I made an appointment with OrthoArkansas on Tuesday for an MRI Wednesday morning at 7:00 a.m. When…read moreI scheduled it, I specifically asked for the address because I needed to know where I was going. I was told, "Don't worry about it, you'll get a text."
Well, I never got that text. The only message I received was about my follow-up appointment.
By the time I realized Tuesday evening that I still had no idea where my 7 a.m. MRI was, it was after 5 p.m. I called, but everything was closed and Ortho Urgent Care wasn't answering their phone. I had already left work and driven home, but ended up getting back in my car and driving to an Ortho Urgent Care location just so someone could tell me where I was supposed to go the next morning. Maybe if someone had answered the phone, I wouldn't have had to spend my evening driving around town trying to find out where my own appointment was.
When I got there, the woman I spoke with acted like it was a huge inconvenience for me to ask for the information about my own appointment. I wasn't asking for anything complicated--I literally just needed to know where I was supposed to show up at 7 a.m. because the information I was told would be sent to me never was.
I finally get home, set my alarm for 6:15 a.m., and go to bed.
When I woke up at 6:15 a.m., I discovered they had sent me a text at 5:30 a.m. saying I needed to arrive 30 minutes before my 7 a.m. appointment. Apparently I was supposed to receive this rather important information while I was asleep.
So now I'm rushing. I get to the address, realize it doesn't look like the location I had seen online, call, and discover GPS has taken me to the wrong place. I finally make it to the correct location, already stressed from this entire scavenger hunt, only to be greeted with more attitude at the front desk.
I was handed paperwork on a clipboard. My hands were already full with my wallet, keys, sunglasses, and phone. The receptionist told me to take the paper but give her back the clipboard and pen. I set the clipboard and pen on the desk, and she stood there with her hand raised, apparently expecting me to physically hand them to her.
At that point, I couldn't help thinking: Wouldn't it have been easier to just take the clipboard, pen, and paper, remove the paper yourself, and hand it back to me? Or just let me hand you the clipboard when I was done? Minus the attitude.
The MRI itself wasn't the problem. The communication and customer service leading up to it were unnecessarily frustrating. If you schedule someone for a 7 a.m. appointment, they should not have to drive around town the night before trying to figure out where they're supposed to go, be made to feel like an inconvenience for asking, and then receive important arrival instructions at 5:30 a.m. the morning of the appointment.
A little clear communication--and a little kindness--would have made this an entirely different experience.