The unfortunate thing here is that the root canal went well, Dr. Rick Munaretto was great, and the visit itself was pleasant enough. But so terrible was the service on an insurance issue that I can't recommend this clinic to anyone.
As brief as can be: I went in for a root canal, supplied my insurance information, and went back for the treatment. After a bit, the secretary popped back to say I would be responsible for $500. No worries, about what I expected.
A month later I get a phone call and from the moment I answered the woman unleashed her brash, charmless, adversarial skills to guilt me into some unknown action. At a guess, she'd been sharpening her horns before making the call.
She accused me of avoiding them, based upon a single bill sent out (which I never received) and a phone call two weeks ago. That's it. Maybe the effort expelled in those two attempts taxed her tremendously. She then went on to invent statements I never made about my understanding of my responsibilities with regard to payment.
But she had notes to back it up. Never mind that personal notes made by one of the disputing parties are worthless as they reek of the intrinsic bias.
My questions were never answered. I've never visited a dentist and been told to pay anything other than the exact amount due, as specified by the insurance. She demanded that I send a cheque or call my insurance. No further information.
Beyond that, accusations flew that I was intentionally avoiding payment, had no knowingly dodged this fiscal bullet. But in fact I just didn't know. The office didn't inform me at the time that they were guessing (yes, guessing) at the amount insurance would cover.
Easily the worst customer service I have ever had. It is hard to believe that a billing discrepancy could be taken so personally by someone who has little more to do than make a phone call to sort it out.
Apologies to the doctor and the assistants. But it isn't worth the drama.
And the biggest tragedy? The girl couldn't even have a sense of humor about it. No sense of sarcasm. And certainly no social graces. Just a charmless, confrontational beast.
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