Complaint Review: Pacific Smiles Dental Corp - Beverly Hills California

This dental office ripped me off when I was most vulnerable. Because of my own stupid mistake, I hadn't been to a dentist in atleast 4yrs. So I was way over due for a check up and I had bleeding gums.

I picked this office because it was in the list of DMO offices my employer had in their plan. I also chose them because I wanted an office close to work so that I can visit them during my lunch break. So I went in Dec.06. First I got Xrays done, the usual then a check up. They told me my gums were in bad shape and if I didn't take care of the problem now I would lose all my teeth in 10yrs, I'm only 30. The dentist also said that I needed to have all 4 of my wisdom teeth pulled, even though they weren't bothering me. He said "it's better to just get them out now and get it over with". Sure, let me put myself through such an ordeal for something that is not and may never bother me in my life.

So of course after that I was shaken up and nervous and of course I wanted to be treated. Then the receptionist or head person or whatever of the phones printed out the "plan of action" list of what needed to be done. She never sat down with me and explained what each procedure was and how much it would cost me or if it was covered by my insurance. She just said it will cost $4290 for everything!!! I was like, "what??".

But of course she would say, "it's up to you if you want to get it done but these are the consequences if you don't". She had shown me pages of photos taken from patience that had the similar condition from start to finish when they had lost their teeth. Nice scare tactic for me to pay up. I told her I couldn't afford that. She said she would help me open a CareCredit account. For those that don't know, that is a credit card soley to use to pay for medical treatments. So I was scared into it and applied for the card and was approved for, what a coincedence, $4300.

The assistant also told me that they were going to "give me" a mechanical tooth brush and some flouride rinse to use at home. They asked me if I wanted them to start treatment that day, so of course being shaken up about the fear of losing my teeth I said "yes". So they clean my bottom teeth. They told me that for that day they were going to need $650, so I told them to charge it to the Care Credit because I don't have that kind of money on me. So after that I went home, feeling not very good about the whole ordeal, feeling uneasy.

I showed the list to my girlfriend, and she apparently is smarter than me because she noticed that they were charging a huge amount of the $4290 for pulling my wisdom teeth, that weren't bothering me. Oh, and they had charged me $180 for the mechanical toothbrush they were "giving me" and $40 for the flouride rinse they also were "giving me".

The next day at work, I called my dental insurance company and spoke with them about it. The rep that helped me got pretty upset, she said they should have discussed everything in detail with me instead of just throwing a list at me. She then got upset even more when I told her they had me open a Care Credit account, she asked, "did they charge the entire $4290 to the card?!" and told her, "I'm not sure, I told them to charge the $650 they wanted that day". She told me to go back and ask them. So I did, and yes indeed, they had charged $4290 for procedures they had not even done yet!!!!

I got upset at that moment and demanded they refund the entire amount except $650 which I had no choice in paying since they did complete those procedures.

I had them give to me in writing that I was not owing that large amount. I couldn't believe they had charged the entire $4290 before completely everything first.

Needless to say I told them I was not returning and demanded my Xrays back since my insurance paid them for those. I'm now looking for a new dentist, hopefully an honest one. I just hope people read this and stay clear from them. They are con artists!!

George

Carson, California
U.S.A.