I am writing this review in hopes that the owner of this practice will read it and reach out to…read moremake things right, as our experience with the office staff was deeply unprofessional and disheartening.
My wife came to this office strictly looking for an IN-NETWORK provider for oral surgery. She was in severe pain from a tooth infection, but wanted to be sure about coverage before proceeding. She explicitly confirmed our coverage multiple times: first in the phone calls to the office prior to booking, where staff verbally confirmed that they took our insurance, MetLife. When they mentioned the $160 diagnostic X-ray fee would be out-of-pocket, they advised she could avoid it by having her dentist send over X-rays instead. Suffering through the entire weekend waiting for her dentist's office to open, my wife successfully got X-rays from her dentist sent over. The day she arrived for her consultation in April 2026, she asked yet again at check-in and was verbally assured again that they took her insurance, just that the X-ray, not covered by insurance, would be $160.
She then specifically asked if a doctor could examine her without taking an X-ray, and to use the X-rays from her dentist instead. The office agreed. However, during the visit, the doctor turned to the assistant and ordered an X-ray anyway. Reluctantly, under the verbal guise that the office was in-network where she was told the $160 diagnostic fee would go toward her total treatment costs, she followed the assistant who took her X-ray.
It was ONLY AFTER the X-ray was completed when my wife was handed a quote form to sign and pay the $160 at check-out with the words *OUT OF NETWORK* handwritten across the top, revealing they did not take our insurance. The quoted cost of surgery was well over 10 times what we would pay with an in-network provider. There was no way we would move forward. Disclosing network status AFTER an irreversible service is rendered is unacceptable. Had this been disclosed upfront, she would have never proceeded to book a consultation.
When we called to address this, the interaction with the treatment coordinators (including Alyssa Hoskins and Stephanie R.) was incredibly frustrating and condescending. My wife was aware of the $160 X-ray, but was led to believe the office took her insurance. In this follow-up call, Stephanie explicitly claimed point-blank that their office only takes THREE specific insurance plans, and acknowledged they were well aware that MetLife is not one of them. If the staff knew this all along, why were we told multiple times that they took our insurance? Alyssa callously accused us that we "should have gone to other offices." Had things been disclosed, we would have.
When reiterating our request for a courtesy refund, they refused again, and said they would just bill our insurance to see what was covered. However, a few months ago (and two months after the consult), MetLife confirmed with us when we called them about this that NO claim was ever submitted. Moreover, if staff knows our insurance wouldn't cover the X-ray, making this proposed insurance billing now felt like a tactic to delay resolving our grievance. When asked about what MetLife told us, they also claimed they did submit the claim in the past. Why, then, are they billing insurance now, months afterward, to "see" if insurance will cover it? Alyssa told us that if we didn't want to pay, my wife "should have just walked away without paying" like other patients have done. Admitting that other patients have walked away over this issue shows a clear, recurring pattern of non-disclosure. Stephanie also claimed that because several months have passed, we shouldn't be bringing this up now, and that we should have fought it closer to a time period after the consultation. Our priority at the time was getting proper medical care from an actual in-network provider to treat her excruciating infection. Moreover, my wife did reach out via email back in June once her health stabilized - an email the office conveniently ignored. Dismissing a valid grievance due to time passed is pure deflection and a blatant unprofessional attempt to avoid accountability.
Taking $160 from a patient under the guise of being in-network and holding back essential disclosures until the very end is not okay. We were met with condescension from staff rather than empathy or a genuine effort to address the issue. Instead of listening to our concerns, the staff repeatedly blamed my wife and brushed off her experience. We feel deeply disrespected. Healthcare providers should treat patients with regard, not condescension, blame, and deflection.
To the Owner of California Oral Surgery & Dental Implant Center: We do not believe this reflects how you intend your patients to be treated by the office staff. We are asking you directly to review this situation and reach out to us. We look forward to hearing from you to resolve this amicably.