I would've liked to have had the chance to consider this clinic, but I couldn't get two simple…read morequestions answered:
1) Is Dr. Sandison accepting new patients?
2) Do out of town patients need to be seen for the first time in person?
I emailed those questions on August 18th to the address on their website and was asked by a Patient Coordinator, Hilary, to call her at the general clinic number to review their new patient process. I tried calling twice and got an answering machine message both times that said to email the clinic at the address provided on their website and they'd get back to me.
So, I emailed the clinic again. Hilary asked for my phone number and said she'd try to call me back as soon as she could. She called a little later that afternoon, but I was on a work call so couldn't pick up. I called her back and got the answering machine message again. I emailed Hilary again and asked to set up a time she could call me so we didn't keep missing each other. We made an appt for 1pm on Sept 6th, five days later.
1pm came & went and no call from Hilary. At around 1:20 I emailed and said I'd be available until 1:30 if she was able to call. She left a voicemail around 1:50 and said, "I'm so sorry I missed you at 1:00. I got back from lunch and the phone has just been going crazy, so I haven't had a moment until now, but you can give me a call back, and hopefully we can connect here at some point today." Hopefully? Wow.
Hilary had set up an *appointment* with me which I waited five days for, and for which I set aside 30 mins of my workday, and she disregarded it because "the phone was going crazy." She didn't notify me that she had to cancel the appt, like most businesses would have, she just brushed it off and blamed it on the phone "going crazy," which means she was helping new callers before the old caller (me), who had an actual appointment to speak with her, and who was sitting for 30 minutes waiting for her call, with a notepad in front of me.
This experience doesn't give me a confident feeling about this clinic. Dr. Sandison might be a really good ND, but I can't get past the poor communication and disregard for potential patients' time. I work, too, just like Hilary does. I'm busy, too, just like Hilary is. I'm happy to call and/or email a business more than once attempting to get a little info, but within reason.
If Solcere is having this much trouble getting back to people, they need more Patient Coordinators, and this should be on the doctors' radar -- it's an important part of client relations. And they shouldn't allow employees to skip "appointments" they've made with potential clients without notifying them first, it's rude and makes the clinic seem flaky.
And if all of this seems like a whole lot of words to talk about a place I never even got to try . . . it is, it is a lot of words, which means there's something wrong with the way they're handling what should be a relatively simple process, and is really odd compared to other specialty medical providers I've contacted in the past.
******
After I posted this review on Yelp, Hilary emailed me and told me that Dr. Sandison does not have a waitlist, but won't be seeing new patients until November -- if she had told me that via email on August 18th, I'd probably have an appointment set up by now. She didn't, however, answer my second question about whether out of town patients need to be seen first in person. Getting basic info shouldn't be this hard. Email works, it's quick, it's direct, and you don't have to play phone tag. Both of my questions could have been answered 2 weeks ago by email.
