I typically don't write reviews, but this is one of those experiences that I find completely abhorrent, and I find it hard to not make a comment.
After having read the nearly PERFECT review on yelp, I decided to visit Dr. Kau's office. We made a phone call to arrange for a time, and went at our scheduled time. We were not particularly greeted with a warm welcome, just a simple cold remark "please sign in and have a seat". We signed in, waited 15 min before we were called over to fill in some forms. We had trouble getting the insurance to work with the office, which made the lady at the desk even more impatient with us it seems. I ended up leaving them with the insurance information, which they said they would look into and get back to us to see if that would work with them. They said they would call, but they never did, and everything after ended up becoming out of pocket.
The overall atmosphere was fine, it was a small cozy space, made as comfortable as possible for a dental clinic. When we went, there was practically no one there, with only the 2 of us waiting in the lobby. Even then, the wait time was insane. Dr. Kau came into the front some time later after having seen a patient, who started small talk with him and the front desk lady on topics completely unrelated to her operation for a good 10 min before they came to talk to us, with a smile of course. They had their fun and good laughs, didn't seem like too busy a day.
For this first visit, my wife really needed to get her teeth checked, so our appointment was basically for her checkup, with the typical x-rays etc. Results show she needed a couple of fillings for cavities (I recall 5 together). We were given a sheet detailing a 2 session treatment plan to do cleaning and all of the fillings, a few at a time. We went through with the first portion of it, and my wife went back to get some of the fillings done. The service was nothing particularly different from other dentists that we are accustomed to, but we were severely over charged for it, more expensive than I have ever seen of dental work done in the states without insurance. I have paid out of pocket for fillings before several times because I've had a lot of fillings done, especially during times when I freelanced and didn't have insurance, and Dr. Kau's pricing is nearly 3 times the cost I normally pay for without insurance. I don't know what kind of special equipment they use that's more advanced than usual, or what kind of magical material they use for their fillings, because the end result was not all so special. My wife felt discomfort from her fillings for 2 days whenever she drank cold water, which has never happened before for her.
As for the billing, we started to look into why my insurance was not working with this clinic, which was complicated, because the insurance went through my company, and we were hoping to find out what was going on with the coverage. While we are looking into it, we were bombarded with letters and emails asking us to make the payment, and on top of that, they continue to call and pester us about making future appointments. We told them we were looking into the issue with insurance and we politely declined making future appointments because we were unsure if our insurance would work, and we still had to make our payment for the last appointment. When my wife didn't go in for her next appointment for fillings because we were still looking into the issue with billing, the staff called and gave us an attitude over the phone about how Dr. Kau is extremely busy, and missing our appointment was problematic for his scheduling, and would cause other patients from being able to see him in a timely fashion. My wife was being forced to make a new appointment. We had already stated very clearly that we will no longer go back to the clinic for more visits until we resolved the issue with the insurance. On top of that, we had moved away from our old address so it was even more unlikely for us to visit their clinic again, but they continue to push for us to make more appointments. I have never seen a clinic so eager and pushy to keep their patients!
After a few months, we had finally figured out that the insurance I had really did not work with their clinic and would not cover for the costs. So my wife called and made the payment over the phone with her credit card. Even after that, they continue to email us saying we have not made the payment, and continue to pester us about making the next appointment with their clinic.
We did not enjoy our experience with Dr. Kau's office, and never will again after all that we had gone through. We feel disappointed after having read so many great reviews, we feel disrespected for the way they throw their attitude at us, and we feel disgusted for their continual pestering for us to return to their clinic. I hope they continue to please those who do go to them and like their services, but we will never visit this clinic again. read more