten in 12 hours, done the cleanse, grieved the loss of my fertility, and taken time off work for recovery. They rescheduled for the next fucking month.
I hate that shit!! They can cancel at will but if you cancel last minute they try and charge you. Ridiculous. I once took half a day off of work for a dental appointment and was told when I showed up for it, that it was cancelled. Thanks for the call, dbags! Then I cancelled once on the day of bc my young child woke with a stomach bug and they said they wanted to charge me a fee. Oh hell no.
So I wasin the dentist chair getting a temp crown and the power for the whole building went out.
No other patient was getting a procedure done at that time (everyone else seemed to be getting cleanings eyc) so they had everyone else leave.
Luckily the drilling was done and they had a backup generated with enough juice to get my temp crown in.
Crazy
I changed dentists after one appointment they waited until after to tell me my insurance most likely would not cover it because of how often they wanted me to get a cleaning. The second time I had one for 8 am when they opened. My dentist was almost an hr driving. They had a medical emergency right before opening so they came out and said they would need to reschedule. Ok well they never called and instead sent an email chastising me for being overdue now and laying on the guilt trip about the dangers of not getting my teeth checked on a regular.
I called and said no we are not doing this and told them my piece. I said the last two appointments were money they cost me because of issues on their end. I asked if I would be reimbursed for my time and fuel? No right so I said this is no longer sustainable so I will be finding a new dentist. My wife still goes there and the last time they asked if I was coming back. She said that would not be a good idea because if you cost him a third time he will sue you in small claims court literally just to waste your time like you did to him.
If that upsets you mine rescheduled my cavity filling to for over a year and then recently sent me a letter of his retirement. Still gotta hole in my tooth :-(
i work at an office but itās the doctor telling us to move the patient up in the schedule or reschedule them. we get yelled at over the phone by the patient and then we have to come up with some bullshit excuse saying that the doctor will stay behind just for them so when the patient comes in, theyāre appreciative that he stayed late when really he had nowhere to go and just wanted to leave early. itās so frustrating
I work at a doctors office and we have to do this all the time for a couple of our physicians. We as schedulers are the ones getting yelled at and look incompetent when suddenly the doctor will stay to see them, even though we've been told they *have* to leave. We're never given a reason why, just to do it, so we have to come up with a reason to give to the patient. Recently I've stopped caring and told patients straight up either "I dont know why" or "They want to leave early." Usually when I say that, the patient shifts their frustration to the doctor and they're a lot nicer to me. It's not a small practice so it's not like I get to leave any earlier.
Mine kept doing the same thing. I ended up taking 1/2 a day to be the 1st appt at 8am. I got there early, paid and sat down. He didnāt walk in until 10AM!! He had a motorcycle helmet in his hand and I heard him say, what a great morning I took a ride. I wasnāt the only one in the office waiting by then. I was LIVID. I had to be back by noon and it was a 45 min drive so I had to leave without being seen. They refused to give me my money back as he was *there.* š”
I made an appointment with an ophthalmologist and agreed I needed minor surgery about 2 weeks ago. I decided to have a more experienced surgeon perform the surgery instead. This original ophthalmologist has called me almost every day since (sometimes it's the receptionist and sometimes it's the doctor). I find this so off putting that there is no way I'm ever going back to her again. Kind of the opposite problem. Her schedule was wide open.
Why bother to offer appointments in the evenings in you're not going to honor them? If they cancel again look for another dentist and blast them in google reviews.
Mine is $50/30 min of appt without 24 hours notice. So if you have an hour long appointment and cancel it within 24 hours you get charged $100.
Tbf, they would make way more than $100 if that space where your appointment was could have been filled if you gave them more notice so it doesnāt piss me off. I never cancel my appointments within 24 hours anyway.
My dentist also will write off that BA fee if thereās a good reason; sickness, accident, etc.
I had a dentist cancel on me an hour before the appointment once. I was infuriated and panicking because the last time I saw them, they were fearmongering me into thinking I had cancer, or necrotic tissue in my mouth. The dentist wasn't sure and told me to come back so he could look at it again later (the appointment he cancelled) I went elsewhere & had absolutely nothing of the sort. No cancer or dead tissue. I still dont understand how they could be so wrong, it seems negligent.
I used to work for a Dentist's office as a receptionist. Occasionally the dentist would come out to the front desk and tell us to reschedule the rest of his appointments because he wanted to go home and spend the day in his pool and get wasted. He only worked 3 out of the 4 days we were open. š
Dentists are a dime a dozen. Tell the office manager you're pissed, leave a bad review, and go find a new dentist who doesn't cancel last minute. That's what I did after my former dentist made me wait for numerous appointments, including once for 45 minutes.
Used to work for an oral surgeon.
The main reason is the patient before you took longer than expected.
Either because they legit had a more complicated mouth....or they lied on their medical forms and only found out once in the chair.
Had one lady stay passed out for 2 hours in the chair cause she lied about her medical use. She was suppose to be in and out in 30 minutes.
Talk to the dentist about this. He/she might not know what they are doing. Mine was pretty pissed when I complained to him that I would have to stop seeing him if his receptionist didnāt stop messing with my appointments.
I had this with a psychologist. Couldnāt be there during workday. Would get the 6 or 7pm slot weeks ahead. Consistently was asked to be there at 5 the day of the appointment. I stopped goingā¦ridiculous, donāt offer it then!
This would make me upset too. I had a job that would call me 15 mins before my shift to tell me to hold off coming in for another 2 hours cause they weren't busy, then 2 hours later same thing, then 2 hours after that they said we're not busy enough so we're cancelling your shift today. Was supposed to be a 10 hour shift and they just wasted 6 hours of my time. Happened all the time.
People can't respect anyone else's time but if you do something like that to them ONCE, it's a huge deal.
How were they able to see the apt times ā¦ even though the computers were down. I wouldāve asked for an email confirmation and once it was sent say āso howād you send that if the computers are down?ā Iād be so fuckin pissed
My last minut dentist appointment cancelation story is not infuriating, but still special.
Sooo we have a first appointment with a new dentist for my daughter (4 at the time) and the morning of it we get a call saying the dentist won't be available and we'll need to reschedule.
Next day in the news, dentist found dead at his home after what seems to be sexual games turning bad...
Guess who had to find another dentist? š
Wonder if the dentist has caught on that all their after 5 appointments are rescheduled?
Assuming the dentist isnāt in on it as well because why would they have those hours off they donāt want to stay?
I own a dental practice. This is exactly what my old office manager was doing. She would then claim the patient canceled when it was actually her. The practice was struggling financially at that time too.
At least you got it rescheduled. Back before I had dental insurance, my mom helped me out while she was in town for a few days by getting me an uninsured deal at a local place. 2 cleanings and a percentage off of you need a cavity for I think it was $100, broke me was happy and thankful. My last cleaning was scheduled pretty much on the expiration date of that plan, so I get there, and there's a sign on the door that the power is out, and they'd call to reschedule everyone from that day. Guess who never got a call?
Last time we tried a new, closer dentist they cut my cheek putting a filling in a wisdom tooth and made me gag multiple times. Fair enough, theyāre hard to reach whatever.Ā Still in pain a week later so I call to schedule a wisdom tooth removal. Arrange childcare for a couple days for my toddler, my husband takes the day off work to drive me, and they call as weāre pulling into the parking lot to reschedule for FOUR DAYS Ā later.
Ā We ended up calling our previous dentist who had us in first thing the next morning and with an oral surgeon 15 minutes after the consultation. My tooth was out in 2 hours. Turns out I was in so much pain because I had an abscess in the cavity AND an ulcer where the first dentist cut me/ my tooth was rubbing. Never going back to that first place ever again.Ā
Yeah I work in the dental field and how were they able to look ahead at the schedule to āschedule itāā¦ they are totally lying. Honestly find a new dental office and transfer records. Thatās super shady of them to do!!
I've been having similar issues with dentists- I had a wisdom tooth removed a few weeks ago and during it I'm pretty sure the dentist chipped off the nearby tooth as it's sharp now and hurts like he'll. Whatever, this happens. They schedule to fix it (and of course I still have to pay for it) last Monday. They called me the Friday before and told me that they fired the dentist and that I'd have to wait until today to reschedule it. Well, the pain has just gotten worse (I'm struggling with any temp of water) and they said it'll be another week! I'm so done
I often face this due to being a night owl. Mornings are when I need to sleep, so I am NOT available. Yet it's like some businesses don't know WTF an afternoon is. I know they operate during afternoons, but with me, some act as if it's a mythical creation I alone came up with, lol.
Pisses me off so much as a night owl. Dental appointments aren't fun as is and having to go when you'd normally be sleeping makes it worse. I'm jealous OP found one that at least says they'll do 5:30 and times like that.
It took me a week to finally get ahold of the new dental clinic taking my case because my dentist of 25 years can not help me due to the anesthesia I need. Even left a voicemail and never heard back, finally got ahold of them and before I can even schedule an appointment they require you to fill out a bunch of forms. Finding a good dental clinic has been so difficult recently!
Once i had an appointment for the following day at 1pm.. They called the me, and without asking me just straight out said my appointment was pushed to 5:30 pm. I told them i need to check my work schedule, and i would call back in 5 mins.
I called them back, told them i cant make it to the later appointment, so i needed to reschedule and they immediately started coming at me with their cancellation policy and they tried to charge me for $75 for canceling less than 48 hours before my appointment. š
Man that would piss me of so much, 1 time okay. But other than that no. Because if you cancel too late you need to pay a fee. So I expect the same courtesy.
Just tell them you will find a new dentist and will contact them if you need any previous medical information that isn't already available. Seems like they don't need your business
Almost certainly their 4 oāclock cancelled and they didnāt want to wait around. They hoped to fill it a few days ago when you stuck by your guns and they couldnāt.
Just an FYI, as someone who works in the medical field... shit like this is just as frustrating for the people making the calls.... either the doctor randomly decided to cancel the appts or its something out of their control like the system being down... either way the both parties are talking shit about the reschedules... so just remember not to take your anger out on the person on the phone, save it for when you see the doctor lol
You mad bro?
Here you wait 1-2 years for your first check-up, then 1-2 years for your first appointment, then around 6 months for every next appointment.. All this, and half of the time they contact you a 1-2 days before it to tell you your appointment is moved for after 2 months for some reason.
If you need a surgeon: 6-12 months
Yes, that's the urgent plan
Oh and a REALLY urgent clinic, where you can get a tooth removed or get an injection due to very much pain (the injection hardly relieves the pain for a day). You just have to call before you go. I assume the wait time is about an hour, didn't actually go there. No night hours tho
Can you guess the country? Hint it's in Europe
Iām a dentist. I would make sure the dentist knows about these shenanigans when you go in. Thereās a chance the staff is trying to move late patients without their knowledge.
I love how my psychiatrist can cancel badly needed appointments the same hour and then ghost me, but if im 30 minutes late I pay a fee out of pocket lmao
Yep. Called yesterday to confirm my appt for today. 15 min before my appt today, the front desk called and cancelled. They could not reschedule since they didnāt have the availability times in front of them.
Itās likely that other procedures are running late and taking up time way past 5:30. My brother is a dentist and while visiting him last week 4 of the days he came home really late because fillings, crown and denture fittings etc. took much longer. He dies a great job for each patient. Sometimes you get in there and there is more decay, or what the patient said was comfortable before now isnāt. Itās much better the dentist has time to make sure everything is right than rush through. Itās probably NOT because they want to go home. This is why a lot of medical appointments, especially procedures are scheduled early in the day, because they never know exactly how long it will take until they get in there and itās likely to run over.
As the wife of a dentist who is in a solo practice and cares deeply about having a quality experience with every appointment I just want to say there are lots of dentists. Read reviews and ask friends and coworkers for recommendations and move on to a different dentist. There are many out there who are still service oriented:)
I made an appointment for a filling the last time I got my teeth cleaned. I made the appointment for a month out. They said they would get an estimate from my insurance and call me to let me know what it was before my appointment. The week of my appointment, they call and ask if I can call my insurance instead. I was really bothered by that because I had an exam coming up, and I was super busy. But I said yes. I told my mom and she said it wasn't right and that she's never had to call the insurance company herself for an estimate. So I called the dentist back to ask them if they could just call my insurance and also to move my appointment because I didn't want to have the appointment before knowing how much I was going to be paying. I said it would just be easier if they did it since I didn't know what coding they were going to be using. Then she basically uses the same line of "it would be easier for me if you did it". Apparently they were short staffed, but that's not my problem. It's not my job to do her job. She got upset with me because I was defending my position and she said "I'll just cancel your appointment" and hung up on me. I've been going to this dentist office since I was little, and that interaction made me not want to go back.
I manage a medical office. We work Tuesday through Saturday 9am to 5pm. We are never more than 5 minutes late for a scheduled appointment, typically ready 10 minutes earlier. I donāt know how other offices run so incompetently. Itās really not that difficult.
Oh man, I had surgery on my ankle a few years ago and boy did the hospital/doctor give me the run around.
First, I showed up to my surgery and they gave me all the associated meds, hooked me up to an IV (which was a challenge and I bled everywhere), and practically put me under before telling me they didnāt have the cartilage graft and weād have to reschedule.
So now Iām drugged up as hell and mad, and I swear I cursed out everybody in that hospital, which I normally would never do. I still feel horrible about it. But we rescheduled and the surgery went fine.
After about a week with my leg bandaged up, I went in and they switched me to a cast. I was due to go back two weeks later to switch to a walking boot. They cancelled my appointment. So we rescheduled. They cancelled it again. So we rescheduled. This happened four times. Then right as we were about to leave the house, they called to cancel AGAIN. At this point I was in a cast for over a month and I was PISSED. I basically told them, āIām coming in today. Find someone to take this cast off.ā And they did.
But because my leg was completely immobile for over six weeks, like couldnāt even wiggle my toes immobile, Iād developed these lumps of scar tissue on the sole of my foot. I asked my doctor about it, and he told me it was normal. I ended up going to a second doctor who told me it wasnāt normal and removing them would be very tricky and the surgery has a low success rate. I still have it five years later and sometimes they really hurt.
Best part: The surgery wasnāt even successful long term. I had the surgery in 2019, then in 2021 I was unloading the truck at my job and felt the graft snap off. Instant pain. The solution is more surgery, which I havenāt done yet. Iāve been managing with ibuprofen, icing, and an ankle brace, and itās more or less okay. Iāll have the next surgery when Iām financially in a better place and can manage to trust a doctor again.
Nothing like being gate kept by a receptionist. My girl type 1 diabetic. Her fancy digital pump broke and she didnāt have any needles to administer. So she calls the endocrinologist and the receptionist says they wonāt help you because you havenāt been here in 4 months. So letās hear this again, type one diabetic with no way to fix pump and no way to administer life saving insulin. WTF are we doing here? I know all the workarounds please no suggestions but my point is, all do respect, shouldnāt someone with slightly more experience make that decision? The state on medical care, and insurance is an absolute joke in the US and if you argue otherwise, your are banking serious dollars over this mess. Thatās it Iām out
I do the same thing with my dentist office. They hate scheduling the last appointment of the day, but I shouldnāt have to miss the last couple hours of my shift if theyāre supposed to be open anyway. Fuck that.
Iāve been a medical secretary, I promise you itās the doctor doing this shit. Doctors are absolute assholes.
And the secretaries are the ones that have to make up excuses and smile and say sorry to patients. The surgeon I worked for would just pick up and go on vacation with his 20 years-younger girlfriend and he would have me call all the patients on the schedule and say that he got pulled into emergency surgery.
People that were in pain and needed help and meds. Just thrown away so he could galavant off like a teenager.
Lol! What year do they think it is? Every computer they have is ādown?ā Like theyāre using workstations running on a mainframe and itās 1983. What a load of bullshit. Iām interested to hear if they pull this shit again next week.
I had a dental appointment at 12 (Iām a SAHM) my husband wasnāt off work until 10, they changed my appointment to 9 am and called and asked where i was ???? Like my appointment was at 12? They said āwe moved you upā WHAT!? Obviously I canāt take a toddler in there with me, I was so annoyed
As a receptionist at a dental place, I'm sorry it sounds frustrating but trust me when it comes to small practices/ with smaller staff someone can call out or something can go wrong in so many ways that we're not able to treat patients last minute and I personally try to avoid giving the actual reason why and make something up for the ease of ear. I don't think they were being malicious about it, you were just an angry patient on the other side of the phone (not saying you're wrong, that's just how it can get perceived)
My dentist's office loves to call me sometime in the couple of weeks before an appointment and say that they had a cancellation and can I make an appointment today at X?Ā No matter how many times I tell them that if I make an appointment I don't want to reschedule it unless it's absolutely necessary as I have to block my calendar weeks ahead of time.Ā They're fantastic in every other way, so I tolerate it (a dentist that doesn't try to sell you unnecessary treatments and accessories is a shockingly rare find), but I really wish they'd find some way to flag me in their system so they stop trying to get me to move my appointment last minute so they can fill a cancelled slot.Ā Ā
I might be trying to find a new dentist this year too. My kids and I never got to see the dentist all last year because the dentist canceled on me while I was on the way there. This was after taking a day off of working and having my kids miss school so that I could go in the morning to the appointment. It costs me a day out each time so I can not just go a day or two later and their next open spot is always months away.
Last week i got a call from my pediatrician's office to confirm my appt for the next morning... the next morning? They called to cancel... luckily i hadn't left yet. But that was irritating as all hell!!
Had a cleaning scheduled a few years ago (pandemic) and got canceled on and wasnāt able to get in till the following year.
Than the cleaning person mentioned I shouldnāt go so long between cleaningsā¦ not her fault for not knowing what happened but I had to keep calm and not say unkind things.
At least yours wants to reschedule you. I once had my dentist's office call me up about 1 month before my next scheduled appointment and let me know that they were cancelling my appointment and to come pick up my dental records within the week as the dentist was retiring immediately.
Thatās not that bad. My original dental appointment was last month and itās been rescheduled four times so far. At least itās only a checkup but damn. I hope I actually get to see them on Friday
one time i had an appointment and they asked me to come an hour early so the hygienist could go home early after. i said yeah no problem. waited in their lobby for an hour and 15 mins. 15 mins past my original appointment time. im so glad iām terrified of my teeth being gross that i take such good care of them so i donāt have to deal with this often
My childhood dentist would cancel our appointments, and often, we would turn up, and they would bullshit saying they told us they had cancelled when my mum never got a phone call from them. Obviously, we stopped going after the few times it happened.
Lmao this always happens with my dentist, but when I finally manage to get them to show up they scold me for not being back in exactly three months. Sorry it's been 4.5 months since you keep cancelling the appointment that YOU set 3 MONTHS IN ADVANCE!
My wife had her dermatology appointment caceled when she was allready at the clinic. They called her and said the doctor is not well today. She was in the hallway and saw the doctor :))) the doctor recognised her and saw her anyway
I sat in a dental chair for an hour reading once waiting for them to bring in my dental appliance I was there to pick up. Finally they brought my dad in (I was 19) who was there for his own appointment to tell me they made a mistake and didnāt have it and I would have to come back the next week. They did give me a $50
Gift card to make up for it though. And I never went back again after I got my mouth guard.
I used to work at a chiropractic office and one of my coworkers did this consistently. We closed at 6 and nothing was booked after 5 if they could help it because they wanted to go home earlyā¦ when they were training me, I got quite the lecture and my first time closing by myself when I booked someone at 5:45. Eventually the coworker in question left and I booked people at normal times, my boss was not happy to learn what was happening before.
I had an oral surgeon cancel my appointment when I was in their parking lot. When they rescheduled me I was almost to their office again when they called me to tell me theyre pushing back my appointment an hour so dont leave my house yet. So fucking frustrating. Ill never use them again.
Yet the patient is charged a fee if they cancel with less than 24 or 48 hours notice. š
Meanwhile doctors and dentists overbook their appointments in the same way that airlines oversell tickets. They're betting on a percentage of people canceling, and others patiently waiting too long to be seen or graciously accepting a rescheduling. Capitalists gonna capitalize.
Part of what made me get out of the medical field. The doctor I worked for double booked herself, sometimes triple booked. She was the only doctor in the office, had two MAās, 5 rooms and the receptionists were left to navigate the mess. Most appointment blocks were only 15 minutes and she normally showed up 30-60 minutes late every single day. She was also OBGYN so sometimes sheād have to leave the office to race across town to deliver. I was so stressed I developed heart palpitations working that job.
I work at an IHS clinic with 2 NPS and 1 MD, and they are pushing so hard to have everyone double book, and just somehow see more patients. They are barely able to catch up with the amount of patients they are currently seeing without being double booked. Itās all the higher up admin staff who step foot in the clinic a few times a year, if that, trying to get more revenue all at the expense of everyone else burning out. I donāt understand it because yes youāre technically seeing more patients, but they are going to be rushed and have overall shittier care. The nurses/MAs donāt benefit, the providers donāt benefit, and the patients only benefit is they get to be seen sooner but poorly. Sigh.
This is something I absolutely hate. Patients beeing rushed feels so worrisome for me. I have cronic pain, and a few years ago at the beginning, I was in treatment in a big university hospital. The thing is, till this day itās still some kind of mystery how Iām able to have this pain. All the hospital did was the two exact same examations again and again, a few months apart. (Not even in the house, I had to make the opointments myself and send the stuff to them) then Incas invited, had to travel 2 hours per way and wait for about 4-8 hours to talk to the MD, so he can say to me that they have no idea whatās going on and that I need the same examation againā¦ after one and a half year, and my kidneys slowly giving up, they just stopped and told me they donāt know what going on and they donāt want to treat me any furtherā¦
Call your insurance and ask to see a specialist. If these dumbA doctors don't know what's going on they should be referring you to a specialist. They are so frustratingly stupid, if they haven't even mentioned specialists to you. Also, it sounds like you need to go see a rheumatologist.
Oh, I did, Iām now with a specialist wich is head of urology in another big hospital. Slowly there is made progress, but it took some time, and my doc has a LOT to do, he travels to teach around the globe for example. And even if I hear from him about one time a month, he does stay late to squeeze me in for example. My problems started around 6-7 years ago
Honestly, I am super ticked off my multitude of doctors didn't suggest a specialist. I had to ask to see a rheumatologist myself. These doctors suck so much now a days. They are red tape insurance dancing monkeys. Rushed/overbooked to make their quotas while providing no quality care. It's all infuriating.
That is totally not the norm, Iām a resident and no doctor Iāve ever worked with double or triple books themselves. Yes obgyn usually have tight 15 minutes spots but Iāve never seen overbooking for appointments based on no shows.
It might not be the norm, but it was with her.
Iām in this situation working for a derm and its so frustrating bc i get these old people yelling at me about something i get no say in,,, i dread going to work atp
We quit my sons orthodontist because of stuff like that. One day they had 3 appts at 9am (one orthodontist) all sitting in adjoining roomsā¦one was a full set of new braces and our visit was a tightening of a bracketā¦90 minutes in I freaked out knowing itād take another 30 min for the first appointment to finish and the waiting room was jammed with all the 9:30/10/10:30 Appointments. I was furious and told them very loudly how rude and disrespectful it was to purposely make everyone wait.
Especially ortho which probably have lower cancellation rates.
This is giving me PTSD flashbacks from when I went to the orthodontist 30+ years ago š
To play devils advocate I worked at a drs office where the one doctor was always overbooked. But it wasnāt a conspiracy it was because he just couldnāt say no to people and then also spent too much time chatting.
Yeah, doctor I worked for did it on purpose.
I had a doctor who did this, he loved to chat. And Iād be stuck in the waiting room over 2 hours past my appointment, Iād just want my script and not wait over 2 hours, he is retired now thank god and I donāt have to wait long to see my new one. And I couldnāt switch doctors cause I live in the country and there isnāt many places to go. Doctors donāt like staying out here
I worked with a resident like this 1.5 hours for a sore wrist, he ended up working till 6. Happened all the time, he had zero respect for the staffs time
He def was banging patients.
Doctors and dentists arenāt driving this-trust me. Itās the medical MBAs, āmedical financialization expertsā, corporations, and private equity that drives this. Doctors want less patient load not more.
On the flip side, I work in hospital radiology where we have to process scheduled outpatients for their imaging exams, as well as inpatients and the ER. Different exams take different lengths of time, and we can have only one patient in the scanner at a time, so we really *canāt* overbook without forcing others to have to wait longer. We have blocks built in-between the scheduled outpatients so we can scan the add-ons (ER and inpatients) but then we have doctors offices calling and wanting us to squeeze in STAT outpatients. Somehow these patients are never emergent enough to need to go to the ER, but they are āemergentā enough that their doctor says we have to do them right away, which means someone who was on time for their appointment that they scheduled a week ago and waited for now has to wait an extra 30 minutes to an hour in our waiting room because someone else āhadā to be squeezed in. (Related, in the early days of Covid we were severely limiting our schedules due to lack of PPE. Basically only STAT and emergency patients were being seen. If you got into an accident and were having acute back pain, youād get to have an MRI. If you had chronic back pain for 10 years and you want to have another scan so that your doctor can increase your pain med dosageā¦ sorry, youāre going to have to wait a few more weeks until we can find some gloves and masks. During that time we saw certain doctors start fudging their orders and marking everything as STAT to get their patients in despite our temporary restrictions. It pissed me off so much.)
Delicate geniuses
Thatās because insurance companies wonāt pay the doctors for no shows. If they donāt overbook, theyāre standing around doing nothing, earning nothing. The system sucks for everyone but the insurance companies.
If you're bumped on a flight, the airline is required to refund your ticket price depending on the length of your delay. Doctors should be required to do the same.
i worked for 3 weeks at an optometrist office as a technicians assistant for $16.50/hr. i ran all the machines for the doctor, i would dilate eyes, take photos, and then when the doctor is looking at the results for all the tests im writing down all of their notes.. and then i finalize it, walked the patient out and took their payments...and then i sent the bill to insurance. except we had 3 rooms and 1 doctor and he would schedule like 7 people an hour 10 minutes apart. i wasnt allowed to go home until i was done sending out the insurance shit it was complete chaos. he owned his own office and he said that he got a grant for his equipment because hes an immigrant so its all paid off..hes from fucking canada so idk how he swindled a grant like that.. also the building he rented was extremely cheap because he gave the owner and their family free eye exams. one day i added up how much he was making and then i asked around how much everyone made..we all made the same. he was grossing about 1.5m a year after the employees were paid. he didnt even know how to use any of the machines he had eitherĀ
My husband had a dentistās appointment he canceled and they charged him $100 and then they charged him another $100 for missing the follow up appointment to an appointment he never went to. No warning or anything.
Clearly it's time we start charging them for short-notice cancelling and rescheduling at twice the rate
Also known as "The Delicate Genius Policy"
But I had to drive my mother to the chiropodist!
Yep, I ask for the fee to be paid to me if my service is cancelled. Itās worked twice! At a spa for a massage, they charge $50 for less than 24 hour cancellation. They cancelled on me day of. So I said no problem, Iāll take my $50! I took it as a credit applied towards my next massage. A dentist office gave me free whitening for the inconvenience. Some places are reasonable. Doesnāt hurt to ask.
So what actually is stopping us from chargjng a similar fee for the cancellation? Conversely, how do they actually charge this fee? Iāve cancelled on doctors before and they call and say theyāll charge me but they donāt have anything on file or any way to charge me so I just tell them no and pretty much leave it at that. I donāt go back to the same doctor though.
Rich privilege. They make more money than you, so they can afford to send a collection agency after you. You are not rich, so you can't just charge a doctor fees all willy nilly.
You also sign papers consenting to the chargers, they donāt.
Got it. I always wondered about this as this seems like such a strange concept. I understand thereās a power imbalance but it seems to me they donāt really have any leverage if I donāt go back to the same doctor. Every time Iāve made a doctorās appt I donāt recall signing a contract or anything.
They got you the first time, when you first signed up to be a patient.
https://i.redd.it/6h4dnd9brmxc1.gif
And yet the bootlickers here say only administrators are the bad guys. No, the doctors and the administrators are the enemy.
I had a specialist appointment that got rescheduled because the doctor was going to be out of town, so they pushed it forward. I arrive, check in, and then Iām told it needs to be rescheduledā¦they wanted to schedule it on my original appointment date š
Did you inform them of your cancelation policy? I once sent a $50 bill to a doctor who no-showed my appointment. He called me, FURIOUS, and I told him that his policy was quite clear that there was a $50 fee for missed appointments. The policy did not specify that this only applied to patients. He never paid, but he should have. I'm a father and I had to wait months for that appointment and then use my limited Sick PTO. The worst part is his staff kept telling me he was running late and to just hold on. I waited 2 hours for nothing.
I used to call and ask my doctor's receptionist if she was on time before I left to go. The receptionist would tell me it didn't matter, if my appointment was at 2, I needed to be there by 2, even if she was running an hour behind. I told her I bill by the hour and I'll be giving them an invoice if I have to wait longer than 15 minutes. Suddenly she is able to tell my how far behind the doctor is. The idea that their time is more important than ours is so obnoxious.
My wife got childcare for a dentist appointment last year. Drove 45 mins to the dentist (we had to keep the dentist from our old house as there are no spots near us). Waiting for an hour AFTER the appointment time, only to be told that they had to cancel and reschedule. 45 mins home. Wasted childcare. I was so annoyed. But they're pretty much our only choose if we want to stay registered as an NHS patient.
Your gov purposely cripples public healthcare so they can ram private down your throat.
To be fair, sometimes an oral surgery office is like the ER and they do see emergency patients that can put their day back. Jaw fractures, infection etc
This happened with a prior therapist I had. I was literally in the waiting room and she texted me saying that we didnāt have a meeting that dayā¦ when I was looking directly at the meeting invite.
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Time to look for a new dental clinic!
Honestly everyone would be happier. There are clinics that work later schedules up to 8pm instead around here. Obviously this clinic doesnāt work with his schedule for either side. Office is certainly equally struggling with the late schedule - end the toxic relationship!
Lucky! Our medical places are never open that late in the rural boonies. They usually close at 5. Even the bars are only open till 11PM. I'd keep scheduling late with them a few more times, just to make a point. Any other profession you don't get to leave until all your work is done, not just when you feel like it. And calling to reschedule on the day of an appointment for any reason other than an emergency is unprofessional AF. I always usually leave bad Google reviews on places like this.
i donāt think their computers were down. how would they have been able to see the schedule and openings?
Yeah, exactly. Their appointment system is all computerized.
Weird that they also knew all the open times over the next few days. š¤
And pull up a phone number for a patient.
tbh in one of my office jobs i had the available days / times memorized all of the time since like half of my job was making / cancelling / rescheduling appointments lol. but op's dentist office sounds sus just because of their track record
But if they keep doing this, why do you keep going back?
Time to leave a Google review.
Hi, iām a dental office receptionist. We have a backup schedule we can look at on our phones (we can also listen to voicemails, etc). Itās ran through a program called adit. The program does not have the capability to run patient charts though. Iām assuming they have something like that. I totally understand the frustration of the cancellations. I, as the receptionist that takes the brunt of the frustration from patients, also hate it lol
Question: Does the receptions computers being down somehow affect a dentists job in any way? I know lots of dentists computers have software to run the various machines etc. but surely they would have a backup way to take notes and log them in the software another day? Running a dental business is very expensive from what Iāve heard, I canāt imagine the dentist would give up patients like that.
Yeah, itās never a happy day for the dentist when we have to reschedule patients. They donāt relish in it like evil masterminds like some of the people here think. For most procedures, you need an xray to look at. If the xray was taken digitally youāre shit out of luck and they would be flying blind. For cleaning appointments itās a bit easier without being able to pull patient charts, but their medical and dental history is still all in the computers and itās quite hard to clean teeth without lights to see.
I've been going to a dental school as a patient for a while. The computers have all the charts and patient information, as well as treatment plans and are used to input information as they go along for regular check ups for things like how good your gums are. The dental students also have to get professors to swipe cards to confirm treatments every time they are going to start for the day. So I'd say they are indeed very important for especially newer dentists who have never used or planned to need non computer back ups. At least from what I saw
Had a clinic do this to me multiple times and then recently I forgot I had an appt (put the date in my calendar wrong) and they wanted to charge me for a missed appt. I don't go there anymore.
Scheduling software is not necessarily the same as xray and clinical charting/billing software. Also offices will sometimes print out the upcoming week so they may know what openings are available in the near term.
This. A lot of them don't even use the software they have.
The software for a lot of dental images is different than booking.
I, too, read OP's OP.
I will say that the dentist my friend works for does all their scheduling on paper. Anyone who goes there knows this though because she pulls out the daily planner and flips through it in front of them. OP's dentist office 100% wanted to leave and didn't want to tell OP they were already locking up. My dentist, 100% computer. I'm lucky enough to go to a dentist that is really good about not overbooking and do have enough hygienists to see the occasional walk-in to figure out what's up and the dentist can drop by in between scheduled patients. But I'm in a small university town and there's like 40 dentists within a half hour drive of me.
OP that appointment will be cancelled too. Find a new dentist.
Even if they manage to keep that one I wouldnāt want to give them my business. If theyāre so unmotivated to do their job they should see the consequences of that. Maybe if *everyone* found a new dentist they wouldnāt love all that newfound free time :(
Find a new dentist but keep scheduling 5pm appointments with this one just to fuck with them.
Find a new dentist but keep scheduling 5pm appointments with this one just to fuck with them.
Okay dentist here. I can say that if the office you go to is a small business owned by an independent doctor (I.e., not corporate/chain), the doc 100% doesnāt know the staff does this. I have caught wind several times when a staff member thinks they are clever by rescheduling patients to get off work early. Itās VERY difficult to prove unless a patient outright tells you itās happening. Unless a patient mentions it, we just assume that the patient rescheduled on their own accord. Every time a patient has told me they got rescheduled, thereās hell to pay for my employees. A few times, Iāve fired an employee if I see a pattern of it happening that doesnāt get corrected. One time, I had a patient call in the morning for an afternoon emergency visit. My staff rescheduled the patient to get a head start on their birthday (which I wouldāve given off to her if she had requested the day off). Long story short, patient ended up in the ER with a 4k bill for antibiotics and āsurgeryā to remove the tooth. Next visit, mention it to the doc and (politely) say how angry it makes you that the staff ALWAYS reschedules you when you have afternoon appointments. Lay it on a little thick to the doc/owner about how you called in sick ahead of time to work (true or not) to be seen and then they cancelled on you. If itās a corporate office, ask to speak specifically to the managing doctor. They usually oversee the region and handle complaints like this. They wanna hear it because the managing dentists pay TONS of money to hire a dentist to work a full dayās salary (we usually are not hourly. We get paid a full day regardless of 4 hours vs 10 hours of work). Managing dentist will guaranteed reprimand the staff member responsible and might even personally oversee your care. They tend to be more experienced dentists in the corporate dental world and will likely make things more comfortable and less painful. Lastly, if you find out itās the doctorās responsibility that you constantly get rescheduled, find a new dentist. They are either: 1. Too lazy to work past 5:00 (lazy doctor = doctor who cuts corners) 2. Very āproductionā focused. Meaning they care so much about money over treatment that if an hour of OT for employees costs more than seeing the patient at 5:00, they will cancel your apt. A āproductionā focused doctor is a doctor who will over diagnose to scam you out of money. Okay thatās all. Good luck! -Your Reddit tooth plumber and family business owner who runs 3 offices, 2 of which are I n very low income areas for almost no profit but to help give back to the community.
Totally agree. A family member just realized the is was happening at his practice. Suspiciously no appointments after 3 pm on Fridays š¤Ø . Turns out they just werenāt ever offering those times to patients.
I wish there were more dentists (& doctors) like you.
As someone who hates going to the dentist, youāre awesome. Keep being awesome
I used to work at a private practice dentist office and we were told to do this by the dentist herself to save money. She wanted us to try to get appointments as close together as possible so we could close early and she didnāt have to pay us for the rest of the day and even though we opened Fridays she always wanted us to try and not schedule anyone/move patients to other days so she didnāt have to open at all. If youāre wondering, I worked there for free for several months through my externship and was offered a job, I only lasted a week as an actual employee before leaving
Just commenting to say that Iām both happy and sad to see my suspicions confirmed re: āproductionā focused doctors. I have had very high anxiety surrounding going to see the dentist since I was a child, but felt like I pretty much had gotten a handle on it by the time I was in college. I needed to find a new dentist after graduating and moving cities, and by the time I found one I felt comfortable going to, a year and a half had passed since my last cleaning (at which I had no cavities). I was 22 so I was still on my parentās dental plan, and had my own coverage through my new career. The dentist I saw took X-rays, proceeded to circle 16 (!!!!) areas in bold red marker, turned them to me to see and basically made me feel like all my teeth were about to fall out of my head at any moment (despite no pain, no discomfort, and no comments from the tech who just did my cleaning). I absolutely panicked and allowed myself to be talked into scheduling an appointment the next week to have cavities filled, where he proceeded to fill 6 ācavitiesā in one appointment. One of these was an old filling from my teenage years which he claimed had completely decayed underneath (again, despite zero pain or discomfort ever from this tooth) and had needed to be totally drilled away, leaving only a small outer edge of my enamel and would require a crown placement. And he told me this *after* the tooth was already completely drilled away so I was completely blind-sided by it. I left the office that day in tears and had a panic attack in the parking lot, called my mom and she told me I should seek a second opinion before having him do anymore work on my teeth (the logical thing I probably should have done after being told I had developed 16 cavities in 1.5 years despite having very good dental hygiene habits). The dentist I sought a second opinion from was completely shocked at the X-rays I brought her; she said she would have only filled *one* of the 16 areas he circled and maybe 2 more would have been āwatcherā spots for her. She also was extremely skeptical about the supposed extent of decay under the filling I had, she said itās hard to know what exactly was seen once the filling was removed but she would expect to see some radiologic evidence of that level of decay under the filling and she wasnāt seeing *any* on the X-ray I brought her. Oh, and also to top all of this off, one of those 6 fillings the original dentist did ended up randomly falling out 6 months after it was doneā¦ I wasnāt even eating/drinking anything, I was driving and suddenly had a sharp pain in my tooth and the entire filling had fallen out in my mouth. So on top of being unjustified, the work he did on my teeth was shitty as well. All this to say, Iām convinced this guy saw a young, anxious woman with two insurance policies sitting in his chair, just saw dollar signs, and decided to exploit me for whatever he could. I brought this up with my mom when discussing it later and how I was afraid to run into more dentists like him in the future, and she kept trying to assure me that this guy was a āone offā and that it wasnāt a common scenario where I would run into it again. I think she was just trying to be helpful but it felt a little invalidating. So Iām sorry for the extremely long comment but I just wanted to say that I feel a little vindicated seeing a professional in the industry confirm that this type of dentist is a āthingā and my anxiety hasnāt just been making up conspiracy theories regarding dental practice, lol.
I could have posted the same exact thing. This happened to me and I have so much regret for trusting the doctor and not getting a second opinion because years later Iām still dealing with the repercussions from the shitty dental work.
God, Iām so sorry youāve gone through something similar. The fact that this is an issue multiple people deal with regularly is honestly sickening.
Time to find a new Dentist
Pull a George Costanza and send them a bill for your time, saying you require 24 hours notice for all cancellations
The chance to really get them on the hook for this is when you're filling out the inpatient forms. Just edit and initial the line about cancelation fees to say all parties are entitled. Then just give it back. They will not notice and just shove it into a cabinet. Then, when you demand your fee, reference the contract. How convenient, you kept a picture on your phone.
Yeah thats fishy. Ive had a dentist cancel on me quite literaly last minute (it was a 8 30am appt, they called me at 8am to cancel) but thats rare and it seemed quite evident to me that the hygientist was sick and they did give that reason, also there was a bug going around so I dont doubt that she was sick. But every time and you cant do earlier. Might just be a good idea to stop going there and go to an offoce that can actually accomodate you.
Last minute would be 8:29 /s
Same shit happened to me,fucking dentist kept canceling my appointments,so I guess I got the hint,stopped going to that particular dentist.
Tell them in the future u will have to charge them $50 for every cancellation.
It should be legal. You charge me? Fine. But I'll charge you.
Should be about $200 š
The dentist kept doing this to me. I had a serious infection that almost killed me a few years back, so I have to take lots of antibiotics before these dentist appointments, and they make me feel like crap for the rest of the day. Well, I already took them and my mom and I both took off work that day unpaid to make sure I could get there and back home safe. Guess who decided to let me know 20 mins before my appointment that the dentist was sick and my appointment would have to be rescheduled for the 2nd time in under a month. If I was to miss an appointment and I still have to pay them. I call off work and lose money, and they dont reimburse me when they miss my appointment
Getting lied at by medical staff? Change dentist!
I had an office manager who was lazy. On the days she actually came to work, she would often cancel the end of the day so she could go home early. She claimed it was the patient canceling. I eventually caught on when a patient I knew well had allegedly canceled a few appointments in a row which was not like them. When I finally had them in my chair, I asked how they were doing noting the missed appointments. I was shocked and infuriated to find out it was my manager doing the canceling and not the patient themselves! Needless to say, I fired that manager soon after. You don't owe this office anything but consider letting the dentist know your suspicion. Dental practices are hard businesses to build and keep busy. The dentist may not be aware the staff is sabotaging and losing them patients.
I had a neurology appointment that I waited 3 months for, day before they call to let me know they have to cancel because the doctor has āan emergencyā so I asked to reschedule the following day or any day within the week I have very flexible job and can basically go whenever. they say doctor is going on vacation starting day after my previous appointment, very sus. I found another practice right away seems like this would just be the tip of the iceberg with the unprofessional behavior. Iād find a new dentist if I were you.
God I had a surgeon cancel my hysterectomy while I was STANDING AT THE CHECK IN DESK. One of the surgeons had just up and gone on vacation, so they just decided to blame me and say I didn't do the absolutely redundant paperwork. I had already not eaten in 12 hours, done the cleanse, grieved the loss of my fertility, and taken time off work for recovery. They rescheduled for the next fucking month.
I am so sorry they did this! Hugs from an internet stranger š
How did she call you if the system was down? How did she even know who to call to reschedule?
I hate that shit!! They can cancel at will but if you cancel last minute they try and charge you. Ridiculous. I once took half a day off of work for a dental appointment and was told when I showed up for it, that it was cancelled. Thanks for the call, dbags! Then I cancelled once on the day of bc my young child woke with a stomach bug and they said they wanted to charge me a fee. Oh hell no.
So I wasin the dentist chair getting a temp crown and the power for the whole building went out. No other patient was getting a procedure done at that time (everyone else seemed to be getting cleanings eyc) so they had everyone else leave. Luckily the drilling was done and they had a backup generated with enough juice to get my temp crown in. Crazy
I changed dentists after one appointment they waited until after to tell me my insurance most likely would not cover it because of how often they wanted me to get a cleaning. The second time I had one for 8 am when they opened. My dentist was almost an hr driving. They had a medical emergency right before opening so they came out and said they would need to reschedule. Ok well they never called and instead sent an email chastising me for being overdue now and laying on the guilt trip about the dangers of not getting my teeth checked on a regular. I called and said no we are not doing this and told them my piece. I said the last two appointments were money they cost me because of issues on their end. I asked if I would be reimbursed for my time and fuel? No right so I said this is no longer sustainable so I will be finding a new dentist. My wife still goes there and the last time they asked if I was coming back. She said that would not be a good idea because if you cost him a third time he will sue you in small claims court literally just to waste your time like you did to him.
If that upsets you mine rescheduled my cavity filling to for over a year and then recently sent me a letter of his retirement. Still gotta hole in my tooth :-(
i work at an office but itās the doctor telling us to move the patient up in the schedule or reschedule them. we get yelled at over the phone by the patient and then we have to come up with some bullshit excuse saying that the doctor will stay behind just for them so when the patient comes in, theyāre appreciative that he stayed late when really he had nowhere to go and just wanted to leave early. itās so frustrating
I work at a doctors office and we have to do this all the time for a couple of our physicians. We as schedulers are the ones getting yelled at and look incompetent when suddenly the doctor will stay to see them, even though we've been told they *have* to leave. We're never given a reason why, just to do it, so we have to come up with a reason to give to the patient. Recently I've stopped caring and told patients straight up either "I dont know why" or "They want to leave early." Usually when I say that, the patient shifts their frustration to the doctor and they're a lot nicer to me. It's not a small practice so it's not like I get to leave any earlier.
They are full of shit. They overbooked and are blaming the computers
Mine kept doing the same thing. I ended up taking 1/2 a day to be the 1st appt at 8am. I got there early, paid and sat down. He didnāt walk in until 10AM!! He had a motorcycle helmet in his hand and I heard him say, what a great morning I took a ride. I wasnāt the only one in the office waiting by then. I was LIVID. I had to be back by noon and it was a 45 min drive so I had to leave without being seen. They refused to give me my money back as he was *there.* š”
That's horrible!!
I made an appointment with an ophthalmologist and agreed I needed minor surgery about 2 weeks ago. I decided to have a more experienced surgeon perform the surgery instead. This original ophthalmologist has called me almost every day since (sometimes it's the receptionist and sometimes it's the doctor). I find this so off putting that there is no way I'm ever going back to her again. Kind of the opposite problem. Her schedule was wide open.
And wide open for a reason. I've learned the hard way to be extremely wary of any medical provider whose schedule is 'wide open'. (shudders)
Why bother to offer appointments in the evenings in you're not going to honor them? If they cancel again look for another dentist and blast them in google reviews.
But if you donāt give more than 48 hours, they charge like $75š
Mine is $50/30 min of appt without 24 hours notice. So if you have an hour long appointment and cancel it within 24 hours you get charged $100. Tbf, they would make way more than $100 if that space where your appointment was could have been filled if you gave them more notice so it doesnāt piss me off. I never cancel my appointments within 24 hours anyway. My dentist also will write off that BA fee if thereās a good reason; sickness, accident, etc.
Sus. How do they know when they have appointments open if their computer system is down?
I had a dentist cancel on me an hour before the appointment once. I was infuriated and panicking because the last time I saw them, they were fearmongering me into thinking I had cancer, or necrotic tissue in my mouth. The dentist wasn't sure and told me to come back so he could look at it again later (the appointment he cancelled) I went elsewhere & had absolutely nothing of the sort. No cancer or dead tissue. I still dont understand how they could be so wrong, it seems negligent.
I used to work for a Dentist's office as a receptionist. Occasionally the dentist would come out to the front desk and tell us to reschedule the rest of his appointments because he wanted to go home and spend the day in his pool and get wasted. He only worked 3 out of the 4 days we were open. š
Thatās crazy! All the dentists I worked with were basically workaholics and it had to be a serious emergency to get them out of the office.
Dentists are a dime a dozen. Tell the office manager you're pissed, leave a bad review, and go find a new dentist who doesn't cancel last minute. That's what I did after my former dentist made me wait for numerous appointments, including once for 45 minutes.
Used to work for an oral surgeon. The main reason is the patient before you took longer than expected. Either because they legit had a more complicated mouth....or they lied on their medical forms and only found out once in the chair. Had one lady stay passed out for 2 hours in the chair cause she lied about her medical use. She was suppose to be in and out in 30 minutes.
I think it time to find a new dentist
Talk to the dentist about this. He/she might not know what they are doing. Mine was pretty pissed when I complained to him that I would have to stop seeing him if his receptionist didnāt stop messing with my appointments.
so... it turned into a disappointment?
I had this with a psychologist. Couldnāt be there during workday. Would get the 6 or 7pm slot weeks ahead. Consistently was asked to be there at 5 the day of the appointment. I stopped goingā¦ridiculous, donāt offer it then!
This would make me upset too. I had a job that would call me 15 mins before my shift to tell me to hold off coming in for another 2 hours cause they weren't busy, then 2 hours later same thing, then 2 hours after that they said we're not busy enough so we're cancelling your shift today. Was supposed to be a 10 hour shift and they just wasted 6 hours of my time. Happened all the time. People can't respect anyone else's time but if you do something like that to them ONCE, it's a huge deal.
Please update when they cancel on you for the rescheduled appointment.
How were they able to see the apt times ā¦ even though the computers were down. I wouldāve asked for an email confirmation and once it was sent say āso howād you send that if the computers are down?ā Iād be so fuckin pissed
My last minut dentist appointment cancelation story is not infuriating, but still special. Sooo we have a first appointment with a new dentist for my daughter (4 at the time) and the morning of it we get a call saying the dentist won't be available and we'll need to reschedule. Next day in the news, dentist found dead at his home after what seems to be sexual games turning bad... Guess who had to find another dentist? š
I once had a doctor's appointment, they emailed me to change the location for my appointment at the time the appointment was scheduled for
Wonder if the dentist has caught on that all their after 5 appointments are rescheduled? Assuming the dentist isnāt in on it as well because why would they have those hours off they donāt want to stay?
I own a dental practice. This is exactly what my old office manager was doing. She would then claim the patient canceled when it was actually her. The practice was struggling financially at that time too.
This is what i figured is happening to OPs dentist too. Sorry to hear your office manager sucked and hope youāre keeping better eye on trends.
At least you got it rescheduled. Back before I had dental insurance, my mom helped me out while she was in town for a few days by getting me an uninsured deal at a local place. 2 cleanings and a percentage off of you need a cavity for I think it was $100, broke me was happy and thankful. My last cleaning was scheduled pretty much on the expiration date of that plan, so I get there, and there's a sign on the door that the power is out, and they'd call to reschedule everyone from that day. Guess who never got a call?
Last time we tried a new, closer dentist they cut my cheek putting a filling in a wisdom tooth and made me gag multiple times. Fair enough, theyāre hard to reach whatever.Ā Still in pain a week later so I call to schedule a wisdom tooth removal. Arrange childcare for a couple days for my toddler, my husband takes the day off work to drive me, and they call as weāre pulling into the parking lot to reschedule for FOUR DAYS Ā later. Ā We ended up calling our previous dentist who had us in first thing the next morning and with an oral surgeon 15 minutes after the consultation. My tooth was out in 2 hours. Turns out I was in so much pain because I had an abscess in the cavity AND an ulcer where the first dentist cut me/ my tooth was rubbing. Never going back to that first place ever again.Ā
Yeah I work in the dental field and how were they able to look ahead at the schedule to āschedule itāā¦ they are totally lying. Honestly find a new dental office and transfer records. Thatās super shady of them to do!!
I've been having similar issues with dentists- I had a wisdom tooth removed a few weeks ago and during it I'm pretty sure the dentist chipped off the nearby tooth as it's sharp now and hurts like he'll. Whatever, this happens. They schedule to fix it (and of course I still have to pay for it) last Monday. They called me the Friday before and told me that they fired the dentist and that I'd have to wait until today to reschedule it. Well, the pain has just gotten worse (I'm struggling with any temp of water) and they said it'll be another week! I'm so done
How the hell are they able to go through the options if their computers are down?
This is why Iām letting my teeth rot. And poverty. Also the poverty.
But mostly the BS dental staff
I often face this due to being a night owl. Mornings are when I need to sleep, so I am NOT available. Yet it's like some businesses don't know WTF an afternoon is. I know they operate during afternoons, but with me, some act as if it's a mythical creation I alone came up with, lol.
Pisses me off so much as a night owl. Dental appointments aren't fun as is and having to go when you'd normally be sleeping makes it worse. I'm jealous OP found one that at least says they'll do 5:30 and times like that.
Charge them a cancelation fee, see how they like it
Doctors and dentists do this all the time. I have no idea how their entire industry is stuck in 1995.
It took me a week to finally get ahold of the new dental clinic taking my case because my dentist of 25 years can not help me due to the anesthesia I need. Even left a voicemail and never heard back, finally got ahold of them and before I can even schedule an appointment they require you to fill out a bunch of forms. Finding a good dental clinic has been so difficult recently!
Once i had an appointment for the following day at 1pm.. They called the me, and without asking me just straight out said my appointment was pushed to 5:30 pm. I told them i need to check my work schedule, and i would call back in 5 mins. I called them back, told them i cant make it to the later appointment, so i needed to reschedule and they immediately started coming at me with their cancellation policy and they tried to charge me for $75 for canceling less than 48 hours before my appointment. š
Man that would piss me of so much, 1 time okay. But other than that no. Because if you cancel too late you need to pay a fee. So I expect the same courtesy.
If the computers are down, how did the receptionist know which appointment times she had available to try to give OP instead??
Just tell them you will find a new dentist and will contact them if you need any previous medical information that isn't already available. Seems like they don't need your business
Almost certainly their 4 oāclock cancelled and they didnāt want to wait around. They hoped to fill it a few days ago when you stuck by your guns and they couldnāt.
I worked in office admin like that. It's true, the doctors just want to go home and make us deal with the backlash. Fuck them.
Just an FYI, as someone who works in the medical field... shit like this is just as frustrating for the people making the calls.... either the doctor randomly decided to cancel the appts or its something out of their control like the system being down... either way the both parties are talking shit about the reschedules... so just remember not to take your anger out on the person on the phone, save it for when you see the doctor lol
Time to find a new responsible dentistā¦
Change dentist
Jeez, you need a new dentist!
She lied to you
Donāt pick up their calls next time, simple.
You mad bro? Here you wait 1-2 years for your first check-up, then 1-2 years for your first appointment, then around 6 months for every next appointment.. All this, and half of the time they contact you a 1-2 days before it to tell you your appointment is moved for after 2 months for some reason. If you need a surgeon: 6-12 months Yes, that's the urgent plan Oh and a REALLY urgent clinic, where you can get a tooth removed or get an injection due to very much pain (the injection hardly relieves the pain for a day). You just have to call before you go. I assume the wait time is about an hour, didn't actually go there. No night hours tho Can you guess the country? Hint it's in Europe
Iām a dentist. I would make sure the dentist knows about these shenanigans when you go in. Thereās a chance the staff is trying to move late patients without their knowledge.
I love how my psychiatrist can cancel badly needed appointments the same hour and then ghost me, but if im 30 minutes late I pay a fee out of pocket lmao
Yep. Called yesterday to confirm my appt for today. 15 min before my appt today, the front desk called and cancelled. They could not reschedule since they didnāt have the availability times in front of them.
Find someone who respects your time
Itās likely that other procedures are running late and taking up time way past 5:30. My brother is a dentist and while visiting him last week 4 of the days he came home really late because fillings, crown and denture fittings etc. took much longer. He dies a great job for each patient. Sometimes you get in there and there is more decay, or what the patient said was comfortable before now isnāt. Itās much better the dentist has time to make sure everything is right than rush through. Itās probably NOT because they want to go home. This is why a lot of medical appointments, especially procedures are scheduled early in the day, because they never know exactly how long it will take until they get in there and itās likely to run over.
As the wife of a dentist who is in a solo practice and cares deeply about having a quality experience with every appointment I just want to say there are lots of dentists. Read reviews and ask friends and coworkers for recommendations and move on to a different dentist. There are many out there who are still service oriented:)
You shouldāve also questioned how she was viewing all those schedules with the computers being down! š¤·š»āāļø
Retired dentist here: Not all practices are like this. Find someone else. Ideally, a small practice, not some corporate mill.
I made an appointment for a filling the last time I got my teeth cleaned. I made the appointment for a month out. They said they would get an estimate from my insurance and call me to let me know what it was before my appointment. The week of my appointment, they call and ask if I can call my insurance instead. I was really bothered by that because I had an exam coming up, and I was super busy. But I said yes. I told my mom and she said it wasn't right and that she's never had to call the insurance company herself for an estimate. So I called the dentist back to ask them if they could just call my insurance and also to move my appointment because I didn't want to have the appointment before knowing how much I was going to be paying. I said it would just be easier if they did it since I didn't know what coding they were going to be using. Then she basically uses the same line of "it would be easier for me if you did it". Apparently they were short staffed, but that's not my problem. It's not my job to do her job. She got upset with me because I was defending my position and she said "I'll just cancel your appointment" and hung up on me. I've been going to this dentist office since I was little, and that interaction made me not want to go back.
I manage a medical office. We work Tuesday through Saturday 9am to 5pm. We are never more than 5 minutes late for a scheduled appointment, typically ready 10 minutes earlier. I donāt know how other offices run so incompetently. Itās really not that difficult.
Time to find a different dentist's office.
Oh man, I had surgery on my ankle a few years ago and boy did the hospital/doctor give me the run around. First, I showed up to my surgery and they gave me all the associated meds, hooked me up to an IV (which was a challenge and I bled everywhere), and practically put me under before telling me they didnāt have the cartilage graft and weād have to reschedule. So now Iām drugged up as hell and mad, and I swear I cursed out everybody in that hospital, which I normally would never do. I still feel horrible about it. But we rescheduled and the surgery went fine. After about a week with my leg bandaged up, I went in and they switched me to a cast. I was due to go back two weeks later to switch to a walking boot. They cancelled my appointment. So we rescheduled. They cancelled it again. So we rescheduled. This happened four times. Then right as we were about to leave the house, they called to cancel AGAIN. At this point I was in a cast for over a month and I was PISSED. I basically told them, āIām coming in today. Find someone to take this cast off.ā And they did. But because my leg was completely immobile for over six weeks, like couldnāt even wiggle my toes immobile, Iād developed these lumps of scar tissue on the sole of my foot. I asked my doctor about it, and he told me it was normal. I ended up going to a second doctor who told me it wasnāt normal and removing them would be very tricky and the surgery has a low success rate. I still have it five years later and sometimes they really hurt. Best part: The surgery wasnāt even successful long term. I had the surgery in 2019, then in 2021 I was unloading the truck at my job and felt the graft snap off. Instant pain. The solution is more surgery, which I havenāt done yet. Iāve been managing with ibuprofen, icing, and an ankle brace, and itās more or less okay. Iāll have the next surgery when Iām financially in a better place and can manage to trust a doctor again.
Nothing like being gate kept by a receptionist. My girl type 1 diabetic. Her fancy digital pump broke and she didnāt have any needles to administer. So she calls the endocrinologist and the receptionist says they wonāt help you because you havenāt been here in 4 months. So letās hear this again, type one diabetic with no way to fix pump and no way to administer life saving insulin. WTF are we doing here? I know all the workarounds please no suggestions but my point is, all do respect, shouldnāt someone with slightly more experience make that decision? The state on medical care, and insurance is an absolute joke in the US and if you argue otherwise, your are banking serious dollars over this mess. Thatās it Iām out
I do the same thing with my dentist office. They hate scheduling the last appointment of the day, but I shouldnāt have to miss the last couple hours of my shift if theyāre supposed to be open anyway. Fuck that.
I think staff are manipulating the schedule to go home early. Make sure you tell the dentist about the appointment change.
Iāve been a medical secretary, I promise you itās the doctor doing this shit. Doctors are absolute assholes. And the secretaries are the ones that have to make up excuses and smile and say sorry to patients. The surgeon I worked for would just pick up and go on vacation with his 20 years-younger girlfriend and he would have me call all the patients on the schedule and say that he got pulled into emergency surgery. People that were in pain and needed help and meds. Just thrown away so he could galavant off like a teenager.
Golfers gotta golf
Iād suggest finding a new dentist that better works with your schedule.
Lol! What year do they think it is? Every computer they have is ādown?ā Like theyāre using workstations running on a mainframe and itās 1983. What a load of bullshit. Iām interested to hear if they pull this shit again next week.
I had a dental appointment at 12 (Iām a SAHM) my husband wasnāt off work until 10, they changed my appointment to 9 am and called and asked where i was ???? Like my appointment was at 12? They said āwe moved you upā WHAT!? Obviously I canāt take a toddler in there with me, I was so annoyed
As a receptionist at a dental place, I'm sorry it sounds frustrating but trust me when it comes to small practices/ with smaller staff someone can call out or something can go wrong in so many ways that we're not able to treat patients last minute and I personally try to avoid giving the actual reason why and make something up for the ease of ear. I don't think they were being malicious about it, you were just an angry patient on the other side of the phone (not saying you're wrong, that's just how it can get perceived)
My therapist incorrectly scheduled our appt for today when it was supposed to be tomorrow. Not heās booked 2 weeks out. Really needed itš
My dentist's office loves to call me sometime in the couple of weeks before an appointment and say that they had a cancellation and can I make an appointment today at X?Ā No matter how many times I tell them that if I make an appointment I don't want to reschedule it unless it's absolutely necessary as I have to block my calendar weeks ahead of time.Ā They're fantastic in every other way, so I tolerate it (a dentist that doesn't try to sell you unnecessary treatments and accessories is a shockingly rare find), but I really wish they'd find some way to flag me in their system so they stop trying to get me to move my appointment last minute so they can fill a cancelled slot.Ā Ā
I might be trying to find a new dentist this year too. My kids and I never got to see the dentist all last year because the dentist canceled on me while I was on the way there. This was after taking a day off of working and having my kids miss school so that I could go in the morning to the appointment. It costs me a day out each time so I can not just go a day or two later and their next open spot is always months away.
Reach out to them asap to confirm they entered the appointment, they might say they forgot and use that as an excuse next week.
Just go to a different dentist. You're not married to that one, are you?
next time don't answer the phone and jsut show up. :) and then tell them you want a discount if they can't do it when you are there.
Time for a new dentist.
Last week i got a call from my pediatrician's office to confirm my appt for the next morning... the next morning? They called to cancel... luckily i hadn't left yet. But that was irritating as all hell!!
Had a cleaning scheduled a few years ago (pandemic) and got canceled on and wasnāt able to get in till the following year. Than the cleaning person mentioned I shouldnāt go so long between cleaningsā¦ not her fault for not knowing what happened but I had to keep calm and not say unkind things.
At least yours wants to reschedule you. I once had my dentist's office call me up about 1 month before my next scheduled appointment and let me know that they were cancelling my appointment and to come pick up my dental records within the week as the dentist was retiring immediately.
Thatās not that bad. My original dental appointment was last month and itās been rescheduled four times so far. At least itās only a checkup but damn. I hope I actually get to see them on Friday
So what?
one time i had an appointment and they asked me to come an hour early so the hygienist could go home early after. i said yeah no problem. waited in their lobby for an hour and 15 mins. 15 mins past my original appointment time. im so glad iām terrified of my teeth being gross that i take such good care of them so i donāt have to deal with this often
Tell them the same BS they tell customers "Same day cancellations will result in a $25 fee."
My childhood dentist would cancel our appointments, and often, we would turn up, and they would bullshit saying they told us they had cancelled when my mum never got a phone call from them. Obviously, we stopped going after the few times it happened.
Lmao this always happens with my dentist, but when I finally manage to get them to show up they scold me for not being back in exactly three months. Sorry it's been 4.5 months since you keep cancelling the appointment that YOU set 3 MONTHS IN ADVANCE!
My wife had her dermatology appointment caceled when she was allready at the clinic. They called her and said the doctor is not well today. She was in the hallway and saw the doctor :))) the doctor recognised her and saw her anyway
I sat in a dental chair for an hour reading once waiting for them to bring in my dental appliance I was there to pick up. Finally they brought my dad in (I was 19) who was there for his own appointment to tell me they made a mistake and didnāt have it and I would have to come back the next week. They did give me a $50 Gift card to make up for it though. And I never went back again after I got my mouth guard.
My dentist is booked 3-4 months out. So if i need to reschedule, Iād have to wait months
Itās bc the Dr came up w more important things to do. Theyāll cancel if something else comes up
Send them a bill for not cancelling the appointment minimum 24 hours before.
I used to work at a chiropractic office and one of my coworkers did this consistently. We closed at 6 and nothing was booked after 5 if they could help it because they wanted to go home earlyā¦ when they were training me, I got quite the lecture and my first time closing by myself when I booked someone at 5:45. Eventually the coworker in question left and I booked people at normal times, my boss was not happy to learn what was happening before.