I had been told numerous times to avoid castle dental but because of my DHMO it was the only option for little old Pflugerville. Lets start by explaining my background. I'm a business advisor with an M&A firm with 10 years of Managing large sales teams. I have two dentists in my family and have never experienced a ""dentist office"" like Castle dentals. \r
First of all each person you meet once you make it past the waiting room grooms their targets by explaining all the issues with their teeth and gums. The first lady who does the x-rays starts by saying my wisdom teeth are weird and I had a crooked root. I explained I don't care unless they hurt then quickly asked if she was qualified to be making those conclusions. Of course she said NO.\r
Next we sit in the chair and she starts taking pictures of my teeth and explaining each bad thing she sees. EVEN THOUGH SHE IS NOT QUALIFIED TO SAY A WORD! I now begin to realize this is all part of the psycology of their sales process. \r
Next person up actually may be qualified and says things look bad but it can be fixed nothing permanent. I said well I have never had any pain and yes my gums bleed once in a while when I floss that is pretty normal if your lazy like me and floss 3 times a month. Things got very weird when she checked my gums and first explains she will rate each tooth from 1-6 (one being good 6 bad) and say it to her ""assistant"". THIS IS NOT HOW THINGS WORK AND NOT PROFESSIONAL AT ALL! Again this is all part of the sale cycle/scare tactics for the big close at the end.\r
This is getting long so I will cut it short because I could go on forever. The ""dentist"" says the tarter is under my gums so a deep clean will be needed. I said my DHMO does cover ""deep cleans"" and If I return it is out of pocket. She said there was no time to do it now you have to come back. I argued and contemplated a ""sit in"" to force a cleaning. \r
Here comes the big close. She starts by circling discounts and drawing lines on the bill and all the usual stuff I use to do on a daily basis when selling crappy life insurance policies. Then tries to close me on a $1300 bill. First objection was met with the classic, ""We can break it into payments"" I almost said ""hey now that you think of it that is cheaper than a starbucks every morning right!"" but I didnt want her to realize I know the tactic of reducing to the ridiculous. Then came the lets do this procedure first then this blah blah blah and last financing.\r
I'm not upset because I paid nothing out of pocket BUT I NEVER RECEIVED A SIMPLE CLEANING LIKE I ASKED FOR! i have the a great deal of respect for Capitalism but NOT WHEN IT COMES TO HEALTH CARE!\r
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Sorry for any typos or run on sentences but I dont care.. Lucky for me I sit at a boring desk job with lots of free time and all the business contacts you could ever ask for LIKE YOUR INFO STEVE BILT (CEO OF CASTLE DENTAL) Oh and I should call James Usdan (former CEO) and get his story of why he quit your sketchy company!
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