For many years I had good results from seeing chiropractors.
Unfortunately, I've had big problems with this chiropractor, and because of him, I can no longer recommend chiropractic care:
1. This chiropractor applies way more pressure than any other chiropractor I've known. Although I told him to ease up a little, he was very heavy-handed and this is his style.
2. He gave me one neck adjustment that caused my neck to make a crackling noise when I turn my head--4 years later, my neck is still doing this. He attributed this to "gas being released" around that area. My doctor has assured me that this explanation is ridiculous and that the problem is probably due to the chiropractor applying too much pressure and causing some kind of damage. I'm concerned I will have this popping sound for the rest of my life.
3. His office did not understand my insurance and gave me an original estimate that was ridiculously lower than what my insurance would pay. Even though his staff made a huge error that cost me over one thousand dollars, they did nothing to make amends or reduce their charges--which turned out to be inflated (see no. 5).
4. His office staff was extremely unprofessional. Not only did they cause financial hardship for me by miscalculating how much my insurance would cover, they humiliated me by announcing that my "account was severely behind" in front of all the patients in the lobby (and I knew some of them, so this was pretty embarrassing)--forgetting that I wasn't paying my bill because they instructed me to wait for a corrected statement from them.
5. The billing system was a mess. It took an entire year to resolve the mess created with my insurance company. The insurance company pointed out that even though I was only shown exercises on my first visit, the office billed for this service on every visit. I also discovered that the insurance company was billed for trigger-point therapy massage for every visit, and I did not receive this service on every visit.
6. Dr. Kessler tried to sell me many things during the course of my treatment, from shoe inserts to vitamins--he's got a retail thing going on to supplement his income. Although I can appreciate how this can sometimes be necessary during hard financial times, I did not like being subjected to the hard sale.
7. When I expressed my discontent to Dr. Kessler, he implied we were not a good fit and I should go see someone else. He was unhappy that I had made his staff uncomfortable with my protest when they announced that I wasn't paying my bill to the entire waiting room.
Great.
Overall, I had a very negative experience at this office and I regret not having taken action. Please beware that when you see a chiropractor, you usually sign some kind of hold-harmless agreement where you waive your rights to do anything if the chiropractor messes up. This is a big problem with chiropractic care overall--and unfortunately, some chiropractors do mess up!
P.S. I generally refrain from negative reviews (see my reviews), but in this case, the experience was so negative, that I feel it needs to be told. read more
