Great Experience I had a great overall experience with SoCal Foot Care and wanted to share my experience. In short, a few months ago I went on a surf trip to Mexico and sadly the ocean current pushed me into a shallow reef where my foot hit a sea urchin and had several barbs break off into my foot. Luckily, we had a doctor with us who treated me there and removed all of the barbs- so we thought. In any event, I thought everything was fine and no issues for 2 months. Fast forward to a few days ago when I started having intense pain in that area. It seems one of the barbs was still deep inside my foot hiding like a sneaky bandito and had developed a callus below it. Needless to say, I called my PCP and they could not see me for several weeks. Since I could barely walk, I did some research and came across Dr. Kreps so I called the office and they were able to see me that same day. After completing all the insurance paperwork I was seen by Dr. Kreps. He immediately went to work on my foot and carefully started cutting away the callus, eventually finding the remaining part of the barb- which was deep in my foot. Dr. Kreps carefully removed the embedded shard and I felt immediate relief. I cant say enough about his skill and professionalism- top notch. I am really surprised at some of the comments and reviews but I must say that Dr. Kreps and the staff were very nice and accommodating to me and really took care of me- considering it was a same day appointment. While waiting, this crusty old lady showed up 20 minutes late to her appointment and she was rude and demanding to the staff. Even with her grumpy attitude, they still worked her into their schedule so this is another example of how they take care of their patients. This lady arrived late and still had a sence of entitlement as if everyone had to cater to her. Anyways, I had such a positive experience I would give Dr. Kreps and his staff 10 stars but Yelp only allows 5. If I ever need a Podiatrist in the future, Ill be going back. read more

First off, they text you so many times it's very annoying! Dr.Lieberman seemed very nice. But he prescribed a couple medication's for my feet. I told him I was extremely sensitive to medication's and asked him if there were any side effects. He assured me there were not. The first one I ordered, said a possible side effect was nausea and upset stomach. I experienced both. The second one said it could affect my breathing. So I didn't even try it. He should've been aware of those side effects before prescribing them. I am now out $159. And annoyed. Will not go back. read more

I saw Dr. Lieberman today for a problem with my big toe nail (grew back abnormally). Dr. Lieberman has treated me before back in August. Based on both of my visits I can say he is one of the best and very knowledgeable doctors that I have seen. He was terrific and now I'm without pain in my toe. He has a lot of experience and is very patient oriented/friendly. Very pleased with So Cal Foot Care and this doctor. Highly recommended!! read more

Dr. Kreps is a ten. He helped me right off the bat and always talks to me and takes time for me at each appointment. As a Dr. myself, this is important and I really like these guys. I never have a problem with the staff and they are very nice to me at each visit. Thanks. read more

My Dr. was Colby Berger. When I was measured for the orthotics, I signed an agreement that they would seek to be reimbursed by insurance, but if insurance did not pay, I would have a maximum payment of $525. They sent me a bill for over $1800. When I called to dispute this they said pay the $525 and will then fix the bill. I demanded they fix the bill first. After multiple phone calls and a rude receptionist, a "manager" finally agreed to correct the invoice. Two months later I received an invoice of $2,069.44 and a demand for immediate payment with no explanation as to what the charge was for, but with a note that the $525 had been applied to it. Naturally, I called to complain. They finally fixed their billing issue, but claimed I owed $220 for an office visit. That was no where on the bill. When I told them to fix the invoice and send me an updated invoice they told me I had an autopay on the account. Apparently, when I paid the $525 they signed me up for autopay without my permission. I told them to immediately cancel that and I am changing my card number. These people are unscrupulous. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of finding a honest organization. read more

Socal Foot Care - Example of invoice - Podiatrists Near Me - Encinitas, California

DO NOT GO HERE. I went to the Escondido practice. I used to go when it was owned by someone else and it was great, so I returned not understanding it is now basically part of a chain. The provider experience was whatever, got no real explanation besides confirmation my toe is broken, no tips/advice except surgery. No real help. Total waste of time. My real qualms are with the front desk, the billing department and whoever handles the insurance for this chain as a whole. For some reason, they flagged my PPO as not being covered. I had checked prior to make sure I was, and was certain it was. This became a back and forth before going into my appointment, to the point where I was on the chair waiting to be seen and packed up my things to leave because they seemed so incompetent and confusing. CONVENIENTLY, as I was literally leaving the office they informed me, oh my insurance WILL cover it magically. Since I had checked previously and knew that should be the case, I went through with what would be a very useless and VERY costly appointment. Three months later I am still dealing with the billing department after continuously getting bills for the ENTIRE amount with no insurance coverage. Every time I call and explain someone input something wrong, I have to give my insurance number again (to someone who is NOT a native English speaker), and I am promised they are resubmitting and "fixing it," a month later I am given the same high bill with no insurance payout. Please do not go here. Go literally anywhere else. This should not be so difficult, I have very standard insurance I haven't had an issue with anywhere else it seems like these people just wrote down my insurance number wrong continuously over and over (despite having my card in hand) and I am paying the price. read more

Cancelled three times; doesn't return calls. Cassandra at Encinitas is very rude and will hang up if you ask a question. Obviously the doctors don't care about quality just quantity read more

The Escondido location was previously the private practice of Dr. Joan Meyer, who I saw more than once over the decades and was happy with. Now it is SoCal Foot Care and even though Dr. Meyers still sees some patients I was told she's not available. My experience with the replacement practitioner, and office as a whole, was very different than in the past. I won't be going back due to a lack of trust in service and charges. As mentioned by other reviewers they're quite assertive about sending redundant billing notifications through texts, emails, and letters. The notifications are automated and not responded to so don't waste your time composing an inquiry or waiting to hear back. You have to call the office and get a live person to get a separate number for billing. It seems like the new owners took steps to reduce workload for themselves without concern for any frustration or inconvenience the process may cause patients. read more

Dr Laura Yeager Smith is very good, however I am very upset with this business as they have been harassing me for the last 5-6 weeks with non-stop automated phone calls, texts, emails and mailed in bills about a supposedly unpaid bill of $60. I have reached out to them by mail, phone, email and text numerous times explaining that the bill was paid at their offices at the time of the visit. All of my messages are ignored and the harassment is continuing. I wanted to talk to the doctor about it and was denied. I have never experienced a more incompetent and rude billing department than this. read more

My experience with Dr. Kreps office aka So Cal Foot care has been terrible. The staff have been unhelpful and negligent. Over a 2 month period I have called and spoken with 3 office staff members regarding a bill my insurance paid for two years ago. Dr. Kreps office is attempting to collect $850 from me for a pair of inserts that my insurance already paid for, at the time they were $500. I've been bombarded by automated messages and texts for 2 months now to the point of harassment ( 4 times per week). I think perhaps whomever did their billing two years ago didn't know what they were doing. However, this is not my problem. No patient should be treated like this. It's just bad business. I will never go back to Dr. Kreps or refer anyone to him in the future. read more

Dr. Kreps took excellent care of a painful condition on my foot - in just a few visits and rx'd a highly effective topical. Billing was straight forward. I highly recommend this practice should you have the need for a podiatrist. read more

Don't come here the doctors barely do anything to help you and don't seem to care about patients. I've already paid once in person and once online for an appointment I had over a year ago and they still call and try and get money out of me to this day. read more

Do not book appointments here. Very dishonest and borderline illegal billing practices. When booking online before the appointment, you HAVE to put in your insurance card to be able to get an appointment to begin with, which the practice assumes as consent to bill insurance immediately, and so the option to self pay after my appointment was never made available to me. Insurance was directly billed almost $700 for a 20 minute appointment ($2100 an hour!!), despite the self pay price being $250 (which I was only told after i called the billing department). After the fact I spoke to the billing department many times and they said there's nothing they can do about the claim they already submitted, and I have to pay the higher rate despite the option to self pay having never been presented to me. read more

Made appt on Zoc Doc, they called to say appt I chose wasn't available. Rescheduled for another day with office, only to be called next day that no doctor was available on the day they scheduled me for. No thanks, don' have time for this first impression as a new patient. read more

The worst customer service and I have a $885 orthotic that is useless. They won't refund me even though THEY can't get the fitting right. All I want is a refund for some that doesn't work and causes me more pain. The office receptionists are awful and the doctors even worse! read more

Socal Foot Care - This place is awful! - Podiatrists Near Me - Encinitas, California

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Terrible customer service at this location. Very disorganized. I had a referral from my primary to this office and I got MULTIPLE phone calls to make an appointment. After getting there they couldn't find me and more so would not verify my insurance and was told I had to verify it and if they don't cover it I'm responsible for the fee. Usually when you make an appt the Dr office lets you know if they take your insurance or not because they have the provider number not me. As I'm standing there I get a phone call from the office saying I'm late to my appointment! Please train your staff for better communication and don't call people if I have to do your job for you read more

Socal Foot Care - Podiatrists Near Me - Encinitas, California

This office is extremely unprofessional with scheduling. Twice I had an appointment made for a Friday and at the last minute was told that the doctor doesn't work Fridays. If they know Dr. Kreps doesn't work Fridays then they shouldn't schedule Friday. Totally unacceptable. Also, Dr Kreps does an evaluation, then has his aide provide treatment. But since he keeps canceling his appointments, this could be a moot point. read more

Save your time and money. GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. THEY WANT MONEY WITHOUT PROVIDING ANY COMFORT TO PATIENTS. Incompetency from top to bottom. 1. Referral was mismanaged. 2. Sending to LA from north county for orthotics shoes. 3. Wouldn't cross check my address. 4. Dr Brad explained nothing. Wasn't happy at all with him. Spent 5 min only. Sent a PA who didn't know anything about the process. Every question was answered with " I dont know". 5. Forced me to call the physician group to get referral processed and faxed to correct area. 5. Office person didn't think they were doing anything wrong yet she's sending referral to LA. 6. Forced me to call multiple offices and spent 5 hours of my time. 7. Office manger Gloria no where to be found. Called every location looking for her. 8. Close clinic 15 min before 5 pm while google listing shows 5pm closed time. 9. I will report to health care authority and file a malpractice complain against them. read more

Very nice and the Dr. is friendly and knowledgeable. He has the latest laser to help with healing and inflammation. The girls in the front are also friendly and always get me in quickly. read more

Everything about my appointment with Doctor Lora Yeager-Smith on 6/27/2024 in the SoCal Foot Care Escondido Office was excellent and exceeded my expectations. Doctor Yeager-Smith's knowledge and experience were quite evident in terms of how quickly and effectively she took care of several problems I was having with my feet. THANK YOU Doctor Yeager-Smith; I sincerely appreciate you! Tom C read more

The staff is terrific, but the 2 doctors I saw came off as dismissive. Sometimes sarcastic. They didn't help me much with my condition so I'm gonna have to find somewhere else. read more

I called this place: Did not understand the girl that answered Excuse ... So, I said: I don't understand why your saying what your saying ... Let me make sure of the info. ... etc She said: then I will cancel your appointment and Hung up .. Few minutes later Dr. Berenter called me , telling me LIES , can you imagine, the Doctor himself will call Patients to yell at them defending his girl worker .. unheard of ... I felt like I called Crazy people .... Be ware of Crazy Experience ... just saying, no hard feelings ... Just fyi warning .. read more

Wow! I'm still in shock after being charged $400 ( cash payment) for having the corners trimmed of my one toe nail, nothing complicated. My apt was today Nov 15. 2021 at 2pm with Dr Chris Kreps. I feel like I was robbed. $400 to trim the corners of one toe nail?? This is pure insanity. Avoid this medical office at all cost. read more

Dr. Kreps was fantastic and helped me so much with my planters issue and I feel so much better now. Dr. Kreps was so friends and the office staff there was also great and friendly! I would recommend this facility, you won't be disappointed. read more

It's hard to believe I have come to trim my nail and they did but not my big toe that was the only reason I came here so they cut trim my big toe nail not to say the $235 I spend thinking this was the right place for such thing. read more

I was visiting Encinitas when I skimmed the bottom of my toe in an unfortunate beach running mishap. Urgent Care recommended I see a podiatrist ASAP--my family's go-to podiatrist was unavailable, but luckily Encinitas Podiatry Group/Synergy was able to squeeze me in the same day that I called. Unlike my urgent care nurse, Dr. Schmidthuber seemed unfazed by my injury and reassured me that it will indeed heal with time. He showed me how to clean/protect the wound from infection and use gauze to secure my toe in place so that it could heal and I could walk normally. My only regret was not being in Encinitas long enough for my 10 day follow up. My primary care doctor back home looked at the progress of my wound healing and remarked that I saw a good podiatrist. Thanks for your help! read more

Very disappointing. Came in with foot issue and was given the option to "try out" one of the inserts sold by this business. The doctor asked me my shoe size and provided the insert to try. After several days my feet were getting worse due to the insert. I brought it back for a refund where the nurse realized Dr. R. had given me the wrong size and the arch in the wrong place exasperated my condition. SoCal Footcare would not provide a refund. They told me my only option was to keep the $55 insert and then given them another $525 for a custom insert. So, you want me to fork over another $500+ for your mistake? Never was I told the insert was nonrefundable -- not by the doctor nor by the front desk help nor on the receipt. This office (which is filthy, by the way) is out to make money, not help people, in my opinion. Find another podiatrist. I wish I would have checked out the Yelp reviews before making my appointment here. read more

Socal Foot Care - Here is the guarantee that SoCal Foot Care refuses to honor. - Podiatrists Near Me - Encinitas, California

I have not been to this doctor but after reading through the reviews, I never will. His responses to negative reviews include details of his patients' medical treatment in his office, which is a HIPPA violation! I am here looking for an orthopedist but this clinic sure won't be treating me. read more

Worst customer service, Gloria, the office manager is just as bad as the front office staff. I had the displeasure of speaking with Alejandra at the XiMed location in La Jolla first and she was so rude. I need my records and prescription for custom made orthotics to be faxed to the VA Community Care, and it was like speaking with a puppy. Neither one of them had the willingness to help or the understanding of what they were supposed to do after my visit. Both staff just argued and wanted to be right. I am getting my records and going back to the VA or somewhere else. I rather walk in pain than to go back. read more

I had foot problem with itchy, red/blue and painful toes. Upon referral by my good Dr, I went to see specialist in this center. They were a typical patient grinding machine with only 5 minutes spent on me. I had to force the Dr to ask questions from me for a better treatment. The Dr was in a hurry to go to the next patient. I didn't see any "Synergy" to help solving my problem, I still suffer from the same ailment. read more

Dr Kreps and the staff at synergy orthopedics were great! The orthotics they fit me for really helped and I felt they really cared to find a good solution for me! read more

Dr.Kreps and his staff were fast & friendly . He was very patient and answered all of my questions. I highly recommend!

My husband was prescribed shoe inserts by Dr. Kreps on 02/25/2022. After receiving the shoe inserts, he was later told by one of the associates in your billing department that shoe inserts were not covered by insurance. Therefore, we were charged an out-of-pocket payment for the amount of $465.00. After discussing this with your billing department, we filed an appeal with our insurance (Anthem Blue Cross PPO) for reconsideration and re-approval. Our insurance company has since reviewed, approved my claim, and made a check payment for the amount of $526.17 to Synergy Orthopedic Specialists. This check was processed by your billing department on 10/04/2022. To our surprise, your billing department then made a re-adjustment on my husband's account and sent us another bill for an additional amount of $453.12. You cannot charge us this additional amount since the initial bill was only $465.00 and our insurance has ALREADY paid in excess of the initial bill. You are increasing the bill to $918 for shoe inserts! You return the insurance payment and we will pay the out of pocket bill. It is illegal to double bill! Please call us to discuss. read more

From top to bottom, this office is great :) The receptionist, THERESA is so on top of her game, that I can literally change/confirm an appt within a minute on the phone (Trust me, this has happened more than once). She's very bubbly, and that def resonates with the rest of the people in the office. SANDY was the person that tirelessly dealt with our insurance company to get the surgery approved within days. She also did an amazing job giving us the most thorough explanation of how the surgical process would work. Any admin problems that we had prior to the procedure, she was quick and eager to answer for us with a smile! Our family LOVES Dr. Berthelsen, also fondly known as Dr. B! He operated on my father's feet a bit over a month ago, and manages the wound on a weekly basis. Every time we come in, he provides fantastic patient care with ease, and he makes my father feel very comfortable throughout the process. My father's ankles look as good as new, and we could not be happier. He shows thorough knowledge in the field of podiatry, and he is a very well-researched physician. We were very lucky to have found him!! read more

If I just tell you that it cost 170.00 out of pocket for him to wrap my foot in tape (that will last 1-2 days) and tell me to rest, does that say enough? I mean come on! Oh, he did suggest I have some orthopedic shoes made that would cost a cool 580.00. I'm 30 not 80! I'm pregnant and my foot hurts, give me a remedy don't rip me off. Jeez! read more

Mr. Hatfield was my Dr. didn't really do much. tried to sell me some peice of styrofoam for 30 bucks. impressive CV but not impressive attention from the doc. read more

James Hatfield has two review sites, once is only two stars, please read all the review from different patients, you will for sure know you won't go to see this doctor. but another site, he has more 5 stars reviews than 2? does he has two account here, haha, no matter what, do not go this doctor, wasting money and time, and all he care is make no stop appointment with you, have you pay him forever but never has solution to fix your problem. skip him if you have foot problem... read more

Initially Dr Hatfield seemed good. But, in hindsight, he was focused on selling me orthotics that I couldn't afford. He didn't offer me any lower cost alternatives and didn't ask for a follow-up appointment. So, I ended up living with the pain for almost a year - unnecessarily. I then went to another podiatrist who sold me over-the-counter orthotics (for 10% of what Dr Hatfield wanted to charge me) and gave me a cortisone shot (followed by a booster shot a few weeks later). Now, after a year of agony, I am pain-free again - but no thanks to Dr Hatfield. Then there was the billing. I didn't have a copay with my insurance, so the office charged me for the visit. It turned out that they charged me about $50 more than what the insurance company allowed. I waited several months for them to refund the money, but they didn't. Then it then took two calls to their office to get them to refund the money. read more

I'd never been to a podiatrist before. I hurt my foot on Memorial Day (3 weeks ago) and it still hurts like a sonofa-. Made the appt., jumped through the appropriate insurance hoops, etc. etc. So, I'm thinking I either cracked one of those leetle tiny bones, or it's tendonitis (as in, something's inflammed), rest ibuprofen and all better. Met with Dr. Hatfield, told him the problems. First, he says it doesn't sound ligament related. Then he takes x-rays. Then he says it's the ligaments on the BOTTOM of my foot (not where there's pain) and it's chronic (which would explain why it's only been hurting since the incident 3 weeks ago - not) and the solution is for me to get custom orthotics - which he just happens to make in the office. Jump to the estimate. WITH my good insurance that will pay 100% of "reasonable and customary", I will still need to pay $300 out of pocket for these babies. And for the acute problem I came in for? He'd be happy to give me a cortisone shot (which would probably hurt more than my current pain level? No thanks). Location was convenient, the staff was nice and they weren't pushy. I'll give them that. read more

very disappointed...I came in as I was referred by my primary care doctor after having x-rays at UCSD....Dr. Hatfield had me have another set never letting me know ahead of time that he had no access to the other set even though he was on their referral list. Very strange duplication of services! I also bought some orthotics from him which turned out to be extremely uncomfortable and not helpful. His office staff is very nice but they informed me after asking him, I presume, that there was no refund policy. I felt this whole experience to be a waste of time and money. Two stars since the staff was pleasant. Wish I had read the reviews before going. An update: they sent me a refund for my orthotics and also asked if I wanted to try again (which I declined for now). So I'll upgrade the rating to three stars for making an effort to remedy my disappointment. read more