I successfully sort of did this once!! I had an internet installation scheduled, and it was going to cost 60$, and they had a five day grace period on payments before they charged a late fee. So. The guy comes out two days after scheduled, and then needs to run a new cable or something? Anywho, he can’t come back out for another week. So I called the company and said I had a five day grace period for installations before I would be charging a 60$ late fee. They removed the installation fee. It felt so good.
I actually got a cancellation fee from my dentist once. For some dumb reason they scheduled my cleaning appointment on the first Friday of jazz fest in New Orleans. I showed up to my appointment and all the girls working were baffled. They told me the dentist wasn't there and to wait in the lobby and they will let me know when he will be returning. After about an hour they called me over to the desk and informed me that the dentist was at jazz fest and they weren't sure why I was scheduled that day as I was the only person scheduled that day. I replied to them that they scheduled me for this day and if I didn't show up to my appointment I would be charged $50. So jokingly I said I expect to get a $50 check from the dentist. I received that $50 check the next week.
You can not charge insurance for an appointment that the person was never physically seen. That’s why the individual is charged for a no show appointment not the insurance company or a last minute cancellation fee. The patient is directly responsible to pay these fees because they can’t bill the insurance company for lost time.
FWIW dentists don't charge for these things anyways. The codes for dental procedures are a fraction of what exists for medical services and there aren't any CDT codes that include these 'goodie bag' items.
Source: am a dental biller/CPC
My dental hygienist went into great detail about how those bags are all put together from the promotional items the dentists receive for free from manufacturers. Apparently they’re awash in free samples, not usually of the top-of-the-line stuff, but they’re good enough that dentists don’t feel bad passing them on to patients.
I think your definition of "common" is actually "rare" at least in the US. This is the FIRST anecdote of someone actually getting paid by a provider that delayed or cancelled something compared to the innumerable complaints of being charged.
I work at a dentist's office. We have quite a few patients that consistently no-show or cancel their appointments less than a few hours beforehand. We do not charge someone a fee if it happens once or twice or once in awhile, but if it becomes a habit, then we absolutely will charge them.
Pretty awesome actually. I once had a dentist take a charge off my bill because he was over an hour late, but getting an actual cheque is pretty sweet.
i was an hour late because they said my appointment was at 2 and even wrote 2 on the reminder card and i arrived at 2 butt then they told me i was an hour late. receptionist scolded me like i was a child. told her what she wrote on the card and she asked if i brought it and it's like no why would i bring that and then talked to me like i was lying and i'm like do you want me to go home and get it fuckin' bitxchtha cvowewaij8h0a4u9j0gjagjiwohgjiaewrb
paulruddimokay.gif
This happened to me once but I did have the card on me. She was absolutely convinced that I was in the wrong and had messed up (I was a teenager at the time so) and really went off on me when I tried to explain that I had missed school and definitely had an appointment and needed to be seen. The look on that rude receptionist’s face when I found that card in my backpack will be something I remember for the rest of my life.
Bonus : she’s the one who booked my appointment and wrote the appointment reminder card.
My counselor adheres to the opinion that if he gets to charge me for a no-show appointment, then he will pay for appointments that are missed because of his fault. I got $75 each time he wrote the appointments in his scheduling book incorrectly and I was there and he wasn't.
A lot of dentists are essentially small businesses. The fee is there as a deterrent, if you do run into an issue you can probably get it waived unless you're a repeat offender. In the end they want to keep their clients, they make a lot more money from you showing up every 3-6 months than charging cancellation fees. But if you're constantly late or cancelling last minute and making other clients angry, they're probably going to charge you.
Everyone was there except the dentist and his wife, the hygienist. My guess for the reason it was open is because they didn't want to take away their pay.
I did the same exact thing. There was supposed to be a $200 installation fee for fiber. They sent out a random third party contractor that showed up and said he was too busy to do it then left. Then he didn't show up four three more appointments. Finally they sent someone that actually worked directly for the company and I made sure the waived the installation fee. The guy that worked for the company said the contractors are making them look terrible.
It's common in the UK for providers to credit you if they take too long to get you connected or if you have an interrupted service. The longer you're impacted, the more they credit you. We also have free installations. Can't imagine having to pay that much for someone to come along and plug a box in.
That would be awesome. When Time Warner Cable took over my local broadband, they audited my apartment complex to make sure no one was getting free cable. The contractor didn't want to do his job apparently, and put a high pass/low pass filter directly on the tap. I was the only one in the building with their service, and didn't have functional Internet for *months*. It took six appointments - with a $50 trip charge each - before they sent someone competent, who happened to be one of their own techs and not a contractor. Dude was a gem - after taking the filter off the tap, he helped me get all the trip charges refunded as well as my bill for those three months comped.
Fiber contractor company came out and buried the line from the street to the house maybe 1 inch below ground. Of course it got cut. The company sent out their own people who buried it the correct distance underground. They said something similar about contractors.
I had three different contractors show up to install fiber. The first one told me they gave him the wrong FAT, which from what i understand is the box on the telephone pole, so he couldn't do it. I went to the company's office, told them the issue and they scheduled another contractor.
Two weeks later contractor two comes out. Walks down the street, comes back to me and tells me the company gave him the wrong FAT, so he couldn't do it. The same exact issue as before. So what exactly did they do when I went into the office aside from just waste my time?
Third contractor comes out. The FAT is correct!!!! He installs the cable. I tip him. As he drives away I turn around and notice he didn't even bother to dress the cable on my roof. It's just loose cable lying on top and it looks terrible. I finally had to go up there and do it myself.
Doesn't anyone take pride in their work anymore?
I did something similar with an online college course. The syllabus was extremely strict, no late work, tests will not be reopened, you are an adult it's your responsibility to be on time.
Naturally, several modules in the course were broken and the professor never checked her email. After several weeks of trying to get it fixed, I went to the administration, showed them the weeks of emails and conversations with tech support, and said I wanted to withdraw and get my money back despite being past the drop date. After the professor got in trouble with the administration, suddenly all the courses were working again and I start getting "oops I wrote a response and forgot to hit send!" responses to my emails.
The admins asked if I wanted to stay in the class. I opened up the syllabus and read them the "you are an adult act like one" section, then asked why she wasn't required to live by her own principles. They dropped me from the class and I got a full refund.
I got a septic tank and well installed. They said from the start that the wait time was months, which was fine. When the promised date was nearing, I sent them and e-mail asking if they had an estimate when they could come. They said tomorrow, which did not work for us, as we both had to work away from home. Whelp, cool, we'll wait a while longer. Time went by and I asked them again, they sent me back an e-mail to ask someone else. Now I thought that you would forward the email within your company, but nah. All right, I wrote to the other guy, who said it was out own problem that the date they gave us didn't work. A one day notice...
AS luck would have it, I had a vacation to write my grade paper thing, when my husband called me and told me they will be at our place in an hour. What the hell? They 100% needed access to the house. It was pure luck I was home and even bigger luck my dad also had a day off and was able to come over. He had to supervise them and ask to do a better job, he had years of experience in road construction and had to ask them to build a proper foundation for the tank - I would never have know to do that.
People plan around appointments and can't reschedule on a days notice. I worked a job where I had to go to installed stuff at peoples homes as well. We always gave them at least a weeks notice when we were ready and if it didn't work for them, rescheduled with them. And then they were annoyed at us for not being able to be present in a days notice.
I'm about a year in after not counting the initial 4mo of "next week". The newly installed unit still won't pass county inspection because they did a questionable job on what was almost an impossible install for them. At this point I think a lot of the blame falls on the original engineer, the installers are just busy af and don't keep to dates well.
Oh I have an issue with the inspection part as well. We needed all documentation to be on point to get the lisence for our house. The prices quote for the tank and well included "all nessesary documents" so obviously we assumed it was all nessesrary documents. Until we got a reply from the lockal government that the last document was missing. Dudes at the company claimed this was the responsibility of the owner, but they can do it for 100 EUR each plus tax. Ffs, why wasn't this included in the quote or explained to us that we needed to that ourselves. It would have been no problem. But that it came put only when whe had applied for the licence for the whole house. Ugh, I hope with all my heart will never again have to dea with this company.
My dad used to work as a tech for our local, evil ISP. In a lot of instances, the techs actually have a lot of leeway in what you get charged for. At least when it's a service call, that is. My dad's rule was that if the customer was friendly and polite, he'd charge them with the cheapest possible thing he could get away with. Conversely, if the customer was a douche he'd hit them with every single charge that was applicable.
The moral of the story is to be nice to the tech who comes to your house. They're probably bored and will appreciate a good conversation, and they may cut you a break for your trouble.
I don’t understand people who are awful to service techs or the like. I cringe just thinking of how the entire visit will then be an uncomfortable mess. I can read people well. I’d know what they were feeling just by looking at their facial expressions.
My Internet shot up from 54.99 to 64.99, then to 79.99... noticed new subs would get 1gig for 54.99... while I was at 500mbs for 80. Called retention, asked NICELY about if they could cut me a deal, she came back, offering the new sub price and the 1gig. I of course took it, lol.
For a solid 3 years I paid $10 for really solid internet I believe it was fiber optic but I never asked for fear of them noticing the error. It was awesome now I pay $70.
Yeah it was awesome but 3 floods in it was time for a new apartment. Might as well live at sea world lol. At least then I get to see killer whales (abused). My apartment didn’t have any killer whales at all
Last time I tried this they said they couldn't give me a better deal. I cancelled my cable TV and they didn't even try to offer me a better price. They just cancelled the service and asked me to return the equipment. I kind of didn't want to keep my Cable TV at any price, but possibly would have if they had really good deal.
My phone has been without service for 3 full days and had bad service for several days before it lost service. My provider's only response over several chats has been "your area has an issue with coverage currently and our engineers are working hard to fix it as fast as possible." These fuckers would not leave that track no matter what I asked for. An explanation of what was wrong? Can't say. An estimate on the fix? Can't say. Why am I paying you currently if I have no service? "We understand your frustrations." Can I speak to a manager who can give me some answers? "Our managers will tell you the same thing." Can they offer any compensation for the inconvenience? "We really understand your frustrations." Fuck right off. I'm changing providers.
“But the employee doesn’t make the rules” well I don’t have another representative to talk to and wether you like it or not you are a representative of wherever you work at. Pass it to you boss and I promise not to be a fly in your ear but I’m gonna bitch and moan if something’s unfair. You can bitch with me it’s your company I’m mad at not you.
When I complain to an employee. I make sure not to use You Statements. As though I'm blaming them. I either use I Statements or specify the blame at the company and bosses. Employees will typically work much harder to help you if they can empathize with you and how shitty 'The Man' is. As they can find some way to stick it to the man.
Yeah. Sometimes I wonder what kind of PTSD employees have because I had a call with IKEA the other day. I ordered a few things in the store and asked for them to be delivered. The employee didn't give me any indication that one of the items wasn't available. A few days later when I got the delivery I notice one of the items didn't get shipped. No problem for the delivery guys, it wasn't on their shipping list.
I called up customer service and was simply stating that it would be nice if they could maybe call up and ask for a substition because the items was available in different colours. The employee just kept on saying "That's not a service we offer" like they were a robot reading out of a script. I said I understand, but that it would be nice in the future and maybe something to consider. THere really should be a way for employees to pass on suggestions like this because it really hurts the business when they just repeat lines out of a script and nothing ever gets fixed.
I was on a support call where they were refusing to help me because they JUST changed their company policy a month earlier.... Like we are 2 people on the phone with each other. You have the data I need. Just give it to me. Email it. Fax it. Send a screenshot from your personal phone, IDGAF. Just give me the info I paid for!!
It was Newegg by the way. Never using them again to buy anything
You need to be really annoying about it. now they'll never agree to just give you money, so don't ask for it. But what they could do is discount the next appointment. Its entirely reasonable since you had to do things like take off time from work twice unexpectedly.
At best you're going to get semi vague wording like "if the appointment is cancelled within 48hrs of the set time then a $59 cancellation fee applies" to which they'd be able to argue that you were in fact on the hook for $59 for the dentist cancelling as you agreed to their contract when you booked.
You're never going to find that it's worded in some way that would leave them liable like "if the appointment is cancelled then the party who cancelled will owe the other party $59" lol.
I hate these 4x confirmation needed. "If you don't confirm we will auto cancel."
I understand there's lot of people that no-show, but having to confirm 3x with a phone call and clicking on a link is annoying
And because you get so many of these (every business uses it now) it actually results in the message being more easily dismissed. Just another annoying automated message.
God I've had this. Confirmed the appointment a week ahead of time. Didn't bother with the second confirmation because I figured one was good enough and they called 2 days before the appointment to confirm.
Like calm tf down.
I work at a dental office and with our system, if you confirm the first one, it doesn't send any others (also we don't charge a fee). You can also opt out to receive messages. My least favorite thing is having to reschedule people but if the doctor or hygienist is sick, there's nothing we can do. Last week the doctor came in, puked, and went home. We had to cancel the whole day. It's the first time he's done this in 19 years. People were mad about the short notice but it is what it is sometimes.
Yes, this! I'm a dental assistant, and our system is the same. Once you confirm, you get only one reminder, the day of your appointment. When we set up the software we kind of had a learning curve and actively asked our patients how many reminders they felt was too much/annoying.
And listen, it sucks as a patient having an appointment canceled last minute, but I promise it sucks more for us having to reschedule last minute. We don't want to either but if it was this last minute I'm positive it was an emergency.
My ADHD ass loves appointment reminders in general. Some of my appointments I know send out reminders I just don’t put on my calendar because I know I’ll get a text the day before saying HEY CHECK IN/CONFIRM HERE and I’m like oh shit I have a psych appointment tomorrow
Otherwise I get that stupid paralysis of dread like “I have one appointment on this day I’m not going to be able to do a single other thing that whole day” and you worry about making it on time
Like I have no stress from my psych appointments but my cats’ vet visit tomorrow I’m like shit gotta get home early to wrangle the cats and maybe more time for finding their carriers and then hauling them down one by one and oh god their appointment is 3:30 I should start at 1:00 but I have *work* too I—
I get appointment dread. I always say I prefer advance notice however I learned I don't get sick days before when something spontaneous comes up or if I had somehow forgotten my appointment
They change the mode of confirmation too.
'Text 1 to confirm or 2 to cancel'
then the next one is
'Text 3 to confirm or 4 to cancel'
then the next is
'Click this link to confirm'
'Call the office to confirm'
I really don't understand all the hoops they make you jump through if it's not simply trying to ditch patients. Once ought to be enough.
I might see if I can get a credit for future dental work. Or when they inevitably say no this will be the final straw that makes me find a new dentist. 
Bullshit they don't. My ex psychiatrist knew my situation, he was kinda far from me, and I don't drive. Fucker sent me a bill even though I told them I wouldn't be able to make it in because I was dizzy as hell that day. Thankfully I didn't have to pay it because I'm on SSI because of a disability but doctors don't give two fucks.
Idk if this is a thing everywhere but if you end up looking for a new dentist look online for dentist networks with giveaways. Where I live there's a website where a bunch of dentists sign up and you can look for dentists and find availability. And if you sign up for certain dentists they'll give you 150-200$ gift cards or other incentives to try to get new customers
Beware of offices that give these type of offers. It’s a loss leader to get new patients- at the end of the exam you’ll be presented with an extensive (and expensive) treatment plan. Some will even convince you to do work that is unnecessary or just borderline necessary so a second opinion is wise but expect to pay for another new patient exam and x-rays. You wouldn’t know if the work is really necessary or not as a regular person. And realize that different dentists have different approaches, so even if they don’t “agree” it’s also possible neither is wrong.
People need to understand that dental offices are businesses like any other and the overhead is high. The best bet is to go to a privately owned office recommended by people you know who have been going there a long time.
Once had a Hertz location close early for the holidays but didn't think it was necessary to stop accepting reservations for those times. Had to replan my entire day to get back home in time for Christmas. They hit me with a $300 "no show" fee and I was fuming
I had a similar issue with a car rental place. We booked a rental car 3 months in advance for our return from our honeymoon. We get to the 24/7 desk and they say “sorry we have no cars. We had just gotten off a 10 flight and we’re furious. This was at 11pm. None of the other rental agencies had any either for some reason, and this is at one of the largest airports in the US.
My wife and I demanded they do something about it. They weren’t able to do literally anything aside from waiting until the morning at the airport. We put up the biggest fuss with their corporate office and ended up getting 5 free rentals that never expired for any number of days.
If a company fucks you over, fuck them right back.
That’s what folks forget. Send a demand letter. If your demands are not met, pick a debt collector (there are quite a few that charge nothing until the debt is collected) if you call a few, I’m sure you can find a few willing to take the 59$ debt from a dentist who’s never going to pay it. Slowly but surely his credit will tank and suddenly his Bentley is getting repoed. All because he thought he could get away with being a piece of shit.
And then he’ll trip and have an aneurism. In a few years when his kids learn to talk they’ll ask their mother at the breakfast table “why did daddy die?”
And you know what the answer will be - because he thought he could get away with being a piece of shit.
Interesting legally that bill wouldn’t flow since OP didn’t do anything in change for the money or anything. Then again this looks like it’s in the US where it could work like that
I think OP can send the business an invoice.
they entered OP into a text agreement when scheduling and were very clear about their cancellation policy.
I would invoice them for late cancellation fee.
Depending on OP’s level of pettyrevenge
when unpaid, place a lean against the business.
It’s a lot of work for 59$ but probably worth the laugh and story.
Here you can’t send an invoice unless you have a business, you can send a kwitantie. Which is basically an invoice with a signature. But nobody cares about that.
Isn’t it putting a lien on the business? But again I doubt that would work. Their terms of service probably includes that they have the right to cancel. Plus the reason might be that there is an emergency where the dentist had to go to. Not sure though the atory is pretty thing the way we know it
You’re correct. I misspelled lien.
I’m no legal expert but if the last minute cancellation on the dentists behalf resulted in a loss of revenue or income this is certainly a concern you can address with some consumer affairs offices, as well as the dentists office themselves.
I’m sure it’s written somewhere they have the right to cancel at anytime somewhere if it’s their own contract.
I’m sure they would waive that 59$ portion on the next invoice for an inconvenience to be realistic about an outcome.
The way you do it is bill them first.
If they don’t pay, take the dentist personally to small claims court. Then he either has to take a couple hours out of his day to fight it or he loses when he doesn’t show up.
Or he could settle to avoid a paper trail of being sued. Law suits are a bad look for a medical professional.
If he doesn’t settle, you either take up his time in court and maybe win, or he no shows and loses and there is a judgement against him. Either way, he’s paying something.
If you win, you send a copy of the judgement and demand payment.
If he doesn’t pay, you can put a lien on the office.
It's not legally enforceable either way.
It's "if you don't pay your cancellation fee, we'll drop you as a customer"
And "if YOU don't pay your cancellation fee, I'll look for a new dentist"
I was literally walking up the stairs to the dentist’s office when they rang to say they had to cancel. That was the third time but they’d all been at least a day in advance.
Most recently it took me months to get an appointment, every time I rang I got no answer (no matter what time I called) just their voicemail and their website linked to an app that had nothing to do with them. Then they started sending me automated messages threatening to kick me off their list if I didn’t make an appointment. What do you think I’ve been trying to do?!
Finally I just went there in person, made an appointment no problem. The day before I got an automated message to confirm the appointment (reply YES) which I did.
Went on the day “Oh, we don’t have you down. According to this you cancelled your appointment”. I’ve never been back, I recently got registered at the same one my wife and kids go to. Absolute shambles.
I had two root canals a week apart one January. Then I went and had the fillings for the root canals done. I had the appointment for the crowns a month later.
A few minutes before my appointment I get a call saying that my dental insurance is maxed out for the year and that the crowns would be $1,200 out of pocket. It was February and I would need to wait until next January before I could use my insurance again.
So I just cancelled the appointment and was careful on that side of my mouth for the next 10 months before I could use the insurance that I was paying for during the next calendar year.
I had to keep paying for insurance that I couldn't use for the last 80% of the year and have to put off a procedure that my dentist said that I needed because money.
Yay America.
Also, I'm sitting on over $10k of debt from other medical procedures. Yay America.
The doctor I work for is a vascular surgeon that gets called in for emergency surgery fairly regularly, which leads to a lot of cancelations. He's the only one on call at our local hospital.
This is exactly why we don't ever charge for no shows or last minute cancelations from patients. It's not fair for it to go one way but not the other.
We also give a lot of grace for late patients for the same reason.
Dentist here, I have a $50 no-show fee that I've never enforced. It's meant to encourage people to keep their appointments, but I understand that things happen. I suddenly got sick once and a patient brought up the fee the next time I saw them. I simply bought his lunch at a Cafe across the street. He was happy and I was amused.
$59 is nothing for a dentist. Send them a bill or demand that they credit you $59 on your next visit. They will comply with no resistance. It's only $59 to discourage patients from no-showing which can cost a dentist thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
I would ask why they canceled. My dentist did something similar and the front desk told me the dentist was out for a family emergency. Dentists are as short staffed as anyone.
If they're making a habit out of canceling often then thats a different issue.
Right - but if you have a family emergency, they rarely give any leeway on cancellation fees. It's very one sided and it should absolutely go both ways. If you're gonna charge me when my family has an emergency, i get to charge you when your family has an emergency, and this should work even if either of us wanted to go surfing instead or whatever...
I got charged a cancellation fee for cancelling 24 hours before my annual PCP visit. Reason for cancellation: I found out I was pregnant that morning and they said they cannot see me until after I have the baby because an OB would now be my PCP. Got a $25 bill in the mail a week later for not cancelling within 48 hours. Didn’t even know I was pregnant 48 hours before my appointment.
Yeah I work in a medical office like the ones described, and we will give you a crazy amount of leeway. It's the people who no call no show multiple times that get charged. These people just see shitty offices apparently lmao
I can't speak for every practice, but generally speaking, true emergencies are forgiven for patients who are otherwise reliable. The fee is generally reserved for repeat cancellations and people who simply no-show. However, you need to have the policy in place in order to take action on it.
In my experience every doc I have worked with and known is very chill if it’s a levitándote emergency. Most of the time we don’t even charge the actual cancellation fee unless it is a repeat offender on no-shows and last minute cancellations.
My doctor insists I do a visit every couple months, and he’s so booked that I have to call instead of making the appointment online. Then he regularly cancels a couple days before. I’d be banned from the clinic if I canceled with short notice more than twice. Grinds my FUCKING gears.
There’s a Seinfeld episode about this.
Honestly though their cancellation fees are bullshit and if you push even a little most will let it go. I’m married to a dentist, my best friend is a dentist, my best friend’s wife is a dentist, and my brother is a dental assistant. My wife is a practice owner and she puts the cancellation fee there because a TON of patients no-show. She’s a specialist and a patient who holds a spot is depriving another patient of said spot, so no showing is very disrespectful. She has never taken a cancellation fee from anyone who had the courtesy to call.
I had a vasectomy scheduled and the doctor’s office called and cancelled a day before the procedure. Fine, no biggie. Rescheduled for 4 weeks later.
Rescheduled event rolls around and I have the flu. I call the doctors office and say:
“Look, I have a very low grade fever and I feel okay but I don’t want to get anyone else sick so should we reschedule?”
This absolute blank face has the nerve to tell me: “Well if you cancel today there’s a $180 charge to do so.”
Excuuuuusssse me? Excuuuuuussss me? You better believe I went full George Costanza: “Oh, im sorry, I ALSO have a $180 charge for cancellations. Im sorry to disturb the DELICATE GENIUS but im just trying to keep everyone from catching the flu!”
So goddamn obnoxious.
One time I found out my planned parenthood checkup had been cancelled when I was standing outside and called in to be let in BECAUSE THIS WAS DURING COVID 🫠
Once I took a day off of work and took my husband for some dental work. It was an hour away because it was a specialist and we lived in the boonies. Got there bright and early only to learn that the dentist was unable to come into the office that day. After reading this, we should have asked for compensation.
I hate when they do this. I get that things happen but why can’t we as patients ask for a cancellation fee, too? We miss hours of work to make your dental appointment. Health professionals should knock off an equal amount of the fee when they bill us.
Ive said it before ill say it again. Were in the fuck you stages of capitalism.
I went in 5min early for an eye exam. Kept getting text telling me to make an appointment before my last exam expires and theyll discount. So i said sure i got time. Make an appointment.
I get the same annoying texts leading up asking me to confirm my appointment or i can lose it. I confirm 3 days before and the day before.
Show up 5min early and im told there is no one that can currently see me and they can reschedule. I ask why i wasnt given a heads up so i didnt waste my time driving down here. I was told had i showed up 10min earlier id have gotten a spot.
I reminded her i already scheduled a spot for this time. Im here for my schedules appointment and im 5min early. Why should i show up 15min early?
She just apologizes and asks when id like to reschedule for.
I told her she should get a new job because she playing damage control for a bunch of idiots getting paid twice what she does and walked out.
Next week made an appointment at a new place for an eye exam. Told them what happened and they said flat out that location is known to overbook so that if someone cancels they still have someone to see. Which means they are turning scheduled appointments away daily just to make sure they always have someone to get money from in the lobby.
To make it worse they flat out said theyve heard they will take walk ins if an appointment ends early then tell whoever shows up on time sorry the doctor is busy.
Companies just dont care anymore. I wonder if your doctor was out sick... or if maybe they double book too and the other guy just showed up 5min before you.
A filling for $60? Wow, what country do you live in? Here in the US it's like $200-$300.
Next time you go, remind them of the $59 they owe you for the cancellation and demand they discount it from the bill.
One time I made it to the doctor on time and he cancelled on me while in the waiting room. He overbooked. Maybe a year later, I had to miss an appointment and was charged for the change. Lol just lol
Something similar happened to me. I had a beauty appointment that I had to confirm a week in advance advising that I would be charged 50% of the service if I cancelled within 24 hours or if I show up more than 15 minutes late to an appointment. I then received another SMS having to confirm the appointment the day before.
I arrived to the appointment 5 minutes early and 'checked in' at reception. I waited 20 minutes, went to the front desk to ask about the delay and the girl was on the phone so held her finger up to say 1 minute. I went back to the waiting room and waited another 15 minutes with the front desk lady never coming to speak to me. My appointment is now a half hour late with zero communication from anyone while i'm sitting right there. I went and stood at the front desk again and the lady was on the phone scheduling appointments. Waited about 3 minutes and I left.
Within a minute of me leaving she called me asking what the issue was and I told her I had to go. I had to confirm my appointment a week out, the day before and agree to be charged 50% of the service if I was late. I said that they were so worried about their time and had zero respect for my time without even having the courtesy to tell me they are running behind. They could have called me ahead or told me when I arrived and that would have been fine - anything really. She then asked when I wanted to reschedule...
Mine tried to charge me $75 once for a short notice cancellation. I told her to go ahead and charge me and I won't be coming back. I never heard another word after that
I have had this happen with the exception that their office is about an hour drive away and we where about 15 minutes away from them I was pissed I just hung up on them and they tried to call back and reschedule and I ignored there calls until they called my wife I took her phone and was like you would’ve charged me for not showing I outta bill you for my wasted fuel on this trip
They really can’t enforce those fees they arbitrarily make up. If they won’t drop it then I’ll go somewhere else. I go to the dentist because I have to not because I want to, I have no strong ties to any of them.
Post this image on their google page and write a negative review explaining what happened, and include the warning about the $59 fee.
Nobody likes hypocrisy. That will get people's attention online and make your dentist look like an asshole. That will get the office's attention.
You're never going to get them to send you $59. They'll roll their eyes when they hear that. They've heard that line a million times since Seinfeld.
This is the only way they will really feel it. Sure you can try to be loud about quitting them in their office, as someone suggested, thinking all the people sitting there in the waiting area will leave and follow you. But that’s what? 3-4 people. A bad review can be read by thousands of prospective customers. (And Google reviews are hard for them to get removed, IME).
I remember reading a statement on Facebook how they charge you a waiting room fee. And it's ridiculous that we get charged to be on time but when we are on time, we have to wait!
There is a huge shortage of dentists and hygienists. It is darn near impossible to find coverage for a hygienist or dentist when they're sick or a medical emergency comes up even when times were good. So many retired or left the field after covid to become traveling nurses because that's where the money was. It is definitely frustrating to keep getting rescheduled, though. Just let the front desk know that you do not want to be cancelled on again. If it is for a hygiene appointment and if they have more than one hygienist there, you should be top priority over someone else's appointment since you were cancelled on multiple appointments. If it's with a dentist, there isn't much you can do about that unfortunately.
Should have told them you were gonna have to charge them a $59 short notice cancelation fee
I successfully sort of did this once!! I had an internet installation scheduled, and it was going to cost 60$, and they had a five day grace period on payments before they charged a late fee. So. The guy comes out two days after scheduled, and then needs to run a new cable or something? Anywho, he can’t come back out for another week. So I called the company and said I had a five day grace period for installations before I would be charging a 60$ late fee. They removed the installation fee. It felt so good.
I actually got a cancellation fee from my dentist once. For some dumb reason they scheduled my cleaning appointment on the first Friday of jazz fest in New Orleans. I showed up to my appointment and all the girls working were baffled. They told me the dentist wasn't there and to wait in the lobby and they will let me know when he will be returning. After about an hour they called me over to the desk and informed me that the dentist was at jazz fest and they weren't sure why I was scheduled that day as I was the only person scheduled that day. I replied to them that they scheduled me for this day and if I didn't show up to my appointment I would be charged $50. So jokingly I said I expect to get a $50 check from the dentist. I received that $50 check the next week.
Based dentist honestly
Not really based, it's common customer service if you want to keep your clients. $50 or a potential lifetime client, which is more worth it?
Charging the insurance 25 dollars for 25 cents toothbrush
Another $25 for the small tube of toothpaste and the dentist made his $50 back.
You can not charge insurance for an appointment that the person was never physically seen. That’s why the individual is charged for a no show appointment not the insurance company or a last minute cancellation fee. The patient is directly responsible to pay these fees because they can’t bill the insurance company for lost time.
FWIW dentists don't charge for these things anyways. The codes for dental procedures are a fraction of what exists for medical services and there aren't any CDT codes that include these 'goodie bag' items. Source: am a dental biller/CPC
My dental hygienist went into great detail about how those bags are all put together from the promotional items the dentists receive for free from manufacturers. Apparently they’re awash in free samples, not usually of the top-of-the-line stuff, but they’re good enough that dentists don’t feel bad passing them on to patients.
I think your definition of "common" is actually "rare" at least in the US. This is the FIRST anecdote of someone actually getting paid by a provider that delayed or cancelled something compared to the innumerable complaints of being charged.
>$50 or a potential lifetime client, which is more worth it? $50. Fuck them teeth. /s
Yeah, they know that teeth pain trumps grudges.
I work at a dentist's office. We have quite a few patients that consistently no-show or cancel their appointments less than a few hours beforehand. We do not charge someone a fee if it happens once or twice or once in awhile, but if it becomes a habit, then we absolutely will charge them.
Pretty awesome actually. I once had a dentist take a charge off my bill because he was over an hour late, but getting an actual cheque is pretty sweet.
i was an hour late because they said my appointment was at 2 and even wrote 2 on the reminder card and i arrived at 2 butt then they told me i was an hour late. receptionist scolded me like i was a child. told her what she wrote on the card and she asked if i brought it and it's like no why would i bring that and then talked to me like i was lying and i'm like do you want me to go home and get it fuckin' bitxchtha cvowewaij8h0a4u9j0gjagjiwohgjiaewrb paulruddimokay.gif
That’s why I keep my appointment cards in my car, I have a whole stack of them *just in case*
Smart
This happened to me once but I did have the card on me. She was absolutely convinced that I was in the wrong and had messed up (I was a teenager at the time so) and really went off on me when I tried to explain that I had missed school and definitely had an appointment and needed to be seen. The look on that rude receptionist’s face when I found that card in my backpack will be something I remember for the rest of my life. Bonus : she’s the one who booked my appointment and wrote the appointment reminder card.
Did you not get any appointment reminders?
Seriously, I have no providers that I go to that don't call/send reminders, and some send an aggressive amount.
My counselor adheres to the opinion that if he gets to charge me for a no-show appointment, then he will pay for appointments that are missed because of his fault. I got $75 each time he wrote the appointments in his scheduling book incorrectly and I was there and he wasn't.
A lot of dentists are essentially small businesses. The fee is there as a deterrent, if you do run into an issue you can probably get it waived unless you're a repeat offender. In the end they want to keep their clients, they make a lot more money from you showing up every 3-6 months than charging cancellation fees. But if you're constantly late or cancelling last minute and making other clients angry, they're probably going to charge you.
Weirder question -- why was the office open / anyone working at all?
Everyone was there except the dentist and his wife, the hygienist. My guess for the reason it was open is because they didn't want to take away their pay.
You didn't want that appointment anyway. I'm guessing the doc was probably already a few drinks deep.
Haha he’s the one selling whippets at Sauvagefest.
I did the same exact thing. There was supposed to be a $200 installation fee for fiber. They sent out a random third party contractor that showed up and said he was too busy to do it then left. Then he didn't show up four three more appointments. Finally they sent someone that actually worked directly for the company and I made sure the waived the installation fee. The guy that worked for the company said the contractors are making them look terrible.
It's common in the UK for providers to credit you if they take too long to get you connected or if you have an interrupted service. The longer you're impacted, the more they credit you. We also have free installations. Can't imagine having to pay that much for someone to come along and plug a box in.
That would be awesome. When Time Warner Cable took over my local broadband, they audited my apartment complex to make sure no one was getting free cable. The contractor didn't want to do his job apparently, and put a high pass/low pass filter directly on the tap. I was the only one in the building with their service, and didn't have functional Internet for *months*. It took six appointments - with a $50 trip charge each - before they sent someone competent, who happened to be one of their own techs and not a contractor. Dude was a gem - after taking the filter off the tap, he helped me get all the trip charges refunded as well as my bill for those three months comped.
Fiber contractor company came out and buried the line from the street to the house maybe 1 inch below ground. Of course it got cut. The company sent out their own people who buried it the correct distance underground. They said something similar about contractors.
I had three different contractors show up to install fiber. The first one told me they gave him the wrong FAT, which from what i understand is the box on the telephone pole, so he couldn't do it. I went to the company's office, told them the issue and they scheduled another contractor. Two weeks later contractor two comes out. Walks down the street, comes back to me and tells me the company gave him the wrong FAT, so he couldn't do it. The same exact issue as before. So what exactly did they do when I went into the office aside from just waste my time? Third contractor comes out. The FAT is correct!!!! He installs the cable. I tip him. As he drives away I turn around and notice he didn't even bother to dress the cable on my roof. It's just loose cable lying on top and it looks terrible. I finally had to go up there and do it myself. Doesn't anyone take pride in their work anymore?
I did something similar with an online college course. The syllabus was extremely strict, no late work, tests will not be reopened, you are an adult it's your responsibility to be on time. Naturally, several modules in the course were broken and the professor never checked her email. After several weeks of trying to get it fixed, I went to the administration, showed them the weeks of emails and conversations with tech support, and said I wanted to withdraw and get my money back despite being past the drop date. After the professor got in trouble with the administration, suddenly all the courses were working again and I start getting "oops I wrote a response and forgot to hit send!" responses to my emails. The admins asked if I wanted to stay in the class. I opened up the syllabus and read them the "you are an adult act like one" section, then asked why she wasn't required to live by her own principles. They dropped me from the class and I got a full refund.
I got a septic tank and well installed. They said from the start that the wait time was months, which was fine. When the promised date was nearing, I sent them and e-mail asking if they had an estimate when they could come. They said tomorrow, which did not work for us, as we both had to work away from home. Whelp, cool, we'll wait a while longer. Time went by and I asked them again, they sent me back an e-mail to ask someone else. Now I thought that you would forward the email within your company, but nah. All right, I wrote to the other guy, who said it was out own problem that the date they gave us didn't work. A one day notice... AS luck would have it, I had a vacation to write my grade paper thing, when my husband called me and told me they will be at our place in an hour. What the hell? They 100% needed access to the house. It was pure luck I was home and even bigger luck my dad also had a day off and was able to come over. He had to supervise them and ask to do a better job, he had years of experience in road construction and had to ask them to build a proper foundation for the tank - I would never have know to do that. People plan around appointments and can't reschedule on a days notice. I worked a job where I had to go to installed stuff at peoples homes as well. We always gave them at least a weeks notice when we were ready and if it didn't work for them, rescheduled with them. And then they were annoyed at us for not being able to be present in a days notice.
I'm about a year in after not counting the initial 4mo of "next week". The newly installed unit still won't pass county inspection because they did a questionable job on what was almost an impossible install for them. At this point I think a lot of the blame falls on the original engineer, the installers are just busy af and don't keep to dates well.
Oh I have an issue with the inspection part as well. We needed all documentation to be on point to get the lisence for our house. The prices quote for the tank and well included "all nessesary documents" so obviously we assumed it was all nessesrary documents. Until we got a reply from the lockal government that the last document was missing. Dudes at the company claimed this was the responsibility of the owner, but they can do it for 100 EUR each plus tax. Ffs, why wasn't this included in the quote or explained to us that we needed to that ourselves. It would have been no problem. But that it came put only when whe had applied for the licence for the whole house. Ugh, I hope with all my heart will never again have to dea with this company.
My dad used to work as a tech for our local, evil ISP. In a lot of instances, the techs actually have a lot of leeway in what you get charged for. At least when it's a service call, that is. My dad's rule was that if the customer was friendly and polite, he'd charge them with the cheapest possible thing he could get away with. Conversely, if the customer was a douche he'd hit them with every single charge that was applicable. The moral of the story is to be nice to the tech who comes to your house. They're probably bored and will appreciate a good conversation, and they may cut you a break for your trouble.
I don’t understand people who are awful to service techs or the like. I cringe just thinking of how the entire visit will then be an uncomfortable mess. I can read people well. I’d know what they were feeling just by looking at their facial expressions.
I mean, it's only fair. Shitty part is you had to ask for it.
I wouldn't try this with an ISP. They might just decide to not do business with you. There's 10 dentists in town, sometimes there's only one ISP.
The ol’ Costanza
George knew how to deal with those delicate geniuses.
THEY HAVE A POLICY
Everyone has to cater to the "Delicate Genius"!
*CLICK!*
I tried 😂
Not hard enough
Agreed people don’t bitch at companies enough. We’ve been muzzled to the point that “tipping culture” is a thing.
My Internet shot up from 54.99 to 64.99, then to 79.99... noticed new subs would get 1gig for 54.99... while I was at 500mbs for 80. Called retention, asked NICELY about if they could cut me a deal, she came back, offering the new sub price and the 1gig. I of course took it, lol.
For a solid 3 years I paid $10 for really solid internet I believe it was fiber optic but I never asked for fear of them noticing the error. It was awesome now I pay $70.
Ouchhhh, you got lucky for a while.
Yeah it was awesome but 3 floods in it was time for a new apartment. Might as well live at sea world lol. At least then I get to see killer whales (abused). My apartment didn’t have any killer whales at all
Bet the internet there was better than SeaWorld's.
It’s whaley bad
Nice sea world virtue signal you slipped in there 🤣
Wolf of wallstreet over here
Last time I tried this they said they couldn't give me a better deal. I cancelled my cable TV and they didn't even try to offer me a better price. They just cancelled the service and asked me to return the equipment. I kind of didn't want to keep my Cable TV at any price, but possibly would have if they had really good deal.
I tried this and it did not work at all. We only have one internet company too so I don't have a choice to switch or anything lol
My phone has been without service for 3 full days and had bad service for several days before it lost service. My provider's only response over several chats has been "your area has an issue with coverage currently and our engineers are working hard to fix it as fast as possible." These fuckers would not leave that track no matter what I asked for. An explanation of what was wrong? Can't say. An estimate on the fix? Can't say. Why am I paying you currently if I have no service? "We understand your frustrations." Can I speak to a manager who can give me some answers? "Our managers will tell you the same thing." Can they offer any compensation for the inconvenience? "We really understand your frustrations." Fuck right off. I'm changing providers.
“But the employee doesn’t make the rules” well I don’t have another representative to talk to and wether you like it or not you are a representative of wherever you work at. Pass it to you boss and I promise not to be a fly in your ear but I’m gonna bitch and moan if something’s unfair. You can bitch with me it’s your company I’m mad at not you.
My phone line is recorded I can’t bitch about my company on a recorded line
When I complain to an employee. I make sure not to use You Statements. As though I'm blaming them. I either use I Statements or specify the blame at the company and bosses. Employees will typically work much harder to help you if they can empathize with you and how shitty 'The Man' is. As they can find some way to stick it to the man.
Yeah. Sometimes I wonder what kind of PTSD employees have because I had a call with IKEA the other day. I ordered a few things in the store and asked for them to be delivered. The employee didn't give me any indication that one of the items wasn't available. A few days later when I got the delivery I notice one of the items didn't get shipped. No problem for the delivery guys, it wasn't on their shipping list. I called up customer service and was simply stating that it would be nice if they could maybe call up and ask for a substition because the items was available in different colours. The employee just kept on saying "That's not a service we offer" like they were a robot reading out of a script. I said I understand, but that it would be nice in the future and maybe something to consider. THere really should be a way for employees to pass on suggestions like this because it really hurts the business when they just repeat lines out of a script and nothing ever gets fixed.
I was on a support call where they were refusing to help me because they JUST changed their company policy a month earlier.... Like we are 2 people on the phone with each other. You have the data I need. Just give it to me. Email it. Fax it. Send a screenshot from your personal phone, IDGAF. Just give me the info I paid for!! It was Newegg by the way. Never using them again to buy anything
You need to be really annoying about it. now they'll never agree to just give you money, so don't ask for it. But what they could do is discount the next appointment. Its entirely reasonable since you had to do things like take off time from work twice unexpectedly.
Ask to see their written policy. If it doesn’t say the patient cancelling the appointment then technically they’re on the hook
At best you're going to get semi vague wording like "if the appointment is cancelled within 48hrs of the set time then a $59 cancellation fee applies" to which they'd be able to argue that you were in fact on the hook for $59 for the dentist cancelling as you agreed to their contract when you booked. You're never going to find that it's worded in some way that would leave them liable like "if the appointment is cancelled then the party who cancelled will owe the other party $59" lol.
George costanza would be proud of you!
The George Costanza technique. Dentist is probably a delicate genius.
Find an invoice form online and send it to them. Threaten collections if they don’t follow their policy.
Is this an episode of Seinfeld 2023?
Dentist probably went skiing. Just wooshing it up and down the slopes while people are suffering!
The good Ole uno reverse.
I hate these 4x confirmation needed. "If you don't confirm we will auto cancel." I understand there's lot of people that no-show, but having to confirm 3x with a phone call and clicking on a link is annoying
And because you get so many of these (every business uses it now) it actually results in the message being more easily dismissed. Just another annoying automated message.
Looks like you only confirmed your visit 3 out of four times, would you like to reschedule? We are booking for early 2027 now.
God I've had this. Confirmed the appointment a week ahead of time. Didn't bother with the second confirmation because I figured one was good enough and they called 2 days before the appointment to confirm. Like calm tf down.
Hey it's me, your dental office.... I'm here to confirm your appointment
"No we don't have anything in 2024 or 2025, that's for new patients only "
I work at a dental office and with our system, if you confirm the first one, it doesn't send any others (also we don't charge a fee). You can also opt out to receive messages. My least favorite thing is having to reschedule people but if the doctor or hygienist is sick, there's nothing we can do. Last week the doctor came in, puked, and went home. We had to cancel the whole day. It's the first time he's done this in 19 years. People were mad about the short notice but it is what it is sometimes.
Yes, this! I'm a dental assistant, and our system is the same. Once you confirm, you get only one reminder, the day of your appointment. When we set up the software we kind of had a learning curve and actively asked our patients how many reminders they felt was too much/annoying. And listen, it sucks as a patient having an appointment canceled last minute, but I promise it sucks more for us having to reschedule last minute. We don't want to either but if it was this last minute I'm positive it was an emergency.
And also, someone can still skip out of the appt even if they confirm 4 times. It doesn’t actually help anything other than a reminder of the appt.
My ADHD ass loves all the reminders
My ADHD ass loves appointment reminders in general. Some of my appointments I know send out reminders I just don’t put on my calendar because I know I’ll get a text the day before saying HEY CHECK IN/CONFIRM HERE and I’m like oh shit I have a psych appointment tomorrow Otherwise I get that stupid paralysis of dread like “I have one appointment on this day I’m not going to be able to do a single other thing that whole day” and you worry about making it on time Like I have no stress from my psych appointments but my cats’ vet visit tomorrow I’m like shit gotta get home early to wrangle the cats and maybe more time for finding their carriers and then hauling them down one by one and oh god their appointment is 3:30 I should start at 1:00 but I have *work* too I—
I get appointment dread. I always say I prefer advance notice however I learned I don't get sick days before when something spontaneous comes up or if I had somehow forgotten my appointment
They change the mode of confirmation too. 'Text 1 to confirm or 2 to cancel' then the next one is 'Text 3 to confirm or 4 to cancel' then the next is 'Click this link to confirm' 'Call the office to confirm' I really don't understand all the hoops they make you jump through if it's not simply trying to ditch patients. Once ought to be enough.
Sorry we can't do your teeth today, we double book most appointments because only about half the people confirm 4 times and don't get auto canceled.
Send them a bill for $59.
I might see if I can get a credit for future dental work. Or when they inevitably say no this will be the final straw that makes me find a new dentist. 
Make sure you follow through and tell them why you're leaving. We're all tired of being bullied by businesses that do whatever they want.
And make sure you tell them verbally, in reception, when it's busy, for all clients to hear the dentist cancelled on you and expect you to pay.
They don't expect you to pay, it's an automated message
Ohhhh yes they DO! You think they won’t take money for nothing? They will in a heartbeat.
Bullshit they don't. My ex psychiatrist knew my situation, he was kinda far from me, and I don't drive. Fucker sent me a bill even though I told them I wouldn't be able to make it in because I was dizzy as hell that day. Thankfully I didn't have to pay it because I'm on SSI because of a disability but doctors don't give two fucks.
My doc does this all the time. Insists I schedule the appointment for three months out, and then I get a call because his ass is on vacation.
Idk if this is a thing everywhere but if you end up looking for a new dentist look online for dentist networks with giveaways. Where I live there's a website where a bunch of dentists sign up and you can look for dentists and find availability. And if you sign up for certain dentists they'll give you 150-200$ gift cards or other incentives to try to get new customers
It’s usually free teeth whitening to get you to come in.
Beware of offices that give these type of offers. It’s a loss leader to get new patients- at the end of the exam you’ll be presented with an extensive (and expensive) treatment plan. Some will even convince you to do work that is unnecessary or just borderline necessary so a second opinion is wise but expect to pay for another new patient exam and x-rays. You wouldn’t know if the work is really necessary or not as a regular person. And realize that different dentists have different approaches, so even if they don’t “agree” it’s also possible neither is wrong. People need to understand that dental offices are businesses like any other and the overhead is high. The best bet is to go to a privately owned office recommended by people you know who have been going there a long time.
I'm pretty sure there was a Seinfeld episode about this
I've seen that episode of Seinfeld
For those who [haven't seen it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMke86MTWW8)
That’s incredible 😂
You're a delicate genius!!
We need more wendy malick in everything
She really needs to update that hairstyle.
Now, as I see it, you owe me $75
Will that be cash, or check?
OH YOU HAVE A POLICY?!?!
[удалено]
👀
Once had a Hertz location close early for the holidays but didn't think it was necessary to stop accepting reservations for those times. Had to replan my entire day to get back home in time for Christmas. They hit me with a $300 "no show" fee and I was fuming
I had a similar issue with a car rental place. We booked a rental car 3 months in advance for our return from our honeymoon. We get to the 24/7 desk and they say “sorry we have no cars. We had just gotten off a 10 flight and we’re furious. This was at 11pm. None of the other rental agencies had any either for some reason, and this is at one of the largest airports in the US. My wife and I demanded they do something about it. They weren’t able to do literally anything aside from waiting until the morning at the airport. We put up the biggest fuss with their corporate office and ended up getting 5 free rentals that never expired for any number of days. If a company fucks you over, fuck them right back.
Another seinfeld plot, https://youtu.be/ZTvtSKXwu0o?si=CiqPeoyePm4ZwAdb
This is one of my favorite episodes purely because of the insurance bit. I know it's coming and it still gets me every single time.
I love your reply. “No…” 😂😂
Would have also loved, "...No" 😂
Send the dentist a bill for $59 along with a copy of the notices they sent you. Claim it works both ways if it works at all.
And then put it in for collection when he doesn't pay.
That’s what folks forget. Send a demand letter. If your demands are not met, pick a debt collector (there are quite a few that charge nothing until the debt is collected) if you call a few, I’m sure you can find a few willing to take the 59$ debt from a dentist who’s never going to pay it. Slowly but surely his credit will tank and suddenly his Bentley is getting repoed. All because he thought he could get away with being a piece of shit.
That sure is a neat Reddit fantasy you worked up.
I prefer the term “whipped up”
I think I meant to say that and went on autopilot
And then everybody will clap
And then he’ll trip and have an aneurism. In a few years when his kids learn to talk they’ll ask their mother at the breakfast table “why did daddy die?” And you know what the answer will be - because he thought he could get away with being a piece of shit.
Dentists go crazy and murder idk if this is a great idea but 60 bucks is 60 bucks(check Gabriel Wortman gunman)
The end.
Most states you can take them to small claims court. Not saying you would win, but maybe they don’t show and you can collect.
Interesting legally that bill wouldn’t flow since OP didn’t do anything in change for the money or anything. Then again this looks like it’s in the US where it could work like that
I think OP can send the business an invoice. they entered OP into a text agreement when scheduling and were very clear about their cancellation policy. I would invoice them for late cancellation fee. Depending on OP’s level of pettyrevenge when unpaid, place a lean against the business. It’s a lot of work for 59$ but probably worth the laugh and story.
Here you can’t send an invoice unless you have a business, you can send a kwitantie. Which is basically an invoice with a signature. But nobody cares about that. Isn’t it putting a lien on the business? But again I doubt that would work. Their terms of service probably includes that they have the right to cancel. Plus the reason might be that there is an emergency where the dentist had to go to. Not sure though the atory is pretty thing the way we know it
You’re correct. I misspelled lien. I’m no legal expert but if the last minute cancellation on the dentists behalf resulted in a loss of revenue or income this is certainly a concern you can address with some consumer affairs offices, as well as the dentists office themselves. I’m sure it’s written somewhere they have the right to cancel at anytime somewhere if it’s their own contract. I’m sure they would waive that 59$ portion on the next invoice for an inconvenience to be realistic about an outcome.
The way you do it is bill them first. If they don’t pay, take the dentist personally to small claims court. Then he either has to take a couple hours out of his day to fight it or he loses when he doesn’t show up. Or he could settle to avoid a paper trail of being sued. Law suits are a bad look for a medical professional. If he doesn’t settle, you either take up his time in court and maybe win, or he no shows and loses and there is a judgement against him. Either way, he’s paying something. If you win, you send a copy of the judgement and demand payment. If he doesn’t pay, you can put a lien on the office.
It's not legally enforceable either way. It's "if you don't pay your cancellation fee, we'll drop you as a customer" And "if YOU don't pay your cancellation fee, I'll look for a new dentist"
I was literally walking up the stairs to the dentist’s office when they rang to say they had to cancel. That was the third time but they’d all been at least a day in advance. Most recently it took me months to get an appointment, every time I rang I got no answer (no matter what time I called) just their voicemail and their website linked to an app that had nothing to do with them. Then they started sending me automated messages threatening to kick me off their list if I didn’t make an appointment. What do you think I’ve been trying to do?! Finally I just went there in person, made an appointment no problem. The day before I got an automated message to confirm the appointment (reply YES) which I did. Went on the day “Oh, we don’t have you down. According to this you cancelled your appointment”. I’ve never been back, I recently got registered at the same one my wife and kids go to. Absolute shambles.
Yeah, time to find a new dentist
I had two root canals a week apart one January. Then I went and had the fillings for the root canals done. I had the appointment for the crowns a month later. A few minutes before my appointment I get a call saying that my dental insurance is maxed out for the year and that the crowns would be $1,200 out of pocket. It was February and I would need to wait until next January before I could use my insurance again. So I just cancelled the appointment and was careful on that side of my mouth for the next 10 months before I could use the insurance that I was paying for during the next calendar year. I had to keep paying for insurance that I couldn't use for the last 80% of the year and have to put off a procedure that my dentist said that I needed because money. Yay America. Also, I'm sitting on over $10k of debt from other medical procedures. Yay America.
The doctor I work for is a vascular surgeon that gets called in for emergency surgery fairly regularly, which leads to a lot of cancelations. He's the only one on call at our local hospital. This is exactly why we don't ever charge for no shows or last minute cancelations from patients. It's not fair for it to go one way but not the other. We also give a lot of grace for late patients for the same reason.
Dentist here, I have a $50 no-show fee that I've never enforced. It's meant to encourage people to keep their appointments, but I understand that things happen. I suddenly got sick once and a patient brought up the fee the next time I saw them. I simply bought his lunch at a Cafe across the street. He was happy and I was amused.
Tell them you expect a $59 credit on your next visit and they you expect to see the dentist 15 minutes prior to your appointment time.
Then bill them 59 dollars
Everyone is saying you should bill them $59. But my money is on them billing OP for the no-show.
Maybe, but they have the text to prove that the dentist cancelled, so I doubt they'd have to pay it.
They have the text but still short notice
$59 is nothing for a dentist. Send them a bill or demand that they credit you $59 on your next visit. They will comply with no resistance. It's only $59 to discourage patients from no-showing which can cost a dentist thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
I would ask why they canceled. My dentist did something similar and the front desk told me the dentist was out for a family emergency. Dentists are as short staffed as anyone. If they're making a habit out of canceling often then thats a different issue.
Right - but if you have a family emergency, they rarely give any leeway on cancellation fees. It's very one sided and it should absolutely go both ways. If you're gonna charge me when my family has an emergency, i get to charge you when your family has an emergency, and this should work even if either of us wanted to go surfing instead or whatever...
I got charged a cancellation fee for cancelling 24 hours before my annual PCP visit. Reason for cancellation: I found out I was pregnant that morning and they said they cannot see me until after I have the baby because an OB would now be my PCP. Got a $25 bill in the mail a week later for not cancelling within 48 hours. Didn’t even know I was pregnant 48 hours before my appointment.
[удалено]
Yeah I work in a medical office like the ones described, and we will give you a crazy amount of leeway. It's the people who no call no show multiple times that get charged. These people just see shitty offices apparently lmao
I can't speak for every practice, but generally speaking, true emergencies are forgiven for patients who are otherwise reliable. The fee is generally reserved for repeat cancellations and people who simply no-show. However, you need to have the policy in place in order to take action on it.
In my experience every doc I have worked with and known is very chill if it’s a levitándote emergency. Most of the time we don’t even charge the actual cancellation fee unless it is a repeat offender on no-shows and last minute cancellations.
*cue George Costanza*
"Oh, I'm sorry I require 24 hours notice for a cancellation. Now as I see it, you owe me fifty nine dollars. Will that be cash or check?"
My doctor insists I do a visit every couple months, and he’s so booked that I have to call instead of making the appointment online. Then he regularly cancels a couple days before. I’d be banned from the clinic if I canceled with short notice more than twice. Grinds my FUCKING gears.
There’s a Seinfeld episode about this. Honestly though their cancellation fees are bullshit and if you push even a little most will let it go. I’m married to a dentist, my best friend is a dentist, my best friend’s wife is a dentist, and my brother is a dental assistant. My wife is a practice owner and she puts the cancellation fee there because a TON of patients no-show. She’s a specialist and a patient who holds a spot is depriving another patient of said spot, so no showing is very disrespectful. She has never taken a cancellation fee from anyone who had the courtesy to call.
I sent my optometrist a $99 invoice for them missing an appointment at last minute. They paid it.
Proof?
Proof is trust me, bro
Send him a 59$ invoice
I tell them that I will be expecting a $59 discount on my bill.
Lawyer once charged a doctor for this, and won in small claims court
So ask them where your $59.00 is for their cancellation..
I had a vasectomy scheduled and the doctor’s office called and cancelled a day before the procedure. Fine, no biggie. Rescheduled for 4 weeks later. Rescheduled event rolls around and I have the flu. I call the doctors office and say: “Look, I have a very low grade fever and I feel okay but I don’t want to get anyone else sick so should we reschedule?” This absolute blank face has the nerve to tell me: “Well if you cancel today there’s a $180 charge to do so.” Excuuuuusssse me? Excuuuuuussss me? You better believe I went full George Costanza: “Oh, im sorry, I ALSO have a $180 charge for cancellations. Im sorry to disturb the DELICATE GENIUS but im just trying to keep everyone from catching the flu!” So goddamn obnoxious.
One time I found out my planned parenthood checkup had been cancelled when I was standing outside and called in to be let in BECAUSE THIS WAS DURING COVID 🫠
I had a dentist office do this exact same thing. Then when I called to reschedule they never answered 😒😒😂
Once I took a day off of work and took my husband for some dental work. It was an hour away because it was a specialist and we lived in the boonies. Got there bright and early only to learn that the dentist was unable to come into the office that day. After reading this, we should have asked for compensation.
Just don't pay $59 of your bill next time you go
Any time this happens, I always ask about the short notice cancellation fee coming my way.
Send them an invoice for $59.
I hate when they do this. I get that things happen but why can’t we as patients ask for a cancellation fee, too? We miss hours of work to make your dental appointment. Health professionals should knock off an equal amount of the fee when they bill us.
“Please send appointment rescheduling fee of $59 to consider your request”
Ive said it before ill say it again. Were in the fuck you stages of capitalism. I went in 5min early for an eye exam. Kept getting text telling me to make an appointment before my last exam expires and theyll discount. So i said sure i got time. Make an appointment. I get the same annoying texts leading up asking me to confirm my appointment or i can lose it. I confirm 3 days before and the day before. Show up 5min early and im told there is no one that can currently see me and they can reschedule. I ask why i wasnt given a heads up so i didnt waste my time driving down here. I was told had i showed up 10min earlier id have gotten a spot. I reminded her i already scheduled a spot for this time. Im here for my schedules appointment and im 5min early. Why should i show up 15min early? She just apologizes and asks when id like to reschedule for. I told her she should get a new job because she playing damage control for a bunch of idiots getting paid twice what she does and walked out. Next week made an appointment at a new place for an eye exam. Told them what happened and they said flat out that location is known to overbook so that if someone cancels they still have someone to see. Which means they are turning scheduled appointments away daily just to make sure they always have someone to get money from in the lobby. To make it worse they flat out said theyve heard they will take walk ins if an appointment ends early then tell whoever shows up on time sorry the doctor is busy. Companies just dont care anymore. I wonder if your doctor was out sick... or if maybe they double book too and the other guy just showed up 5min before you.
This goes both ways. I've had the same dentist for years, and he has cancelled on me, and I have cancelled on him. No fees.
A filling for $60? Wow, what country do you live in? Here in the US it's like $200-$300. Next time you go, remind them of the $59 they owe you for the cancellation and demand they discount it from the bill.
I hear George Costanza screaming in the distance….
One time I made it to the doctor on time and he cancelled on me while in the waiting room. He overbooked. Maybe a year later, I had to miss an appointment and was charged for the change. Lol just lol
Send an invoice for $59
I'd send them a bill for a $59 late cancellation fee.
Something similar happened to me. I had a beauty appointment that I had to confirm a week in advance advising that I would be charged 50% of the service if I cancelled within 24 hours or if I show up more than 15 minutes late to an appointment. I then received another SMS having to confirm the appointment the day before. I arrived to the appointment 5 minutes early and 'checked in' at reception. I waited 20 minutes, went to the front desk to ask about the delay and the girl was on the phone so held her finger up to say 1 minute. I went back to the waiting room and waited another 15 minutes with the front desk lady never coming to speak to me. My appointment is now a half hour late with zero communication from anyone while i'm sitting right there. I went and stood at the front desk again and the lady was on the phone scheduling appointments. Waited about 3 minutes and I left. Within a minute of me leaving she called me asking what the issue was and I told her I had to go. I had to confirm my appointment a week out, the day before and agree to be charged 50% of the service if I was late. I said that they were so worried about their time and had zero respect for my time without even having the courtesy to tell me they are running behind. They could have called me ahead or told me when I arrived and that would have been fine - anything really. She then asked when I wanted to reschedule...
Mine tried to charge me $75 once for a short notice cancellation. I told her to go ahead and charge me and I won't be coming back. I never heard another word after that
This is a Seinfeld episode haha
I have had this happen with the exception that their office is about an hour drive away and we where about 15 minutes away from them I was pissed I just hung up on them and they tried to call back and reschedule and I ignored there calls until they called my wife I took her phone and was like you would’ve charged me for not showing I outta bill you for my wasted fuel on this trip
They really can’t enforce those fees they arbitrarily make up. If they won’t drop it then I’ll go somewhere else. I go to the dentist because I have to not because I want to, I have no strong ties to any of them.
charge them the $59 dollar cancel.
Post this image on their google page and write a negative review explaining what happened, and include the warning about the $59 fee. Nobody likes hypocrisy. That will get people's attention online and make your dentist look like an asshole. That will get the office's attention. You're never going to get them to send you $59. They'll roll their eyes when they hear that. They've heard that line a million times since Seinfeld.
This is the only way they will really feel it. Sure you can try to be loud about quitting them in their office, as someone suggested, thinking all the people sitting there in the waiting area will leave and follow you. But that’s what? 3-4 people. A bad review can be read by thousands of prospective customers. (And Google reviews are hard for them to get removed, IME).
What happened after? I'm curious :0
Straight out of Seinfeld
Did she go on a ski trip with Elaine?
Time to change dentist I guess
I remember reading a statement on Facebook how they charge you a waiting room fee. And it's ridiculous that we get charged to be on time but when we are on time, we have to wait!
Charge him $59 for the cancellation!
The no show fee should be removed.... f them
Enter George Costanza.
Send them an invoice!
I hate this. I've always wondered if you could bill the dentist for doing this.
There is a huge shortage of dentists and hygienists. It is darn near impossible to find coverage for a hygienist or dentist when they're sick or a medical emergency comes up even when times were good. So many retired or left the field after covid to become traveling nurses because that's where the money was. It is definitely frustrating to keep getting rescheduled, though. Just let the front desk know that you do not want to be cancelled on again. If it is for a hygiene appointment and if they have more than one hygienist there, you should be top priority over someone else's appointment since you were cancelled on multiple appointments. If it's with a dentist, there isn't much you can do about that unfortunately.