I have thought about doing this review many times and put it off, as I considered my approach…read more
I wish I could rate this business on two different scales - one for the doctor, and one for the staff.
1) Overall, quality of care is good - that is, the doctor has been fine - we have no complaints there (though - to be honest - I've had no interaction with him personally - he deals with my daughter, and he has staff that do everything else for him).
So lets start with the basics:
2) The office is well and tastefully decorated. It's well planned with good use of space.
And then move onto why I only give them a 2.
3) The staff, on the surface - first impressions - seem well trained and pleasant. However - in my opinion - as you start to deal with them, one starts to understand there are some big gaps in their customer service skills. It's unclear to me at this time, if those gaps start at the top and have flowed downhill to the staff, or if it's rot from the roots up.
Here's what's happened to us:
a) The first time we were in there for our orientation session - although we were not late, the lady who assessed us let us know in no uncertain terms that if we were chronically late, we would be punished with less ideal appointment times. I should have recognized the warning sign and left at that point. The next red flag I ignored was this: I was unemployed and naturally concerned about paying for this work. I asked - quite rightly - if we started down this path i.e. - started payments - and at a later time I became employed, is the service done after employment starts still eligible for benefits? My thinking of course was, if it was no elibible, I would hold off until I did get a job. I was told, in no uncertain terms that this business did not participate in fraud. Well great! Glad to know that - however - if the gal had listened to the actual question, she would know I was in *no way* suggesting they behave fraudulently. I was seeking clarification on coverage for work done *after* employment starts. Frankly, I felt embarrased that she thought I was asking about how to commit fraud, and assumed it was a simple miscommunication - I decided to move past it.
b) On our 2nd or 3rd visit, my daughter was handed to a technician I can only describe as snippy. Within a couple of hours, a bracket fell off. No problem, right? Just return? Yeah - well - I live 40 minutes away - this *is* a big deal. Call to get appointment - Drive back for the appointment. Same snippy gal. Go home - another problem. Call make an appointment and specify we don't want snippy gal again. Go in, all is finally solved.
c) go to next visit - all good. Next visit after that - back to snippy gal again! Hmm... Could swear they said they'd put a note in our file not be booked with her again. Well - we'll move past this too.
d) I get a job. Time to ask about about benefits - because I want to make sure I am doing things right and assume they may know something generally about the process. So again - I approach this little issue, explaining that I'm now employed, and I want to make sure that - though services started before employment, it's ok to claim services *since* employment... right? Again - I'm told "that's fraudulent". At this point, I am *so* offended. The (very nice) person at the front desk who was dealing with me - and accused me of being fraudulent - looked stunned that I had taken her words this way. (Seriously - don't just listen to me... listen to yourself too!) I was handed off to someone who really did not have skills to deal with an angry customer (me!). She was pissy and snippy to me, which is not the right approach for someone who's already upset. Somehow we go thru the conversation and I got the answer I was actually asking for: Yes, I can claim services that are provided after my employment date (and no - that's not fraudulent - which I did not think it was.) All that aggravation simply because they don't listen to their customers!
e) Lastly - due to above problems and my aggravation with their customer services skills (or lack thereof) most recently have been having my husband take my daughter. On the last visit, they left over an hour ahead of time for a 40 minute drive. Hit a *huge* traffic jam. Get a phone call 1 minute *before* appointment asking where they are, again, very snippy in tone. Apparantly they show up 20 minutes later and a very big deal was made about how someone was nice enough to stay late to serve them. Where I come from - that's *not* good customer service. Without customers, you don't have a job. Think about that next time you are treating your customers in a shoddy manner - cause that's what this place does consistantly.
Would I return? I have no choice - we're contractually committed to them.
Would I recommend? No, I really wouldn't. Surely there are other businesses that can do the same job with a higher customer service standard. Go find one