I've never had such financially frustrating experience with a clinic in my life. I had a great consultation with Dr Higgins, but his accounting department staff has made had this all a terrible experience.
Within minutes of my consultation they pushed me to make a $500 deposit, when I wasn't ready, but they industries that I couldn't schedule the surgery at a future time if I didn't pay the money right. Fishy, but I really liked Higgins so I decided to send it over. Next they advised me to get financing secured, so I applied to see what I was able to finance. Not only was I told that I was getting a 0% interest rate for 60 months through Alpheon, I was also repeatedly assured that NOTHING WAS BEING CHARGED to me yet and it wouldn't be charged until 2 weeks prior to the surgery.
However approximately 2 weeks later I received a statement from Alpheon. It turns out that Magical Plastic Surgery immediately charged me for the full amount of the loan, without informing me, at 16% interest, on a $12,100 loan. That's a $388 payment! I was shocked, my heart dropped. I thought maybe it was a misunderstanding, so I called the clinic. Apparently the person I needed to talk to was Mary in accounting. So I was given a number to text and call her at. I left a voicemail and a text, early in the day with no response. The next day I talk to the clinic scheduler and was told they would for sure get back to me that day. Still no call and meanwhile I'm panicking about this incredibly large loan with a huge interest rate, checking my credit and seeing it drop over 20 points. Each day I was told I would get a call back from accounting and over a week went by until I finally did.
Mary made the phone call and was anything but apologetic or kind. She was very matter of fact and told me I should have understood that they were going to charge me right away and claim she'd never said it would be 2 weeks before the surgery, even though the agreement I'd signed clearly said that no charges would be made until 14 days prior. Regardless I just wanted it reversed. She sent me over a cancellation form that we both signed. She said it could take up to 30 days, but it should be a lot sooner. Fast forward 2+weeks & I call Alpheon. They show no refund pending and said that once a refund is initiated, it takes between 24 and 48 hours. I call Mary again and she says that she sent the refund through, but can't give me any proof. She then tells me that she will NOT GIVE ME THE REFUND unless I take THIS REVIEW down, when I tell her that's not going to happen, she hangs up on me.
Not only will I not be getting a surgery through this clinic, obviously, I am now making payments on interest I never agreed to and I lost a minimum of my $500. I'm told I may not even get the full $12,100 back at this point because the clinic is taking so long.
This has been the most ridiculous, unprofessional experience and after reading the other reviews especially on Yelp, I can't believe I wanted to use this clinic to begin with. While Higgins may get good reviews, the office staff will ruin the entire experience. Hopefully one day they will reevaluate who is on their staff and do better, especially their accounting manager Mary, Mirelys, who is just as rude as she is terrible about responding.
Additional they claim that a Dr. Deirdre Marshall works for them, guessing it's because she is a board certified Plastic Surgeon, while doctor Higgins is only certified in general surgery and vascular surgery, not plastic surgery. I contacted Dr Marshall and she has never worked for the clinic and has asked to be removed from their website, which they clearly continue to ignore. The red flags just continue to add up.
Proceed with caution and look at their low rating on the Better Business Bureau. If the matters resolved I will update my review to reflect this. read more