- Report: #624499
Complaint Review: Canyon View Denistry - Anaheim California
Reported By:
Danial -
Anaheim, California, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
Canyon View Denistry
5475 E. La Palma Ave. Suite 110 Anaheim, 92807 California, United States of America
Phone:
714-779-8100
Web:
www.canyonviewdentistry.com
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Canyon View Denistry Dr. Ken Whelan ; Dishonest practice;Fraudulent billing procedures Anaheim California
I was looking for a new dentist in Anaheim Hills, CA after my dentist closed her practice I had been a patient of for over 10 years. I recieved a very nice marketing flyer from Canyon View Dentistry owned by Dr. Ken Whelan. After going in for my first visit (complete paperwork, authorize transfer of patient files, x-ray etc..) and for my 6 month cleaning, I was told that I needed to have an existing bridge replaced. In addition I was told that an existing tooth exhibited a hairline fracture and that it could "break at anytime while I was eating". The total bill after my insurance payments (of between $1000-$1200 was over $2800. I asked if this work could be completed in stages but was told that I was putting myself at risk. To help me offset the costs it was suggested that I apply for the GE Care Credit card as they had a 12month interest free promotion. I applied in October 2009 with the ability to pay the balance interest free by October 2010. In February of 2010 (3 months after the service), my wife and I noticed that we were being billed by GE credit for interest. I reported to the doctors office and they insisted that this was a mistake by GE credit and that I should contact them. Obvouisly after contacting them GE credit stated that this needed to be corrected by the Dr. Whelans office. From January of 2010 to June 2010 I have contacted Dr. Whelan's office multiple times and have incurred over $800 in interest fees. Each time Dr. Whelan's staff informed me that they could NOT "get through" to GE credit to correct this billin error. In my last attempt I was told that they were unable to get through to GE and could not fix this error. Obviously frustrated I demanded to speak to Dr. Whelan (who operates and manages multiple offices and dentists). They refused to provide me with his contact info AND said that I was free to contact the Better Business Bureau, the dental board or "anybody". Basically I was told by the woman who manages AP/AR , Krislen (spelling?) "so what" if you complain.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Dr Agnew
Aliso viejo,California,
United States of America
Response
#2UPDATE Employee
Thu, May 31, 2012
The tooth in question did not have a simple one sided "hairline" fracture, it had a quite noticable crack that ran the entire length of the face, over the biting edge, and down the entire back side of the tooth. No one ever told this patient it could "break at any time while he was eating". There is no way of predicting when a fracture will occur if ever. The language I always use in a situation like this is that it could break tomorrow, next week, next year, or never....There is no way of knowing for sure. All I can say for sure is there is a definite crack.
No one ever said he "was putting himself at risk" by waiting. I stated that there is always some risk of fracture in a case like this..again..referring back to my previous statement. No one can predict for sure how long if ever this may take. I did however suggest that since the bridge on the adjacent teeth were being replaced that now might be a good time to consider fixing the tooth in question. That way all crowns would be made from the same batch of porcelain and that would ensure the shade would be an exact match. Since the teeth involved were in the upper front, this is very important. In addition, the patient would only have to go through the procedure one time. The patient agreed with this proposal after a lengthy discussion and all questions were answered.
As far as the financing error: Apparently GE improperly processed his no interest request and instead set him up with a standard interest account. Their agreement states that issues such as these need to be addressed within the first 90 days. Since somehow the patient did not notice he was being charged interest for 90 days (it was on every statement), GE absolutely refused to change the contract back to no interest. We literally spent several hours on the phone arguing with GE to no avail. We told the patient to call them and that perhaps he may have better luck dealing with them. We were probably even more frustrated with GE than he was since we give them so much business. They just stuck to their "rules". No one ever told the patient "we couldn't get through to GE".
In addition, the patient began yelling at our staff and threatening us with calls to the BBB etc. At no time did we state that "he was free to contact the Better Business Bureau, the dental board or "anybody"...we simply stated that we had done all we could to resolve the matter and that it was his right to complain to the mentioned entities if he chose to.
At some point, it is impossible to deal with an irate customer. Again this problem was an error on GE's part and the patients oversight for not noticing for over 3 months he was being billed interest.
