$150 for six minutes the orthodontist spent sitting in her chair, three of them adjusting my child's retainer. Replacing it, with moulds, would have cost $300. I am so livid I could eat nails. Did they tell me in advance what I could be looking at for cost? No. Do automotive mechanics, widely maligned, give an estimate before going ahead with work? Yes. Do automotive mechanics charge $50/minute to play with a plastic and wire apparatus? No.
This is worse than when my dentist charged me $77 to spend five minutes with him, in which I asked a question he could not answer. That's it: no investigation of the mouth, no rinse, fluoride, X-rays.
The three bright spots to my day: chocolates to end our gruelling Puzzled Pint night, crab pasta, and I did not spontaneously combust.
Update: The orthodontist called to apologize and reiterated I should not have been charged at ALL. I told her the assistant who attended her session with my son witnessed all the work and filled out the charge sheet, so without being told by any staff I had no idea this was a no-fee visit. I'd paid $3200 three years ago to cover work, and although they prepared me for the possibility of paying for a new mould and a new retainer, this was NOT what happened. But they billed me for that anyway.
At the end of the day when the orthodontist reviewed her appointments and charges, she saw the billing error. The financial coordinator e-mailed me about the apologies, but that does not excuse the fact that the cheque was deposited immediately upon payment and not at the end of the day, when the orthodontists have approved the charges for procedures performed that day.
Children + Orthodontics = $$$$$ + Tears
July 9th, 2013 at 11:19 pm
July 9th, 2013 at 11:28 pm 1373408893
I'd be livid, too, if I were you.
July 10th, 2013 at 02:01 am 1373418110
July 10th, 2013 at 06:14 am 1373433243
Should they ever call to apologize, I'll say "thank you. How did you want to pay for the $300 bill for consulting over-the-phone with Seattle Orthodontics Clients today? I take Visa, Bitcoin, MasterCard, PayPal and gold coins."
July 10th, 2013 at 04:00 pm 1373468424
July 10th, 2013 at 07:52 pm 1373482321
Since you've paid in advance 3 years ago, what all was included in that sum? Did the clerk know child's orthodontics had been prepaid? What did she say when you told her you'd pre paid for services?
July 10th, 2013 at 08:56 pm 1373486169
July 10th, 2013 at 10:08 pm 1373490499
I have since received an apology from the assistant at fault. I accepted it, but I still have a hard time understanding how someone would sit through five minutes of retainer adjustment and think $150, half the cost of a retainer replacement, was an appropriate amount to charge when no surgery, anesthesia, drugs, lab, moulds or any instrument requiring electricity for that matter were used at any time.
I've given this some thought and I believe that daily procedures for billing accounts contributed to the near-demolition of my trust. The orthodontist reviews the billings at the end of the day **after** charges had been collected and deposited, including Electronic Funds Transfer. I don't think it's right to charge people for things covered under their prepaid plan, get the EFT right away, and then mail a paper refund cheque because whoops! they prepaid.
July 10th, 2013 at 10:23 pm 1373491401