12/13/2017 ---change in front desk staff. They are terrific now.
Previous review - 3 stars.
I have been coming here for 10 years. Chiropractors here have come and gone. The pluses: Dr. Kaufman and Dr. Antinoff are amazing and I highly, highly recommend them. Dr. Kaufman has even worked on my dog to ease her pain. The problem? Everything else.
The minuses: billing gets the bills wrong almost every time. They bill you for things that are insurance pending. When you try to work it out, you have to deal with the current front desk people, who are the the reason for my review.
From making an appointment over the phone, to dealing with mistakes in your chart, or billing, or insurance. The past several years, things have been getting worse. I know 5 people who have quit care over the front desk people's rudeness.
The phone call: When you call you hear, "Kaufman Chiropractic". You say, "Hello, this is Jan....," then .....nothing. no response. no answer. No, "how are you?" Not even a "yes?" Just dead silence. It's up to you to say why you're calling, then they will respond. What's the big deal, you think? In the subtle unspoken language of our society, dead silence after you call someone and identify yourself, shows hostility. "You are not important enough for me to waste my time giving you a 'good morning', or "how are you?" or "hello." Every basic phone etiquette guide say you should address your customer over the phone by their name. "Hello, Mr. or Mrs. X.", which implies that you actually address them.
Second: The in-person interaction. Many times I have walked in for my appointment and not been acknowledged. I understand this when there are many people waiting, the front desk people are doing computer work anyway, and the protocol is to sign in. The problem is when I walk up to the desk to ask a question and am not acknowledged. I once walked up to the desk with my husband. We patiently wait for one of the women to finish her entry so she would acknowledge me. I waited. I continued to look at her. After 30 seconds, she looked up, looked at my husband for two seconds, then looked down again and kept typing. No smile. No nothing. Just dead eyes and no interest. Again, the subtle communication may be lost here. When you are ready to help us, you look up and say, "May I help you?" "Hi there." Or even an irritated, "Yes?" will show us that you are done with your computer transaction. No response at all, after you have made eye contact with my husband, shows hostility on your part -- even if you don't mean it to be. Or maybe you do. (he's Indian -- I'm starting to wonder if that was part of the issue?)
Third: the staff is unapproachable if you have a problem. Many times over the years I have been charged a copay when I don't owe one. When I recently disagreed, the receptionist, (the same one that refused to help my husband after he was standing there for 30 seconds) said, "That's what the card says." And she took the payment anyway. I then checked with the other receptionist, asked her to look at my intake sheet, where it said no copay. Instead of apologizing, she blamed me. "Well, we haven't taken an updated card from you since 2014. So that's why." I asked her to refund the card. She refused, saying I would just end up spending it at their office in upcoming visits anyway, so she'd leave it as is. Later I realized that since their billing is always messed up, I actually didn't want to do that. I left a message that night saying that I wanted a refund.
I went in the next morning for another appointment. They said they got my message and, "You are going to need to go sit down and wait." She waved her hand in front of my face. After 10 minutes, another person said that they could not do a refund -- they could have done it yesterday but not today. (note, that no one had mentioned that yesterday.) So she would have to issue me a check for the copay that I wouldn't receive until 3 weeks later. So why don't I just keep it on credit. I asked for the refund and got it 3 weeks later.
Fourth: "It will just be a few minutes" could mean it will be about 45 minutes. I once asked them, "It's going to be way more than a few minutes, isn't it?" The front desk person said, "yes, but we're told to tell everyone that." Setting the expectation for a customer results in happy customers. If you tell a customer it's a few minutes and keep them 45, they'll be mad, and they'll take it out on the front desk staff.
Dear Dr. Kaufmnan, You are amazing. I have heard from several of your customers (I've referred half a dozen people to you over the past 5 years.) that they felt the same way about your front desk staff. I've heard a few of the chiropractors say that my complaints are not new. If the behavior of the front desk people of your otherwise amazing business leads me to believe that I am bothering you. I will stop bothering you. read more
