I had a severe tootache / headache the other night and decided to pull the whole tooth. So I opted…read morefor a tooth extraction. Not many dentist offices are open on Saturday, so I landed here. I scheduled an appointment on Saturday 19th, over two weeks ago. Pulling a teeth cost roughly $200 on average however again, it was a Saturday. First, they tried charging a $75 appointment fee, I said I have one of the best dental insurance there is and it usually covers that, I was hit with "it should, however today is Saturday so we're unable to verify insurance cause that team comes in on Monday so what will happened is, once verified it will get reimbursed" - Meghan.
I understand, so I let them swipe my card. As they checked out the X-rays I provided, Meghan came in the room with an invoice totaling $650 plus the taxes. $200 for the extraction, $450 for a dental intake ? I declined the intake as I never heard of that but it was explained and I politely declined. I said , can I just get the tooth removed. The Doctor, Dr Ana, said . No. I am not doing it without the intake. I said, shouldn't that be my choice. She said no, I am not doing it without.
This is the dilemma I was facing, go another day with pain level at 10 and find another dentist (as I'm already sitting on the dental chair with three people surrounded me) or..which I was about to do, Meghan state "again, once the verification teams get in they should be able to verify your insurance and then we'll reimburse you so technically you'll only pay for the $200 extraction, and some insurance covers that and a small percentage of the $450. We'll call you Monday morning with the updated amount once it's verified" - Meghan.
So then I waited. And waited. So I called on Tuesday to give them some time. This time Lola picks up. I explained, the first comment out Lola's mouth was "ok don't be upset but..." which is never a comforting sign, she explained they used a third party company to verify and that no request was sent off so she assures me she'll get me an answer today with an estimate (that was Tuesday September 22nd) again, today is September 28th two weeks later.
In all fairness, Lola called me at the end of that business day and said "unfortunately, your insurance is (I think she said an acronym like SSD) and said they don't take that insurance. I said no, my insurance is PPO and it's on ur website as acceptable insurance and you guys are also within my Delta Dental network. She said she disagree.
As someone who works for a credit card company and keeps their Lawyer on standby, I learned not to do back and forths. I know a scam when I see one and something I was willing to pay for, simple will get hit with a chargeback and amount to $0. I am also debating on posting on my social media cause I know that will bring A LOT of GREAT reviews.
